The Phoenix Comic is Five Years Old Today - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (David Fickling)

The weekly British children’s comic, The Phoenix, is celebrating its fifth birthday on Saturday 7th January 2017


Having launched in 2012, The Phoenix was rated ‘the second best comic in the world’ by Time Magazine. And in 2015 it became the first independent comic in the country to reach Issue 200 since 1969. Now in 2017, The Phoenix is celebrating its fifth birthday.


For five years The Phoenix has been enjoyed by thousands of families across the nation and received celebrity endorsements from some of Britain’s best-loved personalities and children’s writers, including Philip Pullman, Michael Morpurgo, Lauren Laverne, Chris Addison and Jacqueline Wilson. 


The Phoenix has been bringing award-winning stories to children every Friday for five years. To celebrate, The Phoenix have published a fifth birthday issue with a special cover signed by all the contributors who have been involved in making The Phoenix what is it today, including author Philip Pullman and young comic superstars Jordan Vigay and Jonny Toons, who have both had their work published in The Phoenix.


More and more research shows that comics are great for getting children reading and increasing their literacy levels. The Phoenix comic and The Phoenix Presents book series, in association with David Fickling Books, are leading the charge to get comics into the classroom and to get children reading at home.

The Phoenix Comic Achievements

General

• The Phoenix is the first independent comic in the country to reach 200 issues since 1969.

2013

• The Phoenix was quoted by Time magazine to be the “2^nd best comic in the world”.

2014

• David Fickling Books, the sister company to The Phoenix, started publishing bind-ups of comic content from The Phoenix to create the award-winning Phoenix Presents series.

• Von Doogan and the Curse of the Golden Monkey by Lorenzo Etherington was picked for the Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge.

• Bunny vs Monkey: Book 1 by Jamie Smart was picked for the Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge.

2015

• Pirates of Pangaea by Neill Cameron was picked for the Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge.

• Corpse Talk: Book 1 by Adam Murphy was the first ever comic to make the Blue Peter Best Non-Fiction Award shortlist.

• Gary’s Garden by Gary Northfield was nominated for the British Young People’s Comic Award.

• Star Cat by James Turner won the British Young People’s Comic Award.

2016

• Mega Robo Bros by Neill Cameron was nominated for the British Young People’s Comic Award.

• Tamsin and the Deep by Neill Cameron and Kate brown were nominated for the British Young People Comic award.

• Lost Tales by Adam Murphy won the British Young People’s Comic Award.

• Evil Emperor Penguin by Laura Ellen Anderson was picked for the Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge.

2017 

• In 2017, Lost Tales by Adam Murphy has already become the first ever comic to make the Blue Peter Best Story Award shortlist.

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books: Jeremy de Quidt - The Wrong Train - Book Review Published by David Fickling

It’s late. Dark. A boy rushes to catch a train, leaping aboard just before it pulls away. Suddenly he realises that it’s the wrong train. He’s annoyed, of course, but not scared.

. . . Yet.

He gets off at the next station, but the platform’s empty, and it doesn’t look like any station he’s seen before. But he’s still not scared.

. . . Yet.

Then a stranger arrives - someone with stories to help pass the time. Only these aren’t any old stories. These are nightmares, and they come with a price to pay.

. . . Scared yet?

You will be.

I'm not a great fan of short stories as I love the journey that you take with a longer read. I like to feel, smell and touch the characters. For me, all of this takes time to build up; the devil is in the detail and to me it's very important in a story. It leaves a really pleasant feeling in my brain which I cannot describe. Maybe I will find a magical book one day with endless pages that keep on turning and being produced each time that I breathe - that would be really cool!

I do, however, love the idea of connecting short stories to a central theme. A platform, pardon the pun, that you can come back to which pulls the narrative together like a steam train and makes a connection. It's a story within a story, shall we say. In this book it's the mystery around an old man on a railway station platform, who is in the middle of nowhere with his scruffy, grey dog called Toby. There is a very spooky side to the old man; it might be the way he looks at the reader without ever really looking at you. He will definitely get inside your head and play with your mind as he starts to wickedly weave his stories that might not just be stories....

You are subtly pulled along in powerful vice-like grip the more that you read this book. The short stories are very dark and have a naive mischievous quality about them. They are very surreal nightmares that giggle through your brain, but they will also suddenly set you on edge and make your spine tingle. At the half way point of the book, there is a short story entitled Babysitting which is fantastic to read. It is immersive, chilling, cleverly written and really enjoyable to read. It will certainly put you on edge and make sure that you never get on the wrong train at night time or get off at the wrong station. 

At the end of the book, there is a real a sting in the tale that you really will love. I will say no more as there are no spoilers to be found here. I love the idea that readers might try to read this book in a similar situation. If not, then maybe you need to try it as this is something that I would have liked to have done. A dark night, in an isolated spot will certainly ramp up the chill factor. However, if you can't do that and IF YOU DARE then read it under the bedcovers by torch light, regardless of age, that should still do it. 

When you do get to read this book, you will also have the privilege of seeing the illustrations. There is one for each story header that has been produced by the talented Dave Shelton. I have not seen these myself, but I am looking forward to seeing them in the finished copy. This is a cracking read; top entertainment and an up and coming Halloween treat... 

Published by : David Fickling Books

ISBN: 978-1910200810

Format: Hardback

Available : 01 September 2016 - Pre-order now

Price : £10.99

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books - Great New Summer Children's Publications by David Fickling Books

Conrad Mason - The Hero's Tomb - Published by David Fickling - Hardback ISBN:978-1910200346 - Out Now!

Azurmouth! In all the Old World there is no city so vast, so sprawling . . . or so dangerous.

Half-goblin boy Joseph Grubb has come to find the truth about his parents. His friend Tabitha has followed him across the ocean, hoping to protect him from the deadly white-coated butchers of the League of the Light. Meanwhile her guardian Captain Newton is determined to recover an ancient artifact stolen by the League’s sinister Duke of Garran.

But in Azurmouth nothing is as it seems. Old enemies will rise. Long-buried secrets will be uncovered. And the League will awaken an ancient power, threatening the Old World with a terrifying new dawn.

Soon Joseph, Tabitha and Newton will have to face their deepest fears, and a final reckoning, at the Hero’s Tomb . . .

Mal Peet - The Murdstone Trilogy - Published by David Fickling - Paperback ISBN: 978-1910200216 - Out Now! 

Philip Murdstone is a writer.

He writes subtle YA books about sensitive boys. Subtle books which don’t sell.

He does NOT write fantasy. He HATES fantasy - even the faintest whiff of goblins and elves brings him

out in hives. But - his agent Minerva Cinch informs him - his career as a writer is kaput if he DOESN’T

write fantasy.

Luckily for Murdstone, it is at this exact moment that he meets a strange creature from another realm.

What could possibly go wrong?

Jon Walter - My Name's Not Friday - Published by David Fickling - Hardback ISBN: 978-1910200438 - Out Now!

Samuel’s an educated boy. Been taught by a priest. He was never supposed to be a slave.

He’s a good boy too, thought- ful and kind. The type of boy who’d take the blame for something he didn’t do, if

it meant he could save his brother.

So now they don’t call him Samuel anymore.

And the sound of guns is getting ever closer . . .

Jon Walter’s second novel is a beautiful and moving story about the power of belief and the strength of the human spirit, set against the terrifying backdrop of the American Civil War.

For more cracking reads check out the David Fickling Website: http://www.davidficklingbooks.com