Free Read

Free Reads

Click here to watch me reading from the first chapter of Foul Play.

Click here for the first chapter of Foul Play 5:Own Goal

Click here for the first chapter of Scrum!

Click on the covers of the other books here to read their first chapters. There are extra on-line Foul Play and Football Academy stories below. Hope you enjoy them all.

Younger Readers	Older Readers	New

Other stories for Younger readers

The Secret Football Club

Can you solve the case of the missing trophy?

The case of the missing trophy solved.

I wrote these stories for the National Literacy Trust. I hope you'll enjoy them.

Click here for The Scout - A Year 3-4 short story about how Ronan and Connor from the Football Academy series came to join Premier League United.

There are three new free on-line Danny Harte stories:

Click here for Danger Academy, as story written in January 2012 for the National Literacy Trust and the Premier League. It's an 8 part story in 5 minute chunks, written for reading aloud in classrooms, so feel free to take it into school. Otherwise, it's just for you to enjoy. (I hope.)

the boys absolutely love The Danger Academy! Holy Trinity Catholic Media Arts College

Click here for Maybe Football is Exciting - Charlotte's Diary a Year 6,7 and 8 short story written in 2011 for the National Literacy Trust

I just finished reading the Danny Harte story online (I read it all at once because I couldn't wait to find out what happened next) I really really enjoyed it!! Thanks Sophie

Click here for The Character Strikes Back. A five-part Foul Play short story for Years 4, 5 and 6

"We are reading 'The Character Strikes Back' this week, and SO enjoying it! They love the cliffhangers each day and beg me to read on..."

"Reading Tom Palmer’s short story ‘The Character Strikes Back’ to my Y3/4 class was as delightful an experience for me as a teacher as it was for my young listeners, who truly learned the meaning of a ‘cliff-hanger’. Writhing in a delightful agony of suspense and anticipation at the end of each day, their desperation to find out what happened next informed many discussions and some marvellous predictions. Parents even called the school to find where they could buy the book their children couldn’t stop talking about!" Catherine Monaghan, Y3/4 Teacher, Middleham CE VA School

Foul Play: the World Cup Mystery

To celebrate the World Cup in the summer of 2010 , The National Literacy Trust commissioned Tom to write a new Foul Play mystery. A very big thank you to the tens of thousands of children who listened to the story every day in their classrooms. Click here to download it all! It also inspired some fabulous writing in classrooms across the country…

From Wittering Primary School ...

The whole school gathers

O9:30. Teacher reads the daily episode

Memory stick slots into computer

Ping! The chapter appears on screen

Are you sitting comfortably?

Listening attentively, gripped by every word

Magically transported to Danny’s world of detection

Episodes build tension and suspense

Really need to meet this inspirational author!

"Hi My name is Lucy Bakewell, librarian at Hill West Primary School, and I have been downloading Tom's fantastic episodic story from the Literacy Trust website. I just wanted to drop him a line to tell him how brilliantly his story is going down at our school. Every morning I have children, particularly the boys, running up to me to check that I have downloaded and printed out the latest chapter of the story. The feedback from all the teachers is really positive, they tell me that it has really captured the boys imaginations and is encouraging them to read too! Please pass on my comments, congratulations and continued success." Lucy Bakewell, SLA School Librarian of the Year

NEW The Mystery of the Stolen FA Cup Medal

Commissioned by the British Council and Reading Agency's 'Chatterbooks' project. Click here to read and listen to the story. With classroom resources.