Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

Two kids race to save the world’s last magical place in the first book of a landmark new fantasy series, from “a writer with an utterly distinctive voice and a wild imagination.” (Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass) “An instant classic from one of the most gifted storytellers of our time, Impossible Creatures is an astonishing miracle of a book.” —Katherine Applegate, Newbery Medal Winner for The One and Only Ivan The day that Christopher saved a drowning baby griffin from a hidden lake would change his life forever. It’s the day he learned about the Archipelago—a cluster of unmapped islands where magical creatures of every kind have thrived for thousands of years, until now. And it’s the day he met Mal—a girl on the run, in desperate need of his help. Mal and Christopher embark on a wild adventure, racing from island to island, searching for someone who can explain why the magic is fading and why magical creatures are suddenly dying. They consult sphinxes, battle kraken, and negotiate with dragons. But the closer they get to the dark truth of what’s happening, the clearer it becomes: no one else can fix this. If the Archipelago is to be saved, Mal and Christopher will have to do it themselves. Katherine Rundell’s story crackles and roars with energy and delight. It is brought vividly to life with more than 60 illustrations, including a map and a bestiary of magical creatures.

Discover the magic of the Archipelago… The Poisoned King is the dazzling second book in Katherine Rundell’s epic and bestselling Impossible Creatures series.

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK FROM BOSTON GLOBE, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, AND MORE! • From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Katherine Rundell comes a “rare and magical book” (Bill Bryson) reckoning with the vanishing wonders of our natural world “This celebration of seahorses, lemurs, and others doubles as a wake-up call: look around and protect what you love.” —Boston Globe The world is more astonishing, more miraculous, and more wonderful than our wildest imaginings. In this brilliant and passionately persuasive book, Katherine Rundell takes us on a globe-spanning tour of the world’s most awe-inspiring animals currently facing extinction. Consider the seahorse: couples mate for life and meet each morning for a dance, pirouetting and changing colors before going their separate ways, to dance again the next day. The American wood frog survives winter by allowing itself to freeze solid, its heartbeat slowing until it stops altogether. Come spring, the heart kick-starts itself spontaneously back to life. As for the lemur, it lives in matriarchal troops led by an alpha female (it’s not unusual for female ring-tailed lemurs to slap males across the face when they become aggressive). Whenever they are cold or frightened, they group together in what’s known as a lemur ball, paws and tails intertwined, to form a furry mass as big as a bicycle wheel. But each of these extraordinary animals is endangered or holds a sub-species that is endangered. This urgent, inspiring book of essays dedicated to 23 unusual and underappreciated creatures is a clarion call insisting that we look at the world around us with new eyes—to see the magic of the animals we live among, their unknown histories and capabilities, and above all how lucky we are to tread the same ground as such vanishing treasures. Beautifully illustrated, and full of inimitable wit and intellect, Vanishing Treasures is a chance to be awestruck and lovestruck, to reckon with the beauty of the world, its fragility, and its strangeness.

A gloriously illustrated and fascinating bestiary of the world’s most extraordinary endangered animals.

_______________ A TIMES CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE WEEK **’The year’s most magnificent adventure’ – Guardian** **’Fizzing with anarchic energy’ – Daily Mail** **’An intoxicating adventure’ – Observer** **’Utterly engaging’ – Sunday Times** _______________ Mink doesn’t believe in rules. She loves running wild and free. So, when a zebra appears in the square where she lives and she finds out that his parents have been captured by the evil Mr Spit, she knows that it’s up to her to help. So begins a grand adventure to rescue a whole menagerie of animals – an adventure that will take all of Mink’s courage and determination. Written with generous helpings of warmth and humour, this is a timeless picture book about bravery, friendship and the importance of taking action. With stunning illustrations by award-winning illustrator Sara Ogilvie, illustrator of The Detective Dog, this modern classic from bestselling children’s author Katherine Rundell is an unmissable treat.

Winner of the 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction Winner of the 2022 Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize Shortlisted for the 2023 Plutarch Award A Wall Street Journal Top 10 Best Book of 2022 A New York Times Notable Book of the Year Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, Times Literary Supplement, and Literary Hub From the standout scholar Katherine Rundell, Super-Infinite presents a sparkling and very modern biography of John Donne: the poet of love, sex, and death. Sometime religious outsider and social disaster, sometime celebrity preacher and establishment darling, John Donne was incapable of being just one thing. He was a scholar of law, a sea adventurer, a priest, a member of Parliament—and perhaps the greatest love poet in the history of the English language. He converted from Catholicism to Protestantism, was imprisoned for marrying a sixteen-year-old girl without her father’s consent, struggled to feed a family of ten children, and was often ill and in pain. He was a man who suffered from surges of misery, yet expressed in his verse many breathtaking impressions of electric joy and love. In Super-Infinite, Katherine Rundell embarks on a fleet-footed act of evangelism, showing us the many sides of Donne’s extraordinary life, his obsessions, his blazing words, and his tempestuous Elizabethan times—unveiling Donne as the most remarkable mind and as a lesson in living.

“A dazzling tale of wild hope, lingering grief, admirable self-sufficiency, and intergenerational adoration.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Vita tests her own limits, and readers will thrill at her cleverness, tenacity, and close escapes.” —Booklist “A satisfying adventure.” —Kirkus Reviews From award-winning author Katherine Rundell comes a fast-paced and utterly thrilling adventure driven by the loyalty and love between a grandfather and his granddaughter. When Vita’s grandfather’s mansion is taken from him by a powerful real estate tycoon, Vita knows it’s up to her to make things right. With the help of a pickpocket and her new circus friends, Vita creates the plan: Break into the mansion. Steal back what’s rightfully her grandfather’s. Expose the real estate tycoon for the crook he truly is. But 1920s Manhattan is ever-changing and full of secrets. It might take more than Vita’s ragtag gang of misfits to outsmart the city that never sleeps. Award-winning author Katherine Rundell has created an utterly gripping tour de-force about loyalty, trust, and the lengths to which we’ll go for the ones we love.

Into the Jungle is a modern classic in the making, as Katherine Rundell creates charming and compelling origin stories for all Kipling’s best-loved characters, from Baloo and Shere Khan to Kaa and Bagheera. As Mowgli travels through the Indian jungle, this brilliantly visual tale, which weaves each short story together into a wider whole, will make readers both laugh and cry. Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, first published by Macmillan in 1894, is one of the most enduring books of children’s literature, delighting generations of children. Katherine Rundell has taken this as the basis of her new and enchanting tale, sharing the early years of favourite characters and informing the creatures they become in Kipling’s classic, with stories about family and friendship, loyalty and jungle law, and a final battle which will decide the future of the forest. A gorgeously produced paperback with a foiled cover and colour illustrations throughout by creative genius Kristjana S Williams, this is truly a book for all the family to treasure and share.

_______________ A pocket-sized, unmissable essay on the importance of children’s literature by the bestselling and award-winning author, Katherine Rundell. _______________ ‘It’s a very short book but it packs a real punch… A real delight’ – Financial Times ‘Rundell is the real deal, a writer of boundless gifts and extraordinary imaginative power whose novels will be read, cherished and reread long after most so-called “serious” novels are forgotten’ – Observer ‘Rundell’s pen is gold-tipped’ – Sunday Times _______________ Katherine Rundell – Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and prize-winning author of five novels for children – explores how children’s books ignite, and can re-ignite, the imagination; how children’s fiction, with its unabashed emotion and playfulness, can awaken old hungers and create new perspectives on the world. This delightful and persuasive essay is for adult readers.

It’s Christmas Eve and Theo – left at home with a babysitter – sees an odd-looking star out of his window and decides to make a wish. He wishes that he had some friends to keep him company. Moments later the Christmas decorations begin to disentangle themselves from the tree behind him, ready to wreak a little havoc …Written with generous helpings of warmth and humour, this is a story about treasuring the people and values that really matter at this time of year from master storyteller and bestselling children’s author Katherine Rundell, creator of Rooftoppers and The Wolf Wilder. Emily Sutton’s breathtaking illustrations capture the magic of the season in stunning detail, making this the perfect Christmas gift.

From Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner Katherine Rundell comes an exciting new novel about a group of kids who must survive in the Amazon after their plane crashes. Fred, Con, Lila, and Max are on their way back to England from Manaus when the plane they’re on crashes and the pilot dies upon landing. For days they survive alone, until Fred finds a map that leads them to a ruined city, and to a secret.

“A slightly different version of this work was originally published in 2015 in Great Britain by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.”

When authorities threaten to take 12-year-old Sophie away from Charles, who has been her guardian since she was one and both survived a shipwreck, the pair goes to Paris to find Sophie’s mother, and they are aided by Matteo and his band of “rooftoppers.”