Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books: Children's Top Book Picks - Jan 2021

 

Lauren St John - Kate Wolfe on Thin Ice (Wolfe & Lamb) - Published by Macmillan Children's Books (7 Jan. 2021) - ISBN-13: 978-1509874279 - Paperback - Age: 9+

Join Kat Wolfe and her best friend Harper Lamb on the winter holiday of a lifetime in Kat Wolfe on Thin Ice – full of mystery, intrigue, snow and huskies!

Kat and Harper can’t wait to join their parents on a winter vacation in a mountain cabin in the US. But a series of misadventures result in them being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Alone. 
When Kat discovers that an argument she witnessed in New York City holds the key to a major crime, she's certain that it’s only a matter of time until the culprits come looking for her. 
With a snow storm moving in and no way out, all that stands between the girls and disaster are a team of eight huskies and one impossible raccoon.

Amy Sparkes - The House at the Edge of Magic - Published by Walker Books (7 Jan. 2021) - ISBN-13 : 978-1406395310 - Paperback - Age: 7+

"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…

 

Louie Stowell (Author), Davide Ortu (Illustrator) - The Wizard in the Wood (The Dragon in the Library) - Published by Nosy Crow Ltd (14 Jan. 2021) - ISBN-13 : 978-1788006323 - Paperback Age: 7+

Kit, Josh and Alita are heading back to school - and they're excited to discover that they're getting a brand new library, which also means getting their own wizard librarian... and a dragon! But when something VERY BAD happens at the new library, it's up to Kit and her friends to save the world one more time. The third instalment in the funny, exciting, magical, and action-packed Dragon in the Library series, brilliantly illustrated throughout by Davide Ortu. Have you read the other books in the series? Look out for: The Dragon in the Library The Monster in the Lake. 

Ross Welford - When We Got Lost in Dreamland - Published by HarperCollins Children’s Books (21 Jan. 2021) - ISBN-13 : 978-0008447182 - Age: 8+ - Hardback 

The landmark new novel from Ross Welford, one of the fastest-growing and most critically acclaimed middle-grade authors in the UK, this funny, moving and brilliant sixth book cements his position as the most exciting storyteller around for readers of 10+.

When 12-year-old Malky and his younger brother Seb become the owners of a “Dreaminator”, they are thrust into worlds beyond their wildest imagination.
 
From tree-top flights and Spanish galleons, to thrilling battles and sporting greatness – it seems like nothing is out of reach when you can share a dream with someone else.
 
But… impossible dreams come with incredible risks, and when Seb won’t wake up and is taken to hospital in a coma, Malky is forced to leave reality behind and undertake a final, terrifying journey to the stone-age to wake his brother…