Hands up all of you who think reading is a bad thing and should be discouraged? I’m guessing that’s none of you! No wonder we are all worried by the new survey from the National Literary Trust. They tell us more than half of children and young people do not enjoy reading in their free time. Even more sobering, their report says the number of 8 to 18 year olds who read daily in their free time has decreased 26% over the past 18 years. Now, hands up all of you who think laughing is a bad thing? I’m guessing that’s also none of you. But hands up those of you who think that drama is more important than comedy? Now, we’re not so unanimous.

Dramatic stories connect us to deep and powerful emotions. We read about injustice and complications and feel angry and sad on behalf of the protagonists. And we feel enormous relief when they win through, or grief when they ultimately fail. But funny stories just make us giggle a bit. So drama wins, right?

What does comedy have in its armoury to defend itself? I can think of at least three important points. The first is that comedy thrives in company. Reading a funny book with a friend or family member means you can laugh together. I recently received this note: “reading your books, laughing, and coming up with voices for all the characters stands out as some of the best times I’ve had with my kids.” I don’t think I’ve ever read such a lovely note. It makes me want to go and sit in a corner and have a little, happy cry. I know of another school who used our book as a class reader. Different children were in charge of reading different characters.

What a great (and funny) idea!

The second is that comedy books are eminently re-readable. My brother and I loved reading the Asterix comics when we were children. Some of the books actually fell to pieces because we re-read them so much. I’m not saying that dramatic stories can’t be re-read; I’ve done Lord of the Rings twice (what a show off!) But when you re-read a comedy, it’s a sort of self-care. It’s familiar like a blanket. It’s going to soothe you. (Favourites I’ve re-read recently are Cold Comfort Farm and the Adrian Mole books). I’d argue this is also useful as a reading exercise: reinforcing words, familiarising yourself with story structure and character.

Thirdly, comedy can be deep too. At its best it can be a safe space in which to examine our own flaws and the flaws of society. In Status Anxiety, Alain de Botton notes, ‘In the hands of the best comics, laughter acquires a moral purpose, jokes become attempts to cajole others into reforming their characters and habits.’ It also offers up the comforting idea that none of us are perfect.

That’s all very well, I hear a hypothetical audience member cry… but surely comedy can’t be used as a core text! The following appeared in a review of our first Knight Sir Louis book: “It is a hilarious book… I think my students would love it, but it will be a bit hard to use this as core text.” Reading this review made me feel sad. I thought it was a shame that a funny book packed with different types of writing (letter, dialogue only chapters, haiku, comic strip, diary, instructions, lyrics, fairy tale, gothic story) is considered unfit for use in an educational context. Especially, when they think the students would LOVE IT.

This speaks to a wider problem with comedy. Alexi Duggins, writing in the Guardian, notes, “essentially, there is no good reason for comedy’s inexplicable historic lack of recognition as high culture.” Aristotle didn’t help. He wrote the first works of literary theory. One on tragedy and one on comedy. At some point, the one about comedy was lost. It’s almost laughable.

If funny books are somehow considered lesser in the schoolroom and by the general public then it’s likely that belief will be passed on to the next generation. But, let’s remember funny books are ENJOYABLE books. They contain JOY. If we want children and young people to read for ENJOYMENT, then surely funny books should be a significant part of that programme?

Tickle your funny bones with The Brothers McLeod’s latest book, Knight Sir Louis and the Sinister Snowball, available from October 26th 2023!

School Visits

A visit from an author or illustrator can be an incredibly inspiring experience for pupils and is the ideal way to promote reading for pleasure. Hearing an author speak passionately about their work brings the magic of books to life in a unique and exciting way. It also shows students that authors are real – living, breathing, laughing people, consequently sowing a seed of thought: writing a book is something I could do too! Most importantly an author visit helps to reinforce that reading is FUN!

The following authors are currently offering school visits in the UK, including presentations, assemblies and interactive workshops.

• Janeen Hayat – Author of Evie and Maryam’s Family Tree – please email Catherine Alport, publicist: hello@catherinealportpr.co.uk
• Carrie Sellon – Author of the Pizza Pete series.
• Lisa Williamson – Author of the Bigg School series.
• Anthony Burt – Author of The Animal Lighthouse.
• The Brothers McLeod – Authors of the Knight Sir Louis series.
• Louisa Reid – author of Gloves Off, Wrecked, Activist and Handle with Care – please email Catherine Alport, publicist: hello@catherinealportpr.co.uk
• Anna Goodall – Author of the Maggie Blue books – please email Catherine Alport, publicist: hello@catherinealportpr.co.uk
• Taylor Dolan – Author of The Ghost Scout series (offering visits in Ireland and virtual visits) – please email Catherine Alport, publicist: hello@catherinealportpr.co.uk
• Chie Kutsuwada – Manga author of Tsunami Girl and 100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Cafe.
• Julian Sedgwick – Author of Tsunami Girl and 100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Cafe (Please download author event information for details about workshops and presentations.) For joint visits from Chie and Julian please contact Julian.

Top Tips for an Awesome Author Visit

Book the visit well in advance.

Booking a visit as early as possible will allow you to select the best date for your school. Look at your school calendar and consider key events, theme days and the curriculum/ assembly schedule. You may be able to plan the visit to coincide with topics, projects or lessons that match the themes of the book. Be aware that authors tend to get booked up far in advance, particularly in the Spring term around World Book Day. 

Value authors by expecting to pay them for their work.

Some authors waive their fee and expenses if they are promoting a brand-new book, but the majority of authors charge a fee and will outline this prior to confirming your booking. If your finance system requires forms to be filled in, do make sure this process is outlined clearly to the author – and if possible, make sure they are paid promptly! They will thank you for it.

Make sure everybody at school knows about the visit.

Put the visit on your school calendar and ensure everybody knows when the author will be in school, how long the visit will last and which shared spaces will be used. 

Liaise with the author about resources and tech requirements.

Ensure that you have equipment and resources ready. Test maker pens – make sure they work! If the author is planning to do a digital presentation, check computer cables, speakers, internet access etc.

Get pupils (and staff!) excited about the visit.

Tell them about the author and the stories they have written. Read extracts from the books. Show the author’s website or videos they may have created – some authors are happy to do quick bespoke videos too, so do ask if this is possible. Most authors incorporate a Q&A section in their event – help prepare children for this by discussing questions they may like to ask. Sometimes the publisher creates bookmarks, posters or other promotional items that can be used as prizes or for promoting the visit – do ask if there are any available. 

Make the author feel welcome and comfortable.

Authors will appreciate a friendly face upon arrival – a named person who is expecting them and who knows where to take them. Ensure they know where to find the bathroom and offer them refreshments. Provide information in advance about parking and how to access the school by public transport. 

Have a clear system in place for book sales and signings.

Giving children the option to buy a book by your visiting author is important and all authors will expect this with a visit. The best option is to work with your local bookseller, as they are set up to do events and can make sure this runs smoothly – and it takes the pressure off you. They are also flexible in situations and can offer advice. Liaise with the author, publicist or publisher in advance. Ensure parents know about the visit and how they can purchase books.

Remember authors are not teachers.

They don’t know your school or how to handle the behaviour of your group of pupils. Ensure staff members are available to help with the smooth running of sessions. If you have SEN children attending the event let the author know in advance in case they need to make adjustments to their event.

Take lots of photos.

Make sure that somebody is in charge of photography and that a camera is charged. Check whether you have permission to use the pictures you take. 

Pupils will enjoy seeing photos of the day they met the author. The images will also make a great display and provide memories of a fantastic day! 

About us

Guppy Books is an independent children’s fiction publisher based in Oxford, UK. Set up in 2019 by publisher Bella Pearson, Guppy publishes an eclectic, diverse and entertaining list of books for children from the age of five to eighteen. Since its first publication in September 2019, we have been shortlisted for all the major children’s book prizes including the Carnegie Medal, the Costa Children’s Book Award, the Young Adult Book Prize and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. In 2023, The Cats We Meet Along the Way by Nadia Mikail won the Waterstones Overall Children’s Book of the Year.

Small but mighty is our motto – we publish the very best authors and illustrators from around the world. Our titles are sold and distributed by Michael O’Mara Books, and are available through Gardners and Signature Books as well and all library and school book providers.

Every year, we run the Guppy Open Submission competition; alternating between young adult and middle-grade titles. The competition starts in the spring and runs over the summer, with a winner announced in the autumn. The prize is a contract with Guppy Books. The winner of the first Guppy Open Submission Competition was Nadia Mikail, who went on to win the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize as well as be shortlisted for the Young Adult Prize and the Branford Boase Award.

Bella Pearson

Publisher

Bella has worked in children’s publishing for over twenty-five years after working for five years in a children’s bookshops and completing an MA in children’s literature. She began her publishing career as an editorial assistant at Transworld Children’s Books and then moved to David Fickling Books in Oxford where she spent seventeen years in a variety of roles, ending up as publishing director. She has won the Branford Boase Award once, been shortlisted six times, and has worked with some of the very best authors in the children’s fiction world, including Jenny Downham, Philip Pullman, SF Said, Dave Shelton and Linda Newbery. Photo © Ian Wallman

Hannah Featherstone

Editor

Hannah is a children’s book editor with over fifteen years of publishing experience. For six of those years she was an editor at David Fickling Books, where she learned a huge amount about recognising talented writers and developing strong stories.

As a freelance fiction editor she works on a range of fiction titles for a number of different children’s publishers, including Head of Zeus, Pushkin Press, Hot Key Books and Usborne.

She lives in Warwickshire, balancing editing with looking after three small children. Obviously they are all bookworms in the making!

Ness Wood

Designer

Ness Wood is an award-winning freelance art director, book designer, lecturer, published author and has qualifications in design history. She has worked for major publishers and is known for her encouraging, straight-forward and collaborative approach with illustrators and students.

Ness is also one of the co-founders of Orange Beak Studio. Since 2017 Orange Beak, made up of award-winning illustrators, designers and picturebook makers, have been offering one-to-one tutorials, mentoring, portfolio surgeries and varied workshops. Ness is recipient of the BBD&P award in the Graphic Novel Category 2018 for the book Thornhill (Pam Smy).

nesswood.co.uk | orangebeakstudio.com

Catherine Alport

Publicist

Catherine started her publishing career in 2008 as PA to the Managing Director of Scholastic Children’s Books before joining the publicity department at Random House Children’s Publishing. She returned to Scholastic as Publicity Officer in 2010, working with Sarah McIntyre, Philip Reeve and Maggie Stiefvater. Whilst in that role she also was responsible for the launch of Liz Pichon’s best-selling Tom Gates series.

Catherine joined Macmillan Children’s Books as Publicity Manager in 2013, working with a range of authors, illustrators and poets including Carol Ann Duffy, Emily Gravett, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, and Sir Tony Robinson.  She also worked closely with Chris Riddell during his time as Children’s Laureate.

In 2018 Catherine embarked on a freelance career, working with a variety of clients from publishers to literacy charities, including the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), as well as continuing to work directly for Liz Pichon and Chris Riddell.

www.catherinealportpr.co.uk

Kat Jones

GUPPY SCHOOL

Kat is a highly experienced educational consultant, content writer and English tutor. Prior to venturing into the freelance world, she worked as a teacher in Oxfordshire for seventeen years. During her teaching career Kat worked with students ranging from 5- 16 years of age and she held leadership roles in English and Key Stage 2 at her school. 

Kat has written units of work for Hamilton Brookes and she facilitates online book clubs for international students. She is passionate about promoting reading for pleasure.

📢 Calling All Young Writers. Enter the Stories for Change Competition. 🌍✍️

Guppy Books and the Federation of Children’s Book Groups are thrilled to announce Stories for Change – a short story competition for children aged 7-12, inspired by the themes of National Share a Story Month 2025 and Maggie Blue and the Lost Child by Anna Goodall.

This year’s NSSM theme, “Changing the World, One Book at a Time”, celebrates the power of storytelling to inspire environmental awareness, hope, and action.

In collaboration with acclaimed author Anna Goodall (Costa Book Award-shortlisted Maggie Blue series), we are inviting young writers to craft a 500-word short story inspired by their local environment. Whether it’s a school playground transformed by a secret garden, a mission to clean up a polluted pond, or a story of friendship sparked by a shared love for nature, we want to hear young peoples’ vision for change – big or small!

🌿 Themes: The environment, climate change, hope, and action
📖 Who can enter? Children aged 7-12
📅 Deadline: 11^th April
🏆 Prizes: Your story read by Anna Goodall, a writing ‘mini masterclass’ from Anna Goodall, signed copies of the Maggie Blue series and more …

Join us in celebrating the power of stories to change the world by sharing the competition with your schools, families and networks. Go to the FCBG website to download the submissions form and for all details!

The Scribble Society

Welcome to the Scribble Society!

Guppy School’s creative writing club is inspired by the Bigg School series by Lisa Williamson. We have created a fantastic resource pack to help you set up your own creative writing club in your school or library.

The pack includes six creative writing sessions aimed at Key Stage 2/3, complete with worksheets and teacher’s notes – perfect for busy school staff to use with minimal preparation.

The Scribble Society can be held as a weekly club or each session can be used as a stand-alone creative writing workshop or lesson. It’s a place where children can have fun and experiment with writing their own stories. All the activities have been designed by Lisa Williamson to inspire pupils and unlock their creativity.

Click on the images below to download the full pack and the teacher’s notes.

UPDATED to include six additional Scribble Society ideas to help your students keep scribbling!

On our Guppy School page we also have a teaching resource containing discussion questions and creative/writing activities for each book in the series!

5 Ways to make the most of the Scribble Society 

• Run a weekly club. Create a space where students can have fun and experiment with their writing. This could be held after school or at lunchtime, in a library, classroom or community centre. The activities are clear and accessible for mixed ability groups. 

• Use in creative writing lessons. Give children the opportunity to develop and demonstrate their writing skills by using the Scribble Society sessions in the classroom. The engaging activities will inspire imaginative independent writing from both confident and reluctant writers.

• Plan a whole school themed day. Bring your entire school community together for a day that celebrates creativity and storytelling. Choose one of the Scribble sessions, like Scribble an Escape, and challenge students of different ages to respond to the task. Then, have them share and showcase their ideas.

• Use to support transition. The Scribble Yourself activity is ideal for a transition session, to help a teacher get to know their new class. This could be followed up by using the fun collaborative writing prompts in Scribble Some Story Seeds. 

You could also read aloud chapter 2 from Best Friends Forever to generate a discussion about how it feels to start at a new school or in a new class. 

• Run a story writing competition. Share Lisa’s top five writing tips and challenge students to write their own stories. You could pick a theme, such as school stories, and use Scribble a School as inspiration. Alternatively, you could ask children to write a story about an object after exploring the Scribble a Shoe session.

It’s that time again – where we get ready to open the portholes here at Guppy Books and welcome submissions from unpublished and unagented authors for our annual competition. This year it’s the YA competition – where writers of novels for young adults have the chance to win a publication deal with Guppy Books and join our small but mighty team. On June 6th it will be the publication day of APOCALYPSE COW, the 2022 winner of the last YA Guppy Open Submission by the incredible author O R Sorrel – could your novel be the next winner?

The Open Submission window will be the week of 17th June, from 9am on Monday 17th June to 5pm Friday 21st June.

We would like to see the first few chapters or up to 2000 words of the novel (but don’t worry too much about word count going over, this is an approximate number of words). Please also send a short synopsis. Please submit in a Word or pdf document to submissions@guppybooks.co.uk during the Open Submission window only.

Writers who have been traditionally published in other genres are unfortunately not eligible. This competition is open to self-published authors. Please send your submission to submissions@guppybooks.co.uk during the specified dates only. Any entries sent before or after this time will not be counted. ONE SUBMISSION PER PERSON. At longlisting stage (late July) we will ask the longlistees for a nearly-finished/full novel to be sent.

Any other enquiries, please email submissions@guppybooks.co.uk.

We do not charge an entry fee, though we would invite all entrants to buy a book published by Guppy Books if they can (available from all bookshops and online retailers as well as the Guppy shop). We strive to be as open as we can and encourage all aspiring writers to apply.

A winner will be announced in the autumn of 2024, after whittling down to first a longlist and then a shortlist – please keep an eye on social media and the Guppy Books website for updates along the way. We hope to announce the longlist by end July.

All shortlisted authors will be offered an editorial meeting with Bella Pearson. The winner will be offered a contract with Guppy Books (with no obligation to accept).

GOOD LUCK!

We’re thrilled to announce that we will be opening the portholes to unagented and unpublished writers in our sixth competition – this time for MIDDLE GRADE authors. Following hot on the heels of the publication of the wonderful EVIE AND MARYAM’S FAMILY TREE written by Janeen Hayat, we are excited to announce the dates for the next competition.

The Open Submission window will be the week of 16th June, from 9am on Monday 16th June to 5pm Friday 20th June 2025 GMT.

We would like to see the first few chapters or up to 2000 words of the novel (but don’t worry too much about word count going over, this is an approximate number of words). Please also send a short synopsis. Please submit in a Word or pdf document to submissions@guppybooks.co.uk during the Open Submission window only.

Writers who have been traditionally published in other genres are unfortunately not eligible. This competition is open to self-published authors. Please send your submission to submissions@guppybooks.co.uk during the specified dates only. Any entries sent before or after this time will not be eligible. ONE SUBMISSION PER PERSON. At longlisting stage (late July) we will ask the longlistees for a nearly-finished/full novel to be sent.

Any other enquiries, please email submissions@guppybooks.co.uk.

We do not charge an entry fee, though we would invite all entrants to buy a book published by Guppy Books if they can (available from all bookshops and online retailers as well as the Guppy shop). We strive to be as open as we can and encourage all aspiring writers to apply.

A winner will be announced in the autumn of 2025, after whittling down to first a longlist and then a shortlist – please keep an eye on social media and the Guppy Books website for updates along the way. We hope to announce the longlist by the end of July.

All shortlisted authors will be offered an editorial meeting with Bella Pearson. The winner will be offered a contract with Guppy Books (with no obligation to accept).

We look forward to finding our next winner! And good luck!

Winner Janeen Hayat and her wonderful middle-grade novel EVIE AND MARYAM’S FAMILY TREE was the 2023 winner of the Guppy Open Submission, and came out in the shops yesterday. Read more about it here!

1 Lisa Williamson is a British children’s author. She has written four fiction titles for young adults and three non-fiction titles for younger children, including a biography of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Her latest book, Best Friends Forever is for children ages 8+ and is the first title in a brand-new series called Bigg School. Set at Henry Bigg Academy, every title in the series will explore the life of a different child in year 7.

2 Lisa grew up in Arnold, Nottinghamshire with her mum, dad and big sister Helen. Arnold is not very exciting (sorry, Arnold) so as a child Lisa spent a lot of time making up stories in her head to stop herself from getting bored. She also loved to draw, dance and trying to train (not very successfully) her rabbit Juniper to do tricks.  

3 Lisa is also an actor and has starred in many musicals and pantomimes over the years, including Aladdin (three Christmases in a row!) and Peter Pan where she was flown across the stage on wires. She has also appeared in lots of TV commercials including the 2014 John Lewis Christmas advert (the one with the penguins!).

4 Lisa wrote her first novel for young adults, The Art of Being Normal after working at a clinic for children wishing to explore their gender identity. Hearing their stories inspired her to write a book from the point of view of a transgender teenager. She still gets letters and emails from young people discovering the book for the very first time.

5 As a child Lisa loved to read. Some of her favourite books growing up included The Magic Faraway Tree seriesby Enid Blyton,George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl, Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg, and Starring Sally J Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume. She also really enjoyed reading comics like Twinkle, Bunty and Mandy.

6 Lisa likes to write the sorts of books she thinks her younger self would have enjoyed – stories about ordinary children navigating everyday life. She believes that every child has a story worth sharing and loves getting under the skin of her characters and finding out what makes them special and unique.

7 The first book in the Bigg School series is about Lola, whose friendship with BFF Evie looks set to change when they find out they’re going to be in different classes when they move up to secondary school. The next book is called Double Drama (out in April 2024) and is all about Daniel, a young carer and inspiring actor. When Daniel gets the lead role in the school play he struggles to juggle rehearsals with his complicated home life, all the while hiding both from his gang of mates.

8 Lisa works on the Bigg School series alongside illustrator Jess Bradley. Jess also illustrates the well-loved Squid Bits for The Phoenix magazine. In Best Friends Forever Jess’s illustrations bring Lola’s story to life and really capture the characters. Lisa’s favourite illustration in the book is the one of Lola and Evie on the very last page because it makes her feel happy and sad at the same time. When she first saw it she got a massive lump in her throat!

9 When she was nine, Lisa won a McDonalds drawing competition. The prize was a party at McDonalds and a tour around the kitchens. It was one of the best days of her life.

10 Lisa’s favourite things are (in no particular order) chocolate ice cream, bookshops, board games, Christmas, the seaside, theme parks, baking, long walks in the woods, reading on trains and her whippet Nelson.  

You can watch Lisa read an extract from Best Friends Forever here on the Guppy website and we have some fantastic Teacher resources too to accompany the series, take a look here.

Every day, I still wake up completely baffled that I won the Guppy Open Submission in 2022.

It’s especially bizarre that because I won the Guppy Open Submission, I now have a real book with pages and an amazing cover, and people I’ve never actually met have bought and read it.

My journey here has been long and strange – which is incidentally how I would describe myself.

My eldest sister did her degree in Creative Writing, which helped me realise that you can do a degree in something you actually enjoy and are good at, and don’t have to do a degree in Economics and Generalised Anxiety to please your estranged relatives. So, I did the exact same degree.

My mum then did a Masters in Writing for Young People, then entered the Myslexia Novel Competition and won it. Having completed my degree in Creative Writing without a personality of my own, I decided to do the exact same Masters and enter competitions my mum recommended.

My mum has excellent taste, as it turns out. Entering the Guppy Open Submission was by far the best decision I’ve made since I started taking Sertraline. It is so, so hard to break into the children’s book industry – there are so many people out there with ideas (almost) as good as yours, and most of what you hear is rejections and Deafening Silence.

Bella was so open and warm from the very beginning. She genuinely cares so much about every book she publishes, and works harder than any person should. The whole team at Guppy is amazing, and I’ve felt very important the whole time, despite absolutely not being their only client. They’ve got my very queer, absolutely bananas apocalyptic comedy noticed by people I’d never have imagined.

I now do things like walk into bookshops and sign their copies of my book as if that isn’t completely unhinged behaviour. I’m preparing for the panel I’m on and planning the workshop I’ll be running at YALC this year. I had my own table at Abergavenny Pride. I was on the Children’s Books Ireland Pride Reading Guide. I was a Debut of the Month and Star Book for Love Reading 4 Kids. And my book only bloody came out three weeks ago. I still can’t believe any of it.

For all the kind rejections, the less kind rejections, and the Total Ignoring, it was so worth it to enter the Guppy Open Submission.

You’ll never know what could happen if you don’t let them see your words.

Submission Guidelines

We regret that Guppy Books is unable to accept manuscripts from unagented/unpublished authors at the moment. However, we run an Open Submission Competition every year in May – please keep your eye on our website/social media for details.

NB: We do not publish children’s non-fiction or picture books.

Enquiries

Please contact Bella Pearson on bella@guppybooks.co.uk for any general or editorial enquiries.

Product Safety

Guppy Publishing Limited is committed to ensuring the safety of our products.

In line with the European Union’s General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), we maintain detailed records to verify that our products meet all applicable safety requirements. 

For any safety-related concerns, please contact us:

Business Name: Guppy Publishing Ltd

Contact Name: Bella Pearson

Email Address: bella@guppybooks.co.uk

Telephone Number: +447884068983

Address: Bracken Hill, Cotswold Road, Oxford OX2 9JG United Kingdom

We are here to address any inquiries or issues related to the safety of our products.

Sales

Michael O’Mara Books will be selling and distributing Guppy Books in the UK and export market – please contact Sinead Bartley sinead.bartley@mombooks.com with any enquiries.

Michael O’Mara Books is an award-winning, independent publishing house known for their innovative and diverse non-fiction list, comprising best-selling biography, autobiography and lifestyle in addition to popular science and history. The company was set up thirty-three years ago and now, with a backlist of over a thousand titles, it is still a family firm, producing bestsellers and one hundred and fifty new books a year. Michael O’Mara’s children’s imprint, Buster Books, also publishes commercial children’s activity and reference titles, and in 2015 they launched an art-inspired imprint, LOM ART.

UK Distribution

Hachette UK Distribution
Hachette UK Distribution
Hely Hutchinson Centre
Milton Road
Didcot
OX11 7HH
Tel: 01235 759 555
Orders: hukdcustomerservices@hachette.co.uk

Foreign Rights

Sarah Pakenham, publisher of new picture book list Scallywag Press, sells translation rights for Guppy Books – please contact her for more information.

For US, audio and film rights, please contact Bella Pearson.

Publicity

For any publicity enquiries, please contact Catherine Alport

We are really enjoying reading all the fantastic YA submissions we received last month – what a lot of talent there is out there!

Thank you all for your patience. We’ll be announcing a longlist next Friday 26th July, and a shortlist at the end of August.

Please keep an eye on social media, plus an announcement about this year’s judges!

Guppy School

Welcome to the Guppy School page!

We’ve collated all the Guppy School resources and activities for our books, and will be continuously updating in order to help teachers, educators and parents engage their little (and big) ones. Our teaching resource packs have been developed by expert teachers or educational consultants and are designed to support the teaching and learning of English and the wider curriculum. Our Book Club Cards have been created to help educators and librarians introduce our stories to pupils. We also have a selection of fun games and activities for children to enjoy and videos from the authors, including readings, interviews and writing masterclasses.

The Scribble Society is Guppy School’s creative writing club inspired by the Bigg School series by Lisa Williamson.

For information about author school visits please see our school visits page and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you would like any more information – either to the authors direct or via bella@guppybooks.co.uk.

We hope you enjoy the range of Guppy School resources.

All resources

All ages 5-8 8-12 Young adult

All ages

All ages

5-8

8-12

Young adult

Best of All Worlds

Kenneth Oppel

Young adult

Bigg School: Best Friends Forever

Lisa Williamson

8-12

Bigg School: Double Drama

Lisa Williamson

8-12

Bigg School: Secret Crush

Lisa Williamson

8-12

Pizza Pete and the Perilous Potions

Carrie Sellon

8-12

Pizza Pete and the Missing Magic

Carrie Sellon

8-12

The Grimmelings

Rachael King

8-12

Mexikid

Pedro Martín

8-12

Knight Sir Louis series

The Brothers McLeod

5-8 8-12

The Bronte Mettlestone Kingdoms and Empires Series

Jaclyn Moriarty

8-12

Maggie Blue and the White Crow

Anna Goodall

8-12 Young adult

Maggie Blue and the Dark World

Anna Goodall

8-12

Ghostlight

Kenneth Oppel

8-12 Young adult

Gloves Off

Louisa Reid

Young adult

Wrecked

Louisa Reid

Young adult

Activist

Louisa Reid

Young adult

Ghost Scouts series

Taylor Dolan

5-8

The Billow Maiden

James Dixon

8-12

The Lost Diaries of Charlie Small

Nick Ward

5-8

The Animal Lighthouse

Anthony Burt

5-8 8-12

The Cats We Meet Along the Way

Nadia Mikail

Young adult

Song Beneath the Tides

Beverley Birch

Young adult

Apocalypse Cow

O R Sorrel

Young adult

Handle With Care

Louisa Reid

Young adult

100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Cafe

Julian Sedgwick, Chie Kutsuwada

Young adult

Tsunami Girl

Julian Sedgwick, Chie Kutsuwada

Young adult

Will Jakeman’s Marvellous Mechanimals

Nick Ward

5-8

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Our mission in life is to show children and young people the benefits of reading and how much fun there is to escape into the world of story – and we are thrilled to be announcing a new imprint for very young readers – Mini Guppy!

With the latest data showing children’s enjoyment of reading lower than ever and with the demand for comic books at an all-time high, there is a huge need for funny, entertaining, highly illustrated, colourful books for ages 5 and up. Providing a stepping stone between picture books and chapter books, these small tactile books with short chapters, interactive illustrations and carefully chosen vocabulary are perfect for emerging readers – ready to build a firm literacy foundation and most importantly, cement the joy of reading.

Our first series is AMELIA CHEESEHEART INVESTIGATES – a very young graphic novel set in a museum, telling the tales of courageous mouse, Amelia and her bestie Webster, who investigate mysteries set in each exhibition. With fun non-fiction facts at the very end, young readers will love the fun, gentle illustrations, and the satisfaction at having read a book all on their very own.

‘A joyful and accessible read.. an adorable comic filled with age-appropriate action and embedded in friendship’ Inis magazine starred review

HUGE congratulations to Ellen Haggan, whose novel BLACKMOOR has won the 2024 Open Submission Competition! The judges and I loved the spirit of this original and exciting fantasy novel, with such brilliantly drawn characters and a hugely exciting plot that propels the reader through the story. Huge congratulations to Ellen!

And this year, we also had a very worthy runner-up – Amelia Etherton with ALL THE WORDS FOR STUPID – a moving story set in Ireland which manages to deal with some very important themes with sensitivity, empathy and humour too – congratulations to Amelia.

A huge thanks to our ever-wonderful panel of judges: author and editor, Linda Sargent, Golden Egg editor Adamma Okonkwo and Andrea Reece, all round children’s literature wonder. It was so interesting to discuss the shortlist and their insights as ever, were thought-provoking and insightful.

And last but not least, thank you to all the shortlistees. I will look forward to discussing your books with you in editorial chats if you would like, and thank you for entering the competition and being so patient with the timing!

Book Club Cards

In our commitment to fostering a love for reading, we’ve developed Book Club Cards for our titles. These cards provide a quick glimpse into each book through a summary, a captivating extract, a three-word review and comparable titles. Perfect for Book Club time!

100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Cafe

Activist

Apocalypse Cow

Bigg School: Best Friends Forever

Bigg School: Double Drama

Bigg School: Secret Crush

Ghost Scouts series

Ghost Scouts series

Ghost Scouts series

Ghost Scouts series

Ghostlight

Gloves Off

Handle With Care

Knight Sir Louis series

Knight Sir Louis series

Knight Sir Louis series

Maggie Blue and the Dark World

Maggie Blue and the White Crow

Mexikid

Pizza Pete and the Missing Magic

Pizza Pete and the Perilous Potions

Song Beneath the Tides

The Animal Lighthouse

The Billow Maiden

The Bronte Mettlestone Kingdoms and Empires Series

The Bronte Mettlestone Kingdoms and Empires Series

The Bronte Mettlestone Kingdoms and Empires Series

The Bronte Mettlestone Kingdoms and Empires Series

The Bronte Mettlestone Kingdoms and Empires Series

The Cats We Meet Along the Way

The Grimmelings

The Lost Diaries of Charlie Small

Tsunami Girl

Will Jakeman’s Marvellous Mechanimals

Wrecked

Congratulations to the wonderful Janeen Hayat, whose book EVIE AND MARYAM BREAK THE CODE has won the 2023 Open Submission Competition! The judges and I all loved the relationship between Evie and Maryam and the themes of family history, giving readers an insight into colonial India as well as the impact of past on present; the two girls are beautifully drawn and I’m so excited that it’s our winner.

A huge thanks to the panel of judges: author and editor, Linda Sargent, Golden Egg editor Adamma Okonkwo and Scott Evans, primary teacher and blogger. They are wise and thoughtful and their insights and advice was invaluable – I’m very grateful to them all.

And thank you to all the shortlistees for their brilliant entries; I look forward to discussing each of their submissions in editorial chats, and also am very grateful for their patience during the judging process.

Thank you so much for sending in your entry for Guppy’s open submission window. We were so impressed with the standard of writing, the original ideas and the incredible energy that went into all the submissions.

Huge congratulations to those who made the longlist! You will hear more about the next stages individually by email.

I have said this before many times but it’s always worth repeating: for those who didn’t make it, during my career, I have said no to SO many books that have gone on to do great things; if you don’t find yourself on this list I hope you don’t feel too disappointed. The standard of writing was very high, and I was really impressed with the level and commitment to writing for young adults.

LONGLIST in no particular order

Amy King         Love You. Hate You.

Helen Price      Forgive me, Father

Clare McCarron           You Have My Heart

Ellen Haggan   Blackmoor

Kae Tan           Unprecedented Times

Lucie Bowins   Elderwitch

Nell Griffin      Plan A Plan B

Amelia Etherton          All the Words for Stupid

Sanam Akram             Madi and the Moon

Heather Grainger        Lost and Found

Eve Chancellor             Two Brothers

Jennifer Hicks             The Fame Game

Dani Castonzo             The Mermaid Seekers

Megan Pyper               A Song for Solispel

Yesret Bi          Displacement

Bibi Anisah Mohamoodally     Never Let Me Down Again

Esther Scherpenisse   Cinders and Stars

Caroline Icke   Killer Queen

Lis Maimaris   My Father’s Ghost

Sarah Newman           Fishsong

Sarah Bates     All Your Numbered Bones

Mandy Wilson-Garner             MAD

Carrie Stewart             The Silence

We are so thrilled that the very first book in our Amelia Cheeseheart series, AND the very first in our new Mini Guppy imprint, is the INDIE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE MONTH FOR MAY! Hooray for the amazing Cat Weldon and Nene Lonergan, author and illustrator of this magnificent series.

Amelia Cheeseheart is an intrepid, courageous mouse who investigates mysteries at the museum where she lives, with her bestie, spider Webster. Funny, charming comic-style illustrations, this is a super young graphic novel perfect for children who are just learning to read, as well as older readers who want to dive into a gorgeous world of adventure, Egyptian fun facts, and friendship. Available in ALL GOOD INDIE BOOKSHOPS and in other places too.