Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
Impossible Creatures By Katherine Rundell; illustrated by Ashley Mackenzie
Two kids race to save the world’s last magical place in the first book of a landmark new fantasy series, from “a writer with an utterly distinctive voice and a wild imagination.” (Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass)
“An instant classic from one of the most gifted storytellers of our time, Impossible Creatures is an astonishing miracle of a book.” —Katherine Applegate, Newbery Medal Winner for The One and Only Ivan
The day that Christopher saved a drowning baby griffin from a hidden lake would change his life forever.
It’s the day he learned about the Archipelago—a cluster of unmapped islands where magical creatures of every kind have thrived for thousands of years, until now. And it’s the day he met Mal—a girl on the run, in desperate need of his help.
Mal and Christopher embark on a wild adventure, racing from island to island, searching for someone who can explain why the magic is fading and why magical creatures are suddenly dying. They consult sphinxes, battle kraken, and negotiate with dragons. But the closer they get to the dark truth of what’s happening, the clearer it becomes: no one else can fix this. If the Archipelago is to be saved, Mal and Christopher will have to do it themselves.
Katherine Rundell’s story crackles and roars with energy and delight. It is brought vividly to life with more than 60 illustrations, including a map and a bestiary of magical creatures.
Author Katherine Rundell reads the first chapter of her captivating, action-packed fantasy adventure, Impossible Creatures.
Praise for Impossible Creatures
★ “An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ “Employing plotting reminiscent of works by Ursula Le Guin and Philip Pullman, Rundell deploys fresh language, epic stakes, bonds both tender and devastating, and fierce kid characters. It’s a thoughtfully lore-informed narrative about the kinship of living things and the marvels of being alive—a story that, above all, takes children seriously.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ “A quintessential fantasy that will delight readers of all ages.” — School Library Journal, starred review
★ “Rundell has delivered a welcome reminder of what makes the genre great. By taking risks, honoring her ancestors, and weaving a magic of her own, she adds her voice to the ancient, ongoing chorus of storytellers.” — Booklist, starred review
★ “Impossible Creatures is an ode to children’s ability to hope and to make hard decisions … for readers who devour adventure fantasy stories like The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill as well as classics like Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass, Impossible Creatures is a must-read.” —BookPage, starred review
“A powerful drama filled with self-sacrifice and great-heartedness . . . entrancing and refreshing.” —The Horn Book
“Rundell is well nigh irresistible.” –The New York Times Book Review
“With an utterly charming combination of wit and peril, Impossible Creatures is a magical book you race to finish and then immediately want to read aloud to someone little.” —The Washington Post
“An instant classic from one of the most gifted storytellers of our time, Impossible Creatures is an astonishing miracle of a book.” —Katherine Applegate, Newbery Medal Winner for The One and Only Ivan
“An absolute WOW of a book. Utterly enchanting and full of wonder, readers are in for a treat!” — B. B. Alston, author of Amari and the Night Brothers
“I love Katherine Rundell’s writing. . . . Readers who already know her books will seize this with delight, and new readers will love it and demand all her others at once.” —Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass
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The Archipelago is a hidden world where magical creatures of every kind thrive. What research did you do to help create your collection of mythological animals?
I spent many wonderful hours in libraries researching the magical creatures that we were once absolutely convinced were real. I read mythical encyclopedias, old manuscripts (in my other work, I research Renaissance literature at Oxford, so I have access to fantastic, dusty archives), and ancient histories, all to create a file with hundreds of pages of notes about my creatures. We used to believe there were unicorns in the wild, which makes perfect sense, really, given that narwhals exist. The line between possible and impossible in the natural world is so very thin: there are many things that seem like they should be glorious myths—giraffes, hedgehogs, swifts—that are true.
Impossible Creatures is already being called an “instant classic.” Which books and authors, both classic and contemporary, were your biggest influences when writing Impossible Creatures?
I’ve always loved fantasy, and grew up reading the masters Narnia, especially, gave me endless happiness. And I adored Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, E. Nesbit’s Five Children and It, Diana Wynne Jones, Philip Pullman—and the older work too: Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, The Odyssey, the old Norse sagas, and Greek myths. I love the scope that modern fantasy gives authors to write about urgent truths—about power, and loss, and endurance—in a way that also offers a thrilling journey and a feast of pleasure.
Impossible Creatures is full of action and adventure. How do bring such gripping action to life?
Thank you so much! I’m thrilled you think so—I wanted to create a story that would grab children by the wrist and not let them go until the last page. I think children deserve huge, wild adventures, so at every step, I asked myself: Would I find this exciting, if I was reading it for the first time? Can I make it bolder, sharper, brighter, swifter?
What message do you hope readers take away from Impossible Creatures?
I wanted to write a book that would be, first and foremost, a great sweep of adventure and action and delight: I don’t think it’s fair to offer children a story and then bludgeon them with a moral. But the book is, in part, about the threat of endangerment: about the idea of fighting with everything you have to protect that which is vulnerable, because what is lost is lost forever. And I wanted to suggest to children that our own world is one of such magnificence that if we were not familiar with it—if we were to discover it anew—it would knock us sideways with astonishment.
Download the full Q&A with Katherine Rundell, author of Impossible Creatures.
Katherine Rundell
KATHERINE RUNDELL is the internationally bestselling author of Impossible Creatures. Her other books for children include Rooftoppers, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer, and The Good Thieves. She grew up in Zimbabwe, Brussels, and London, and is currently a Fellow of St. Catherine’s College, Oxford. For adult readers, Rundell has written Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures and Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, which won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. She was the recipient of the British Book Award for Book of the Year and Author of the Year.
Fantastical Reads for Your YA Book Club
Get your book club conversations flowing with these incredible YA fantasy titles!
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Each set includes 10 sheets of 5 double sided bookmarks featuring The Thirteenth Child by Erin A. Craig, Zodiac Rising by Katie Zhao, Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim, and Mirror of Beasts by Alexandra Bracken.
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The Thirteenth Child By Erin A. Craig
An instant #1 New York Times and USA Today bestseller! • Drawing on the Grimm Brothers’ dark fairytale, “Godfather Death,” this new novel from the bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows is a sweeping, fantastical saga of actions and consequences.
The stunning “Hazel” special edition first printing features exclusive printed endpapers and a beautiful gold-and-red foil-stamped case.
All gifts come with a price.
Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn’t like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather—Merrick, the Dreaded End—to arrive.
When he does, he lays out exactly how he’s planned Hazel’s future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses Hazel with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.
But all gifts come with a price. Hazel can see when Death has claimed a patient—when all hope is gone—and is tasked to end their suffering, permanently. Haunted by the ghosts of those she’s killed, Hazel longs to run. But destiny brings her to the royal court, where she meets Leo, a rakish prince with a disdain for everything and everyone. And it’s where Hazel faces her biggest dilemma yet—to save the life of a king marked to die. Hazel knows what she is meant to do and knows what her heart is urging her toward, but what will happen if she goes against the will of Death?
From the astonishing mind of Erin A. Craig comes the breathtaking fairy tale retelling readers have been waiting for— what does a life well-lived mean, and how do we justify the impossible choices we make for the ones we love? The Thirteenth Child is a must-read for fans of dark fairy tales, romantasy, and epic fantasy alike.
Erin A. Craig
ERIN A. CRAIG is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows, Small Favors, and House of Roots and Ruin. She has always loved telling stories. After getting her BFA in Theatre Design and Production from the University of Michigan, she stage-managed tragic operas filled with hunchbacks, séances, and murderous clowns, then decided she wanted to write books that were just as spooky. An avid reader, decent quilter, rabid basketball fan, and collector of typewriters, brass figurines, and sparkly shoes, Erin makes her home in West Michigan with her husband and daughter.
More YA Fantasy from Erin A. Craig
Zodiac Rising By Katie Zhao
Magic meets dark academia at a New York boarding school that’s hidden from mortal eyes. When a student is killed over priceless treasure, the Descendants of the Zodiac assemble a crew to avenge their classmate's murder and heist back what's rightfully theirs. Perfect for fans of A Deadly Education and Legendborn.
At a secret Manhattan boarding school, the Descendants of the Chinese zodiac have hidden away since the source of their magic—the twelve zodiac statues—was vandalized and lost to time. Thus, a curse befell the Descendants, and they’ve lived as creatures of darkness . . . until now.
When the lost statues suddenly resurface and a powerful classmate is found dead, all signs point to foul play from the fae. The Descendants finally have the chance to take back what's rightfully theirs and break the curse. To pull this deadly heist off, though, they must assemble an elite crew:
THE VAMPIRE: After a century of burning hunger, Evangeline is out for blood.
THE SHAPESHIFTER: Nicholas yearns to restore justice to his people—and make peace with his past.
THE MORTAL: Alice seeks the truth of her mysterious heritage, and this mission may be the key.
THE WEREWOLF: Tristan will do anything to break free from the monstrous wolf inside.
Only these four have the power to save the Descendants, but the wrath of the fae waits at every turn. One wrong move and the fate of their kind will come crashing down. . . .
Katie Zhao
Katie Zhao is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she earned a BA in English and political science in 2017 and a master of accounting degree in 2018. She is the author of the Dragon Warrior series, How We Fall Apart, Last Gamer Standing, and the Winnie Zeng series. She's a passionate advocate for diverse representation in literature and media.
Middle Grade Fantasy from Katie Zhao
The Mirror of Beasts By Alexandra Bracken
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Alexandra Bracken is back with the electrifying sequel to SILVER IN THE BONE, in which fresh betrayal ignites ancient magic to wake the dead, and a cursed girl with no magic of her own must put the past to rest.
With the dream of Avalon in ruins, Tamsin and her friends are all that stands in the way of Lord Death's plans to unleash the horrors of Anwnn on the world of the living. As the Wild Hunt carves a bloody path across continents, Tamsin is mustering allies, tracking down powerful artifacts, and traversing into new otherlands in search of a way to stop him.
Legend tells of a “Mirror of Beasts,” powerful enough to trap even Lord Death in its accursed glass, but the mirror is not all that it seems. Tamsin must confront her own darkest secrets if she hopes to tap the mirror's strength to defeat her enemies.
Arthurian legend bleeds into contemporary action, and scars of the past are torn open anew by a starcrossed love that refuses to go quietly. This riveting conclusion to the Silver in the Bone duology will hold you in its thrall until the very last page.
Alexandra Bracken
Alexandra Bracken is the New York Times bestselling author of the Darkest Minds trilogy. Born and raised in Arizona, she moved east to study history and English at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Alex now lives in New York City, where you can find her hard at work on her next novel in a charming little apartment that’s perpetually overflowing with books. Visit her online at www.alexandrabracken.com and on Twitter at @alexbracken.
More YA Fantasy from Alexandra Bracken
Her Radiant Curse By Elizabeth Lim
Now available in paperback!
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the critically acclaimed author of SIX CRIMSON CRANES comes a fantasy tale of two sisters—one as beautiful as the other is monstrous—who must fight to save each other when a betrothal contest gone wrong unleashes an evil that could sever their bond forever!
One sister must fall for the other to rise.
Channi was not born a monster. But when her own father offers her in sacrifice to the Demon Witch, she is forever changed. Cursed with a serpent’s face, Channi is the exact opposite of her beautiful sister, Vanna—the only person in the village who looks at Channi and doesn’t see a monster. The only person she loves and trusts.
Now at seventeen, Vanna is to be married off in a vulgar contest that will enrich the coffers of the village leaders. Only Channi, who’s had to rely on her strength and cunning all these years, can defend her sister against the cruelest of the suitors. But in doing so, she becomes the target of his wrath—launching a grisly battle royale, a quest over land and sea, a romance between sworn enemies, and a choice that will strain Channi’s heart to its breaking point.
Weaving together elements of The Selection and Ember in the Ashes with classic tales like Beauty and the Beast, Helen of Troy, and Asian folklore, Elizabeth Lim is at the absolute top of her game in this thrilling yet heart-wrenching fantasy that explores the dark side of beauty and the deepest bonds of sisterhood.
Elizabeth Lim
ELIZABETH LIM grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she was raised on a hearty diet of fairy tales, myths, and songs. Before becoming an author, Elizabeth was a professional film and video game composer, and she still tends to come up with her best book ideas when writing near a piano. An alumna of Harvard College and the Juilliard School, she now lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.
Elizabeth's internationally bestselling novels include Spin the Dawn, Unravel the Dusk, and Six Crimson Cranes. She is also a contributor to Disney’s "A Twisted Tale” series.
More YA Fantasy from Elizabeth Lim
