SATA

• The Wild Before - 2021 Quercus Children's Books, London, England
• The Frozen Sea - 2019 Quercus Children's Books, London, England
• The Lost Magician - 2018 Quercus Children's Books, London, England

• Piers Torday website - https://www.pierstorday.co.uk

  I was born in 1974, in Northumberland, which is possibly the one part of England where more animals live than people.

  My father Paul worked for the family engineering business in Newcastle, while my mother Jane ran a children’s bookshop in Hexham called Toad Hall Books. Alongside my younger brother Nick, I spent my very early years crawling around on the floor of that shop, surrounded by piles of books right from the start.

  I was extremely lucky to come from a writing background. My grandfather Roger Mortimer was a racing journalist who wrote hundreds of very funny letters to his children and grandchildren, and you can learn the extraordinary story of his life in Dearest Jane, by him and my mother, Jane.

  I enjoyed reading, writing and drawing from an early age. My parents loved reading to me, and I particularly enjoyed books with good pictures – such as the Moomin stories by Tove Jansson, The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien and Hergé’s Tintin graphic novels. Other favourites included Roald Dahl, C. S. Lewis’s Narnia series and Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. My mother was always writing as I was growing up – newspaper articles, gardening and cookery books, local history – and it seemed a normal thing to want to do.

  My first cartoon, aged 7, was about a superhero called Super Sid, which won a competition in a local newspaper. I started making comics, and my first one was about all the sheep who lived on the hills around us, called…The Sheep! At school I spent most of my time in the library or the computer room, writing plays, short stories and funny articles for the school magazine. After that I went to university, where I was meant to study English Literature but mainly wrote, directed or produced plays and comedy shows.

  My first job, in 1996, was in a fringe theatre in London, The Pleasance, where I started working behind the bar but was eventually allowed to read a few scripts and then help choose what plays were put on, both in London and at their Edinburgh Fringe Festival venue. I was very fortunate to be a Trustee for the last 15 years.

  Then I co-ran a theatre production company, touring new plays and promoting comedians. I also worked in TV for several years, for independent production companies such as RDF Media, Tiger Aspect and Talkback, including a short spell in Los Angeles, coming up with ideas for everything from reality shows to hidden camera pranks.

  On a break between TV jobs one summer in 2008, I booked myself onto an Arvon writing course at Ted Hughes’s old house on the West Yorkshire moors, and it was there I began writing the adventures of a boy called Kester who can’t talk to people but can talk to animals, in an environmentally precarious world.

  Finally, after 17 drafts, and many early mornings and late nights later, The Last Wild was published in 2013 by Quercus Children’s. It was nominated for the Carnegie Award shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the UKLA Award, and won both Stockton Children’s Book of the Year and Calderdale Children’s Book of the Year. The book has been published in 14 other countries, including the USA and China.

  That same year, I married Will Tosh, who is Head of Research at Shakespeare’s Globe in London.

  In 2014, the sequel to The Last Wild, The Dark Wild, came out, and won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. The third and final book in the series, The Wild Beyond came out in 2015, and was shortlisted for Islington Book of the Year.

  After my father died in 2013, I found his last unfinished novel (a political thriller for adults) amongst his papers. With the agreement of my brother and his agent and editor, I finished the book for him , and The Death of an Owl was published in 2016 by W&N.

  That Christmas, my fourth book for children, There May Be A Castle was published by Quercus Children’s. It was a Children’s Book of the Year in The Times, and has recently been adapted for the stage by Barb Jungr and Sam Lane at the Little Angel Theatre.

  You can read short stories and articles by me in Winter Magic (curated by Abi Elphinstone), Wisp of Wisdom, Scoop magazine, Return to Wonderland, and Katherine Rundell’s The Book of Hopes.

  I also occasionally write articles and book reviews for The Guardian, The Daily Express and The Spectator, amongst others.

  I have been a judge for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Costa Book Awards, Indie Book Award, Coram Voices, the British Book Awards and the BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2018, with my brother Nick, I co-founded the Paul Torday Memorial Prize for Debut Authors over 60, in collaboration with the Society of Authors, first awarded to Anne Youngson for Meet Me at the Museum in 2019.

  Like many writers I also spend a lot of time teaching writing as well as doing it, and am a regular speaker at schools both here and abroad, and at festivals and conferences. I speak to children about reading and writing, and also to teachers and educators about their practice at CPD events. I occasionally teach adults to write for children, at Writers and Artists Masterclasses, Arvon, SCWBI and the Emirates Literature Festival, amongst others. If you would like to learn how to write your own children’s book, why not check out my Domestika course?

  My adaptation of John Masefield’s classic The Box of Delights opened at Wilton’s Music Hall in London in Christmas 2017, directed by Justin Audibert, designed by Tom Piper, starring Matthew Kelly and Josefina Gabrielle and was revived in Christmas 2018 starring Theo Ancient (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child). Other adaptations there include the Charles Dickens festive classic, Christmas Carol, featuring the first ever female Scrooge on the English stage. It opened at Wilton’s Music Hall in December 2019, directed by Stephanie Street, designed by Tom Piper, with Sally Dexter playing Fan Scrooge. I am delighted to be an Associate Artist at Wilton’s.

  I am a former Patron of Reading at various schools, and a Trustee of the Ministry of Stories, a charity which works with children in East London and further afield to enable their creativity and storytelling skills in multiple different forms, and the Unicorn Theatre, the UK’s leading theatre dedicated to producing work for young audiences. I am also a Patron of the magnificent Shrewsbury Book Fest, a visionary book award, festival and school outreach scheme all in one.

  My other book series is Narnia inspired, beginning with The Lost Magician. Published in September 2018, it won the Teach Primary Award 2019. The second book in the series, The Frozen Sea, came out in September 2019, and was an iPaper Book of the Year.

  My latest book is called The Wild Before, a prequel to The Last Wild, published in August 2021, and my latest play is The Child in the Snow, an adaptation of the classic Elizabeth Gaskell ghost story, “The Old Nurse’s Tale” – not suitable for young children!

  I am currently also working on the next book but spend most of my time wrangling our very naughty – but adorable – dog, Huxley.

  Q:

  What inspired you to write The Last Wild?

  I was inspired to write The Last Wild by the shocking discovery that Earth has lost over 60% of its wildlife in the last 40+ years. What will happen in the next 40 years. Will there be any animals left, and if not, what are we going to do about it? What are YOU going to do about it?

  Q:

  Who is your favourite character in “The Last Wild” series ?

  Well, naturally, I am fond of all the characters in The Last Wild series – even the baddies! – but in particular it was so much fun to write the White Pigeon, as I often get my words in a muddle too. And I also really love Wolf Cub, as he is so brave, and the General, even though he is rather bossy.

  Q:

  Will there be another book in “The Last Wild” series?

  “The Wild Beyond”, the third book in the series, is the conclusion of Kester, Polly, Aida and all their animal friends’ adventures as I see it for now. I firmly believe that those left at the end of that story have very exciting futures ahead of them!

  BUT I am delighted to announce that on August 19th, 2021, there will be a prequel to The Last Wild series, THE WILD BEFORE, which explains how it all came about…

  Q:

  Where does the name Kester come from?

  I had a friend at school called Kester, and it always struck me as an unusual name. My agent suggested that the hero of the Last Wild needed a special name as he was so different, and Kester came to mind! I don’t know if my friend could ever talk to animals, though!

  Q:

  Where do you get your ideas from?

  All the ideas for my books come from this website

  www.ideasforpierstordaysbooks.com

  You have to log on to access them.

  The user name is: look-up

  Password: allaroundyoueveryday

  Q:

  Is it lonely being a writer?

  It can be, sometimes, spending hours by yourself, staring at a screen, with only the voices in your head for company….But sometimes you need to be alone to hear those voices, characters and ideas clearly.

  The great thing about being a children’s writer is that we are often invited into schools and libraries to meet our readers, so we are never alone for too long!

  Q:

  Are you going to write more books?

  Definitely! I think I might be in trouble with my publisher or my bank manager if I don’t…

  My next book is a prequel to The Last Wild, THE WILD BEFORE, out on August 21st 2021

  Q:

  Do you read to relax?

  Absolutely. I always read in bed at night before going to sleep, when I am travelling and on holiday and on rainy days. I also read a lot for work – research, books by friends and colleagues – but sometimes when I am writing I stick to non-fiction so I don’t get too influenced by someone else’s fiction style.

  Q:

  How long did it take you to write your first book?

  When I started writing my first book, The Last Wild, I not only had a full time job but had never written a book before. I had to write it early in the morning before going to work, in the evenings, at weekends, and on holidays.

  I made lots of mistakes, and kept changing things, and in the end it took me 4 years to write it and 17 drafts!

  Now I am lucky enough to write full time, I always plan a book in advance and it usually takes a year to write.

  Q:

  Do you have a special room where you write your stories?

  Yes. I have written stories in the British Library, in cafes, on trains and in hotel rooms, but my favourite place is my study at home.

  It has a view of the garden, and a cushion for our dog Huxley to lie on and keep me company while I stare into space. As well as lots of my favourite children’s books and lovely things readers and schools have given me, to inspire me on, including a rather burgeoning teddy bear collection!

  Q:

  What did you want to do before you became a writer?

  I wanted to be so many things when I was growing up – an actor, a comedian, a movie director – they all involved making stuff up and doing a lot of showing off. And I have worked in theatre, film and TV, and enjoyed all hugely.

  But it wasn’t till I was in my mid-thirties that I found the confidence to confront a blank sheet of paper, and start writing. Then I realised that was what I had always wanted to do.

  Q:

  When you write, how long do you write for each day?

  When I write a book, I try and sit down to write a bit every day. At the least, for half an hour, and at the most, four hours a day.

  Q:

  What is your favourite book of the ones you have written?

  It changes all the time! But right now, like it usually is, it’s my latest one…The Wild Before, which is out in August 2021

  The Last Wild is my first and bestselling book, and There May Be a Castle is my most personal book.

  Q:

  What advice would you give to someone who wants to write a book?

  My advice for anyone wanting to write a book is to write a little and often, to build up your skill and stamina, and to plan carefully but not too rigidly. The more you write, the better you get, and the more you write, the more of a book you have…

  Q:

  Which of your books should I read first?

  Entirely up to you, but as The Last Wild is my first book, and the first book in a series, that might be a good place to begin.

  Q:

  Do you visit schools?

  Yes, although during the pandemic, this may have to be online depending on local regulations. If you would like me to visit your school, please ask your teacher, school librarian or a parent/carer to email

  Victoria Rontaler at Rontaler PR & Events

  Q:

  How many books have you written?

  I have written six full length novels for children: The Last Wild trilogy (comprising of The Last Wild, The Dark Wild and The Wild Beyond), the ‘standalone’ There May Be A Castle, and two books in a new series, The Lost Magician and The Frozen Sea. My seventh book for children, The Wild Before, is a prequel to The Last Wild, out in August 2021.

  I completed the final third of my late father Paul Torday’s final book, The Death of an Owl.

  And I have three short stories published, ‘The Wishing Book’ in Winter Magic, and ‘How the Monkey Defeats the Crocodile’ in A Wisp of Wisdom, and ‘How the Cheshire Cat Got His Smile’ in Return to Wonderland.

  I have published two plays, The Box of Delights (an adaptation of the children’s book by John Masefield) and Christmas Carol – a fairytale, adapted from the book by Charles Dickens.

  You can read about how I made the map for The Last Wild in The Writer’s Map, and some writing advice in Swallowed By a Whale.

  So I make that 10 and a half books in total!

  Q:

  Who does your illustrations?

  The striking covers and chapter headers for The Last Wild trilogy were all designed by Nichola Theobald, and illustrated by the award winning and hugely talented Thomas Flintham. I drew the rough maps myself, and then Tom turned them into the gorgeous ones printed in the books. You can find out more about Tom’s own books on his website.

  Tom also drew the stunning hardback cover for Winter Magic, and the equally stunning paperback cover was by Melissa Castrillón.

  The beautiful cover and headers for There May Be A Castle were also designed by Nichola Theobald, but illustrated by another award winning illustrator – the brilliant Rob Biddulph. You can find out more about Rob and his books at his website.

  The cover and illustrations for Wisp of Wisdom are by Emmie van Biervliet.

  Ben Mantle drew the fabulous cover and interior artwork for The Lost Magician, designed by Samuel Perret at Hachette Children’s.

  Q:

  How long does it take to write a book?

  Every writer and every book is different, and there is no right or wrong length of time – each book takes as long as it takes.

  For me, my first book – The Last Wild – was the hardest and longest, as I had never written a book before, and was juggling writing with a full time job. I made many mistakes, wrote 17 drafts, and took four years to write it!

  But as I learn more with each book, and have the privilege to write full time, it normally takes me a year to write a book, from idea to seeing it in the shops.

  Q:

  What is your favourite book?

  I have many favourite books, but here are a few:

  The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  Little Grey Men by B.B.
  The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
  The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann
  Half Magic by Edward Eager
  Moonfleet by John Meade Faulkner
  Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
  Tintin by Hergé
  One Boy and His Dog by Eva Ibbotson
  The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
  Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner
  The Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
  The Box of Delights by John Masefield
  The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness
  Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien
  The Northern Lights series by Phillip Pullman
  Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
  Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
  The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
  A Traveller in Time by Allison Uttley
  Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
  Sword in the Stone by T.H. White

  Q:

  Who is your favourite author?

  There are so many wonderful authors that it is difficult to choose, but when I was growing up, I loved books by:

  J. R. R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Roald Dahl, Ian Serraillier, John Masefield, Susan Cooper and Eva Ibbotson, amongst many others.

  Contemporary children’s authors who inspire me include:

  J. K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, Kate Saunders, Neil Gaiman and Patrick Ness.

  Q:

  Who inspired you to start writing?

  I was inspired by many things, but it was when my father Paul Torday turned to writing fiction aged 59, after a lifetime in business – with his first book Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – that I decided to get my act together and booked myself onto an Arvon writing course.

  Q:

  Can I read your books aloud online?

  If you are a teacher, you may read aloud individual chapters at a time, that are not recorded, via a closed virtual learning environment for pupils only. Please don’t read whole books aloud in one session or record any of your readings. Thank you!

  Q:

  Do you visit schools?

  I offer both in person and online visits, depending on your requirements. For more information on how to arrange a visit, the sessions I offer, and fees, please contact:

  Victoria Rontaler at Rontaler PR & Events.

  Q:

  How much do you charge for a school visit?

  Please read the following document for more info:

  Piers Torday School Events Guide 2021

  Q:

  What is your availability like?

  For in person events, I generally need a minimum of two months notice, and ideally six. However, sometimes there are cancellations and last minute changes, so it is always worth checking! For online events, I may have more immediate availability.

  With World Book Day/Week visits, whether in person or online, it is advisable to book a year in advance.

  But for my latest availability , please check with Victoria Rontaler at Rontaler PR & Events

  Q:

  What year groups do you work with?

  My school event talk works for all primary school ages from Reception to Year 8, but my target age group is Years 4 – 6.

  Q:

  Where can I find classroom resources for your books?

  You can watch my Last Wild video masterclasses and sign up for classroom resources at Authorfy

  There are also some excellent free classroom resources for “The Last Wild” provided by Sustainable Learning

  Teachers could sign up to CLPE’s excellent Power of Reading scheme and get a whole teaching sequence based on “The Last Wild”.

  Q:

  Do you visit schools outside the UK?

  Local quarantine rules permitting, I visit international schools, from China to Germany and beyond. Sometimes this is easier and more affordable when arranged with other local schools in your country. Virtual visits are also available.

  For details, please contact Victoria Rontaler at Rontaler Events – victoria@rontalerevents.co.uk

  Q:

  How can I get posters and display material for your books?

  Please contact Emily Thomas at my publishers, Quercus Children’s Books, and she will do what she can to help, but supplies of promotional material is often very limited!

  Q:

  How many sessions will you do in a day?

  For in person visits, I will visit your school for an hour’s talk , time depending on travel, plus a signing. Online visits range from half an hour to an hour, and can be pre-recorded for playing to multiple groups or bubbles.

  Q:

  Do you have a maximum or minimum audience size for your events?

  I prefer to speak to the whole school in Assembly or similar, with no maximum numbers – the more the merrier!

  The minimum number of students I will talk to is 100.

  Q:

  How do I arrange book sales for a school visit?

  Ideally through your local independent bookshop, so the pupils gets to know them, or through a local Waterstones. If that is not possible or not your preferred choice, Victoria Rontaler at Rontaler PR & Events can arrange sales on a sale or return basis through my preferred supplier, Pickled Pepper Books.

  All you need to provide is a cash float and staff assistance on the day. The books will be delivered and unsold ones collected automatically, and the school will be invoiced for those sold.

  Please note that I do not hold stock of my own books, and I never sell them myself.

  Q:

  What are your technical requirements?

  All my in person talks use Keynote presentations with video and sound, best played off my own MacBook Air for ideal results. I travel with all the relevant cables and adapters, but will require access to a screen (or smart board), projector and speakers. For online visits, generally all that is required is an internet connection with screen and speakers, or the talk can be pre-recorded.

• Fantastic Fiction -

  Piers Torday
  UK flag

  Piers Torday's bestselling first book, The Last Wild, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Award and nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal as well as numerous other awards. His second book, The Dark Wild, won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2014. The third book in the trilogy, The Wild Beyond, will be published in 2015.

  Born in Northumberland, where there are more animals than people, he now lives in London - where there are more animals than you might think...

  Genres: Children's Fiction

  Series
  Last Wild
  1. The Last Wild (2013)
  2. The Dark Wild (2014)
  3. The Wild Beyond (2015)
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  Novels
  Death of an Owl (2016) (with Paul Torday)
  There May Be a Castle (2016)
  The Lost Magician (2018)
  The Frozen Sea (2019)
  The Wild Before (2021)
  thumbthumbthumbthumb
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  Collections
  A Wisp of Wisdom (2016) (with Abi Elphinstone, Adèle Geras, Elizabeth Laird, Sarah Lean, Gill Lewis, Geraldine McCaughrean, Tom Moorhouse, Beverley Naidoo and Ifeoma Onyefulu)
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  Plays
  Box of Delights (2017)
  Christmas Carol (2019)

• Wikipedia -

  Piers Torday
  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  Piers Torday (born 1974) is a British children's writer. The son of the novelist Paul Torday, he was born in Northumberland and was a theatre and television producer for many years.[1][2]

  His book The Dark Wild (2014) won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for 2014.[3] After Torday's father died, leaving an unfinished novel manuscript The Death of An Owl, Torday completed the novel.[1]

  Torday's adaptation of John Masefield's The Box of Delights was performed at Wilton's Music Hall between 1 December 2017 and 6 January 2018[4] and revived at the same venue between 30 November 2018 and 5 January 2019[5]

  Works
  The Lost Magician, 2019
  The Frozen Sea, 2019
  The Last Wild, 2013
  The Dark Wild, 2014
  The Wild Beyond, 2015
  There May Be a Castle, 2016

• Authorfy - https://authorfy.com/masterclasses/pierstorday/

  writing about the wild world with piers torday
  About The Author:
  Piers Torday began his career in theatre and then television as a producer and writer. His first book for children, ‘The Last Wild’, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Award and nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. His second book, ‘The Dark Wild’, won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. ‘There May Be A Castle’ was a People’s Book Award finalist and a Times Children’s Book of the Year. ‘The Lost Magician’ was a Book of the Year in six national newspapers and won the Teach Primary Book Award. The follow up, ‘The Frozen Sea’, was published in 2019. Piers has also completed an unfinished novel by his late father Paul (author of ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’, ‘The Death of an Owl’) and adapted ‘The Box of Delights’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’ for the stage. Photo credit: © James Betts, 2020

  About ‘The Last Wild’:
  This is a story about a boy named Kester. He is extraordinary, but he doesn’t know that yet. All he knows, at this very moment, is this:
  1. There is a flock of excited pigeons in his bedroom.
  2. They are talking to him.
  3. His life will never be quite the same again…
  Kester lives in a land in quarantine. A deadly virus has killed all the animals except pests and it’s expected to be equally dangerous to humans. But when Kester realises he can talk to the pests, he finds they have great hope invested in him. A captivating animal adventure destined to be loved by readers of all ages.

  About ‘The Wild Before’:
  One frosty winter’s night, a pure white calf is born on an ordinary muddy farm by the light of a silver moon. This is the legendary Mooncalf, whose arrival has been foretold since the dawn of time. According to a dream passed down from animal to animal, if the calf dies, a great terribleness will come – rising seas, a plague, skies raining down fire, the end of all things… and Little Hare vows to persuade all the animals to protect Mooncalf, whatever the cost. But it’s easier said than done, and soon Little Hare realises that he is the only one who can save the world… ‘The Wild Before’ is a stunning prequel to the award-winning, bestselling The Last Wild trilogy, touching on timely themes of climate change, friendship, and above all, hope.

  Praise for Piers’ Books:
  ‘Piers Torday is the new master of books for children’ – The Times
  ‘An excellent, punchy adventure tale with vivid characters and an impassioned eco message.’ –The Financial Times
  ‘Written in vivid and urgent style … As thrilling as James and the Giant Peach … The Last Wild may be as critical to the new generation as Tarka the Otter.’ – The Times

  Authorfy are an Amazon Associate and are part of the Waterstones Affiliate Programme, so may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases if you click-through to their websites from any links on authorfy.com. This will not affect your buying experience or the cost of any products you order.

• The Society of Authors website - https://www.societyofauthors.org/News/Interviews/2018/The-rewards-of-age-with-Piers-Torday

  The SoA has announced the creation of a new award: the Paul Torday Prize for debut novelists over 60. The Author interviews Paul Torday’s son, author Piers Torday, who co-founded the prize with his brother, Nick.

  Author Piers Torday

  Why is the prize aimed at novelists over 60?
  The first reason is that my father published his first novel, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, when he was 60. I also feel that there is a genuine gap in the prize market. Like all media, publishing is orientated towards the young, and so many prizes have age limits or are otherwise aimed at younger people.

  But we’re all living longer, and my brother and I felt that we needed to hear from older people. Let’s hear their voices. Let’s celebrate them. Let’s encourage them to write. And given that a large percentage of the book-buying public is older let’s have some books that reflect their experience! This is not about exacerbating divisions between older and younger; this is actually about a chance to begin a broader conversation between older and younger people.

  Why did your father begin his writing career so late?
  One answer is ‘because of me and my brother’. My father read English at Oxford, and entered poetry competitions in his twenties. (He won one of them, in the Daily Mail, which published the winning poem.) But then his mother was very sadly killed in a car crash in Africa, and his father said he needed help to run the family engineering business. He just got drawn in. Then we arrived, and needed feeding and clothing, so he couldn’t give it up. Both my parents sacrificed a lot.

  He wasn’t doing it under duress, though. He enjoyed business and was good at it. But I remember poking around – as children do in their parents’ belongings – and discovering a sheaf of a manuscript in a shoebox. He must have written it while we were growing up. It wasn’t until he was looking at scaling down his work in his late 50s that he started writing again, and sending out his work.

  He wrote three novels, one of which he sent out. It was universally rejected. The other two he couldn’t even bear to send so he put them straight in the bin. And he was about to give up when he was at an unbelievably boring government meeting about protecting molluscs in his local river, and his mind was wandering, and the idea for a book called Salmon Fishing in the Yemen popped into his head. This time he tried rather than a publisher, an agent – and six months later Mark Stanton in Edinburgh wrote back.

  Did he face any obstacles as an older writer?
  Like most huge obstacles it’s an opportunity too, depending which way you look at it. You look older, you’re less photogenic, you’re harder to sell. But equally because there are fewer authors who are beginning at that age it is a story in itself.

  As his writing career progressed, as he became an established author writing other novels, it was harder. This was in the noughties, and he wasn’t on social media. He didn’t get any of that – he didn’t have a website or any of that kind of stuff.

  So he was less fluent in the promotional world. And when he did the beauty parade, the auction for the book, I don’t know if all those young publicity and marketing people were prepared for how old he was. I think they were quite shocked to see someone of nearly pensionable age sitting in front of them. That surprise became part of his story.

  Were there any advantages?
  It’s wonderful when people get their first book published at 25 but the challenge for them is to sustain that career. What the hell do you write about if all you’ve done is sit in a room and write a book? The danger is you end up writing books about writing books – and not everyone wants to read about that.

  Did he regret not starting earlier?
  I asked him this once, and his response was that the experience of a life lived in business – taking him all over the world, and he was involved in lots of charities and associations – gave him a broader perspective than someone, say, in their twenties. My father was also a passionate and wide and voracious reader all his life – and that tends to make you a better writer, over time.

  But a year after he published Salmon Fishing he was diagnosed with stage 3 kidney cancer. In the last five years of his life he had wonderful festival invitations from all over the world and he was only able to go to a fraction of them – or he wasn’t able to enjoy them to the full because he was on treatment and in pain. That was his regret: he met a lot of people, having entered this literary life, but he wasn’t always able to build on those connections and forge those relationships because he physically wasn’t up to it. He never let on. He didn’t want people to feel sorry for him. He just politely declined. So people thought he was more reclusive than he was.

  Why did you decide to commemorate him with a book prize?
  I had benefited hugely from a prize [the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, for The Dark Wild – Ed.] at the start of my career. And having been through that process, and judging the Costa now, I suddenly began thinking a lot about prizes and what they do and mean.

  My brother and I are my father’s literary executors and we thought we could use dad’s legacy to increase representation for older people in the writing world. We could have set up some memorial in his name, issued grants or what have you, but also I see my job as his literary executor as being to keep his titles in print and to keep awareness of his literary legacy alive.

  What do you hope the prize will come to represent?
  Writing should be a wonderful second life career for many more people, as life expectancy continues to rise. If my dad had lived longer he’d still be in the thick of it. For other people, if they start at 60 they could be embarking on a 20-year writing spree. And wouldn’t it be wonderful if someone in this competition entered aged 99? It would make a really powerful statement about how different our expectations of life and work are now.

  Who will judge the prize?
  We’re going to have wonderful older judges. I hope that the panel will be diverse and representative in other areas as well but what will bind it together will be age and experience.

  Why did you choose the SoA as administrators?
  Nicola [Solomon] and Paula [Johnson] were so excited by the idea of visibility and representation for older writers. They clearly felt concerned about it too, so it felt like a natural fit. It is a prize about an industry issue as well as about literary merit. And the SoA’s expert prize administration and existing charitable structures made the process extremely easy.

  Will the prize run every year?
  Our intention is to run the award for as long as we can on the money we have – but for it to endure we’ll need sponsorship. Anyone who’s interested…

• The Reading Realm - https://thereadingrealm.co.uk/2019/03/07/the-lost-magician-an-interview-with-piers-torday/

  The Lost Magician: An interview with Piers Torday
  March 7, 2019
  Piers Torday is a Patron of Reading at St. Silas’s in Toxteth, Liverpool, and a Trustee of the Ministry of Stories, a charity which works with children in East London to enable their creativity and storytelling skills. He has written many books for children, including The Last Wild and There May Be A Castle. Here, he talks about his newest book, the thrilling, enchanting The Lost Magician…

  piers 6
  Find out more about Piers here!
  Without giving too much away, can you tell us a bit about your newest book The Lost Magician?

  piers 1
  Find out more about The Lost Magician here! Front cover design by Ben Mantle
  We are living through very uncertain times, a rapidly changing world, and I wanted to write a book for children which looked at how everything we thought we knew can disappear very quickly, but also how they could be agents for change in building a better world.

  My inspiration was a book that – in part – attempted the same for children facing the aftermath of war, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. My homage begins at the end of the Second World War, with four children – Simon, Patricia, Evelyn and Larry, sent away to a mysterious house in the country, where they discover not a magic wardrobe, but a magic library…

  How would you say The Lost Magician is similar to There May Be A Castle? How is it different?

  piers 7.JPG
  There May Be A Castle by Piers Torday, illustrated by Rob Biddulph
  Both books are concerned with the power of stories to both change the world and shape individual destinies. They both explore the abstract notion of the imagination as something more concrete, bringing fictional characters – whether drawn from books or a child’s games – to life and imagining what might happen in real world interactions with them.

  But There May Be a Castle is a contemporary story, that could possibly happen, where the fantasy is very personal to the main characters, and exists on a psychological plane, bordering on the feverish. The Lost Magician, on the other hand, is a period piece, and one that explicitly creates a fictional fantasy world of magic and monsters accessed through a portal.

  I’m particularly interested in the opening of Chapter 2, when you talk about Larry’s reading habits and how his teachers have told him he needs to read more. As he picks up ‘The Golden Fairy Tale Treasury’, he wonders if he’s allowed to read it. ‘Allowed’ is a really interesting word. Should children be allowed to read whatever they like, whenever they like? How can teachers develop a love of books and reading?

  Reading is equally a pastime and a pleasure, and it can be a means to study and acquire knowledge – indeed, sometimes the two can be combined! The ability to read widely and deeply, to experience and learn from the lives of others, and enrich our knowledge of the world beyond mere facts or snapshots, has obviously so far proved key to human progress.

  Our understandable anxiety about literacy and its key role in human progress means we sometimes elevate reading to the status of an elite skill rather than universal pleasure, only to be accessed through organised educational activities. We don’t teach or censure (beyond age appropriateness) children on what movies to watch, or what games to play, and they take to them effortlessly.

  “The best way to get anyone to read is not to make choices for them, not to judge their reading habits or progress, or enforce “difficult” reading, but rather to let children roam freely amongst library shelves, following their natural interests, whether it’s comics or books on space travel or the latest Philip Pullman.”

  We should give them the space to read without distraction, and genuine free time, not time scheduled to death. And ideally model reading, by reading to them for fun, and by sharing stories together. By looking at books ourselves occasionally rather than our screens, and by encouraging them endlessly in whatever grabs their attention, because neither they or us know where it might one day lead.

  I wondered about Jana and her role in the story – she thinks stories are silly and old-fashioned and reduces everything to data, viewing the world as something to be processed. I’m interested to learn if Jana embodies your feelings about our current education system and those in charge of education in any way?

  Just to make my position clear – from climate change to our health, to the economy, and education – I am no enemy of the deeper comprehension of our world that data brings! But I worry about becoming so dependent on data alone, that in the words of tech journalist James Bridle, in his book, The New Dark Age, “the demand for some piece of evidence that will allow us to assert some hypothesis with 100 per cent certainty overrides our ability to act in the present.”

  I welcome any data which can genuinely improve educational and social outcomes.

  But I also don’t need any data, of any kind, to believe that there is an inherent value in education itself. The transfer of knowledge between the generations, the sharing of stories that shape us all, the great vocational calling of teaching – my belief in these is fundamental to my sense of self.

  And I worry that an over formal, technical teaching of our common language, which should be available to all for confident, fluent communication and self-expression, often only raises barriers to entry. We do not go to school just so we can be economically useful and acquire a proscribed set of skills. We go to school so we can develop life-long skills of enquiry, so we can always examine our lives and world, to make the most of them. Learning about writing and stories should be fun, creative and developmental as well as occasionally acquisitional and demanding.

  It sounds like Ofsted are thankfully moving away from such a narrow focus on tests and results, and I hope that is true.

  The book is a real celebration of libraries and you talk about the best adventures beginning in the library. What are your earliest memories of visiting a library?

  My earliest library memories are of the wonderful bright yellow mobile library which visited us in rural Northumberland. I remember clambering on board and leafing through picture books for what felt like hours. My first sense of an infinite world of imagination, accessed through pages, and here it was, parked on our doorstep! Now that’s magical.

  What can libraries offer today’s children? Are they still relevant in our modern society?

  So much, and yes they are. Not only are they invaluable for families who may have bottomless funds to buy books, but are passionate about reading and discovery, but they are also shared, civic spaces which are dedicated to knowledge. That value to children and society at large is not only incalculable, but worryingly at risk.

  Finally, can you describe The Lost Magician in three words?

  Believe your imagination.

• -

QUOTE: “outstanding book and a future classic,”

Torday, Piers

There May Be a Castle

Quercus, 2016, pp320, 12.99 [pounds sterling]

978 1 8486 6862 1

Mouse is a small shy eleven year old boy, who day dreams a lot. On Christmas Eve Mouse is travelling to his grandparents' house with his mum, older sister Violet and toddler Esme when a blizzard hits and the car crashes down into the valley far from anywhere. Mouse wakes to find himself in a snowy landscape alone except for a friendly sheep; they are soon joined by a talking horse who bears a striking resemblance to Mouse's beloved toy Nonky and who warns Mouse not to look back. Pursued by the sinister Pink Knight and accompanied by Trex, Mouse's robot dinosaur comes to life, and Sir Dragnet Derek, Professional Minstrel, Jester and General Tomfooler, Mouse must find the castle before the Pink Knight.

As the story progresses, chapters from the point of view of Violet, and later from Mouse's grandparents, show us what is happening in the world Mouse has left behind, giving a sense of danger and an unexpected depth to the book. Events and characters in Mouse's dream world parallel what is happening in real life as it becomes evident that Mouse's quest is to save his family's lives. It is difficult to say much more without spoilers, but the indomitable bravery of both Mouse and Violet in their different ways is immense, and the powerful ending is both unexpected and inevitable. I will not be the only person who was an emotional wreck after reading this. That is not to say that it is unsuitable for children; it shows the power of imagination to help us conquer fear and the importance of friends and family even when they are not physically present, or indeed are a toy horse and a robot dinosaur. An outstanding book and a future classic.

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 The School Library Association
http://www.sla.org.uk/school-librarian.php
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Martin, Lesley. "Torday, Piers: There May Be a Castle." School Librarian, vol. 65, no. 1, spring 2017, p. 44. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A490821330/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=389c1141. Accessed 18 Mar. 2022.

• The Guardian
  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/08/the-lost-magician-by-piers-torday-review-in-narnias-shadows
  Word count: 495

  QUOTE: though the book is expertly handled, and written with charm, passion and fervour, in the end this very personal homage stays too close to its source.”
  The Lost Magician by Piers Torday review – in Narnia’s shadows
  An intriguing homage to CS Lewis’s mythical world – but are the parallels too close?

  The story begins when four brothers and sisters are sent to an English country house …
  The story begins when four brothers and sisters are sent to an English country house … Photograph: Alamy
  Philip Womack
  Sat 8 Sep 2018 04.05 EDT
  6
  CS Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, whatever you may think of its deep and joyful Christianity, retains a hold over the imaginations of children and children’s authors that is almost unparallelled. In his latest novel, Guardian children’s fiction prize winner Piers Torday deploys Lewis as a blueprint. Four siblings are sent to an English country house. One of them finds another world through a wooden portal (a door rather than a wardrobe); he meets a creature recognisably human, but also very much not; he is initially disbelieved by his siblings. Another goes through after him, and makes a pact with an evil queen; and so the stage is set. There are many other elements from the apparatus of fantasy: magical books; texts that are activated by drops of blood; and a panoply of fantastical creatures.

  Piers Torday.
  Piers Torday. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian
  The central theme is a different kind of faith from the one Lewis espoused – one related to knowledge and imagination. In Torday’s parallel world, a war is going on between the Reads, encompassing characters from fiction and fairytale recognisable from our own literature; and the Unreads, led by robot queen Jana, who believes only in facts and takes great pleasure in reducing giants and fairies to strings of data. There’s a wonderful scene where Snow White is “processed” for information about dwarfish working habits. Far worse enemies, however, are the Never Reads, who represent all-consuming ignorance.

  Torday adds a level of psychological realism to his characters that is absent from Lewis’s novel, where Edmund is simply a device. Here Evie, the traitor, genuinely struggles with her allegiances, while those ranged on the other side have their troubles too. The other innovation is the suggestion of a government organisation that uses children to experiment with magic; these sections are dark and intriguing. But though the book is expertly handled, and written with charm, passion and fervour, in the end this very personal homage stays too close to its source.

  Philip Womack’s The Double Axe is published by Alma. The Lost Magician is published by Quercus. To order a copy for £11.04 (RRP £12.99) go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99.

• The Bookbag
  http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/The_Lost_Magician_by_Piers_Torday
  Word count: 596

  QUOTE: “brilliant story,”
  “As in so many of the best books, there is a quest: the title kind of gives that away. But although there is a thoroughly satisfactory ending to this book, it is part of a series, so we can look forward to more breath-taking adventures.”
  reviewed by Linda Lawlor
  In a world ravaged by the horrors of the Second World War, two boys and two girls move to the countryside to stay with a professor. They find a secret door and then a strange and enthralling world where they are needed, to play a major role in an epic battle. Sound familiar?

  Well no, not exactly. Yes, it's a brilliant story, Yes, just like in Narnia the children have to struggle against evil and their own secret failings. And yes, the world though the door is full of amazing characters, drawn partly from well-known tales, and partly from Mr Torday's prodigious imagination. But this is 1945, and these are children who have just lived through the blitz in London. They are all, to some extent affected, even traumatised, by what they have seen, things no child should ever, ever have to experience, and this colours the way they react to Folio, the land beyond the door. Because Folio too is at war, and all the sadness, fear and misery they hoped to leave behind is right there once more before their eyes.

  Apologies - this makes it sound gloomy, as descriptions of Piers Torday's plots can be, but it's not. He's a master story-teller who combines drama, imagination and even humour (the three bears, anyone?) in a wondrous hotch-potch where readers will find themselves identifying with now one, now another of the four young people, and it would be hard to put this book down at the end, having been both gripped and entertained, without at least an inkling of the different effects war has on the young. In fact, this story should be prescribed reading for all villains, despots, dictators and war-mongers: what kind of world do you think you're creating?

  As in so many of the best books, there is a quest: the title kind of gives that away. But although there is a thoroughly satisfactory ending to this book, it is part of a series, so we can look forward to more breath-taking adventures. And read the last few The Lost Magician by Piers Tordays attentively: there's more going on than a simple adventure here, and in future volumes it looks as if it's going to involve more than just the world behind that magical door.

  Piers Torday has written another excellent and award-winning series which fans of this book will want to check out. Start with The Last Wild, follow on with The Dark Wild then you'll find yourself racing through to the thrilling climax in The Wild Beyond. Exciting stuff, but scary too – and pretty convincing on what might happen if our environment is sacrificed to human greed. And once you've read that series, try There May Be a Castle which Bookbag also loved, and which, once again, contains Mr Torday's unique blend of thrills, comedy and fantastic (in both senses) story-telling.

  And of course, if you haven't already read them, you simply must try The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis. Good and evil, magic, huge battles, talking animals . . . it's all there, just waiting for you to pick up the first volume and lose yourself in one of Britain's most famous stories.

• Library Lady
  https://alibrarylady.blog/2019/09/19/the-frozen-sea-by-piers-torday/
  Word count: 864

  QUOTE: : “The very best children’s books do more than entertain, they encourage the reader to think, to question and inspire them to read more widely.”
  “The skill of Piers Torday as a story writer is that he writes about the subjects he cares about with such passion that the reader is inspired to care too.”
  The Frozen Sea by Piers Torday
  Posted on September 19, 2019 by alibrarylady
  Anne Thompson
  Stories have great power. Through stories we learn about people, places and events. Stories can inspire and entertain, they connect us and help us to make sense of information and understand how it applies to our own lives. Stories require inspiration and imagination. Sometimes one story inspires another. The Narnia chronicles are classics that have affected readers for many years leaving a lasting impression on generations of readers. They inspired Piers Torday to create the world of Folio. In The Lost Magician we met the four children who discovered this special land and were thrilled by the adventure they took part in that brought peace to Folio. In The Frozen Sea, forty years after the first instalment, another child must embark on a dangerous quest to rescue a long lost relative in this remarkable world of stories and imagination.

  Inspired by The Silver Chair this story begins in a similar way with Jewel Hastings trying to escape from school bullies just as Jill did in the earlier story. While hiding in a mysterious old bookshop she discovers an atlas through which Jewel, and her pet hamster Fizz, are transported to the land of Folio. In the Land Of the Reads she finds herself in the Idea Jungle and she and Fizz, who is now miraculously able to talk, are sent by the Librarian, the ruler of this place, on a quest to rescue her Aunt Evie who had returned to Folio.

  The premise of discovering and visiting imaginary worlds using books, bookshops or libraries as a portal is immensely appealing to any of us who have felt transported to another place when reading. The world created by Piers Torday is a vivid one, at times beautiful and inspiring then within a few pages sinister and frightening. What makes this world deeply affecting is the place of technology within it. Setting the story in 1984 ensures that Jewel’s experience of computers and technological gadgets is confined to early video games and a much prized combined radio and double cassette recorder. She is bewildered by the robots, the rapid communication systems and the personal access to instant information that the UnReads of Folio have at their disposal. As an adult reader there are many moments of unsettling recognition as we watch how the citizens of Folio are dominated by the Stampstone worn on their wrists. Piers Torday demonstrates how the advancement of technology and the digital revolution can be both a blessing and a curse. The opportunities provided by the development of AI are touched upon and Jewel and Fizz are accompanied on their epic journey by a robot named Pandora.

  There are many interesting themes and ideas conveyed throughout this imaginative and exciting adventure. As we follow Jewel who displays courage, loyalty and intelligence as she battles with enemies and the elements on her journey we learn that access to knowledge gives power and that this power may sometimes be used for ill. The manipulation of information, the inability to form one’s own opinion and the reliance on others’ ideas are all displayed in various scenarios. But the resilience of the human spirit and loyalty and love for family and friends play an equally important part in this book.

  All of these ideas are wrapped up in an absolutely thrilling adventure. There is danger at every turn and the reader is never completely sure which characters are trustworthy and which are not which adds to the tension. Jewel is a fabulous protagonist and one that you very quickly warm to. Fizz definitely deserves a mention too. A hamster with a slightly cynical approach to life and a dry sense of humour he provides some very entertaining and amusing moments.

  The intricate chapter headings and the stunning cover are by Ben Mantle. I think the cover illustrations capture the essence of the story beautifully and removing the dust jacket reveals an unexpected bonus on the hardback copy.

  It would, I think, be possible to read and enjoy this book without having read The Lost Magician as the necessary plot points are covered within this sequel however for added enjoyment it would help to have met the various characters and to have visited Folio already.

  The very best children’s books do more than entertain, they encourage the reader to think, to question and inspire them to read more widely. The skill of Piers Torday as a story writer is that he writes about the subjects he cares about with such passion that the reader is inspired to care too.

  The Frozen Sea is now available to purchase in all good bookshops or online

• Books for Topics
  https://www.booksfortopics.com/post/review-the-frozen-sea
  Word count: 300

  QUOTE: “The Frozen Sea has a wonderfully descriptive quality to the writing and Torday transports his readers to a new world with ease and conviction. “
  This is a wonderful adventure story led by a female protagonist, Jewel. Marginalised and unpopular, Jewel is initially being followed by a gang of bullies when she takes refuge in an old, intriguing bookshop. It is in this shop that the magic begins!

  Jewel and her hamster, to whom she can talk, get sucked into a mysterious book of maps and soon find themselves stood in the unknown land that was depicted in the book they had been reading. Once in the book, Jewel discovers a completely new world that is in great danger. Her quest as a reader is to help save the new land and learn about herself while doing so. Not only does Jewel discover that she has an important role to play in this new world, she also discovers that she is not the first member of her family to venture into this new world and try and find the frozen sea. Jewel struggles to know who she should trust in this new world – who are her enemies and who are her allies?

  This is an adventure story full of twists and turns, emotional turmoil and danger around most corners. Fans of the Last Wild trilogy are sure to love this newest book by Piers Torday. Like his other books, The Frozen Sea has a wonderfully descriptive quality to the writing and Torday transports his readers to a new world with ease and conviction. I also loved how books and reading are given such a significance in this story. This book would be a wonderful stimulus for reading or creative writing sessions in UKS2.

• The Guardian
  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/15/there-may-be-a-castle-piers-torday-review
  Word count: 725

  QUOTE: “fizz and crackle of the dialogue, the menace of the darker scenes, the depth of insight into the human condition and the sheer originality of the whole.” “is one of the best writers for children working today.”
  There May Be a Castle by Piers Torday review – imagination and danger
  It’s a snowy Christmas Eve … but the journey of the Mallory family to Granny and Gramps takes a sinister turn
  What is hiding in the woods, stalking Mouse?
  What is hiding in the woods, stalking Mouse? Photograph: Alamy
  Tony Bradman
  Sat 15 Oct 2016 04.30 EDT
  1
  The novel that follows Piers Torday’s acclaimed Last Wild trilogy gets off to a bit of a slow start. It’s a snowy Christmas Eve when we meet the Mallory family – oldest child Violet, 11-year-old Albert, whose nickname is Mouse, toddler Esme and their harassed mum Belinda. Dad has decamped to Florida with a new love, and nobody is very happy, so there’s plenty of bickering. But Mum finally herds the kids into the car for the drive across the moor to the house of Granny and Gramps where they are to spend Christmas Day.

  So far it’s all very realistic: a closely observed, wry portrait of a wounded family, and in particular the love-hate of Violet and Mouse. Then, 30 pages in, everything changes. The car hits a patch of black ice and crashes, spinning off the road on an isolated part of the moor. Violet blacks out for a moment, and when she comes to she finds herself trapped by her seat belt. Esme is alive, and so is Mum, although she’s unconscious and bleeding. Mouse, however, has vanished.

  At this point the narrative splits in two and we discover that Mouse is somewhere else entirely. He wakes alone in a field, unable to remember how he got there or who he is. There’s certainly no crashed car or any other human beings in sight, only a friendly sheep who seems to be able to pack a lot of meaning into each “Baa!”. Soon things take a rather stranger – and much darker – turn. Mouse realises somebody or something very scary is watching him from the nearby woods.

  Just then a large talking horse appears, an impossible transformation of Nonky, Mouse’s beloved childhood toy. Nonky casually informs Mouse that he is now in a “story” and that it will include peril, quests and an enemy – the thing in the woods – who wants to kill him. So they set off through a fairytale landscape, collecting several other toy-based characters. Mouse is dressed as a knight from his favourite computer game; their goal is a distant castle which may or may not exist.

  Meanwhile, Violet is still trying to get out of the car and save her family. The power of story and imagination plays a key role in each narrative. It quickly becomes clear that Mouse is in a world created by his unconscious mind, and Violet – who loves reading – uses the wisdom she has gained from books to solve practical problems as well as to give herself courage. The two strands gradually begin to come together, as tension about the family’s fate mounts.

  I won’t reveal the tale’s eventual destination, but there are clues. Astute readers will quickly guess the identity of the deadly monster stalking Mouse. Then there’s the name Mallory: it can’t be a coincidence that Mouse shares a surname with the man who disappeared into the snows of Everest. At its heart, this story is about survival, ut it’s also about a family dealing with tragedy and managing to carry on.

  I do have a quibble. The narrative moves fairly slowly, and I was left with a sense that it doesn’t have quite enough plot for its length. But that’s offset by the fizz and crackle of the dialogue, the menace of the darker scenes, the depth of insight into the human condition and the sheer originality of the whole. Piers Torday continues to demonstrate that he is one of the best writers for children working today.

  Tony Bradman’s The Boy and the Globe is published by Barrington Stoke.

• Reading Zone
  https://www.readingzone.com/books/the-wild-before/
  Word count: 399

  QUOTE: “This is everything we have come to expect from Piers Torday. Beautiful, lyrical writing combined with powerful story telling result in a magical tale full of wit and wisdom.”
  Reviewed by Sue Wilsher
  The Wild Before is a prequel to The Last Wild trilogy, which rank amongst some of my favourite books of all time. One night, the legendary Mooncalf, a pure white calf, was born, witnessed by Little Hare. The Mooncalf's coming has been foretold by animals for generations with the warning that, if the calf dies, a great terribleness will come, leading to the end of all time. Against the odds, Little Hare must try to rally the other animals to action to save the world.

  This is everything we have come to expect from Piers Torday. Beautiful, lyrical writing combined with powerful story telling result in a magical tale full of wit and wisdom. The story focuses on the world of animals, particularly Little-Hare whose Fath-hare and Moth-hare died the previous summer and who now lives with Run-Hare, his sist-hare. Although young and small, it falls to this courageous and determined creature as the chosen one to save the world from the great Terribleness.

  There is a powerful environmental message running through the story and the responses given by many animals to the hares' pleas for help mimic those often heard by humans who act as if they care about the environment, but rarely take action to help it. Hope lies with the future generations and it is the young ones who listen, seeking to change things.

  Pier's attention to detail is as impressive as ever. A 'field guide to animal tongue' is included at the start of the book, allowing the reader to immerse themselves in this world a little further. Each animal has a real personality - Waxwing is persistent and determined, constantly challenging the hares to take action; Robin, pugnacious; Mouse, given to sarcasm and singing. Piers also weaves much fact and folklore about hares into the story.

  There are harsher moments in the story, reflecting the gravity and perils of Little-Hare's situation and the reality of nature. This is a true quest to save the world and those involved stake their lives on their mission to change the future. Highly recommended!

  240 pages / Reviewed by Sue Wilsher, teacher

• The Guardian
  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/26/the-wild-beyond-piers-torday-review-teenage-dystopian-fiction
  Word count: 680

  QUOTE: “Many dystopian novels have a similar setting. What makes Torday’s trilogy stand out is the extraordinary cast of characters he assembles to fight against Factorium and its evil creator, Selwyn Stone.”
  The Wild Beyond by Piers Torday review – the triumphant finale to an anarchic trilogy
  An extraordinary cast of characters fights an evil monopoly that controls every aspect of their lives
  Piers Torday
  Crisp economy … Piers Torday. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian
  Gillian Cross
  Sat 26 Sep 2015 03.30 EDT
  0
  There seems to be no end to Piers Torday’s anarchic imagination. In the first two books of his Last Wild trilogy, he introduced us to a world ruined by climate change and dominated by the fear of disease and the wild creatures carrying it; The Dark Wild won last year’s Guardian children’s fiction prize. In this world, human beings are crowded into the last remaining city, which is run by “Factorium”, an evil monopoly that controls every aspect of their lives. The only available food is ‘FormulA’, a disgusting pink concoction produced by Factorium, and animals have been almost entirely wiped out by an illness called “red-eye”.

  Many dystopian novels have a similar setting. What makes Torday’s trilogy stand out is the extraordinary cast of characters he assembles to fight against Factorium and its evil creator, Selwyn Stone. The trilogy’s hero is a boy called Kester. He is mute, but he can communicate telepathically with animals. This gift enables him to collect a band of comrades, including a rat, a cockroach, 100 pigeons and a mouse who dances what she wants to say. These characters have an eccentric charm that is both comic and moving, and they are as important to the book as the two girls, Polly and Aida, who also join forces with Kester.

  There is such a long cast list that it takes a while to introduce everyone at the beginning of this third book. That makes the start rather slow, and likely to be confusing for new readers. It is worth persevering, however. The story really gets going with the appearance of the world’s last blue whale, closely followed by the arrival of Councillor Fenella Clancy-Clay, a new villain, who arrives in a glass ship and whisks the children off to “hair and makeup”. All Torday’s characters are precisely imagined, and described with a crisp economy that makes them easy to visualise, from Fenella, with her translucent skin and icicle necklace, to the terrifying tattooed Eck in the jungle of Faraway.

  Kester and his friends are hunting for the Iris, a tiny capsule of microdots containing the DNA coding for every living thing in the world. At the start of the book it is lost, tucked into the cheek pouch of a mouse who is hiding somewhere. It must be found before Selwyn Stone gets his hands on it. Wildness must be defended and preserved.

  Two opposing images run through the book: the huge heart of the blue whale, echoed in the shape of Faraway Island, with its jungle packed with unknown plants, some perilous and some useful to humans; and the man-made, sterile beauty of Fenella’s glass boat and the Glass Towers where she takes the children. They sum up the serious issue at the centre of the trilogy: the fate of wildness in a planet increasingly damaged by human choices and actions. It would have been easy to give a glib answer by ending the book with an optimistic resolution. Torday avoids that trap with an elegantly light touch as a final twist leaves the central question hanging in the air: will human beings finally make the planet uninhabitable and be forced to start again on another world?

  Gillian Cross’s Shadow Cat is published by OUP. To order The Wild Beyond for £4.99 (RRP £6.99) go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99.

• The Bookbag
  http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/The_Wild_Beyond_by_Piers_Torday
  Word count: 747

  QUOTE: “Piers Torday has created a wonderful and thoroughly convincing world here, and the story deserves to be read in full.”
  Linda Lawlor
  Stories for younger readers about the effects of climate change, known as cli-fi, are growing massively in popularity right now, as environmental disasters and the disappearance of many of the planet's animals and plants hit the news on a depressingly regular basis. Shrinking glaciers mean rising water levels and the slow extinction of polar bears, and in many cities pollution and smog are so dire at times that governments are forced to ban cars and urge their citizens to stay indoors. But far from frightening children with tales of ever-increasing destruction and death, Piers Torday offers them a way to hope. No matter how bad things are, this trilogy tells us, all it takes is determination, and together we'll save our beautiful world.

  In the first two books in this award-winning series twelve-year-old Kester learns that he – and he alone – can understand and communicate with animals. He is persuaded (if that's the proper term: that bossy little cockroach was never going to take no for an answer, and anyone who's ever tried to eat a sandwich in a city park knows how persistent pigeons can be!) to accept his role as the human embodiment of the Wild and set off on a quest with his animal companions in search of his scientist father. Things are never easy, even when Kester manages to make a couple of human friends, and there are no super-heroes or magic wands to save the day. If an animal or a human falls seriously ill the truth isn't sugar-coated: they die, and that's that. In fact, before the book opens most of the animals on the planet have already disappeared, killed by the red-eye virus, and the terrified humans live in a strict quarantine on the Island. Indeed, the full extent of the crisis is vividly demonstrated by the fact that the only thing left to eat in the world is a pink, gloopy mixture manufactured by the Factorium food company, which, no matter what you do to it, always tastes of prawn cocktail crisps.

  Gentle, quiet Kester is a boy anyone can identify with - despite his one fantastic gift, he is as ordinary as they come. He gets scared and miserable, especially when danger comes from unexpected directions, and he is often tired and hungry. He is awkward around other humans, and he never really gets over his astonishment that he, of all people, could be the one chosen for such an immense and difficult task. But that's the whole point. Keeping our world clean and safe and peaceful isn't the responsibility of men in shiny tights or Nobel Prize winners. It's your everyday Joe and Jenny who need to step up – once they've finished their homework, of course. There's a really good article on Mr Torday's blog, reproduced from the Guardian newspaper, that explains precisely why his trilogy, while based on imagination, is not a fantasy.

  All this may make the book seem austere and serious, but it isn't at all. There's adventure aplenty, wild quests and epic battles, and through it all a lightness of touch that makes the whole thing utterly readable. Who will you love more by the end – the dancing mouse or the chatty lizard? Who is braver, the war-like cockroach or the big-headed wolf cub? Actually, it doesn't matter: the important thing is that they all work together, whatever their strengths and weaknesses, and that's got to touch the heart and imagination of every boy and girl who reads this story. It really ought to be available to young people in every school library in the world.

  Piers Torday has created a wonderful and thoroughly convincing world here, and the story deserves to be read in full. Start with The Last Wild, then join Kester and his companions as they struggle against even greater perils in The Dark Wild before the desperate battles of the third book. If you're a dedicated reader of cli-fi, Bookbag also recommends The White Horse Trick by Kate Thompson and After the Flood by L S Matthews. And if, after all that, you find yourself checking the ingredients on every food packet, or going round the house turning off unnecessary lights, it just goes to prove that exciting stories can also carry a serious message!