Best Selling Books by Chris Riddell

THE TWIG TRILOGY, Book III Out in the open sky, a ferocious storm threatens the magnificent floating city of Sanctaphrax. Only Twig, who has dared to sail over the Edge, knows of the approaching danger. But before he can return home, his sky ship is destroyed, scattering his crew across the world and robbing him of all memory. Without Twig, will the Edge be lost forever?

Fergus Crane has an almost ordinary life—attending school on the ship Betty Jeanne and helping his mother in the bakery. But then a winged mechanical horse appears and whisks Fergus off to meet his long-lost uncle. Not only that, he finds out that his teachers are not what they seem—they''re actually pirates! Can Fergus save his schoolmates from the far-off Fire Island? Perfect for 8- to 12-year-old readers, this is a deliciously accessible story. "Part Dickensian comedy, part pirate adventure."--Publishers Weekly

THE QUINT TRILOGY, Book III Quint is traveling with his father, Wind Jackal, on a mission to track down and bring to justice Turbot Smeal, the man who started the fire that killed their family. Having left behind his studies at the Knights Academy, Quint is now eager to learn what it really means to be a sky pirate and to learn from his father. But Wind Jackal is consumed by his desire to capture Smeal, amd his judgment is flawed. His actions endanger the lives of his crew and his son. As they travel from the taverns and the backstreets of Undertown and the wonders of the shipbuilders'' yards to the dark dangers of the Deepwoods, Quint and Maris become separated from the rest of the crew. Finally, at the mysterious, ghostly sky-wreck in Open Sky, they discover the truth about Smeal.

A boy, orphaned and raised in the Frozen North by reindeer herders, boards his birth parents'' sled and sets its special compass to "Home, " where he uncovers a plot that threatens his mermaid godmothers and other friends of his family.

Nate Quarter is a lowly lamplighter in the phraxmines of the Eastern Woods, until treachery forces him to flee for his life to the mighty city of Great Glade. But these are turbulent times. In far-off Hive, the spectacular city founded by the goblin tribes, the clan leaders are preparing for war. And out beyond the dread Nightwoods, in the fabled gardens of Riverrise, a one-eyed waif jealously guards the life-giving waters of the mystical Riverrise spring. . . . Swept up in the maelstrom that follows, Nate and a small band of intrepid friends must set off on an epic journey that is to lead them into terrible peril. All the while, from over the Edge cliff itself, a storm unlike any ever seen before, is building. A storm that is to roll across the land, bringing both echoes of the past and promises of a new beginning. . . . This is the final tale in the Edge Chronicles sequence and it’s a fabulous climax to one of the most original and dramatic fantasy series being written today. Set years in the future, this book is ideal for new readers to discover the series before going back to read the history of Twig, Rook, and Quint. Illustrated throughout with outstanding inventiveness by Chris Riddell, it will not only enthrall existing fans of the Edge Chronicles but also grip readers new to the series.

Scavenger: Chaos Zone is the second book in the thrilling sci-fi adventure series from the team behind the Edge Chronicles, Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. For ages nine and up. After their fierce battle with the zoids, fourteen year-old York and his robotic friend Belle must journey down to the next level of the Biosphere, where all the plants and animals for the journey from Earth were kept . . . Since the zoid uprising, this level has become a deadly mix of enormous carnivorous plants, mutated insects and animals that have evolved in terrifying ways. York and Belle have no choice but to fight their way through this dangerous landscape to reach the centre of the ship – where, hopefully, they will finally solve the mystery of the Zoids. Continue the sci-fi adventures with the third and final book in the series, Scavenger: Mind Warp.

A charming and irresistible new Ottoline story from award-winning and bestselling author Chris Riddell. Featuring a set of novelty gadget spectacles!Ottoline is worried about her hairy best friend, Mr Munroe, who has been acting very strangely... and then he disappears. Ottoline must journey across land and sea (making friends with some polar bear cobblers along the way!) and find her friend – even if it means wading through the Norwegian Bogs and being chased by some hungry trolls! Can she find Mr Munroe before it''s too late?

THE ROOK TRILOGY, Book II High in the crumbling Palace of Statues, oily Vox Verlix—the Most High Academe in name, but really no more than a lowly prisoner—is brewing a terrible plot to take over power in Edgeworld once again. Rook stumbles upon the truth when he is taken captive and forced to work for Vox. Can Rook foil Vox''s plan and save the lives of his librarian colleagues?

In the floating city of Sanctaphrax, fusty old professors scheme and bicker with each other as they study the weather in minute detail—mistsifting, fogprobing, researching the air blowing in from beyond the Edge. But some experiments are best left alone. . . . Quint is the son of a sky pirate captain. He arrives in Sanctaphrax at the request of Linius Pallitax, the Most High Academe, who needs an apprentice he can trust to carry out a series of highly important tasks. Just how important, Quint is about to find out as he and Linius’s only daughter, Maris, are plunged into the midst of a terrifying adventure that takes them deep within the rock upon which Sanctaphrax is built.

Barnaby Grimes is a tick-tock lad, high-stacking his way across the rooftops of his city in search of adventure and mystery. In each tale, he encounters a supernatural force and must battle the horrors that await him. In this new adventure, Barnaby finds himself in the fiercely competitive world of early photography, where the rewards are immense but so are the risks. After an experiment goes disastrously wrong, Barnaby is on the trail of a mad chemist with a talent for disappearing into thin air. . . .

Since his childhood in the DeepWoods, young Twig has always longed to soar above the forest canopy and explore the sky. Now a crew member on his father’s sky pirate ship, the Stormchaser, his dream seems fulfilled. But a much higher destiny awaits Twig. The lofty city of Sanctaphrax—built on a giant rock, floating high in the sky—is at the point of disaster. The city’s future is dependent on stormphrax—a valuable substance available only from the heart of a Great Storm. And only the Stormchaser, with Twig onboard, could risk entering a storm. . . . From the Hardcover edition.

Fleeing from the ruins of New Undertown, Rook Barkwater and his colleagues — the librarian knights, Felix Lodd and his banderbear friends — must lead the escaping population to a new life in the Free Glades. But perils aplenty are ahead for the crowd — not to mention some goblins with plans of their own. This is the dramatic and exciting conclusion to the Rook Barkwater sequence that takes the reader on a thrilling journey across the Edgeworld.

Cade has never met his uncle, the infamous ''descender'' Nate Quarter, who years ago committed heresy by lowering himself over the cliff-face of the Edge. But Nate has returned, and the Academy of Flight are looking for revenge against all of his supporters - including Cade. So now he has to run. With no money and nowhere else to go, Cade’s only option is to stow away aboard the Xanth Filatine, a mighty sky-ship bound for the city of Hive. But getting onto the ship is only the beginning of his troubles as he runs afoul of thieving goblins, brutal skymarshals, and the unpleasant-sounding threat of skyfiring. Stewart and Riddell return to the world of the Edge Chronicles with the first in a brand new series of adventures starring Cade Quarter.

Using data spanning a half century for adjacent jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada, we study the long-term effects of a very generous unemployment insurance (UI)program on weeks worked. We find large effects. For example, in 1990, about 6 percent of employed men in Maine''s northernmost counties worked fewer than 26 weeks per year; just across the border in New Brunswick that figure was over 20 percent. According to our estimates, New Brunswick''s much more generous UI system accounts for about two thirds of this differential. Even greater effects are found among women and less-educated men. We argue that our longer-run, crossnational perspective generates more substantial estimates of program effects because it captures workers'' abilities to make a wider variety of adjustments to programs they expect to be permanent.

An exclusive story, tracing the history of Maugin the Stone Pilot, who Twig meets in STORMCHASER. Maugin is a termagent trog, destined to change from a beautiful delicate creature into the fearsomely impressive adult termagant at her first blooding, due very soon. But an ill-fated trip above ground to release her prowlgrin pet into the wild ends with her capture by mercenary Deepwoods slavers. Maugin''s subsequent sale to a terrifying scientist - for use in some kind of macabre experiment - could be the end of her - but for the actions of a young sky pirate, Quint Verginix. When Quint takes her on board his father Wind Jackal''s skyship, Maugin experiences a world a million miles away from her underground home and begins a new future as a Stone Pilot. A wonderful accompaniment to the series and a must for any Edge Chronicles fan. Told in the first person, we finally discover how the delicate young trog came to be so far from home.

How are great turning points in history experienced by individuals? As Britain pulls away from Europe great British writers come together to give voice to their innermost feelings. These writers include novelists, writers of books for children, of comic books, humourists, historians, biographers, nature writers, film writers, travel writers, writers young and old and from an extraordinary range of backgrounds. Most are famous perhaps because they have won the Booker or other literary prizes, written bestsellers, changed the face of popular culture or sold millions of records. Others are not yet household names but write with depth of insight and feeling. There is some extraordinary writing in this book. Some of these pieces are expressions of love of particular places in Europe. Some are true stories, some nostalgic, some hopeful. Some are cries of pain. There are hilarious pieces. There are cries of pain and regret. Some pieces are quietly devastating. All are passionate. Conceived as a love letter to Europe, this book may also help reawaken love for Britain. It shows the unique richness and diversity of British cultures, a multitude of voices in harmony. Contributors include: Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Philip Ardagh, Jake Arnott, Patricia Atkinson, Paul Atterbury, Richard Beard, Mary Beard, Don Boyd, Melvyn Bragg, Gyles Brandreth, Kathleen Burke, James Buxton, Philip Carr, Brian Catling, Shami Chakrabarti, Chris Cleave, Mark Cocker, Peter Conradi , Heather Cooper, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Roger Crowley, David Crystal, William Dalrymple, Lindsey Davies, Margaret Drabble, Mark Ellen, Richard Evans, Michel Faber, Sebastian Faulks, Ranulph Fiennes, Robert Fox, James Fox, Neil Gaiman, Evelyn Glennie, James Hanning, Nick Hayes, Alan Hollinghurst, Gabby Hutchinson-Crouch, Will Hutton, Robert Irwin, Holly Johnson , Liane Jones, Ruth Jones, Sam Jordison, Kapka Kassabova, AL Kennedy, Hermione Lee, Prue Leith, Patrick Lenox, Roger Lewis, David Lindo, Penelope Lively, Beth Lync, Richard Mabey, Sue MacGregor, Ian Martin, Frank McDonough, Jonathan Meades, Andrew Miller, Deborah Moggach, Ben Moor, Alan Moore, Paul Morley, Jackie Morris, Charles Nicholl, Richard Overy, Chris Riddell, Adam Roberts, Tony Robinson, Lee Rourke, Sophie Sabbage, Marcus Sedgwick, Richard Shirreff, Paul Stanford, Isy Suttie, Sandi Toksvig, Colin Tudge, Ed Vulliamy, Anna Whitelock, Kate Williams, Michael Wood, Louisa Young

Platypus''s lucky day does not turn out exactly the way he thought it would.

Bind-up of three hilarious fantastical adventures of a mercenary knight by the best-selling creators of THE EDGE CHRONICLES.

An entire herd of greywyrmes, slaughtered for their flameoil. Others trapped, then viciously herded through the mountains. And more and more settlers heading up to the high country, the bones of those who donâe(tm)t make it littering the way, stark and white, picked clean by carrionwyrmes âe" the bone trail . . . Trouble is brewing on the weald. A great whitewyrme and his kin send out a call to arms, and the wyrmes begin to gather in their ancient galleries. To defend their land against the relentless march of the kith, with their wagons and settlements and taste for killing. Payback is coming. Wyrme against kith. Kith against kin. Even wyrme against wyrme. And seasoned traveller Micah, with his friends Eli and Cara, is heading right into the thick of it . . .

Apolline est passionnée d''énigmes en tout genre, de collections farfelues et de voyages. Cette année, elle fait sa rentrée à l''école Alice B. Dupont avec son amie Cécilie, sans oublier M. Munroe ! Grâce aux cours de rêverie et aux autres ateliers, chaque enfant devrait pouvoir trouver son don spécial. Mais plusieurs incidents commencent à effrayer les autres élèves, et Cécilie leur raconte que l''école est hantée... C''est décidé, Apolline va mener l''enquête ! Une enquête dans une école hantée Tous les enfants sont effrayés en apprenant que l''école est hantée ! Des objets disparaissent et on entend des bruits bizarres la nuit dans les couloirs... Apolline parviendra-t-elle à démasquer le coupable ? Un monde rempli de fantaisie Découvre l''univers insolite et pétillant d''Apolline, sa passion excentrique pour les chaussures orphelines, son goût pour le déguisement et son talent pour concevoir des plans loufoques.

Do you know the difference between a Nostromian Weevil and a Zyglon Tentacle Beast? Could you resist an invasion of Purple Peekons? And can you outwit a Fantabbydosian? No? YOU NEED THIS BOOK! Rich in comic detail, this extraordinary book is packed with revolting aliens and impossible spaceships. Magnificently illustrated and with novelty elements including five pull-out postcards, a mini "Who’s What and From Where" booklet and a "Bottom Trumps" card game, this is Chris Riddell at his very best.

CRIME & MYSTERY FICTION (CHILDREN''S / TEENAGE). Packed full of beautiful black-and-white illustrations from author Chris Riddell, Goth Girl and the Fete Worse Than Death follows the adventures of Ada Goth in the sequel to the award-winning Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse. Preparations for the Ghastly-Gorm garden party and bake off are under way. Celebrity cooks are arriving at the hall for the big event and, true to form, Maltravers, the indoor gamekeeper, is acting suspiciously. Elsewhere at Ghastly-Gorm Ada''s wardrobe-dwelling lady''s maid Marylebone has received a marriage proposal. Ada vows to aid the course of true love and find out what Maltravers is up to but, amidst all this activity, everyone, including her father, appears to have forgotten her birthday!. Age 9+