Eva Ibbotson - Author

Born in Vienna, Eva Ibbotson came to England as a small girl. She spent much of her adult life in Newcastle upon Tyne. When her husband was alive he bred snails in the garage; they also kept fish and had a small and very hairy dog. Eva had four grown-up children and seven grandchildren. She wrote for both adults and children. Which Witch was runner-up for the Carnegie Medal and The Secret of Platform 13 was shortlisted for the Smarties Prize. Journey to the River Sea won the Smarties Book Prize Gold Award, was runner-up for the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year and the Guardian Fiction Award, and was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

Eva's books for older readers (12+) include: The Morning Gift, A Song for Summer, The Secret Countess, A Company of Swans and Magic Flutes. Her books for younger readers (9+) include: The Dragonfly Pool, Journey to the River Sea and The Star of Kazan.

And for even younger readers (7+): Which Witch, Dial a Ghost, Not just a Witch, Monster Mission, The Beasts of Clawstone Castle, The secret of Platform 13, The Great Ghost rescue and The Haunting of Hiram.

Eva's final novel that she completed prior to her death at the age of 85 in 2010 is called One Dog and his Boy.

Eva Ibbotson on writing:
"I started to scribble stories when I was about seven years old and I just carried on so I became a writer gradually. I didn't try to get anything published until I was quite grown-up. I write at my mother's old desk, looking out on to a leafy street, and I rewrite what I have written again and again until I get the words the way I want them (most of my pages have been through eight drafts or so). It's my belief that one should be in the same place each day, so that if an idea is hovering it knows where to find you. Ideas can come from places one has seen or conversations one has overheard - or just from nowhere! Being an author can be lonely, difficult and frustrating, but there is nothing else I'd rather be."

If you like Eva Ibbotson you might also like to read books by Philip Reeve, Geraldine Mccaughrean and Jenny Nimmo.

Featured Books, with extracts, by Eva Ibbotson

Journey to the River Sea
Eva Ibbotson
A special 15th anniversary edition of this award-winning classic adventure from Eva Ibbotson in which orphaned Maia travels from England to the Amazon with her governess. August 2013 Guest Editor, Lauren St John "To me, Eva Ibbotsen is a genius....
Lovereading Price: £6.39 - Saving £1.60 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers | 11+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 25/08/2016 Info Extract Buy

The Christmas Star A Festive Story Collection
Eva Ibbotson - illustrated by Nick Maland
Reading the three stories in this excellent collection reminds one again of what an extremely fine author Eva Ibbotson was, how beautifully she wrote, and how bold she was in her storytelling. All three stories are set in Vienna, where...
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers | 11+ readers
Format: Hardback | Released 22/10/2015 Info Extract Buy

The Ogre of Oglefort
Eva Ibbotson
Shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2010. Shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2010. A Richard and Judy Children's Book Club selection 2011 - Fluent Readers Irresistibly ridiculous, this is a wonderful and enchanting romp from a...
Lovereading Price: £4.79 - Saving £1.20 (20%) Featured in: 7+ readers | 9+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 10/09/2015 Info Extract Buy

A Company of Swans
Eva Ibbotson
Eva Ibbotson's Journey to the River Sea is the book that for many will be the most memorable of all the books they read as a child. Like Journey to the River Sea, A Company of Swans is set in...
Lovereading Price: £6.39 - Saving £1.60 (20%) Featured in: YA readers
Format: Paperback | Released 26/03/2015 Info Extract Buy

Magic Flutes
Eva Ibbotson
Romance and intrigue make this lyrical historical adventure an unputdownable read! When a British millionaire sets out to buy a secluded fairy tale castle set high up on a rock above a beautiful lake he finds that its heiress is...
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: YA readers | 13+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 26/03/2015 Info Extract Buy

The Morning Gift
Eva Ibbotson
The story of this marvellous romance begins in Vienna, then moves to London – the gloomy, tense London of 1939 when the reception for refugees like Ruth and her family was meaner than we'd like to think. It's a journey...
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: YA readers
Format: Paperback | Released 26/03/2015 Info Extract Buy

The Secret Countess
Eva Ibbotson
This is a beguiling story of a young Russian countess who loses everything in her homeland but finds sanctuary in England as a house maid in an aristocratic household. The trappings of her childhood of privilege are a distant memory...
Lovereading Price: £6.39 - Saving £1.60 (20%) Featured in: YA readers
Format: Paperback | Released 26/03/2015 Info Extract Buy

A Song for Summer
Eva Ibbotson
Eva Ibbotson is so clever at capturing moments in history and weaving a story around them and her characters too are so real you feel you can reach out and touch them. Here in A Song for Summer is absolutely...
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: YA readers
Format: Paperback | Released 26/03/2015 Info Extract Buy

The Beasts of Clawstone Castle
Eva Ibbotson
Eva Ibbotson is one of those rare authors that really delivers believable and utterly captivating characters. Her setting is a castle that is quite fantastical, with some incredibly funny ghosts. And yet readers are drawn in in such a way as...
Lovereading Price: £4.79 - Saving £1.20 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers | 11+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 09/10/2014 Info Extract Buy

Monster Mission
Eva Ibbotson
Eva Ibbotson is the author of numerous award winning novels for children including this, a new cover edition of one of her spookiest and most fantastical adventures in which three kidnapped children must save themselves and their new friends they...
Lovereading Price: £4.79 - Saving £1.20 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers | 11+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 09/10/2014 Info Extract Buy

The Star of Kazan
Eva Ibbotson
A beautiful new cover edition of this enthralling adventure set in turn-of-the-century Vienna. From the author of the bestselling Journey to the River Sea. ***Eva's son, Toby Ibbotson, is now continuing the tradition of storytelling with his debut novel
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers | 11+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 08/05/2014 Info Extract Buy

Journey to the River Sea
Eva Ibbotson
A new cover edition of this award-winning classic adventure from Eva Ibbotson in which orphaned Maia travels from England to the Amazon with her governess. August 2013 Guest Editor, Lauren St John "To me, Eva Ibbotsen is a genius. You...
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers | 11+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 08/05/2014 Info Extract Buy

The Dragonfly Pool
Eva Ibbotson
A wonderful, magical adventure spins out of a school story with a difference. Tally doesn't want to leave her father and her aunts and go away to boarding school. But Delderton Hall is a very special school with interesting staff...
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: 11+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 08/05/2014 Info Extract Buy

The Abominables
Eva Ibbotson - illustrated by Sharon Rentta
Award-winning Eva Ibbotson's charming fantasy about the rescue of an entertaining family group of Yeti and their transportation from the Himalayan Mountains to England in a frozen food lorry is touching, tender and very funny. It also carries a strong...
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers | 11+ readers | 7+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 02/05/2013 Info Extract Buy

The Abominables
Eva Ibbotson - illustrated by Sharon Rentta
Shortlisted for the 2012 Guardian children's fiction prize and One of Julia Eccleshare's Stand-out Children's Book of the Year 2012. July 2012 Book of the Month. Award-winning Eva Ibbotson's charming fantasy about the rescue of an entertaining ...
Lovereading Price: £8.79 - Saving £2.20 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 05/07/2012 Info Extract Buy

One Dog and His Boy
Eva Ibbotson
Shortlisted for the Galaxy Children's Book of the Year Award 2011.Award winning Eva Ibbotson's poignant and beautiful last book celebrates a boy's passion for a dog. All Hal has ever wanted is a dog but his parents refuse...
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 01/03/2012 Info Extract Buy

Journey to the River Sea 10th Anniversary Edition
Eva Ibbotson
August 2013 Guest Editor, Lauren St John "To me, Eva Ibbotsen is a genius. You can pick up any of her books – The Dragonfly Pool and One Boy and His Dog are also fantastic – and be guaranteed a...
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 03/06/2011 Info Extract Buy

One Dog and His Boy
Eva Ibbotson - illustrated by Sharon Rentta
A Lovereading4kids 'Great Read' you may have missed 2011 selection. Shortlisted for the Galaxy Children's Book of the Year Award 2011 Award winning Eva Ibbotson's poignant and beautiful last book celebrates a boy's passion for a dog. All Hal has...
Lovereading Price: £8.79 - Saving £2.20 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers | 11+ readers
Format: Hardback | Released 05/05/2011 Info Extract Buy

The Ogre of Oglefort
Eva Ibbotson
Shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2010. Shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2010. Irresistibly ridiculous, this is a wonderful and enchanting romp from a master storyteller. Every year at the Summer Meeting of Unusual Creatures the annual...
Lovereading Price: £7.99 - Saving £2.00 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers | 7+ readers
Format: Hardback | Released 07/05/2010 Info Extract Buy

Magic Flutes
Eva Ibbotson
Romance and intrigue make this lyrical historical adventure an unputdownable read! When a British millionaire sets out to buy a secluded fairy tale castle set high up on a rock above a beautiful lake he finds that its heiress is...
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: 13+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 01/05/2009 Info Extract Buy

Dragonfly Pool
Eva Ibbotson
A wonderful, magical adventure spins out of a school story with a difference. Tally doesn't want to leave her father and her aunts and go away to boarding school. But Delderton Hall is a very special school with interesting staff...
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: 11+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 03/04/2009 Info Extract Buy

Dragonfly Pool
Eva Ibbotson
A wonderful, magical adventure spins out of a school story with a difference. Tally doesn't want to leave her father and her aunts and go away to boarding school. But Delderton Hall is a very special school with interesting staff...
Lovereading Price: £8.79 - Saving £2.20 (20%) Featured in: 11+ readers
Format: Hardback | Released 02/05/2008 Info Extract Buy

Song For Summer
Eva Ibbotson
Eva Ibbotson is so clever at capturing moments in history and weaving a story around them and her characters too are so real you feel you can reach out and touch them. Here in A Song for Summer is absolutely...
Lovereading Price: £5.59 - Saving £1.40 (20%) Featured in: 11+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 04/08/2006 Info Extract Buy

The Beasts of Clawstone Castle
Eva Ibbotson
Eva Ibbotson is one of those rare authors that really delivers believable and utterly captivating characters. Her setting is a castle that is quite fantastical, with some incredibly funny ghosts. And yet readers are drawn in in such a way as...
Lovereading Price: £4.79 - Saving £1.20 (20%) Featured in: 9+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 02/06/2006 Info Extract Buy

Journey to the River Sea
Eva Ibbotson
Chosen by Anne Fine. A charming and magical adventure story that is full of wisdom, warmth and understanding. Orphaned Maia is sent off to stay with her relatives far, far away in the heart of the Amazon jungle. She's excited...
Lovereading Price: £4.79 - Saving £1.20 (20%) Featured in: 11+ readers | 9+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 10/05/2002 Info Extract Buy

Which Witch?
Eva Ibbotson
A favourite of November 2010 Guest Editor Jonathan Stroud: "Arriman the Awful, master of black magic and great Wizard of the North, needs an heir. And that means he has to get married. Trouble is, wicked wizards have to marry...
Lovereading Price: £4.79 - Saving £1.20 (20%) Featured in: 7+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 12/10/2001 Info Extract Buy

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