Trainee meadow witch Anwen is having a bad day - which gets much worse when a dead giant falls from the sky and destroys her village. But when she examines the body she discovers something interesting. This giant was murdered, which means a killer is on the loose!
Tasked with sending a message to the giant kingdom via beanstalk, Anwen and her nemesis, trainee sorceress Cerys, accidentally find themselves whipped up into the sky and deposited in the giants' royal palace - where the king is missing. Using their perfect spy-size and witchy skills, the girls must track down his killer. But how can you investigate a murder mystery when you risk being stepped on by your suspects?
I loved this....it was funny, dramatic, and had a cast of engaging and duplicitous characters that kept me guessing as to who was the real culprit right to the end! Iloved rhe animal characters and the funny views each kingdom ( giant/human) had of each other and their worlds. Covering a range of themes such as rivalry, jealousy, not judging books by their cover, bravery and friendship, this was a great read that I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend to KS2 readers and teachers.
As always, I'm thrilled to be part of the Kaleidoscopic blogtour along with publisher Usborne, and to be able to share this extract giving you a taste of this fun and engaging whodunnit with a twist!
Extract:
“Well done, Anwen,” she muttered to herself. “Another stupid mistake.”
She was so stressed that her head was filling with a high-pitched whistling noise. She screwed her eyes shut and rubbed at her temples, but the noise only got louder. Louder and deeper.
She opened her eyes, and realized that the sound wasn’t in her head at all. The bustle in the square died away as shoppers and stallholders looked around in confusion, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. It seemed to be coming from everywhere.
Then a shadow appeared on the ground, growing larger by the second until it engulfed the whole square. Anwen raised her face to the sky, and gasped.
Something was up there. Something big enough to blot out the sun, and it was getting closer, fast. The whistle was the sound it made as it plunged through the air, and Anwen just had time to realize that the thing looked like a person before the market descended into total panic. People screamed and ran, abandoning their stalls and baskets in the rush to get clear. It was a stampede, and it swept Anwen with it, carrying her out of the village in the seconds before the enormous thing crashed down on the square with a noise like a mountain splitting in two.
The ground leaped, tossing people into the air like toys. Anwen spun end over end, terrified and helpless, before cold water closed around her. She swallowed a mouthful and resurfaced, spluttering.
She had landed in the stream that skirted the village. Its waters slopped and rolled, breaking over the banks and sending flocks of nesting birds screaming into the sky. The dull roar of the gigantic thing’s impact went with them, spreading out across the fields in an almighty echo.
Anwen hauled herself onto the bank and collapsed, trembling with shock. People lay scattered around her, some of them unconscious, others stunned and moaning. She forced herself to her feet, staggered onto the road leading into the village, and gave a small cry of disbelief.
Old Stump was gone, flattened beneath the bulk of the fallen thing, which now loomed in front of her like a low hill. As the dust settled, Anwen was able to make out more details. It was shrouded in enormous folds of material: she saw gold embroidery and sprays of white lace as big as ships’ sails. Stranger still, two things like monoliths now stood on either side of the slope leading into the square. They were wide with a flat surface, and stood almost three times her height, tapering towards the sky. It took her a moment to realize they were the soles of an enormous pair of feet, shod in some kind of silk slippers, their toes pointing at the sun.
That’s when she finally understood what she was looking at, and had to sit down before the shock of it knocked her over.
This was a giant.
Author Information
P.G. Bell is a native of South Wales, where he was raised on a diet of Greek mythology, ghost stories and Doctor Who. He's had all sorts of jobs over the years, from lifeguard to roller-coaster operator, but has always wanted to write stories. He lives in Wales with his wife Anna and their two children.
The Train to Impossible Places, P.G.'s debut series, has enjoyed widespread success, including shortlistings for the Branford Boase Award, the Crimefest Awards and the Waterstones Children's Book Prize.
Instagram: https://instagram.com/pgbellwriter
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