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Cressida Cowell, Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2019–2021
Cressida Cowell grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland. The name of the island is a secret, but it was such a small island it wasn’t really big enough to have a name at all. There were no roads or shops or electricity on the island, just one house and a storm-blown wilderness of sea-birds and heather.
Every year, Cressida’s family spent four weeks of the summer, and two weeks of the spring, on the island. The family had to catch their own fish to eat. The house was lit by candle-light, and there was no telephone or television, so Cressida spent her time drawing and writing stories.
In the evening, Cressida’s father read the children tales of the Vikings, who had invaded this island Archipelago over half a millennium before, of the quarrelsome Tribes who fought and tricked each other, and of legendary dragons who were supposed to live in the caves in the cliffs. This was how Cressida herself first began to write stories about Vikings and dragons, back when she was eight or nine years old. Many years later, she turned her original childhood ideas into the book How to Train Your Dragon, featuring Hiccup the reluctant Viking, and his equally reluctant dragon, Toothless.
When Cressida wasn’t on the island, she was going to school at Marlborough College in Wiltshire where she met and became close friends with Lauren Child, a fellow author/illustrator and the creator of TV’s Charlie and Lola. Cressida and Lauren remain close friends. Indeed Lauren is godmother to Cressida’s daughter Clemmie.
After school, Cressida obtained a BA in English Literature from Oxford University, a BA in Graphic Design from St Martin’s and an MA in Narrative Illustration from Brighton.
Cressida wrote and illustrated her first picture book, Little Bo Peep’s Library Book, for Hodder Children’s Books in 1998. Her first novel for eight to twelve year olds, How to Train Your Dragon, was published to popular and critical acclaim in 2003: ‘The next big thing in children’s literature,’ wrote The Independent on Sunday. ‘Irresistibly funny, exciting and endearing,’ said The Times.
How to Train Your Dragon has now been published in over thirty languages. Film rights were sold to DreamWorks Animation in 2003 for a substantial sum and the filmed version was released into cinemas in March 2010. The 3D animated film from the studio that created Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda, was directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois (the directors of Lilo and Stich) and produced by Bonnie Arnold (who produced Toy Story).
Cressida Cowell is the head judge of the Wicked Young Writers Award and provided these top tips to budding writers:
* My top writing tip would be to read lots, to give you a feel for the way different stories can be told. Also practise writing as much as you can – write, and re-write – don’t worry if you don’t finish a story, as long as you are practising, that’s what matters. Also don’t worry if your stories aren’t very long: I didn’t start out writing books as long as the ones I write now.
* You can still do research when you are creating your own fantasy world. Kids often think that ideas get beamed into an author’s head, or that when you write fantasy you can’t do background reading, but many ideas in The Wizards of Once were sparked by books I read about the history of magic, and magical creatures.
* You can be inspired by your own experiences. Ideas I had about Vikings and dragons during summer holidays when I was 9 years old became 12 books, and a film and TV series. I had a slightly unusual childhood (I spent my summers on an uninhabited Scottish Island), but the world we all live in is full of extraordinary, wonderful idea for stories. You only have to watch an episode of Blue Planet to see that’s true.
* I always begin my stories with a map of my imaginary place. Lots of other authors have done the same – Robert Louis Stevenson drew a map of Treasure Island before starting to write. This is a really easy way of thinking about characters and setting.
* Often kids say to be that they aren’t very good at writing, but I know that’s not true – what they’re struggling with is the mechanics of getting the words onto paper. If you can make up a game in the playground, or you tell your friends stories, you can be an author! Get an adult to write or type for you, if you need to.
* Keep an ideas notebook so you can scribble down ideas and drawings. This doesn’t need to be neat, and no one should be correcting it for spelling, because spelling doesn’t matter. I kept an sketchbook for The Wizards of Once for about 5 years.
May 2020 Book of the Month | The third book in Cressida Cowell’s new Wizards of Once series is full of magic – magical adventures and magical creatures, and it overflows with the magic of great storytelling. Our heroes, Wish the young Warrior girl and Xar the boy wizard, are continuing their dangerous quest to defeat the witches they accidentally freed in book one and which threaten both their worlds. They travel on a magic flying door, accompanied by their friends – sprites, a giant, snowcats, a werewolf and Bodkin, Wish’s young bodyguard – and come up against some awesome enemies. In hot pursuit are their parents, Xar’s father King Encanzo the enchanter and Wish’s mother, Warrior Queen Sychorax, both terrifying, both determined their children will do as they are told. Who will succeed? Can Wish and Xar change the course of history and write their own happy ending? We don’t know yet, but readers of all ages will be wishing with all their hearts that they can. Cressida Cowell’s invention and ambition for her characters is boundless, and this unputdownable story is as full of ideas and intelligence as it is of excitement.
The third book in Cressida Cowell’s new Wizards of Once series is full of magic – magical adventures and magical creatures, and it overflows with the magic of great storytelling. Our heroes, Wish the young Warrior girl and Xar the boy wizard, are continuing their dangerous quest to defeat the witches they accidentally freed in book one and which threaten both their worlds. They travel on a magic flying door, accompanied by their friends – sprites, a giant, snowcats, a werewolf and Bodkin, Wish’s young bodyguard – and come up against some awesome enemies. In hot pursuit are their parents, Xar’s father King Encanzo the enchanter and Wish’s mother, Warrior Queen Sychorax, both terrifying, both determined their children will do as they are told. Who will succeed? Can Wish and Xar change the course of history and write their own happy ending? We don’t know yet, but readers of all ages will be wishing with all their hearts that they can. Cressida Cowell’s invention and ambition for her characters is boundless, and this unputdownable story is as full of ideas and intelligence as it is of excitement.
Jokes flow thick and fast from this most original and inventive Viking adventure, which launched the career of a Viking with a difference. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock grew up at a time of dragons but he was not always a hero. He had to learn to fight them. To do so he had to pass the Dragon Initiation Programme, an awesome schedule run by Gobber the Belch, idiot in charge of initiation on the Isle of Berk. Hiccup was by no means a natural high achiever when it came to dragon training but after many hilarious mishaps, he soon got the hang of it and was on the way to becoming a Hero.
The No.1 Bestselling Series Enter a land of wizards, warriors, mythical creatures and powerful magic in an exciting fantasy adventure from the author of How To Train Your Dragon. Witches are creating havoc in the Wildwoods and danger lurks behind every tree trunk. Wish is in possession of a powerful, Magic Spelling Book. Xar has a dangerous Witchstain on his hand. Wish and Xar are separated by the highest wall imaginable. But time is running out ... It was unlikely that these heroes should meet in the first place. Is it possible they are destined to meet TWICE? 'The detail of Cowell's world is a delight ...This one will run and run' The Observer Discover the magic of Cressida Cowell.
From the bestselling author of How to Train Your Dragon comes an exciting high-adventure series - set in an ancient, magical time, full of Wizards, Warriors, Giants and Sprites.
A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month May 2018 | Winner of the 2018 Blue Peter Awards - Best Story | Best-selling Cressida Cowell launches her new series with a title that will delight all fans of the How to Train Your Dragon series. Set deep in an enchanting forest, this is a charming story full of Cowell’s trade mark humour and total command of mystery and magic and how it fits seamlessly into everyday life. From two opposing tribes – the Warriors and the Wizards – come two opposing characters, Xar, a young Wizard boy who has no command of magic and will fight anyone he can in order to get it, and Wish, a Warrior girl who is imbued with all kinds of magic that she should never have had access to. Xar and Wish should never meet and never become friends. But they do and together they brave the hidden dungeons in Warrior Fort to uncover a great mystery.
Winner of the 2018 Blue Peter Awards - Best Story | One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month October 2017 Best-selling Cressida Cowell launches her new series with a title that will delight all fans of the How to Train Your Dragon series. Set deep in an enchanting forest, this is a charming story full of Cowell’s trade mark humour and total command of mystery and magic and how it fits seamlessly into everyday life. From two opposing tribes – the Warriors and the Wizards – come two opposing characters, Xar, a young Wizard boy who has no command of magic and will fight anyone he can in order to get it, and Wish, a Warrior girl who is imbued with all kinds of magic that she should never have had access to. Xar and Wish should never meet and never become friends. But they do and together they brave the hidden dungeons in Warrior Fort to uncover a great mystery. ~ Julia Eccleshare Julia Eccleshare's Picks of the Month for October 2017 A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen Illegal by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin The Land of Neverendings by Kate Saunders The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell Pax by Sara Pennypacker and Jon Klassen Egyptomania by Emma Giuliani and Carole Saturno Father Christmas and Me by Matt Haig The Greatest Magician in the World by Matt Edmondson
Longlisted for the UKLA 2017 Book Award | This is the twelfth book in Cressida Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon series and she brings it to a tremendous and fitting finale. The fate of the dragon world lies in the hands of her hero, the mild and frankly geeky Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III: to avert the destruction of the dragons, Hiccup has to defeat Alvin the Terrible. As ever, the trials Hiccup faces will call for all of his physical, mental and moral strength. This series is a real classic of modern children’s literature; full of excitement, it’s the kind of adventure that has children walking taller. It’s brilliantly written and brilliantly illustrated too. Fans will find this book gives them everything they want for Hiccup and the dragons. If your children haven’t yet discovered Hiccup, start them with book one forthwith.
Dragons vs Humans: is this the end? Find out in the twelfth book in the How to Train Your Dragon series. It is the Doomsday of Yule. At the end of this day, either the humans or the dragons will face extinction. Alvin the Treacherous is about to be crowned the King of the Wilderwest on the island of Tomorrow. His reign of terror will begin with the destruction of dragons everywhere. The fate of the dragon world lies in the hands of one young boy as he stands on the nearby isle of Hero's End with nothing to show, but everything to fight for. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third's Quest is clear. First he must defeat the Dragon Guardians of Tomorrow and prove that he is in fact the rightful king, even though Hiccup has none of the King's Things and Alvin the Treacherous has all ten of them. And then he faces his final battle: Hiccup must fight the Dragon Furious and end the Rebellion ...ALONE. As Doomsday draws to an end can Hiccup be the Hero of the hour? Will the dragons survive? How to Train Your Dragon is now a major DreamWorks franchise. How to Train Your Dragon 3 is scheduled for 2017 starring Cate Blanchett and Jonah Hill and the TV series, Defenders of Berk, can be seen on CBBC and Netflix. Read all of Hiccup's exploits in the series: How to Train Your Dragon, How to Be a Pirate, How to Speak Dragonese, How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse, How to Twist a Dragon's Tale, A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons, How to Ride a Dragon's Storm, How to Break a Dragon's Heart, How to Steal a Dragon's Sword, How to Seize a Dragon's Jewel and How to Betray a Dragon's Hero. Check out the brilliant website at www.howtotrainyourdragonbooks.com It's the place to go for games, downloads, activities and sneak peeks!
Emily Brown and her old grey rabbit were an instant hit with children and parents everywhere when they burst onto the scene and won the 2006 Nestle prize. The book was called That Rabbit belongs to Emily Brown. Here is their second adventure is reissued in paperback and once again they save the day by making someone happy.
By the bestselling author of the How to Train Your Dragon series comes a reissue of the classic tale of Emily Brown and her old grey rabbit called Stanley. Emily Brown’s toy rabbit is so charming that the queen decides that she wants it to! But, Emily isn’t prepared to give her rabbit to anyone – even the Queen. She soon gets her rabbit back and teaches the queen a lesson about love and sharing into the bargain.
Jokes flow thick and fast from this most original and inventive Viking adventure, which launched the career of a Viking with a difference. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock grew up at a time of dragons but he was not always a hero. He had to learn to fight them. To do so he had to pass the Dragon Initiation Programme, an awesome schedule run by Gobber the Belch, idiot in charge of initiation on the Isle of Berk. Hiccup was by no means a natural high achiever when it came to dragon training but after many hilarious mishaps, he soon got the hang of it and was on the way to becoming a Hero.
Best-selling Cressida Cowell adds a must-have new title to her series. All kinds of facts about dragons and their world and advice about how to manage the big creatures are included. The whole dragon world is brought gloriously to life in Cressida Cowell’s brand new colour illustrations.
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is back for a rollicking new adventure. A Viking with a difference, Hiccup is a great swordsman and dragon whisperer but this time he’s got a dragon rebellion on his hands as well as trying to stop Alvin becoming the next King of the Wilderwest. It’s a lot for anyone to tackle and how this hilarious and delightful character achieves all he must is a delight. Hiccup’s previous adventures set the scene for this surprising and hilarious escapade in a glorious fantasy Viking world.
This is side-splittingly funny, wonderfully written and sure to appeal to children from about 8 upwards. It’s pirates with a big twist that includes a toothless dragon and a raft of peculiar people. Enough said, it’s a laugh on every page.
More hilarious fun as Hiccup the Viking continues his pirate training programme enduring the disgusting food, learning dragonese and now getting lost in the Library Labyrinth with the Driller Dragons and Madguts the Murderous on the Prowl. Following both words and pictures creates a fabulous and fantastical words of dragons, Vikings and general chaos. Luckily, the inclusion of a dragonese dictionary means readers can make sense of it all. Just!
The hilarious world of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock 111, a Viking hero with a difference! Armed with his sword the ‘Endeavour’, Hiccup sets out to complete yet another impossible task. (This is his eighth quest and they’ve all been full of swashbuckling daring deeds). This time Hiccup must discover the secret of the Lost Throne and it involves sailing across wild and inhospitable seas, camping in horrible places, battling the Berserks and overcoming any number of other obstacles too. Ridiculous, laugh-out-loud adventures with great comic illustrations to match. If you haven't discovered Hiccup yet, you're missing out on one of the greatest inventions of modern children's literature. ~ Julia Eccleshare There’s a major animated film featuring Hiccup - How to train your Dragon - scheduled for March 2010 from Dreamworks. And a message from a 9 year old: 'This is the funniest book I've read'
Hiccup the Hero has many attributes, including being a Dragon Whisperer. It’s a skill he learnt the hard way as these exploits reveal! Here also is an introduction to the key characteristics of the dragons and a Dragonese dictionary to help all future trainee Heroes. The Hiccup jokes continue to flow fast in this volume.
Hiccup the great Viking hero was not always such a star. He makes a mistake in his first Boarding an Enemy Ship Lesson by tackling a Roman Dragon Rustling ship with the fearsome Alvin the Treacherous on board. When Toothless, the hero’s dragon, gets captured, Hiccup needs all his skills to get him back. How will he do so when Alvin steals his copy of How to Speak Dragonese?
Jokes flow thick and fast from this most original and inventive Viking adventure, which launched the career of a Viking with a difference. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock grew up at a time of dragons but he was not always a hero. He had to learn to fight them. To do so he had to pass the Dragon Initiation Programme, an awesome schedule run by Gobber the Belch, idiot in charge of initiation on the Isle of Berk. Hiccup was by no means a natural high achiever when it came to dragon training but after many hilarious mishaps, he soon got the hang of it and was on the way to becoming a Hero. If you would prefer the edition with a film tie-in cover then click here.
Jokes flow thick and fast from this most original and inventive Viking adventure, which launched the career of a Viking with a difference. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock grew up at a time of dragons but he was not always a hero. He had to learn to fight them. To do so he had to pass the Dragon Initiation Programme, an awesome schedule run by Gobber the Belch, idiot in charge of initiation on the Isle of Berk. Hiccup was by no means a natural high achiever when it came to dragon training but after many hilarious mishaps, he soon got the hang of it and was on the way to becoming a Hero. About the Film: This is the film tie-in version of How to train your Dragon and is therefore the perfect companion to the film, which is released in March 2010. It’s a major animated motion picture from Dreamworks, who created Shrek, Madagascar and Kung-Fu Panda. It's an adventure comedy set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons and based on the book by Cressida Cowell. The story centres around a Viking teenager, who lives on the island of Berk, where fighting dragons is a way of life. Inititation is coming and this is his one chance to prove his worthiness to his tribe and his father. But when he encounters and ultimately befriends an injured dragon, his world is turned upside down. For lots of additional action and adventure with Hiccup why not also visit www.howtotrainyourdragonbooks.com. There are now eight books in the How to Train your Dragon series and they are published in over 30 languages. If you haven’t discovered Hiccup yet, you’re missing out on one of the greatest inventions of modern children’s literature.
Hiccup, the Viking hero in the world of entertaining and unusual adventures, is back for a new set of adventures on the Pirate Training Programme. Still being trained by Gobbler the Belch, Hiccup learns new skills to help as he searches for Grimbeard the Ghastly’s treasure. Pirates and Vikings and treasure and dragons collide in a glorious romping adventure. Lovereading4kids adds: This is side-splittingly funny, wonderfully written and sure to appeal to children from about 8 upwards. It’s pirates with a big twist that includes a toothless dragon and a raft of peculiar people. Enough said, it’s a laugh on every page.
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock 111, master of all things Heroic, has a load of new challenges to complete…Now he must complete the Impossible Task, save Fishlegs from being fed to the Beast to and discover the secret of the Lost Throne. It is a lot for one Hero. Luckily, Hiccup has just what it takes to solve all this and more – even if his methods are, as usual, a bit unorthodox. There’s a major animated film featuring Hiccup - How to train your Dragon - scheduled for March 2010 from Dreamworks.
A World Book Day 'Recommended Read' for 2011 Hiccup the Hero is back with a new adventure. This time the Venomous Vorpent is his enemy and it has already struck Fishlegs with the deadly Vorpentitis. Hiccup must find a way of countering the creature’s deadly sting… Once again, Hiccup has to find some ingenious and hilarious ways of overcoming a lethal enemy if he is going to prove that he really is a Hero.
Hiccup has a new set of challenges. This time he has to get back to Berk from America in record time, battle against the deadly Polarserpents and win the Inter-Tribal Friendly Swimming Race – which is not so friendly after all. Hiccup shows new talents not usually so necessary in a hero in this latest set of entertaining adventures.
The Isle of Berk is under threat. Hiccup’s latest challenge is to stop the volcano from exploding …To do so he must rescue the Fire Egg which has been stolen and return it to the Volcano and outwit the sword-claws of the Exterminators. Plenty of new and hilarious predicaments for the great Viking Hero await the reader.
The hilarious world of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock 111, a Viking hero with a difference! Armed with his sword the ‘Endeavour’, Hiccup sets out to complete yet another impossible task. (This is his eighth quest and they’ve all been full of swashbuckling daring deeds). This time Hiccup must discover the secret of the Lost Throne and it involves sailing across wild and inhospitable seas, camping in horrible places, battling the Berserks and overcoming any number of other obstacles too. Ridiculous, laugh-out-loud adventures with great comic illustrations to match. If you haven't discovered Hiccup yet, you're missing out on one of the greatest inventions of modern children's literature. ~ Julia Eccleshare There’s a major animated film featuring Hiccup - How to train your Dragon - scheduled for March 2010 from Dreamworks. And a message from a 9 year old: 'This is the funniest book I've read'
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock 111, master of all things Heroic, has a load of new challenges to complete…Now he must complete the Impossible Task, save Fishlegs from being fed to the Beast to and discover the secret of the Lost Throne. It is a lot for one Hero. Luckily, Hiccup has just what it takes to solve all this and more – even if his methods are, as usual, a bit unorthodox. There’s a major animated film featuring Hiccup - How to train your Dragon - scheduled for March 2010 from Dreamworks.
Emily Brown and her old grey rabbit were an instant hit with children and parents everywhere when they burst onto the scene not long ago and won the 2006 Nestle prize. The book was called That Rabbit belongs to Emily Brown. Here is their second adventure and once again they save the day by making someone happy.
More hilarious fun as Hiccup the Viking continues his pirate training programme enduring the disgusting food, learning dragonese and now getting lost in the Library Labyrinth with the Driller Dragons and Madguts the Murderous on the Prowl. Following both words and pictures creates a fabulous and fantastical words of dragons, Vikings and general chaos. Luckily, the inclusion of a dragonese dictionary means readers can make sense of it all. Just!
Hiccup the Hero has many attributes, including being a Dragon Whisperer. It’s a skill he learnt the hard way as these exploits reveal! Here also is an introduction to the key characteristics of the dragons and a Dragonese dictionary to help all future trainee Heroes. The Hiccup jokes continue to flow fast in this volume.
Emily Brown and her old grey rabbit were an instant hit with children and parents everywhere when they burst onto the scene not long ago and won the 2006 Nestle prize. The book was called That Rabbit belongs to Emily Brown. Here is their second adventure and once again they save the day by making someone happy.
Shortlisted for the Nestle Children's Award 2006 in the five and under category. Both author and illustrator are highly acclaimed in their own right and together in this absolutely exquisite picture they have surpassed even their own high expectations. Wonderfully imaginative with a subliminal message too that toddlers everywhere will thoroughly enjoy as will their parent.
This is side-splittingly funny, wonderfully written and sure to appeal to children from about 8 upwards. It’s pirates with a big twist that includes a toothless dragon and a raft of peculiar people. Enough said, it’s a laugh on every page.
Hiccup, the Viking hero in the world of entertaining and unusual adventures, is back for a new set of adventures on the Pirate Training Programme. Still being trained by Gobbler the Belch, Hiccup learns new skills to help as he searches for Grimbeard the Ghastly’s treasure. Pirates and Vikings and treasure and dragons collide in a glorious romping adventure. Lovereading4kids adds: This is side-splittingly funny, wonderfully written and sure to appeal to children from about 8 upwards. It’s pirates with a big twist that includes a toothless dragon and a raft of peculiar people. Enough said, it’s a laugh on every page.
An entertaining story which will strike a chord with all parents! How can the animals stop the Boo Hoo baby from crying? Feeding him helps, as does bathing him and playing with him but, in the end, bedtime is the only thing that will really stop him from crying. A wonderfully soothing ending to a great story.
The final book in the Wizards of Once quartet - the No.1 bestselling series from the author of How to Train Your Dragon. Warriors and Wizards combine forces against the dreadful power of the Kingwitch, whose searing evil threatens not only the Wildwoods, but all its creatures. Xar and Wish are on the final leg of their journey. First stop: The Mine of Happiness. Here, starvation is never far away for the Magical creatures who toil in its horrible depths. Xar and Wish must escape and fast; Xar needs to take control of his ever-growing Witchstain, and Wish must achieve her Destiny. But the Tatzelwurm is in their way, a grotesque monster who threatens to block every entrance. Time is not on their side, but the forests are calling them. Will their combined strength be enough for the BIGGEST quest so far; to defeat the Kingwitch once and for all? A rollercoaster of suspense and surprise GUARDIAN Cowell is moving towards national treasure BIG ISSUE Another coup from Cowell SUNDAY TIMES
May 2020 Book of the Month | The third book in Cressida Cowell’s new Wizards of Once series is full of magic – magical adventures and magical creatures, and it overflows with the magic of great storytelling. Our heroes, Wish the young Warrior girl and Xar the boy wizard, are continuing their dangerous quest to defeat the witches they accidentally freed in book one and which threaten both their worlds. They travel on a magic flying door, accompanied by their friends – sprites, a giant, snowcats, a werewolf and Bodkin, Wish’s young bodyguard – and come up against some awesome enemies. In hot pursuit are their parents, Xar’s father King Encanzo the enchanter and Wish’s mother, Warrior Queen Sychorax, both terrifying, both determined their children will do as they are told. Who will succeed? Can Wish and Xar change the course of history and write their own happy ending? We don’t know yet, but readers of all ages will be wishing with all their hearts that they can. Cressida Cowell’s invention and ambition for her characters is boundless, and this unputdownable story is as full of ideas and intelligence as it is of excitement.
Emily Brown and Stanley are back in this fun-filled Christmas picture book. By the author of the bestselling How to Train Your Dragon series. It's Christmas Eve, and who's that outside the window? It's Father Christmas! In his shiny new turbo-charged sleigh, complete with sat-nav. But things aren't going quite to plan... Can Emily Brown and Stanley save the day? They'll just need some emergency reindeer, a star map and ... MAGIC! A charmingly funny adventure about cherishing traditions, this is classic Christmas storytelling at its best. *With a shiny gold cover!* Written by Cressida Cowell, the bestselling author of the How to Train Your Dragon series. Illustrated by Neal Layton, the artist behind Stanley's Stick and Danny McGee Drinks the Sea, shortlisted for the Laugh Out Loud Picture Book Award.
The No.1 bestselling series from current Waterstones Children's Laureate and author of How To Train Your Dragon, Cressida Cowell. Enter a land of wizards, warriors, mythical creatures and powerful Magic in an exciting fantasy adventure. Wish and Xar are outlaws on the run, hunted by Warriors, Wizards and worst of all by WITCHES ... Can they find the ingredients for the spell to get rid of Witches before the Kingwitch gets his talons on the Magic-that-Works-on-Iron? Their next Quest is the most terrifying and treacherous of all ... and someone is going to betray them. Are you ready to KNOCK THREE TIMES? 'A rollercoaster of suspense and surprise' GUARDIAN 'Cowell is moving towards national treasure' BIG ISSUE 'Another coup from Cowell' SUNDAY TIMES
The third book in Cressida Cowell’s new Wizards of Once series is full of magic – magical adventures and magical creatures, and it overflows with the magic of great storytelling. Our heroes, Wish the young Warrior girl and Xar the boy wizard, are continuing their dangerous quest to defeat the witches they accidentally freed in book one and which threaten both their worlds. They travel on a magic flying door, accompanied by their friends – sprites, a giant, snowcats, a werewolf and Bodkin, Wish’s young bodyguard – and come up against some awesome enemies. In hot pursuit are their parents, Xar’s father King Encanzo the enchanter and Wish’s mother, Warrior Queen Sychorax, both terrifying, both determined their children will do as they are told. Who will succeed? Can Wish and Xar change the course of history and write their own happy ending? We don’t know yet, but readers of all ages will be wishing with all their hearts that they can. Cressida Cowell’s invention and ambition for her characters is boundless, and this unputdownable story is as full of ideas and intelligence as it is of excitement.
The No.1 Bestselling Series Enter a land of wizards, warriors, mythical creatures and powerful magic in an exciting fantasy adventure from the author of How To Train Your Dragon. Witches are creating havoc in the Wildwoods and danger lurks behind every tree trunk. Wish is in possession of a powerful, Magic Spelling Book; Xar has a dangerous Witchstain on his hand. Together they can save the Wildwoods from the curse of the Witches but they are separated by the highest wall imaginable, and time is running out ... It was unlikely that these heroes should meet in the first place. Is it possible they are destined to meet TWICE? 'The detail of Cowell's world is a delight ...This one will run and run' The Observer Discover the magic of Cressida Cowell.
An instant children's classic Cressida Cowell's What Shall We Do With The Boo-Hoo Baby? is a sturdy rhyming board book featuring a group of worried farmyard animals - all attempting to soothe and entertain the naughty boo-hoo baby. A perfect book for shared reading with the very young. Is there anything that will calm baby down?
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