Which Way to Anywhere

This is first in a brand new series by former Laureate Cressida Cowell. Readers are dragged straight into a thrilling adventure story from the very first page with Cressida Cowell’s ultra welcoming text and inviting illustrations. They are the kind of illustrations that are beautiful but also super unintimidating, the kind that make kids want to get out a pencil and draw their own pictures. This fits so well with the story, which is at its heart about the power of children’s creativity and imagination. 

This is a story about a family. There are five child characters: K2 and his twin sister Izzabird O’Hero, Theo and Mabel Smith and little Annipeck O’Hero-Smith. They are fairly ordinary children (although K2 and Izzabird have some odd magical relatives) living normal lives on Earth in the present day.  The O’Hero mum and the Smith dad fell in love and got together to make a new family and none of the older siblings are very happy about it and don’t get on - although they all adore their mutual younger sister Annipeck. 

The story starts with K2 in a terrifying alternate world  where humans have been hunted to death, he’s as thin as a twig, with broken glasses. Then the narrator of the story (we find out who this is at the end) takes us back in time to how this came to be, and it’s a totally thrilling tale which centres on what happens if the fantasy worlds children draw become real? The child heroes in this story seem at first like fairly rather unremarkable people but when faced with huge challenges of having to save their parents and world ending threats, they actually end up being incredibly brave and creative. 

This is an easy to read book with a page turning fast flow. It is highly illustrated, so even though this is a big book with a lot of pages it still works for most children, not just those that are super keen on books. Perfect for fans of How To Train Your Dragon and the Wizards of Once series. 

Mae K2 a’i efeilles Izzabird O’Hero, Theo a Mabel Smith ac Annipeck O’Hero Smith fach yn blant pur gyffredin mewn teulu cymysg sy’n byw bywydau normal ar y Ddaear.

Ond heb yn wybod iddyn nhw, mae’r bydoedd ffantasi y mae K2 yn tynnu eu llun yn bodoli, ac mae un ohonyn nhw’n fyd gwahanol dychrynllyd lle mae bodau dynol wedi cael eu hela i farwolaeth. Mae K2, Izzabird, Theo, Mabel ac Annipeck yn cael eu sgubo i ffwrdd ar antur hudol o’u bywydau cyffredin, ac maen nhw’n gorfod achub eu rhieni a stopio’r byd rhag dod i ben. A dysgu i gyd-dynnu...

Mae hwn yn llyfr hawdd i’w ddarllen gyda llawer o ddarluniadau, sy’n berffaith ar gyfer y rheini sy’n edmygu cyfres Cowell How to Train Your Dragon a Wizards of Once.