I first came across Katherine Rundell when she won the Waterstones Children’s Book prize in 2015 for Rooftoppers, a compelling tale about Sophie who lives with other street children amidst the rooftops of Victorian Paris. Katherine has spoken about her own escapades as a Night Climber among the rooftops of various Oxford colleges while an undergraduate and now occasionally as a Fellow of St Catherine’s College, and thus began her fascination with alternative perspectives of a familiar city.

2023 saw the publication of her best-selling phenomenon Impossible Creatures, which I read not once but twice after Christmas. She invents a whole new imaginative world called the Archipelago, ‘the last surviving magical place’, and we follow the exploits of Mal and Christopher in a traditional quest that involves a host of mythical creatures and death-defying situations. The courage, tenacity, trust and hope of the young people are tested; I was taken back to the very best of C S Lewis, Tolkien and more recently Philip Pullman, and was totally engaged in the narrative. Rundell is a novelist who appeals to readers of all ages. Her writing is excellent: I can fully understand why she was named the British Book Awards Author of the Year in 2024.

Her sequel, Impossible Creatures – the Poisoned King, was published last year and her appearance at an Edinburgh book launch attracted a capacity audience in a large venue. She took the dozens of eager and intelligent questions from children only. The third in the series will appear in August 2026. I can’t wait. And I also plan to read Rundell’s book: Why You Should Read Children’s Books Even Through You Are So Old and Wise, because the best of children’s writing really deserves our attention.

[The library has a copy of Impossible Creatures and its sequel, plus six other titles by Katharine Rundell]