Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books - Favourite Children's Book Picks - MARCH 2025 UK
Jessie Burton - Hidden Treasure - Published by Bloomsbury Children's Books (13 Mar. 2025) - ISBN-13 : 978-1526604569 - Hardback - Age: 8+
For the people who live on the banks of the Thames, the river is a living, breathing thing. It can take your treasures. It can hide your treasures. And, sometimes, it can give them back.
Bo and Billy are two children who have never met. Billy is an orphan. Bo's dad died when she was small and now her brother is off to war. Both children are poor, but they have each found half of a priceless treasure, given up by the river. A treasure which - when the pieces are reunited - holds the power to give back to one of them the most precious thing they have ever lost.
But should the treasure be put back together again? And why has the river given it up now?
For fans of Katherine Rundell and Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke, Hidden Treasure is a classic in the making, with a rip-roaring plot, spine-tingling twists and an unforgettable cast of characters.
Pádraig Kenny - AFTER - Published by Walker Books (6 Mar. 2025) - ISBN-13 : 978-1529517804 - Paperback - Age: 9+
The Last of Us meets Wall-E in this post-apocalyptic tale of family, hope and survival from a multi-award-winning author
Jen and her father are making their way across a deserted world after a technological collapse brought civilization as people knew it to an end. The Flood took out all all technology, but also many people who were connected to a central information hive. Those who are left behind must find each other and build a new life. But Jen's father isn't related to her by blood – he is a human-appearing AI, a glitch in the system, and a secret that must be kept, even from those she wishes she could trust...
Exploring themes of what it means to be human, the value of every individual and where true danger lies – in our technological creations, or the ones who create them – this is a powerful and hopeful dystopian adventure for readers age 9+
Little Badman and the Game of Nightmares - Published by Puffin (13 Mar. 2025) - ISBN-13 : 978-0241509302 - Paperback - Age: 7+
Virtual reality takes on a new meaning in the next laugh-out-loud Little Badman adventure. Perfect for fans of Tom Gates and Planet Omar.
Humza’s life finally feels . . . normal. Aliens aren’t trying to kill him, zombies aren’t trying to eat him, there are no crazy spy missions on the horizon and certainly no mutant hamsters. So why does he still feel stressed? Enter Aisha Mariam Shah a.k.a the girl Humza is desperate to impress.
To get Aisha’s attention, Humza enters the science fair with his friends Wendy and Umer, and it soon looks like they have a real shot at winning. But Alan, their jealous classmate, has other ideas. He has his eyes on Aisha and the science fair prize too, and he’s determined to halt his nemeses in their tracks.
Using his invention, Alan traps the friends in a simulation. The only way to escape? Through a series of nightmare video game challenges. Luckily Humza is an expert gamer . . . or so he thought. Might teamwork hold the answer this time?
M . A . Willows - The Wolf Hunter and The Snap - Published by Independently published (3 Mar. 2025) - ISBN-13 : 979-8312864045 - Paperback - Age: 12+
The Wolf Hunter and The Snap – A Haunting Tale of Survival and Horror
Something is wrong with Oliver.
It started the night he and his friends—Alissa and Tim—broke into The House, a crumbling ruin wrapped in town legend. At first, it was just unease, shadows shifting in the corners of his vision. But then came the hunger. The blackouts. The sensation of something inside him, waiting.
He’s not sick. He’s changing.
As Alissa digs into the town’s history, she discovers records missing, dates erased, people forgotten. And lurking at the edges of it all is Lee Lambert, a man who seems to know exactly what’s happening to Oliver—because it once happened to him. The House wasn’t an accident. It was a trap. A way to continue the cycle.
But Oliver won’t go quietly.
As the transformation tightens its grip, he, Alissa, and Tim must fight to break free before he becomes the next vessel for something ancient and insatiable.
🔪 A gripping blend of psychological horror and supernatural terror, The Wolf Hunter and The Snap is a chilling story of survival, buried trauma, and the monsters that walk among us.
Fans of dark, unsettling horror won’t be able to look away.
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