M. G. Leonard, the award-winning bestselling author of the Adventures on Trains series and Twitch, dazzles in this future classic with a powerful message at its core.
Gorgeously illustrated in black-and-white throughout by Penny Neville-Lee this hardback is a perfect gift for boys and girls of 8-12. At the stroke of midnight on the dawn of December, five-year-old Finn Albedo is found frozen in the city park standing on a pedestal of ice. His heart is beating, he is smiling serenely, but no one can wake him.
Finn's big sister, Bianca, suspects that the beautiful sparkling book Finn got from the library has something to do with it, but the book has vanished. Does the tall mysterious stranger who first discovered Finn know more than they will admit?
Each day, more children are found frozen and Bianca realizes she's running out of time. Her quest to discover the truth and rescue her little brother hurls her into a fantastical winter wonderland, full of beauty and danger, where all is not as it seems. Can Bianca save her brother and the other Ice Children before they are forever lost?
'As unforgettable as Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Snow Queen' . . . a whirlingly imaginative storyline full of wonder and hope as well as warning.' - The Times
Author
About M. G. Leonard
M.G. Leonard has made up stories since she was a girl, but back then adults called them lies or tall tales and she didn't write them down.
As a grown up, her favourite things to create stories about are beetles, birds, and trains. Her books have been translated into over forty languages and won many awards. She is the vice president of the insect charity Buglife, and a founding author of Authors4Oceans.
She lives in Brighton with her husband, two sons, a fat cat called Kasper, a dog called Nell, and a variety of exotic beetles.
M.G. Leonard has a first-class honours degree in English Literature and an MA in Shakespeare Studies from Kings College London. She is the author of Beetle Boy and is still overcoming her fear of all things creepy crawly. She works in London as the Senior Digital Media Producer for the National Theatre, and previously worked at the Royal Opera House and Shakespeare’s Globe. Leonard spent her early career in the music industry running Setanta Records, an independent record label, and managing bands, most notably The Divine Comedy. After leaving the music industry, she trained as an actor, dabbling in directing and producing as well as performing, before deciding to write her stories down. Leonard lives in Brighton with her partner and two sons and her pet rainbow stag beetle.