Chris Riddell (Author) Chris Riddell is an acclaimed artist of children's books and a political cartoonist for the Observer. Amongst other titles, Chris illustrates the Ottoline young fiction series and the Goth Girl series, as well as working closely with Paul Stewart on the Edge Chronicles and Wyrmeweald. Children's Laureate from 2015-2017, he has won many awards for his work, including the Nestle Gold Award, the UNESCO Award for Something Else and the rare honour of three Kate Greenaway Medals. Paul Stewart (Author) Paul Stewart is a highly regarded author of books for young readers - everything from picture books to football stories, fantasy and horror. Together with Chris Riddell, he is co-creator of the bestselling Edge Chronicles series, which has sold over three million books and is now available in over thirty languages. They are also co-creators of the Far-Flung Adventure series, which includes Fergus Crane, Gold Smarties Prize Winner, Corby Flood and Hugo Pepper, Silver Nestle Prize Winners, and the Barnaby Grimes Series.
The latest and best Stewart/Riddell collaboration to date is set in a pseudo-Victorian world of stovepipe hats, gamins and smog. Barnaby Grimes is a tick-tock lad by trade: Need a delivery as fast as possible? Barnaby is more than willing to high-stack it over the tops of the city just to send your message fast enough. One night, a near-miss with a nasty wolf on a roof during the light of the full moon and the mysterious disappearance of his friend Old Benjamin together convince Barnaby to investigate the seedy sections of his city and the even seedier secrets of high society. As a mystery, the book telegraphs its punches too obviously, but as an adventure tale it swoops and soars. The classic horror aspects of this werewolf tale may be a bit dark for younger readers, but for any kid who has enjoyed The Spiderwick Chronicles and their like, Stewart offers high-stepping exploits and derring-do aplenty. From the first gripping sentence onward, Barnaby will be sure to rake in the fans. (Horror. 9-12) (Kirkus Reviews)