New Children's Book Picks October 2022 - UK Post - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

Natasha Hastings (Author), Alex T. Smith (Illustrator) - The Miraculous Sweetmakers: Frost Fair - Published by HarperCollins Children’s Books (27 Oct. 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0008496050 - Hardback - Age: 9+ 

 An amazing and captivating, curl-up-on-the-sofa debut about a magical frost fair and the lasting power of friendship.

It’s a cold winter during the Great Frost of 1683. Thomasina and Anne are the best of friends, one running her father’s sweet shop and the other the apprentice at the family apothecary – together they sell their goods on the frozen River Thames. When a family tragedy turns Thomasina’s world upside down, she is drawn to a mysterious conjuror and the enchanted frost fair.

But soon the world of Father Winter threatens to claim everything she holds dear. Will they be able to solve the magical mysteries that surround them . . . ?

Lucy Hope - Wren - Published by Nosy Crow (6 Oct. 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1839947230 - Paperback - Age; 8+ 

A dark, gothic adventure set on the island of Anglesey in North Wales and featuring a very fantastical beast…

Wren lives in an ancient castle in the mountains near the sea. The wind whistles through it and the walls sing to her. Wren is busy inventing things, and her father is busy disapproving.

But the castle contains a mystery and as Wren is drawn further into it, she realises the answer lies in the very foundations of her home, foundations that are being shaken to their core…

The next fantastic novel from Lucy Hope, author of Fledgling!

M. G Leonard & Sam Sedgman - The Arctic Railway Assassin (Adventure on Trains 6) Published by Macmillan Children's Books (13 Oct. 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1529072761 - Paperback - Age: 7+ - Illustrated by Elisa Paganelli 

The bestselling, prize-winning Adventures on Trains series embarks on a thrilling sixth adventure as Harrison Beck and Uncle Nat climb aboard the night train to Narvik, travelling to the Arctic Circle to see the northern lights for Christmas.

But as their train leaves Stockholm, Hal and Uncle Nat realize they’re being followed by a sinister figure, and Hal’s powers of observation are tested when Uncle Nat’s past comes back to haunt him. Journeying into the never-ending night of the arctic winter, our railway detectives must outsmart an assassin in their most chilling adventure yet, in which nothing is as it seems.

The Arctic Railway Assassin can be read as a stand-alone novel, or enjoyed as part of the award-winning Adventures on Trains series written by M. G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman. Join Hal and Uncle Nat on more stops in this thrilling series with: Murder on the Safari Star, Danger at Dead Man's Pass and Sabotage on the Solar Express.

SF Said (Author), Dave McKean (Illustrator) - Published by David Fickling Books (6 Oct. 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1788452830 - Hardback - Age: 8+ 

There are three doors that I may show you. You will find a different kind of power behind each one ...' 

 Adam has found something incredible in a rubbish dump in London. A mysterious, mythical, magical animal. A TYGER.

 And the tyger is in danger.

 Adam and his friend Zadie are determined to help, but it isn't just the tyger's life at stake. Their whole world is on the verge of destruction. Can they learn to use their powers before it's too late?

The Best Children's Book Picks UK - July 2022 - Picked by Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

 

Carrie Hope Fletcher (Author), Davide Ortu (Illustrator) - The Double Trouble Society - Published by Puffin (7 July 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241558904 - Hardback - Age: 8+

What do you get if you mix together two best friends, a witch's curse and a haunted house? A spell-binding mystery from acclaimed performer and bestselling author Carrie Hope Fletcher - star of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella.

They say children who are born on Friday 13th are immune to evil spirits. Whilst Ivy and Maggie liked to believe that was true, it didn't stop them checking for monsters under their bed each and every night.

Ivy and Maggie have been best friends ever since they were born at exactly the same minute twelve years earlier. They're always on the look-out for a new adventure but unfortunately Crowood Peak is officially the most boring town in the world. Or at least it was until children start to mysteriously disappear and, even stranger, none of the grown-ups seem to have noticed . . .

It's up to the Double Trouble Society to work out what's going on. All the evidence points to the old mansion next door with strange green lights in the windows and a new owner who looks suspiciously like a witch! 

Can Ivy and Maggie solve the mystery of Hokum House and rescue their friends or will they be next on the witch's list of victims?

P.J. Canning - 21% Monster - Published by Usborne Publishing Ltd (7 July 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1474984416 - Paperback - Age: 8+ 

Fun, fast-paced, high-octane action-adventure, 21% Monster is a perfect page-turning new series for fans of Alex Rider, Percy Jackson and the MCU generation.
When Darren Devlin is arrested for destroying his school with his bare hands, it's not just the police who are after him. Enter Marek Masters, 14 years old, 19% alien, and the most intelligent, most wanted "almost human" alive. Marek is here to tell Darren the truth - he is 21% monster, and together they must take down the secret organisation that created them.

Darren and Marek are wanted, powerful and dangerous. And now it's payback time.

Helenka Stachera (Author), Marco Guadalupi (Illustrated) - Finn and the Memory Curse - Published by Puffin (21 July 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241491331 - Paperback - Age: 8+ 

A chilling Victorian London adventure about one girl's mission to break a centuries-old curse with her long-lost family at its heart - perfect for fans of Cogheart and The Castle of Tangled Magic.

Fin is a foundling growing up in the Hackney marshes, living in a tiny attic and selling leeches for a living. When she accidentally discovers she is the long-lost child of a rich Polish family called the Kaminskis, she is swept up into a supernatural adventure where she has to use everything she has learned on the streets of London and deep in the marshes to stay alive.

For the Kaminskis are haunted by an ancient evil - and Fin is the key to stopping it forever . . .

David Solomons - Published by - Nosy Crow Ltd (7 July 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0857639936 - Paperback - Age: 7+ (Here is Our Interview)

A brilliantly funny story of what happens when a galactic princess moves in next door and almost brings about the end of the world. Exciting new fiction from the bestselling, award-winning author of My Brother is a Superhero.

Gavin's got a new neighbour and she's really annoying. Niki follows him everywhere, bosses him about, and doesn't care that her parents will obliterate Earth with their galactic warships if she doesn't stop running away from them. Can Niki and Gavin sort out the alien despots (aka Mum and Dad) and save the planet? Possibly. Will they become friends along the way? Doubtful...

'David Solomons represents the best in contemporary comic writing for children' -- Guardian

A hilarious new story from the author of My Brother Is a Superhero, winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and the British Book Industry Awards Children's Book of the Year. 

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books - The Best Children's UK Book Picks February 2022

 

Lisette Auton - The Secret of Haven Point - Published by  Puffin (3 Feb. 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241522035 - Paperback 

I was Haven Point's first Wreckling, but I certainly wasn't the last. There are forty-two of us now, not including the mermaids. When you're a Wreckling, you mainly spend your days squabbling, eating and planning adventures. Oh, and Wrecklings also carry out wreckings, which is how we got our name . . .

Washed up as a baby beside a remote lighthouse and raised by a mermaid, Alpha Lux was the first foundling at Haven Point. Now the lighthouse is a ramshackle home for any disabled person who needs somewhere to belong. Looting from passing ships to make a living, they call themselves the Wrecklings, and for the children of Haven Point life is spent adventuring on the wild shore (and getting into trouble with the grown-ups).

But when Alpha spots a strange light up on the headland, she realizes that her beloved family are in danger of being discovered by Outsiders.

With their home under threat, the Wrecklings must decide what kind of future they want . . . and what they're willing to do to get it.

Eve Wersocki Morris - The Bird Singers - Published by Hodder Children's Books (3 Feb. 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1444963328 - Paperback 

'The whistling had started on their first night. At first, Layah thought it was bird song - a high thin sound which became a melody, rising and falling. And each night, it returned.'

Strange things have been happening to Layah and her younger sister, Izzie, ever since their mother dragged them to a rain-soaked cottage miles from anywhere in the Lake District: there is a peculiar whistling at night, a handful of unusual feathers appear on their doorstep and there are murmurings of a shadowed woman in the forest. And their mother is behaving very oddly. Layah is mourning the loss of her dear grandmother in Poland - and can almost hear her Babcia's voice telling her the old myths and fairy tales from that magical place. 

And as the holiday takes on a dark twist, Layah begins to wonder if the myths might just be real.

Mitch Johnson - Spark - Published by Orion Children's Books (3 Feb. 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1510107632 - Paperback 

In a world struggling to exist, only the strongest will survive. The explosive, action-packed new adventure from the award-winning author of Kick and Pop!

Ash has always lived in Last Village, lonely since the day his father left and never came back.

The world is unbearably hot, water is drying up, and life is hard. After a vicious thunderstorm, Ash wakes to find that the village's water has completely run out, and all the other villagers have mysteriously disappeared.

Accompanied by the outcast Bronwyn, Ash sets off in search of water, for answers about what happened to the villagers, with hope they might find 'The Kingdom' - a rumoured land to the north where life still flourishes.

Ash and Bronwyn have to survive a journey across an arid landscape, discovering that other people out there are even more dangerous than the lightning strikes that follow them. Then they reach The Wall - beyond it, something impossible.

Lying in wait are the answers Ash is searching for, and maybe even the truth about what happened to his father. If only he could get past The Wall...

Sometimes all it takes is just one spark.

Paul Biegel - The King of Copper Mountains - Published by Pushkin Children's Books (3 Feb. 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1782693390 - Paperback  

‘A triumphant piece of magic’ 

After a thousand-year reign, old King Mansolain is tired and his heart is slowing down. Only stories can keep it ticking while his doctor searches for the cure, so creatures from all across the kingdom come to the castle in the copper mountains to sit on the king’s long white beard and tell him their tales.

Every night a new visitor arrives to tell a story to the king: a fearsome wolf, a lonely rabbit, a fire-breathing, three-headed dragon, and many more. Each tale is more wondrous than the last, but will they be able to keep King Mansolain’s heart beating until the cure arrives?