Category: Books

Midnight Treasure proofs are here! 🐺

Posted on June 2, 2024 by - Books

The proofs have dropped for my new book, MIDNIGHT TREASURE, which will be published by @hachettechildrens on September 5th.

It is the beginning of a new fantasy series for children, inspired by a hand-drawn map of a mysterious fantasy land by my Dad, which led to exploring my family connections to Transylvania, and an extraordinary train trip to that magical place, where I have stayed with a real Count, been washed down a mountain and attacked by a pack of wild dogs.

And if I have learned anything on my travels, it is this :

IF THERE IS ONE THING VAMPIRS CRAVE AS MUCH AS BLOOD, IT IS TREASURE . . .

Tibor is a werwolf, adopted
by his guardian, a powerful vampir. He and his friend Roza are on the deadliest of quests, and one that will test their very immortality.

But they’re not the only ones hunting for the Midnight Treasure. Battling with bears, wrestling with vampirs and racing against the clock, Tibor and Roza must decide who to trust. And whether they will dare reveal the secrets . . . of the Midnight Treasure.

A few very kind people were generous enough to read early copies, and I am both blown away by and enormously grateful for their words:

“Stop the hunt for your next epic read because this is a treasure of a fantasy book. High stakes, big heart, frightfully good.”
A. F. STEADMAN

‘A brilliant fantasy adventure.’
ANTHONY MCGOWAN

‘One of my favourite children’s books ever.’
LAUREN ST JOHN

‘Breathless, bold and endlessly imaginative’
JONATHAN STROUD

‘This is storytelling at its very best.’
ELODIE HARPER

‘Epic, glorious, enchanting and dangerous: a writer at the height of his powers.’
EMMA CARROLL

‘An unmissable tale’
ABI ELPHINSTONE

‘A triumph of storytelling.’
POLLY YO-HEN

‘I loved this epic quest
adventure full of surprising twists and turns.’
H S NORUP

‘Lush, cinematic,
deliciously dark and
compelling . . . A thrilling treasure trove’
ROSS MONTGOMERY

‘Wildly inventive fantasy’
MIRA BARTOK

If you would like proof, send me a vial of your blood. Otherwise, you can pre-order an actual book here.

Cover illustrations © Alla Khatkevich 2024

Ten Years of The Last Wild!

Posted on March 28, 2023 by - Books

The Last Wild was published ten years ago, and I’m hugely grateful to everyone – agents, publishers, fellow authors, reviewers, teachers, librarians, bloggers, and parents – who have read, reviewed, blurbed, taught and promoted these books to young readers.

They changed my life beyond my wildest dreams, and I am profoundly grateful for all the adventures Kester and friends have sent me on.
But the reasons I wrote the books are now only more pressing. From insects to the life in our rivers, from birds to the big beasts – biodiversity is under threat from human interference as never before.
So please, keep reading and sharing. Because we already had the zoonotic virus bit  😷 – I don’t want anything else from these books to come true!
Keep on running, Kester. ❤️

The Wild Before paperback is out

Posted on March 4, 2022 by - Books

The paperback edition of  The Wild Before is finally here! It is just as sustainable as its big hardback brother, with vegetable inks and uncoated cover, and all the same story and pictures inside…

And, with a fabulous new review, from The Sunday Times, which chose it as one of their Best Children’s Books of 2022:

“A magical and lyrical adventure”

Signed copies are available from Waterstones.

Sophie Thompson to narrate The Wild Before

Posted on November 19, 2021 by - Books

I am over the moon to announce that the fabulous Sophie Thompson will be recording The Wild Before!

The unabridged audiobook of The Wild Before will be available as a digital download at £21.99, releasing on 2 December 2021.

I am such an admirer of Sophie’s work on both stage and screen. I can’t wait to hear such an accomplished and versatile actor bring the animals of Dandelion Hill to life – and just in time for Christmas too, what a treat!

Sophie said: “It’s been my pleasure to give Little Hare and his animal friends a voice and to bring their wild community to life. The Wild Before is a critically important story about climate change, friendship and hope for young children and I really hope that families enjoy listening to it together.”

Sophie Thompson is a British actress who has worked in television, film and theatre. A six-time Olivier Award nominee, she won the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the London revival of Into the Woods. Her film and TV appearances include Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Detectorists, Coronation Street and Sex Education. She was also winner of Celebrity Masterchef in 2014.

There May Be A Play!

Posted on August 19, 2021 by - Books, Plays

There May Be a Castle

It has been a long journey but well worth the wait – I am so excited that one of my books closest to my heart, There May Be a Castle, has been adapted for the stage by Barb Jungr and Samantha Lane, with music, and puppets by Judith Hope.

I cannot wait to see it, and hope to see you there…

There May Be Castle

Based on the book by Piers Torday

A Little Angel Theatre production

13 November 2021 – 23 January 2022

 

On a frozen Christmas Eve, a young boy called Mouse Mallory, and his family, set off across the snow-white valley to visit his grandparents. They never arrive.

When Mouse wakes up, he finds himself in a magical landscape, with only a talkative sheep and a very bossy horse for company. So begins Mouse’s extraordinary quest through a world of wonder. A world of monsters, minstrels, dangerous knights and mysterious wizards; a world of terrifying danger but also more excitement than Mouse has ever known.

A remarkable story about love, loss and the power of the imagination, from award-winning writer Piers Torday, is adapted into a musical puppetry production by the creators of Little Angel’s The Smartest Giant in Town and The Pixie and the Pudding.

Praise for the book:

“Original, ingenious and bold … I am still reeling.” – The Sunday Times

“an outstanding book and a future classic” – The School Librarian

There May be a Castle is aimed at ages 7-11.

Credits:

Based on the book by Piers Torday
Adapted by Barb Jungr and Samantha Lane
Directed by Samantha Lane
Music and lyrics by Barb Jungr
Puppets designed by Judith Hope
Set and costumes designed by Ellie Mills
Lighting designed by Sherry Coenen

Image copyright © Rob Biddulph 2016.

Lockdown Stories Return!

Posted on January 5, 2021 by - Books, Schools

Lockdown Stories 2

Lockdown time means Storytime is back!

I will be reading The Dark Wild, the second book in The Last Wild trilogy, out aloud at 2.30pm every weekday from Weds 6th Jan, a chapter a day, live on Instagram, or catch up later on my YouTube channel, until we’re out.

Hope to see some of you there.

Prequel to The Last Wild announced!

Posted on October 21, 2020 by - Books

Delighted to announce that, eight years later, there will be a prequel to THE LAST WILD.

THE WILD BEFORE will be published on August 19th 2021 with Hachette Children’s.

Drawing on themes of climate change, hope and friendship, The Wild Before returns the reader to the world of the beloved The Last Wild series, before the redeye virus has taken hold of every animal in the land, years before the events of The Last Wild have unfolded. The Wild Before tells the story of a young hare who is the world’s only hope of saving the legendary Mooncalf and avoiding certain disaster.

And I can’t wait for you all to read it!

Artwork: Thomas Flintham

National Writing Day Challenge

Posted on June 25, 2020 by - Short Stories, Writing Tips

For #NationalWritingDay here is a mini story competition!

Send your children’s responses to story@pierstorday.co.uk
The best one wins set of my books signed + £100 book token!
Maximum 2 sides A4, please send as typed Word documents if possible.
Competition closes 24/07/20, winner announced 30/08/20, the judges decision is final.

Ideas to entertain lockdown children from Katherine Rundell!

Posted on April 28, 2020 by - Books, Campaigns

Ideas to entertain lockdown children

Here are some brilliant ideas to entertain lockdown children.

Award-winning children’s author, Katherine Rundell, has edited The Book of Hopes: Words and Pictures to Comfort, Inspire and Entertain Children in Lockdown , which is completely free for all children and families.  The extraordinary collection includes short stories, poems, essays and pictures from more than 110 children’s writers and illustrators, including Lauren Child, Anthony Horowitz, Greg James and Chris Smith, Michael Morpurgo, Liz Pichon, Axel Scheffler, Francesca Simon, Jacqueline Wilson – and Katherine herself.

I’m delighted to have contributed small essay about the beauty of hares in amongst such treasures.

The Book of Hopes aims to comfort, inspire and encourage children during lockdown through delight, new ideas, ridiculous jokes and heroic tales. There are true accounts of cats and hares and plastic-devouring caterpillars; there are doodles and flowers; revolting poems and beautiful poems; and there are stories of space travel and new shoes and dragons.

The collection is dedicated to the doctors, nurses, carers, porters, cleaners and everyone currently working in hospitals. Bloomsbury intends to publish a gift book based on the project to be published in the autumn in support of NHS Charities Together.

“A few weeks ago, I began a Hope Project; I emailed some of the children’s writers and artists whose work I love most. I asked them to write something very short, fiction or non-fiction, or draw something that would make the children reading it feel like possibility-ists: something that would make them laugh or wonder or snort or smile. The response was magnificent, which shouldn’t have surprised me, because children’s writers and illustrators are professional hunters of hope. I hope that the imagination can be a place of shelter for children in the hard months ahead and that The Book of Hopes might be useful in that, even if only a little.”

Katherine Rundell