In a desperate attempt to obtain a better life for her delicate younger brother, Johnny, Betsy Smith, a Victorian waif, convinced Sir Charles and Lady Ashleigh that he was their long lost grandson. To reward her they gave her employment as a kitchen maid, but Mrs Barton the bullying housekeeper had taken a dislike to her.
Sandi Smith lived with her Aunt Vi who owned a shop and kept Sandi busy doing odd jobs. Sandi was an expert on roller skates and when an ice rink opens nearby she longed to be an ice skater too. She won a free pass and lessons at the ice-rink, but her Aunt Vi kept her busy, making it difficult for her to attend.
Tina Standish was a happy-go-lucky girl, until one day when her eyes were damaged by the landing light of an alien spacecraft. Her vision became distorted, until the spacecraft pilot gave her healing eye drops. But he also warned her she must not cry for a month or the healing powers would be washed away!
Fiona McDonald and her family moved to the island of Rath for her father’s health. Fiona was lonely and was disliked by the island children. Then she found an injured horse in the sea, she called him Neptune and decided keep him secretly on a small island that was connected to the main island, by a causeway at low tide.
Heidi Lowe was only thirteen and a bit – but was six feet and a bit tall! She had joined Carol Webb’s basketball club, but another member, prefect Lara Watson, disliked her.
At Bellington Comprehesive, Susie Trent of Class 2B was picked to represent her year as reporter on the school magazine. But the legacy of her Great-Uncle Jonah, who was well remembered as an eccentric writer who never found success, was making things difficult. To make matters worse the editor, Celia Grayson, had taken an instant dislike to Susie. Susie discovered that using her great uncle’s typewriter, it magically was able to help her with her stories.
When Kim Clark became a pupil at her Mum’s old school, Mrs Clark proudly produced her old school blazer for her to wear. Realising how much this meant to her mum, Kim decided not to tell her that Gorford Grammar was now a comprehensive where uniform wasn’t worn, of course this made her stand-out in the school.
Di Barlow felt her Mum was missing out on things just being a stay-at-home housewife, while other girls’ mothers seemed to lead interesting and exciting lives. So Di decided to find some way to bring her Mum out of her shell.
Shy, ordinary, Petra Gabriel had only one friend – her pen-pal Karen. The girls had never met and to make her letters more interesting, Petra pretended to be popular and clever at everything she did. Then Karen wrote that she and her family would be moving to Petra’s town!
Linda and Carol Milne, twelve year old twins, discovered that because of a witch’s curse laid on an ancestor, one of every pair of twins born in the family, was doomed to die before their thirteenth birthday. The curse could only be undone by a strange witch’s necklace made up of thirteen linking pieces. To spare their family the girls kept their discovery a secret and set out to track down the 12 medallions and the chain.