Station X

Big Cat Read On supports fluent readers to improve their reading skills and nurture a love of reading. Consisting of a wide range of engaging chapter books, the Big Cat Read On series improves reading stamina and comprehension, develops vocabulary, and introduces children to more sophisticated narrative structures and themes.

You’ve been chosen to be part of a top-secret mission! Travel back in time and join the team at Station X, working to decipher enemy messages and save lives. Test your own puzzle-solving skills as you learn all about codes and cyphers.

About the Author and Book Talk questions invite the reader to think more deeply about the themes in the book and reflect on their reading experience. Online lesson plans provide guidance in using this book in a range of settings, including independent, social and whole-class reading – all designed to support the reader to connect with the book and encourage a positive attitude to reading.

Helen Dennis is the award-winning author of modern adventure thrillers which send characters off on heart-filled quests across the globe, inspired by true mysteries from history. Books in her Secret Breakers and River of Ink series (Hodder Children’s Books) have been translated into seven languages; nominated for international prizes including the West Australian Young Readers Book Award; won prizes here in the UK and been nominated for the Carnegie Medal.

River of Ink was listed in the Telegraph’s Best YA Books of 2016, selected as a BookTrust BookBuzz book, and is included in BookTrust’s annual Deaf Awareness Week Recommendation List. Secret Breakers (which was inspired by and set at Bletchley Park) was optioned for live action TV by Media 108 in 2023.