Fresh off the publishing press in May 2019 is “Malamander”, a book as fascinating as its title sounds.
Here’s the official blurb:
”Nobody visits Eerie-on-Sea in the winter. Especially not when darkness falls and the wind howls around Maw Rocks and the wreck of the battleship Leviathan, where even now some swear they have seen the unctuous Malamander creep…”
Walker Books
Herbert Lemon, Lost-and-Founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel, knows that returning lost things to their rightful owners is not easy – especially when the lost thing is not a thing at all, but a girl. No one knows what happened to Violet Parma’s parents twelve years ago, and when she engages Herbie to help her find them, the pair discover that their disappearance might have something to do with the legendary sea-monster, the Malamander. Eerie-on-Sea has always been a mysteriously chilling place, where strange stories seem to wash up. And it just got stranger…
So now we know that the Malamander is a sea-monster, and what an apt name for one! Hints of a malevolent salamander, half-man, half-fish.
The prose of the book is fast-paced and kids will definitely not get bored! 10 year old K enjoyed it so much that halfway through the book (a good way to escape and gain some respite whilst being in the middle of the exam period) she said, “This is a really good book, Mummy!” When asked to score it, she gave it 9/10, with one mark deducted because “it was scary at some parts”.
Her favourite character was the mer-monkey, a mechanical librarian of sorts at the Eerie Book Dispensary who has an ingenuously charming way of finding you just the book you need.
There’s nothing quite like reading a few pages of a book to figure out whether this is one that you’d like to get stuck in right?
Here’s more about the author too. Briton Thomas Henry Taylor is a both a children’s writer and illustrator. An interesting nugget and perhaps his main claim to fame is the fact that he painted the cover art for the first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
He was working at Heffer’s Children’s Bookshop when Bloomsbury Publishing asked him to illustrate a book cover. It happened to be JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book, and as they say, the rest is history.
Henry Taylor has also written several picture books, and “The Pets You Get” (2012) won the Oldham Brilliant Books Award. How cool is that.
The Malamander can be purchased from all good bookstores.
GIVEAWAY TIME!
Book distributors Pansing are generously sponsoring a copy of this book, which will be delivered by normal mail the winner!
To enter, simply complete the following:
1. “Like” LilBlueBottle’s Facebook Page
2. Leave a comment on this Facebook post on why you’d like to win this, with your email address (or PM your email address to me) and tag 1 friend who might be interested in this too. (You can also share the post if you’d like!)
The giveaway ends on 2359 hrs on 31 May 2019, and the winner will be contacted via email.
The usual terms and conditions apply.
[Congrats Pei Si on being the winner!]
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