Showing posts with label March 2026. Show all posts
Showing posts with label March 2026. Show all posts

Thursday, 12 March 2026

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books - Favourite Children's Book Picks - March 2026 US

Matteo L. Cerilli - Fathom Fall - Published by Bloomsbury Children's Books (March 3, 2026) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1547616527 - Hardback - Age: 12+ 

The Maze Runner meets Fortnite in this action-packed young YA about a boy who finds out the monsters from his favorite video game are real.

They came for our water, but they'll settle for your blood.

On 
Fathom Fall's leaderboard, player Wyatt “DoctorDoctor” Docherty ranks at number three. In real life, he's seen only as the privileged kid of head engineers at Hydrexo, the company that supplies 75% of North America's water. He has easy access, while others must line up to pay exorbitant prices at public water taps, and he feels totally useless. 

To prove he's more than a spoiled Water Baby, Wyatt wants to win the upcoming 
Fathom Fall competition and finally make a name for himself. But when he starts seeing Bluddites – the water-guzzling monsters from the game – in real life, Wyatt suspects that the tournament is about more than just prize money.

Wyatt wants to 
win, but as the tournament approaches, he starts to worry: Why won't anyone tell them what's really going on? Why would the game – the military, even – be training kids to hunt monsters for them? And how far is he willing to go to prove himself?

Set in a near-future, water-scarce Toronto, 
Fathom Fall is a high-octane speculative thrill ride that questions the ethics of new technology and how it defines our very reality.


Micah Johnson (Author), 
Durk van der Meer (Illustrator) - Aku: Journey to Ibra - Published by Random House Books for Young Readers (March 3, 2026) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593811788 - Hardback - Age: 7+

Aku has always dreamed of becoming an astronaut. It’s easier to picture life among the stars than deal with the bully at school—or the pain of his grandfather’s mysterious disappearance. But when a strange space helmet shows up in his basement, Aku is pulled into something far bigger than he ever imagined.

The space helmet doesn’t just look cool—it teleports him to Ibra, a distant planet under siege. There, precious Lunaberries are being stolen by a ruthless space militia, and Aku’s grandfather may be the key to stopping them. With the help of his best friends and a few unlikely allies, Aku must dream bigger than ever before, find the courage to lead, and discover that bravery isn’t about having no fear—it’s about rising above it.

Ross Montgomery - Small Wonder - Published by Candlewick (March 3, 2026) - ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1536252468 - Paperback - Age: 8+ 

Remember everything I taught you, Small Wonder. Take care of Leaf. Take care of Pebble. I’ve done all I can. The rest is up to you . . .
Tick, called Small Wonder by his grandfather, lives peacefully at the edge of Ellia, along with his little brother and faithful horse. But then a deadly assassin and an invading army arrive. The kingdom is in danger and Tick has six moons to get to King’s Keep and warn their ruler. Traveling through forests and over mountains, encountering bandits and rogue knights, Tick is determined to honor his grandfather’s last words of advice . . . Make it count. Can Tick warn the kingdom in time and protect his little brother from the dangers they encounter? As they make their treacherous journey through Ellia, Tick starts to uncover a long-buried history that will change everything he thought he knew.


Christina Uss - 
Midnight Mayhem - Published by Holiday House (March 3, 2026) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0823456352 - Hardback - Age: 8+  

Kaz Jakobsen can’t sleep.
Ever again.

Kaz Jakobsen knows things will never be the same after his family’s sudden move to Philadelphia. He’ll have to make new friends, which isn’t his strong suit. But an even bigger change arrives at a restaurant where he orders a bagel sandwich. Kaz eats a potent combo of the world’s greenest mustard and rootiest rootbeer and loses his ability to sleep.

Scientifically, brain + no sleep = kablammo. The longest a human insomniac has gone without sleep is eleven days. What will happen to Kaz without sleep for more than seventy 
years? How will he survive the lonely boredom?

Kaz luckily meets Floyd, a fellow non-sleeping kid, at a sleep study lab. Floyd thinks being sleepless is a super-power, a chance to try a million new things. He takes Kaz on madcap midnight adventures, introducing him to all the things kids are allowed to do at night in Philadelphia. And a few things they aren’t. The bad news: his ideas always seem to lead to mayhem.

Kaz wants to keep Floyd’s friendship but lose the mayhem. When he learns there’s an antidote to a lifetime awake, he has a tough choice to make. If Kaz cures his sleeplessness, will he lose the best friend he’s ever had?



Thursday, 5 March 2026

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books - Favourite Children's Book Picks - March 2026 UK




Beth O'Brien - Feather Vane - Published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, 26 March 2026 - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0008642044 - Paperback - Age: 8+

In the village of Greeth-Under-Edge, magical creatures are causing chaos. A green-toothed hag lurks in the river, a nest of gnomes are up to no good and a scatter of salamanders threaten to set everything on fire.

Creirwy and Morfran, trainee sorcerers, have been sent to banish the creatures by brewing an almost impossible potion. To collect the ingredients, they’ll need to go on an adventure with dangers at every turn.

But as the twins journey through a moon fairy forest, into a hag’s watery lair and to the top of a giant’s beanstalk, they find that the most powerful magic is not always where you’d expect. 



M. G. Leonard (Author), Polly Dunbar (Illustrator) - The Adventures of Portly the Otter - Published by Farshore, 26 March 2026 - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0008667771 - Hardback - Age: 7+ 

Beautifully illustrated in full colour by award-winning illustrator of The Hug, Polly Dunbar, this gorgeous hardback gift book celebrates the 95th anniversary of EH Shepard’s iconic artwork for The Wind in the Willows. 

There is a time in a young otter’s life when they must be introduced to their river. For Portly, today was that day …

Told across four seasons in one year, little Portly has the greatest of adventures. Among other fur-raising encounters, the youngest of Mrs Otter’s pups learns to swim, battles a large trout, rescues a human girl, outwits the weasels and stoats of the Wild Wood and sleeps in the care of the god Pan – a scene familiar to readers of the original book.

Full of all the charm, nostalgia and sounds of splashing in the river that fans of The Wind in the Willows have fallen in love with over the years, M.G.Leonard’s faithful spin-off will enchant an entirely new generation.



Catherine Doyle (Author), Rachael Dean (Illustrator) - Scare B'n'B - Published by ‎ Bloomsbury Children's Books, 12 March 2026 - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1526655141 - Paperback - Age: 7+

Spooky silliness reigns in Catherine Doyle's brand new series as Ted and Frankie team up to save their hotel from a ghostly duke and his restless spirits. Featuring hilarious illustrations from Rachael Dean. 

Ted McKenley would rather live anywhere than with Frankie "spawn-of-the-devil" Stark. And Frankie wouldn't go near a coward like Ted. Too bad - their parents just got married and blew their savings turning a creepy old mansion into a boutique hotel. At least it's big enough for the stepsiblings to stay 
far apart.

But when Ted encounters a disappearing housekeeper and Frankie runs into a screaming suit of armour, their feud becomes the least of their problems.

With cranky spirits on the loose, Ted and Frankie reluctantly team up to stop the devious Duke of Snoring from turning their new home into haunted rubble.

The battle for the hotel has begun!


  • Aaron Starmer - You Are Now Old Enough to Hear This - Penguin Workshop, 24 Mar. 2026 - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593751091 - Hardback - Age: 10+ 
  • There's always more to the story. 

    In the latest middle-grade speculative novel from Spontaneous author Aaron Starmer, Roman follows the twisted threads of bizarre family legends and magical secrets to write his own chapter in his peculiar family narrative.

    The Toe Beast looms large in the Barnes family lore--a tale concocted by twelve-year-old Roman's grandpa to explain his missing toe. But Roman has never actually heard the full story, and after his grandpa dies suddenly, it seems like he never will. 

    That is, until Roman is tasked with clearing out his grandpa's house and stumbles upon some strange things. An old mason jar full of formaldehyde, a mysterious handwritten book about a girl and a pack of dogs, a rusty metal bucket with peculiar abilities. And they all tie back to extraordinary secrets from the distant past. 

    By unraveling even more unbelievable stories that have been hidden from him, Roman is forced to rethink how he fits into his family's history. Now it's up to him to see his own story through to the end. Because the Toe Beast was only the beginning . . .


Sunday, 8 February 2026

Stéphane Servant - MONSTERS - Translated by Sarah Ardizzone Illustrated by Nicolas Zouliamis - Book Preview - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

 

It all starts when a travelling circus arrives in a small village... Everyone is intrigued and excited to see the show, which is said to feature a terrifying monster. That evening, Otto, the narrator, takes a seat in the tent. But when the curtains open, the reader gets a big surprise: the monster on the stage is actually a human child, while the audience is full of terrifying, grotesque monsters! Otto, whose face is finally revealed, is also a hairy monster. Little by little, Otto and the human child get to know each other, and change the way they both look at the world.


A gorgeously illustrated middle-grade novel / graphic novel hybrid, set in a deliciously gothic world of monsters. Published by Pushkin Children's Books ( 12 Mar. 2026) Hardback. 

Our village lay at the end of the world. Truly, the end of the world.

Beyond it was nothing, apart from the shadow cast by the mountains, a sea of dark mossy trees and lakes as deep as night.

The only way to reach our village was by a dusty, back-breaking track.

Meaning hardly anyone ever made it there. Sometimes, a blind peddler might pass by selling ointments and potions, or books nibbled at by rats. Sometimes, a few foolhardy walkers strayed this far: it was fun terrifying them, and they were gone in a flash. But it was rare indeed for anyone to venture along the treacherous stony path.

Pa, Ma and I lived in the house at the end of the village, by the silent road where only the dust danced.

Perhaps that’s why, on the day I was woken by the noise, I knew something unusual was afoot.
It sounded like tumbling stones.

Except it wasn’t coming from my dreams, or from the house. Although it felt that close.

I stood on my bed and pressed my nose against the cold windowpane.



Featured post

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books - Favourite Children's Book Picks - March 2026 US

Matteo L. Cerilli - Fathom Fall - Published by  Bloomsbury Children's Books ( March 3, 2026) -  ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎  978-1547616527 - Hardback...