No catches, no fine print just unconditional book love and reading recommendations for your students and children.
You can create your own school's page, develop tailored reading lists to share with peers and parents...all helping encourage reading for pleasure in your children.
Find out more
Jonathan Stroud was our Guest Editor in November 2010. Click here to see his selection of titles.
Jonathan Stroud was born in Bedford and grew up in St Albans. He studied at York university. He has a strong background in children's books - working at Walker, in their Game Book and Non-Fiction departments and Kingfisher Publications, editing children's non-fiction. He has written and edited a number of game books and non-fiction titles for Walker Books. Jonathan lives in St. Albans with his wife.
April 2021 Book of the Month | Bravo to Jonathan Stroud! With its cast of charismatic characters and extraordinary world-building (think broken Britain with Wild West vibes), The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne is an audacious firecracker. And, in even better news for fans of funny, inventive adventure fiction, this is but the beginning of what’s set to be an extraordinary series. “Britain was a land of ruin…the country was maimed and broken - but full of strange fecundity and strength”. It’s also brimming with the likes of bears, wolves, flesh-eating spear-birds and gruesome cannibal creatures, all of which whip-smart, cuss-uttering Scarlett takes into her swaggering stride. She makes an unforgettable impression from the off: “A slight slim figure in a battered brown coat, weighed down with…all the paraphernalia of a girl who walked the Wilds.” After killing four grown men who’d tried to rob her, Scarlett struts into a bank and proceeds to hold it up (turns out she needs money to repay a debt). On fleeing the scene, Scarlett finds a crashed bus, all its passengers dead but for a lone boy hiding in the toilet. Enter Albert Browne, “awkward, skinny and wide-mouthed, like a frightened skeleton”, and seemingly a piece of powdery chalk to Scarlett’s pungent cheese. Her scathing sarcasm (and Albert’s obliviousness to it) provides many a laugh: “You just holler if I get in your way,” she seethes as he admires a seed pod while she sets about making a fire, cooking a bird and establishing a camp for them, and all while they’re being pursued. But, for all his unworldliness, Albert turns out to have hidden talents. Sensing he might be of use to her after all, Scarlett agrees to help him accomplish his own mission. Albert wants to reach the Free Isles, remnants of London that “don’t have any restrictions on who you are or what you can do. They welcome people who are...different”, unlike the dictatorial High Council of the Faith Houses, which is “desperate to keep the old ways going”, and “on the watch for any kind of deviation.” Trouble is, as their respective pursuers close in, time and space is running out for our unforgettable outlaws. What a story, what characters, and what a wait it will be until the second instalment. I defy any reader not to fall for Scarlett and Albert, and to become gasp-out-loud, laugh-out-loud invested in their quest.
One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | In a nutshell: dicing with the dead has never been so thrilling Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co series about a company of teenage psychics attempting to keep the streets of a nearly-but-not contemporary London clear of malevolent spirits is thrilling stuff. Each episode offers a first-class helping of brilliantly-written, edge-of the-seat ghostly adventure packed with intrigue, humour and even a touch of romance. The Empty Grave brings the series to its conclusion and does so in style, with the fiercest test yet for our young heroes, and some uncomfortably close brushes with death. Readers who haven’t discovered this series yet are to be envied, they have such a treat in store! ~ Andrea Reece
One of our Books of the Year 2016 | In a nutshell: spooky suspenseful unputdownable Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co series about a company of teenage psychics attempting to keep the streets of a nearly-but-not contemporary London clear of malevolent spirits is simply superb. Each episode offers a first-class helping of brilliantly-written, edge-of the-seat adventure packed with intrigue, humour and even a touch of romance, and I can’t think of another modern series that makes for quite such entertaining reading. In this book our narrator Lucy gives up freelance ghost-hunting and returns to Lockwood & Co helping them despatch the terrifying Ealing Cannibal and tackling a small army of ghosts threatening a Hampshire village. As we approach the final book in the series, plots that have been developing over the course of the series are coming together, and the suspense has never been higher. Unmissable. ~ Andrea Reece
One of our Books of the Year 2015 - Andrea Reeces's Pick of the Year 2015 - October 2015 Book of the Month Publication of a new Lockwood and Co adventure must qualify as one of the literary events of the year. Jonathan Stroud not only writes like a dream, he creates some of the most inventive, most exciting storylines around. Each Lockwood adventure raises the levels of tension, as plots thicken dangerously, and our affection for his teenage ghost hunters grows. In this story, there’s a terrifying outbreak of paranormal activity in Chelsea that leaves all the Psychic Investigation Agencies baffled. Can Lockwood & Co find the source? The appointment of a new assistant, the charming Holly, has introduced strains that weren’t there before, and after a shattering climax Stroud leaves the reader on a massive emotional cliffhanger. Book four can’t come soon enough! ~ Andrea Reece
Chosen as one of the Top Ten Best New Books for Children 2015 by Andrea Reece. Jonathan Stroud is a gifted author, and he is on very fine form with these supernatural adventure stories. Set in a Britain where wandering ghosts offer a constant threat, especially after dark, it stars three teenagers, the staff of a Psychic Investigation Agency adept at seeing off the dead. Here they are recruited to track down a stolen artefact that seems to offer phenomenal power to its owner, along with the risk of unpleasant death. Stroud skilfully keeps the tension high from beginning to end and this a really thrilling read. ~ Andrea Reece
Chosen as one of the Top Ten Best New Books for Children 2015 by Andrea Reece. Jonathan Stroud is a gifted author, and he is on very fine form with these supernatural adventure stories. Set in a Britain where wandering ghosts offer a constant threat, especially after dark, it stars three teenagers, the staff of a Psychic Investigation Agency adept at seeing off the dead. Here they are recruited to track down a stolen artefact that seems to offer phenomenal power to its owner, along with the risk of unpleasant death. Stroud skilfully keeps the tension high from beginning to end and this a really thrilling read. ~ Andrea Reece
Jonathan Stroud is a master storyteller who keeps you hanging on to every spine-tingling word. You’ll be hooked long before you turn the final page of The Screaming Staircase, the first in a chilling new series full of suspense, humour and truly terrifying ghosts. Your nights will never be the same again... Every evening the sound of the warning bell marks the beginning of curfew and people all over the city retreat to the safety of their homes. Security is of the utmost importance and salt, lavender and iron are now household staples. Adults are no longer sensitive enough to deal with the strange, malignant hauntings a part of everyday life. So it is down to the young to keep the city's residents safe. Meet the enigmatic Anthony Lockwood and his associates Lucy Carlyle and George Gubbins of A.J. Lockwood & Co. Investigators. A small agency, run without the interference of adults, they consider themselves to be the best. However, after a disastrous encounter with a deadly girl ghost, the agency is in danger of closing down. Will solving an old Missing Persons investigation and spending a terrifying night in the most haunted house in the country save them? Maybe, if of course, they are lucky enough to come away with their lives. Books in The Lockwood & Co Series: 1. Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase 2. Lockwood & Co: The Whispering Skull 3. Lockwood & Co: The Hollow Boy 4. Lockwood & Co: The Creeping Shadow 5. Lockwood & Co: The Empty Grave
Shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book of the Year Award 2010. Magic and wit make perfect partners in this highly entertaining new story - a prequel to the author's Bartimaeus trilogy - about an unusually quick-witted djinni who has an uncanny way of causing chaos wherever he goes. Set in Jerusalem in the court of King Solomon, Bartimaeus is caught up in the Queen of Sheba’s mission to take control of the King’s magic ring – whatever the cost or danger! Up for anything – almost! – Bartimaeus uses all his guile and brains to succeed. The result is a thrilling, surprising and immensely readable story. The first in the Bartimaeus sequence is Amulet of Samarkand, the second is The Golem’s Eye and the third is Ptolemy’s Gate. (Click here to see the others in the series.) The Ring of Solomon is the fourth one in the sequence and the series has a loyal adult as well as young adult fan base. A message from the publisher: "Jonathan Stroud is a master wordsmith, and fans of his Bartimaeus sequence will absolutely devour The Ring of Solomon. Everyone's favourite irascibly insolent djinni is back with all of his trademark one-liners, utter disdain for everything around him (both human and spirit world) and unfortunate penchant for getting himself into seriously hot water. When Jonathan said he planned to write a new Bartimaeus book, we were delighted because everyone wanted to hear that fast-talking, cheeky, hilarious voice again. Jonathan has been clever in making the new book a prequel because it would have been hard to have followed on from the final book in the trilogy, Ptolemy’s Gate. The idea for the book came from a short story Stroud wrote for his website, but which never appeared online. These books are a great mix of high fantasy, history, horror and humour and it all hangs together.”
For non-stop action from an absolute genius of an author with razor-sharp wit then look no further than this epic trilogy. Ptolemy’s Gate is the triumphant conclusion to the trilogy and although it stands alone as a read in itself the reader will have missed out as the first two, The Amulet of Samarkand and The Golem’s Eye are equally impressive and not to be missed. All have fantastic storylines, unusual and thought-provoking characters. Without a doubt it’s inspired writing for children from a masterful storyteller. Kids who have enjoyed the challenge and the depth of Phillip Pullman’s Dark Materials Trilogy or The Lord of the Rings will be eager to get into a trilogy of this magnitude. Adults will devour it with equal satisfaction.
Two years have passed since the events of The Amulet of Samarkand and the young magician Nathaniel is rising fast through the government ranks. But his career is suddenly threatened by a series of terrifying crises. A dangerous golem makes random attacks on London and other raids, even more threatening, are perpetrated by the Resistance. Nathaniel and Bartimaeus travel to Prague, enemy city of ancient magic, but while they are there uproar breaks out at home and Nathaniel returns to find his reputation in tatters. Can he rescue it from his Machiavellian adversaries in the government bent on his destruction? This title is a thrilling sequel in which the relationship between the young magician and the djinni remains as teasing and complex as ever. The first in the Bartimaeus sequence is The Amulet of Samarkand and the third is Ptolemy’s Gate. The fourth one, The Ring of Solomon, is recently published and is a spell-binding addition to the Bartimaeus sequence.
Shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book of the Year Award 2010. Magic and wit make perfect partners in this highly entertaining new story - a prequel to the author's Bartimaeus trilogy - about an unusually quick-witted djinni who has an uncanny way of causing chaos wherever he goes. Set in Jerusalem in the court of King Solomon, Bartimaeus is caught up in the Queen of Sheba’s mission to take control of the King’s magic ring – whatever the cost or danger! Up for anything – almost! – Bartimaeus uses all his guile and brains to succeed. The result is a thrilling, surprising and immensely readable story. The first in the Bartimaeus sequence is Amulet of Samarkand, the second is The Golem’s Eye and the third is Ptolemy’s Gate. The Ring of Solomon is the fourth one in the sequence and the series has a loyal adult as well as young adult fan base. A message from the author's editor: “When Jonathan said he planned to write a new Bartimaeus book, we were delighted because everyone wanted to hear that fast-talking, cheeky, hilarious voice again. Jonathan has been clever in making the new book a prequel because it would have been hard to have followed on from the final book in the trilogy, Ptolemy’s Gate. The idea for the book came from a short story Stroud wrote for his website, but which never appeared online. These books are a great mix of high fantasy, history, horror and humour and it all hangs together.” The Costa Children's Book of the Year Award 2010 Shortlist: Annexed - Sharon Dogar Out of Shadows - Jason Wallace Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon - Jonathan Stroud Flyaway - Lucy Christopher
This is the first in an unforgettable fantasy sequence called Bartimaeus, every one of which is full of magical intrigue, murder and rebellion. When Bartimaeus is packed off against his will by Nathaniel, a young magician’s apprentice to steal the powerful Amulet of Samarkand from Simon Lovelace, a master magician of unrivalled ruthlessness and ambition little does he realise the ramifications of it. Set in a modern-day London controlled by magicians, this hilarious, electrifying thriller will enthral readers of all ages. Stroud’s disparate collection of characters are brilliantly drawn and their actions utterly compelling as you are drawn into this incredible story. The second in the Bartimaeus sequence is The Golem’s Eye and the third is Ptolemy’s Gate. The fourth one, The Ring of Solomon is recently published and is a spell-binding addition to Bartimaeus sequence.
