September 2015 Debut of the Month - Winner of the Scholastic Montegrappa Prize for New Children's Writing
Laura Wood’s debut combines favourite genres: it’s a boarding school story, a mystery - with a touch of the supernatural, and a circus story. Poppy Pym was left at Madame Pym’s Spectacular Touring Circus as a baby and brought up by the circus folk. Now she’s twelve and Madame Pym decides she must go to school. Poppy is enrolled at Saint Smithen’s, a boarding school with all the proper characteristics. She soon makes friends with brainy Imogen and short but sparky Kip, and the three make a great team when – for entirely plausible reasons of plot – the famous Ruby Scarab of Ankhenamum is put on display at the school, apparently bringing a curse with it! Poppy is a very appealing heroine, the school setting is spot on, while her eccentric circus family add to the fun. A lively, satisfying adventure and hopefully the first of a series.
Poppy Pym has grown up in the circus, eating candy floss for breakfast and learning about lion taming ...until her circus family decides she needs a more traditional education, and they send her to boarding school. At first, Poppy has trouble fitting in at St Smithen's, a school that is very different from the circus. But when an ancient Egyptian ruby comes to the school and dangerous accidents start occurring, it's up to Poppy to save her new home and solve the mystery of the Pharaoh's curse!
Laura Wood is the winner of the Montegrappa Scholastic Prize for New Children’s Writing. Her first YA novel A Sky Painted Gold was shortlisted for the 2019 YA Book Prize, 2018 BAMB Readers’ Awards and the 2019 Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Awards.
She is also the author of the critically acclaimed Vote for Effie and the Poppy Pym series for younger readers.
