Most Popular Books by Hilary McKay

Spurred on by his youngest sister, Rose, twelve-year-old Indigo sticks up for himself and an American boy who has replaced him as the primary target of the school bullies.

The Skylarks'' War is a beautiful story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the harsh backdrop of World War One, from the award-winning Hilary McKay. Clarry and her older brother Peter live for their summers in Cornwall, staying with their grandparents and running free with their charismatic cousin, Rupert. But normal life resumes each September - boarding school for Peter and Rupert, and a boring life for Clarry at home with her absent father, as the shadow of a terrible war looms ever closer. When Rupert goes off to fight at the front, Clarry feels their skylark summers are finally slipping away from them. Can their family survive this fearful war?

Prequel to The Amber Cat.

Relates what becomes of Ermengarde and the other girls left behind at Miss Minchin''s School after Sara Crewe leaves to live with her guardian, the Indian gentleman.

The four Conroy sisters'' efforts to raise money in order to sponsor a ten-year-old boy in Africa get them into one difficult situation after another.

Hilary McKay''s Fairy Tales is a classic fairy-tale collection to treasure. Featuring Hilary McKay''s imaginative retellings of key favourites, this ten-story collection includes the much-loved tales of Rapunzel, Cinderella, The Princess and the Pea, Rumpelstiltskin, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Swan Brothers, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Red Riding Hood, The Twelve Dancing Princesses and Hansel and Gretel. This gorgeous collection features black-and-white line and tone illustrations throughout from the talented Sarah Gibb.

While trying to reconnect with her friend Tom, who has returned to the United States without leaving a forwarding address, eight-year-old Rose inadvertently discovers the identity of her adopted sister Saffy''s father.

Trapped and alone on the salt marshes, Jodie is troubled by a haunting presence in this eerily atmospheric ghost story from multi-award-winning author Hilary McKay

Young Saffron, known as Saffy, discovers that she is adopted. So she sets out in search of all she remembers from her youth--a stone angel in a garden in Italy.

From the author of "Indigos Star, Permanent Rose," and "Saffys Angel" comes the fourth delightful adventure of the irresistible Casson family.

"Originally published in Great Britain in 2021 by Pan Macmillan."

This book was originally published in hardback as Hilary McKay''s Fairy Tales. Straw into Gold: Fairy Tales Re-Spun is a classic fairy tale collection to treasure. Featuring Hilary McKay''s imaginative retellings of key favourites, this ten-story collection includes the much-loved tales of Rapunzel, Cinderella, the Princess and the Pea, Rumpelstiltskin, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the Swan Brothers, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Red Riding Hood, the Twelve Dancing Princesses and Hansel and Gretel. This gorgeous gift book features black-and-white line and tone illustrations throughout from the talented Sarah Gibb.

Five starred reviews! “An instant classic.” —The New York Times Book Review From award-winning author Hilary McKay comes “a memorable family story” (Booklist, starred review) about a girl adjusting to her new home—with the help of a little magic. When Abi’s father marries Max and Louis’s mom, their families start over together. Abi suddenly finds herself the middle child, expected to share far too much—especially with grubby little Louis. Then they move into an eerie, ivy-covered house, big enough for all of them. But for the children, strange things start to happen in that house. Abi reads alone, and finds herself tumbling so deep into books, they almost seem real. Louis summons comfort from outdoors, and a startling guest arrives—is it a cat or something else? Max loses his best friend…and falls in love. Meanwhile, Louis’s secret visitor is becoming much too real. Now Abi, Max, and Louis must uncover the secrets of their new home—for there can be danger in even the most beautiful magic. From award-winning author Hilary McKay comes a story that is at once enchanting and thrilling—if you don’t get lost in it first.

From the winner of the Costa Children''s Book Award 2018. It''s tough being the youngest in the Casson family! It is nearly the end of Year 6, and Rose is preparing for Big School. With absent siblings, a perpetually-in-the-shed mother and finally-here-again-father, Rose''s Blog reveals what happens to the Cassons - and Tom, of course. Hilary McKay''s Casson family was first brought to life in the Whitbread Award-winning Saffy''s Angel. Fierce as a small tiger, Permanent Rose has her own way of seeing the world. After Forever Rose (the last of the books following the Casson family), the eponymous Rose continued to grow up. Hilary posted entries from a blog Rose was keeping on her website, chronicling the further adventures of the Cassons. They are available here as one collection for the first time.

This tender, sweet, and hilarious novel about growing up with a loving family and a perfectly rambunctious dog “balances moments of hilarity with poignancy” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). When she was eight, Binny’s life was perfect: She had her father’s wonderful stories and Max, the best dog ever. But after her father’s sudden death, money is tight, and horrible Aunty Violet decides to give Max away—he is just too big for their cramped new life. Binny knows she can’t get her dad back, but she never stops missing Max, or trying to find him. Then, when she’s eleven, everything changes again. Aunty Violet has died, and left Binny and her family an old house in a seaside town. Binny is faced with a new crush, a new frenemy, and…a ghost? It seems Aunty Violet may not have completely departed. It’s odd being haunted by her aunt, but there is also the warmth of a busy and loving mother, a musical older sister, and a hilarious little brother, who is busy with his experiments. And his wetsuit. And his chickens. You’ll delight in getting to know Binny and her hilarious, heartwarming family in this charming novel, which received three starred reviews.

I asked myself lots of questions, like what did Hansel and Gretel say to their father when they finally made it home? What I Did in the Holidays . . . is an imaginative retelling of the classic fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. Originally featured in Hilary McKay''s Fairy Tales, this short story is sure to capture the imagination! From the Guardian Children''s Fiction Prize-winning storyteller Hilary McKay and featuring black-and-white line and tone illustrations from the talented Sarah Gibb.

When she takes money accidentally left behind at an ATM, a guilty Binny decides to return it but discovers it has gone missing, leading her to team up with her frenemy, Gareth, to figure out who might have taken it.

Often, I found things were not quite as they first seemed. Not all princesses are content to marry the prince, no matter how charming, or how carefully the queen arranges the peas. The Prince and the Problem is an imaginative retelling of the classic fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. Originally featured in Hilary McKay''s Fairy Tales, this short story is sure to capture the imagination! From the Guardian Children''s Fiction Prize-winning storyteller Hilary McKay and featuring black-and-white line and tone illustrations from the talented Sarah Gibb.

Here is brave, loyal Elsa, who wove the nettles in silence for seven long years. Sweet William by Rushlight is an imaginative retelling of the classic fairy tale ''The Swan Brothers''. Originally featured in Hilary McKay''s Fairy Tales, this short story is sure to capture the imagination! From the Guardian Children''s Fiction Prize-winning storyteller Hilary McKay and featuring black-and-white line and tone illustrations from the talented Sarah Gibb.

As Christmas approaches, eleven-year-old Rose, the youngest member of the eccentric Casson family, discovers that life is filled with both catastrophic problems and wonderful surprises.

I asked myself lots of questions, like how could Snow White have left those seven kind dwarves? Perhaps she never quite did. Chickenpox and Crystal is an imaginative retelling of the classic fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Originally featured in Hilary McKay''s Fairy Tales, this short story is sure to capture the imagination! From the Guardian Children''s Fiction Prize-winning storyteller Hilary McKay and featuring black-and-white line and tone illustrations from the talented Sarah Gibb.

When eleven-year-old Rosa Mundi meets a talking cat, she discovers a world of magic that may save her from her odious aunt and uncle who leave her stranded in Venice.

From the winner of the Costa Children''s Book Award 2018. With her awful secondhand uniform and stuck-up classmates, Binny''s new school is horrible. And life gets even worse when a storm damages the roof of her house, forcing Binny and her family to move to the countryside whilst it''s being fixed. Binny, her sensible older sister Clem and her rambunctious brother James (and his chickens) begin adjusting to life in the country. Then one of James''s beloved chickens vanishes and Binny finds strange footprints in the mud. What kind of creature is lurking in the undergrowth?

Pudding Bag School is an ordinary kind of school but extraordinary things seem to happen there. When Miss Gilhoolie, 4b''s mysterious teacher is ill, she sets her pupils a special competition which has more than a touch of magic about it!

Here are the twelve dancing princesses, who drove the Old King to distraction by wearing through their slippers every night. (Which sounds like something he could have made less fuss about, until you do the maths: well over four thousand pairs of slippers a year. Satin slippers too!) Things Were Different in Those Days is an imaginative retelling of the classic fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Originally featured in Hilary McKay''s Fairy Tales, this short story is sure to capture the imagination! From the Guardian Children''s Fiction Prize-winning storyteller Hilary McKay and featuring black-and-white line and tone illustrations from the talented Sarah Gibb.

I asked myself lots of questions, like why did the Piper’s son steal the pig? Over the Hills and Far Away is an imaginative retelling which weaves together two classic stories in the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood and the nursery tale of Tom, Tom, the Piper''s Son. Originally featured in Hilary McKay''s Fairy Tales, this short story is sure to capture the imagination! From the Guardian Children''s Fiction Prize-winning storyteller Hilary McKay and featuring black-and-white line and tone illustrations from the talented Sarah Gibb.

Here is Cinderella, who so much deserved her fairy godmother. The Rose Round the Palace is an imaginative retelling of the classic fairy tale Cinderella. Originally featured in Hilary McKay''s Fairy Tales, this short story is sure to capture the imagination! From the Guardian Children''s Fiction Prize-winning storyteller Hilary McKay and featuring black-and-white line and tone illustrations from the talented Sarah Gibb.

It''s December, and Robin, his friend Dan, and Sun Dance are laid low with chickenpox. To keep them amused, Robin''s mother entertains them with memories of the summer when she was eleven and Nick and Charley stayed at her house. When they met Harriet, a strange, shabbily dressed girl who seemed full of surprises and magic, but remained a mystery, until Sun Dance solves the riddle with a small amber cat . . .

I asked myself lots of questions, like what happened in Hamelin after the children vanished? The Fountain in the Market Square is an imaginative retelling of the classic fairy tale The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Originally featured in Hilary McKay''s Fairy Tales, this short story is sure to capture the imagination! From the Guardian Children''s Fiction Prize-winning storyteller Hilary McKay and featuring black-and-white line and tone illustrations from the talented Sarah Gibb.

From the winner of the Costa Children''s Book Award 2018. Meet Saffy, Indigo, Rose and Caddy Casson. This colourful and hilarious series will make you wish you were part of the family! Best friends, boyfriends, problem parents, pink hair. Brothers, sisters, fireworks and unexpected babies. Welcome to Caddy''s World. Travel back to when Caddy was a young girl and Rose had not been born, in this moving and comical prequel to the award-winning Saffy''s Angel. ''Full of warmth, vitality and irrepressible good humour'' Guardian Saffy''s Angel won the Whitbread Children''s Book Award, and book 3, Permanent Rose, was shortlisted for the same award, celebrating McKay''s talent for conveying the anarchic bedlam of family life.

Finalist 2013 Cybils Award: Early Chapter Books Capitol Choices 2014 2014 Stellar Series, The Bulletin of The Center for Children''s Books 2014 Notable Children''s Book - ALSC 2014 Gryphon Honor Book 2015 Elementary Connecticut Nutmeg Book Award nominee The Best Children''s Books of the Year 2014, Bank Street College Lulu loves animals. When Lulu goes on vacation, she finds there''s a stray dog living on the beach. Everyone in the town thinks the dog is trouble. But Lulu is sure he just needs a friend. And that he''s been waiting for someone just like her. The second book in this early chapter book series for young animal-lovers.

Danny, Anna, and Nathan live in the flats of Paradise House, but they are far from angelic and get up to all sorts of mischief. Nathan moves into the cupboard under the stairs to escape his sister''s wailing, but he doesn''t expect to find a clue to buried treasure. What will he unearth in the garden?

When Lulu finds a duck egg that has rolled out of its nest, she takes it to class to keep it safe. Lulu isn''t allowed to bring pets to school. But she''s not really breaking the rules because it''s just an egg. Surely nothing bad will happen...

Pudding Bag school is an ordinary kind of a school. But this year class 4b has the rather magical and mysterious Miss Gilhoolie teaching them and suddenly school isn''t as boring as it used to be€¦

Charlie is an irresistibly funny little brother who manages to get into all kinds of scrapes. Whether he''s trying to hinder or help his brother Max and best friend Henry, trouble is guaranteed! Rocket Boy The new boy at school says his dad is on a rocket, flying to a star. Charlie knows Zachary is lying. No one has a dad that cool - do they? Great Escape Fed up of being picked on by his family, Charlie runs away - to Henry''s house. The only problem is, Charlie forgot how QUIET runaways need to be . . .

Lulu adopts a hamster, but she can''t tell Nan about it because Nan doesn''t care for most animals—especially not hamsters. It''s her birthday this weekend and Lulu and Mellie are staying the night. Lulu doesn''t want to leave her new hamster behind, but can she and Mellie keep it a secret from Nan over the weekend?

When Lulu''s next-door neighbor doesn''t seem to be looking after his rabbit properly, Lulu and her cousin Mellie devise a scheme to make him pay more attention to his pet.

Lulu loves animals. She knows that the hedgehog she rescued isn''t really a pet, but Lulu does want to make sure she''s all right. And so the Hedgehog Club is born. Everyone on the street agrees to keep an eye on the little hedgehog and keep it away from the road. But come wintertime the hedgehog disappears! Where could she have gone?