Brilliant New Children's Books for Autumn 2022
Autumn is coming!
With leaves to crunch underfoot, pumkin spice everything, and candles that makes your house smell like a wild forest! Or at least for us! It’s all about the aesthetic and the vibe. And the loveliest part of it is wrapping up in a soft blanket and settling down in a comfy armchair to read the afternoon away. Even better if you’re encouraging a little reader to join you.
So we’ve gathered together our favourite new children books for you to give to your favourite little bookworm!
The Sackville Street Caper by Alan Nolan
Dublin, 1858
BRAM STOKER: boy seeking adventure (and things to write about)
MOLLY MALONE: part-time fishmonger and full-time sneak thief!
When Bram runs away from boarding school and meets streetwise Molly, he finds all the excitement he’s ever wanted. Together they explore the city, With its Sackville Street Spooks, hoodlums and heroes. And let’s not forget the very creepy Count Vladimir Grof-Constantin de Lugosi.
As Bram looks for inspiration for the famous book he has yet to write – DRACULA – our two heroes stumble upon a dastardly plot to steal the Irish Crown Jewels!
Peanut Jones and the Twelve Portals by Rob Biddulph
Superstar, author and illustrator Rob Biddulph dazzles in Peanut Jones and the Twelve Portals. This second title in the funny, exciting adventure series for boys and girls of 8 to 12. It fizzes with magic, danger, friendship and art. It is fully illustrated in two colours throughout by Rob, the creative genius behind #DrawWithRob.
Some legends are born, some are drawn…
Famous works of art are disappearing from all over the world. One moment they are there, the next, they have crumbled to dust. Peanut Jones and her friends suspect it might have something to do with the magical world of Chroma and the wicked Mr White’s plot to wipe out colour, art and creativity. It’s time to head back to the Illustrated City and help the resistance fight back.
The Truth About Riley by Sinead Moriarty
When Riley’s dad dies suddenly, leaving behind a mountain of debt, the life she’s used to starts crumbling around her.
Suddenly finding herself homeless, Riley tries to keep up appearances at school,. She hides the truth from her lovely but clueless friend Sophie and spiteful, suspicious Vanessa.
But as strangers step up to help her and her mum, Riley realises that sometimes it is those you least expect who will change your life for the better …
The Truth About Riley is the timely and thought-provoking new story for young readers from one of Ireland’s best-loved storytellers.
The Day I Got Trapped In My Brain by Amy Huberman
Meet Frankie Finkleton. Age 11 and one-twelfth, Frankie has a BIG secret! Well, lots of secrets, actually! She has a brother called Fred who is the Best Invention Ever. Ans she has a baby sister called Flo who is her arch-nemesis. She has a dog named Blue who has GIANT eyeballs and tiny nostrils. Oh… and she’s a teensy-weensy, squinchy bit MAGIC!
Frankie has a world inside her head called THOUGHTOPOLIS. You just go through the eyeball, right at the skull, past the brain stuff, and then second door on the right! It’s great fun, full of weird-and-wonderful places and creatures. Together, she, Fred and Blue go on adventures. Until one day, Frankie gets trapped, and has to uncover a secret hidden deep within if she is to get back to the Real World.
But when the truth changes everything, will Frankie want to go back? HELP!
Project Fairy by Jacqueline Wilson
Mab’s mum is obsessed with fairies – she even named Mab after the Fairy Queen! Their flat is full of fairy ornaments, tiny fairy furniture and they’ve even got fairy lights in the toilet. Mab doesn’t quite get it, but she knows that fairies make her mum happy, especially after Dad left.
When Mab comes into school with a new fairy dress on her birthday, her teacher gives her a book all about Victorian fairies. She reads it with her mum and her little brother Robin. She’s surprised to see the drawings inside are nothing like the sweet fairies she imagined. But the biggest surprise of all is a tiny thing that tumbles out of the pages of the book…
A magical, captivating story about fairies, families and friendship from the brilliant, award-winning Jacqueline Wilson.
Monster Island by Freddie Alexander
Eleven-year-old Sam has been shipped off from her city home to the wild and windy Draymur Isle, where she lives in an old lighthouse with Granddad and his mischievous goat, Myrtle.
Not all is as it seems on Draymur Island, and Granddad keeps telling Sam to put jam on her feet before bedtime to keep the monsters away. Sam thinks he might be bonkers, but then she wakes to hear an odd squelching sound coming from under the bed…
Is it just Myrtle eating another one of Sam’s socks? Or are Granddad’s tales of mysterious monsters on the island true? Better get the jam, just in case!
Which Way to Anywhere by Cressida Cowell
K2 O’Hero is a seemingly ordinary boy – after all, he and his twin sister Izzabird have been sworn to keep their family’s magical history a secret. Not even their infuriating stepsiblings, Theo and Mabel, know that magic exists. They believe K2 to be the most hopeless person they have ever known.
But K2 has a secret gift: he draws maps of worlds that are beyond the wildest of imaginations. Worlds with six hundred moons, burning rivers and dark, twisty jungles alive with plants that hunt by the smell of fear. But what K2 doesn’t know, is that the maps he draws are real.
When their baby sister Annipeck is kidnapped, the warring stepsiblings will have to use K2’s gift to find a crossing point into one of those worlds and embark on a daring rescue mission. With a terrible beast and a petrifying robot assassin in their way, they must learn to work together quickly – because the future of their family is at stake …
The Strange Tale of Barnabus Kwerk by Erika McGann
Barnabus Kwerk lives in the biggest, fanciest house in Undle.
His family are stinking rich. They’re also dreadful people. Barnabus doesn’t want to be like the rest of the Kwerks. He wants to go to school and make friends and be happy. But that isn’t possible as long as he remains trapped in the attic bedroom of the Big House.
When a stranger calls one stormy night, Barnabus is fascinated. His Aunt Jemima is like no-one he has ever met before. She knows secrets – about the Kwerks’ dark past, about Barnabus’s mother, and about a glorious golden machine at the centre of the Earth.
She offers Barnabus a life of adventure. But every great adventure has danger at its heart.
