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Find out moreFind the latest books for fans of fantasy stories and magical tales! We have extracts to download for most of our books plus expert reviews.
January 2021 Book of the Month | Kids are always being told that if they ‘dream their dreams’ one day those dreams will come true. ‘Living the dream’ is a very different experience for 11-going-on-12-year-old Malky in Ross Welford’s absorbing, vastly entertaining novel. Blackmailed into a bungled burglary, Malky becomes owner of a set of Dreaminators, mysterious machines that make dream worlds real and give the dreamer powers to control them. At first, Malky and his co-dreamer, little brother Seb, enjoy their night-time adventures, especially those in a Stone Age world closely based on Seb’s favourite storybook where they make friends, go hunting, and Seb has high hopes of riding a mammoth. If it seems too good to be true, of course it is, and as Malky’s ability to control what’s happening in his dreams weakens, everything – awake or asleep – starts to go wrong. When Seb is taken prisoner in a dream and falls into a life-threatening coma in real life, Malky has to face up to his responsibilities, not to mention the fears and anger his dreams have disguised, in one last terrifying dream. At least he has new friends there to help. The story is cleverly told and plotted, moving back and forward in time, from dream to reality, with Doctor Who ease. It’s full of humour too, e.g. a wonderful scene in the school canteen in which Malky does all the things he’s always dreamed of doing, not realising he’s actually awake. Core too are the really big things in life – friendship, love, family, learning about yourself and understanding others. It’s a book that delights in the fact that the inside of our head is bigger far than the outside. Readers who enjoy Welford’s excellent books will also race through Christopher Edge’s out-of-this world adventures.
January 2021 Book of the Month | Written and illustrated by Jion Sheibani, Sohal Finds a Friend is a sweet side-splitting story that will provide much comfort to little worriers as they enjoy an adventure in the company of an endearing boy and his furry friends. It’s a brilliant way to help children understand their anxieties and express themselves - think Pixar’s Inside Out in book form. Sohal is one of life’s worriers and dreads bedtime, when “the darkness would grow and grow, until it filled every part of his body”. His dad’s suggestion of calm breathing doesn’t help, and his mum’s suggestion of counting sheep is useless too, for in Sohal’s mind they’re transformed into mutant alien sheep fleeing a giant robot wolf! But everything changes when he draws the monsters that plague him and…THEY COME TO LIFE! With Hurt, Fail, Anger, Big, and Alone for company, Sohal’s attention is diverted to worrying about them - what will everyone at school think? – but it’s not long before The Worries help him understand and control his own worries, while providing a whole lot of fun. Funny, with thoughtful themes that foster off-the-page dialogue, this is a warm-hearted winner for 5+ year-olds. You can find more books on this theme in our Anxiety & Wellbeing collection.
Fans of S A Patrick’s fantasy novel A Darkness of Dragons will snatch up this sequel with real excitement – after all, in Patch Brightwater, Wren Cobble and Barver Knopferkerkle, he’s created the kind of characters readers really miss when the book ends. Reunited for more adventures, the three are faced with challenges and dangers galore as they try to thwart the wicked Hamelyn Piper. First on their to-do list however, is to rescue Patch’s friend Erner Whitlock from some very deep dungeons… The world the friends inhabit is full of surprises, for them as much as for readers, and their adventures crackle with magic and suspense. If you enjoy going on quests, untangling prophecies and, of course, spending time with characters who are brave, loyal and very good company, then these are the books for you.
January 2021 Book of the Month | The latest instalment of P G Bell’s Train to Impossible Places delivers its dose of excitement and adventure impeccably (as you’d expect in a book starring some of the most efficient and dedicated postal operatives you could ever hope to meet). In previous episodes, as crew member of the Impossible Postal Express, Suzy has befriended ghosts, battled a giant robot and saved an entire city from destruction. Now, in spite of the best efforts of her parents, who know what’s been going on and are, understandably, more than a little worried, she’s back on board with another challenging delivery to make: a book needs to be returned to its library. This being the Impossible Places, that’s a lot less simple and a lot more magical than it sounds, and the task will see Suzy sucked into a void storm, trapped at the bottom of the ocean - and almost eaten by a giant frog. PG Bell’s books overflow with invention and thrills and I defy anyone not to want to climb onboard with Suzy and her extraordinary friends. By the end of the story, our own world has been made just a bit more magical, and readers will feel that too as they close the book. Fans of trains and magical adventures will also enjoy Lev Grossman’s The Silver Arrow. Read more about The Train to Impossible Places series!
January 2021 Book of the Month | Set in a magical world, this glorious tale of adventure and daring stars the most unlikely heroine because, as the narrator explains, sometimes it takes a story to show that the truly extraordinary people – the ones who defeat monsters and save kingdoms – are often the ones that nobody notices at first. If that statement doesn’t make you want to snatch up the book and read it from beginning to end, then you have no heart! Smudge is indeed overlooked – she’s clumsy and in her own words ‘a bit useless’ but somehow, she emerges as the only hope for Crackledown when the evil harpy Morg tries to steal its magic. Fortunately, Smudge is also courageous, inventive and determined – and she has an equally remarkable helper in the shape of tea-drinking, trilby-wearing talking monkey, Bartholomew. Their adventures as they sail beyond the treacherous Northswirl and journey into the heart of the Everdark forest are filled with everything that makes for the best adventures, including magic, drama, narrow escapes, shared laughter and lots of heart. Originally published for World Book Day, Everdark has been reissued in a dyslexia friendly format, which is wonderful news for children like Smudge who struggle with reading and spelling, but everyone should read it. Everdark is a standalone story but part of Abi Elphinstone’s The Unmapped Chronicles series, which are also highly recommended.
January 2021 Debut of the Month | Alston is a debut author who looked in vain for a hero or heroine who looked like him in fantasy novels – and this delivers and so much more too. Amari is a child who attends a posh school on a scholarship – but really finds it hard to fit in and avoid the bullies. Her mother is a hard-working health worker, and her brother Quinton is missing – his disappearance seems be the root of Amari’s difficulties. As the holidays approach Amari receives an invitation via a mysterious messenger to be considered for something (at this stage unexplained) – by attending an interview. From here on the story becomes a hugely imaginative, funny and compelling adventure. Magic and mystery flow thick and fast from this point on – as Amari takes her chances to prove herself and to start finding out what happened to her brother. The story takes you through the development of some close and lasting friendships, against some awful magical bullies and monsters, to an exciting and nail-biting adventurous conclusion, though it leaves a possible opening for more books about Amari in future. A wonderful fun adventure addition to every child's bookshelf and any school library looking for more representation across all it’s genres.
A boy with a special talent, a girl transformed into a rat by magic, and a fire-breathing young dracogriff (half dragon, half griffin) – three friends, three unlikely heroes! In S A Patrick’s sparkling fantasy adventure they face sorcerers, bandits, imprisonment and mercenary armies, plus betrayal by the people they should be able to trust the most, and they face them all with courage, loyalty to each other and humour. Their arch enemy is the legendary Pied Piper no less, supposedly imprisoned for what he did in Hamelyn, but actually free and planning more wickedness against humans and dragons alike. It’s a story full of adventure and excitement, as well as characters readers will root for from the first – and best of all, there’s a sequel! Readers who enjoy Patch, Wren and Barver’s adventures will also enjoy Abi Elphinstone’s Rumblestar series and Michelle Harrison’s Widdershins Adventures.
P.G. Bell’s debut The Train to Impossible Places established him as a writer of hugely exciting, inventive and satisfying adventure, and its sequel, The Great Brain Robbery, is just as good, if not even better. Once again 11-year-old Suzy is aboard the Impossible Postal Express tearing through the fantastical realms that make up the Union of Impossible Places, and this time it’s a do or die mission to save Trollville from a thoroughly nasty villain. Suzy is much more at home now with fuzzics, the strange mix of science and magic that lies at the heart of troll technology, though there are still some fabulous surprises in store for her and readers. Adventure doesn’t come more exciting or entertaining, and this is one train young readers really mustn’t miss. Read more about The Train to Impossible Places series!
So, so readable, Of Ants and Dinosaurs with the lightest and brightest of touches, made my brain itch with its creativity and klaxon alarm. Perfect for readers from young adult on, this sets itself as a “satirical fable, a political allegory and ecological warning”. In a time long long ago ants and dinosaurs joined forces to build a magnificent civilisation, when doom threatens will the dinosaurs listen to the ants? Cixin Liu is China’s number one science-fiction writer and his The Three-Body Problem was the first translated novel to win a Hugo award. I just love the cover, and the ants marching across the chapter pages had me smiling. As soon as I started to read my attention was well and truly caught. The prologue sets the scene with wonder and I read and believed without a moments doubt. While portraying the ant and dinosaur alliance, there is very much a warning to the human race here. Deceptively simple and brilliantly clever, I simply adored it.
Sometimes you are a whisper away from magic without even realizing it. Nine is an orphan pickpocket determined to escape her life in the Nest of a Thousand Treasures. When she steals a house-shaped ornament from a mysterious woman's purse, she knocks on its tiny door and watches it grow into a huge, higgledy-piggeldy house. Inside she finds a host of magical and brilliantly funny characters, including Flabberghast - a young wizard who's particularly competitive at hopscotch - and a hideous troll housekeeper who's emotionally attached to his feather duster. They have been placed under an extraordinary spell, which they are desperate for Nine to break - and if she can, maybe they can offer her a new life in return...
Fly into a fiery and fantastical future with No. 1 bestselling author David Walliams, in an epic adventure of myth and legend, good and evil, and one small boy who must save the world… Illustrated by the artistic genius Tony Ross! It is 2120 and London is in ruins. The young Prince Alfred has never known a life outside Buckingham Palace – but when strange goings-on breach its walls and stalk the corridors in the dead of night, he is thrust into a world of mystery, adventure and monsters. And when his mother, the Queen, is dragged away to the Tower of London, Alfred must screw up his courage and battle to save her, himself… and the entire city. In a future of myths and legends, join the bestselling David Walliams and venture forth into his most enthralling tale yet!
The Boy Who Grew Dragons Book 5 | The Boy Who Sang with Dragons is the fifth and final book in this outstanding series and in it Tomas discovers the final pieces of information about the amazing dragons that grow in his grandad’s garden on their wonderful dragonfruit tree. But Tomas can’t help feeling upset when he realises that his friend Aura’s links with the dragons go back further than his. Could she really be the Queen of the Dragons? Fortunately, Grandad is on hand for a chat and as the two chew things over (literally – Grandad’s pockets are always full of toffees), Tomas realises there’s nothing to worry about. All these stories are full of magic, adventure and comedy and this is a triumphant finish to a series that gives young readers dragon-sized helpings of pleasure and fun.
January 2011 Guest Editor Jenny Downham on a classic of apocalyptic science fiction: "Written as a documentary novel, Z for Zachariah explores the nightmare situation faced by two people who believe they are the last humans left on earth. This was the first novel I read as a teenager that utterly transported me. I had never realised books could do that. It literally took me away from home and put me somewhere else. Absolutely haunting and impossible to put down!"
In a nutshell: Iconic | Outspoken | Big Issues | Difficult Truths A powerful post-apocalyptic novel in which nuclear war has devastated America. Z FOR ZACHARIAH by Robert C. O'Brien is one of The Originals from Penguin - iconic, outspoken, first. The Originals are the pioneers of fiction for young adults. From political awakening, war and unrequited love to addiction, teenage pregnancy and nuclear holocaust, The Originals confront big issues and articulate difficult truths. The collection includes: The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton, I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith, Postcards from No Man's Land - Aidan Chambers, After the First Death - Robert Cormier, Dear Nobody - Berlie Doherty, The Endless Steppe - Esther Hautzig, Buddy - Nigel Hinton, Across the Barricades - Joan Lingard, The Twelfth Day of July - Joan Lingard, No Turning Back - Beverley Naidoo, Z for Zachariah - Richard C. O'Brien, The Wave - Morton Rhue, The Red Pony - John Steinbeck, The Pearl - John Steinbeck, Stone Cold - Robert Swindells
January 2011 Guest Editor Jenny Downham on a classic of apocalyptic science fiction: "Written as a documentary novel, Z for Zachariah explores the nightmare situation faced by two people who believe they are the last humans left on earth. This was the first novel I read as a teenager that utterly transported me. I had never realised books could do that. It literally took me away from home and put me somewhere else. Absolutely haunting and impossible to put down!"
In a nutshell: Iconic | Outspoken | Big Issues | Difficult Truths A powerful post-apocalyptic novel in which nuclear war has devastated America. Z FOR ZACHARIAH by Robert C. O'Brien is one of The Originals from Penguin - iconic, outspoken, first. The Originals are the pioneers of fiction for young adults. From political awakening, war and unrequited love to addiction, teenage pregnancy and nuclear holocaust, The Originals confront big issues and articulate difficult truths. The collection includes: The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton, I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith, Postcards from No Man's Land - Aidan Chambers, After the First Death - Robert Cormier, Dear Nobody - Berlie Doherty, The Endless Steppe - Esther Hautzig, Buddy - Nigel Hinton, Across the Barricades - Joan Lingard, The Twelfth Day of July - Joan Lingard, No Turning Back - Beverley Naidoo, Z for Zachariah - Richard C. O'Brien, The Wave - Morton Rhue, The Red Pony - John Steinbeck, The Pearl - John Steinbeck, Stone Cold - Robert Swindells
Best-selling Julia Golding launches a thrilling new adventure as the the Young Knights of the Round Table return for a second adventure. Although once trained to think of humans as the enemy the Young Knights now know better and their task is nothing less than saving the human world. To stop King Oberon making all humans prisoners, Rick and Rocky need the help of King Arthur Pendragon, the only person who can possibly stop king Oberon. But King Arthur Pendragon, now living a quiet life with a puffin for a pet, seems to have lost his appetite for the fight. In a world filled with dragons, how will the Young Knights succeed?
April 2013 Book of the Month Best-selling Julia Golding tells a fast paced, time-travelling fantasy adventure based on the legends of King Arthur that cleverly provokes thought about contemporary life too. Stolen away by the Fey in infancy, Rick has been taught to believe that humans are his enemy. All his training in magical Avalon, has been designed to make him a warrior fit to fight humans and the evil they represent. But, when Rick slips through time and finds himself as a human teenager, nothing has prepared him what it will really be like. In addition to our Lovereading expert opinion for Young Knights of the Round Table a small number of children were lucky enough to be invited to review this title. Here's a taster....'I really like this book because it’s full of adventure and the author describes the characters and settings in such detail which make them really easy to picture'. Scroll down to read more reviews...
Two books in one in this bumper book about a magical creature and the unusual things that happen when it is around. In The Great Expanding Guinea Pig Ruby Morgan introduces Thing, her special and very unusual friend who can do magic and often does so with very unpredictable results! Thing is also at the heart of Beware of the Snow Blobs. In both, Ruby’s chirpy first person storytelling brings both the everyday and the unexpectedly vividly to life. ~ Julia Eccleshare
October 2018 Book of the Month | | The Nothing to See Here Hotel offers a 5 star reading experience for youngsters, hilarious but still exciting adventures, a fabulous setting and a cast of totally eccentric but utterly lovable characters. The hotel you see is not for humans, but magical creatures – a scenario offering all sorts of possibilities, exploited brilliantly by writer Steven Butler and illustrator Steven Lenton. In this second book, preparations for the annual Trogmanay celebrations are threatened, first by the arrival of a family of yetis (in magical snowstorm), then by something that seems a lot less friendly. Can Frankie, son of the owners and our hero, sort things out before the Trollidays are ruined? No matter how much snow and ice the yetis bring, reading this provides a real sense of warmth, and everyone will want to be part of the hotel’s community.
The story of Darkmouth, seaside town and gateway to other nastier worlds, continues! Twelve year old Finn is one of the last of the Legend Hunters, but not a particularly lucky one. His father is missing, trapped on the Infested Side, and when Finn finally finds a way in to rescue him it’s with an officious, impractically dressed administrator from the Council of Twelve, no Desiccator and a half-working radio - things don’t look good. This new helping of Darkmouth adventures is even more fun than the first: the monsters are scarier, the gadgets are gadgetier, the jokes are smoother and Finn’s relationship with friend and helper Emmie is nicely established. An inventive, entertaining page-turner. ~ Andrea Reece
Told in fun, jaunty rhyme and accompanied by bright and cheerful illustrations reminiscent of Meg and Mog, children will fall in love with the accident prone wizard and his stoic pink sidekick. Perfect for emerging readers starting to read for themselves, or lovely to read aloud, this series is a must-have addition to every family’s bookshelf.
August 2016 Book of the Month | In a nutshell: ways to change the world Joseph is not classic super-hero material: he’s asthmatic and rubbish at sports, bullied regularly and nicknamed Wilco because he always complies when someone demands he does their homework. Imagine his surprise and excitement therefore when he develops special powers including telekinesis. Could this be his chance to get his own back on the bullies, impress the gorgeous Indira and even join super-heroes unlimited the Vigils? Well, yes and no. The story that follows is a sharply-observed comedy of teen life, with a serious undertone. Amongst the comic-book action Burstein shows what heroism - the kind that calls for real courage – really is, and reminds readers that heroes and villains too are often those we least expect them to be. ~ Andrea Reece
A howlingly hairy summer adventure - picture a boy, his eccentric grandparents and a pet dog that is a kind of special werewolf in reverse, all living on the edge of a strange and eerie wood. Now imagine that this strange dog is being hunted by the scientific institute from where it escaped. Fast and funny, it’s sure to wow readers of 8 or 9+ and with its fantastic lenticular cover not much is left to the imagination as you see Woody the dog change from wolf to boy. Brilliant. A message from the publisher, Barry Cunningham: Bite me! No, not really! But that’s what you might think your doggy best friend would do if he turned rather strange at full moon. Dark, thrilling and funny, this is the book you’ve been dying to read. Click here to see all the Wolven books.
Another exciting adventurous read, jammed full of fabled beasts and some pretty perilous moments. This is the second in the Fabled Beast Chronicles, it would be best to read First Aid for Fairies first, to learn how Helen meets and becomes friends with creatures of legend and fairy tales. True faeries (note the spelling, it’s important) are attempting to return and take over the woodland of the wolf people. Faeries can deceive, faeries can be vicious, faeries can ensnare you! Although the courageous main character is a girl, there are plenty of boys (they just aren't human) who get in on the action too, so this really is a series for everyone. ~ Liz Robinson Some of our readers were lucky enough to review the first of the Fabled Beast Chronicles, First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts....here's a taster of what they thought...'A great fantasy story full of mythical creatures and legends. This is book one of four and I can't wait to read the other three books.' and 'Wonderful story for children, a gripping fairytale that will keep you reading past your bedtime.' Read more reviews here!
Rich in detail which brings the past to life and makes the forest background vivid to all readers, Wolf Brother tells how orphaned Torak must set out on a terrible mission. Tricked, trapped and betrayed at almost every turn, it’s a lonely quest but Torak finds comfort in the support of a wolf cub. Relying on their quick wits, the two journey through danger until Torak must make the final sacrifice. Titles in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series: 1. Wolf Brother 2. Spirit Walker 3. Soul-eater 4. Outcast 5. Oathbreaker 6. Ghost Hunter
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