The HILARIOUS new novel and the year’s most perfect festive gift – from million-copy bestselling author David Baddiel

It used to be the most WONDERFUL time of the year, but for years Christmas has been taken over by Winterzone.

All the things that made Christmas special are gone: the human connection, the baubles passed down through generations, even the rubbish cracker jokes.

Instead, Christmas is run by robots, while 3D holograms of Santa Claus called Santavatars check if you’ve been naughty or nice – and on Christmas Eve, all of the presents are delivered by ZoneDrones instead of Santa’s reindeer!

But when they stumble on a curious clue, eleven-year-old Etta and her friend Monty find themselves thrown into a fight to bring back Christmas. Racing against time and against the might of Winterzone, they must find the real Santa – before the true meaning of the festive season is lost forever . . .

David Baddiel’s book ‘The God Desire’ was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 17-04-2023.

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A high-energy, laugh-out-loud, fully illustrated adventure story by much-loved actor Stephen Mangan and talented artist Anita Mangan.

“Laugh-out-loud stuff” Ray D’Arcy

It’s the most important day of the year for King Fabian as he is hosting all the neighbouring rulers. Everything simply must go perfectly.

King Fabian wakes up, stretches, and…

farts.

His wife’s fury is so huge that he panics and blames the butler, who is carted off to the dungeons. Leaving behind a big problem: Fabian isn’t really the brains behind the crown: it is the butler… how will dithery Fabian manage to pull off this high-pressure event alone? His small and smelly fart looks like it will kick off a crisis…

Frank – a kitchen boy with a big imagination – is drafted in as an emergency butler. As the banquet descends into a food fight and processions catapult out of control, Frank finds himself in an all-out farty farce. Can he save the day?

• Wildly funny and endlessly surprising, this is delightfully imaginative, surreal storytelling with a message that small events can trigger big change, and children can be heroes!
• Packed with pictures by Stephen Mangan’s sister Anita Mangan.
• Escape the Rooms is one of the most loved and bestselling children’s debuts of 2021.

Stephen and Anita Mangan are comic dynamite.

Praise for Stephen and Anita’s books:

Escape the Rooms:

“A brilliant, clever, kind of genius book” Graham Norton, Virgin Radio

‘Richly imagined and deeply heartfelt’ Hadley Freeman, Guardian

‘Manages to feel both classic and modern at the same time’ Good Housekeeping

‘A beautiful and exciting adventure that ignites the imagination’ Edith Bowman

The Fart That Changed the World

“A sure-fire way for kids to entertain themselves. What’s more, it’s also excellent for reading aloud” LoveReading4Kids

“A high-energy, brilliantly imaginative and laugh-out-loud tale that is guaranteed to blow away young readers” Lancashire Evening Post

The Unlikely Rise of Harry Sponge

“After the runaway success of joint debut novel, Escape the Rooms, and the hilarious The Fart That Changed the World, the dynamic duo return with an all-action, marvellously manic and laugh-out-loud tale with a message that any child can be a hero” Lancashire Evening Post

“hilarious … A right royal romp” First News

ABOUT THE MANGANS

Stephen Mangan is an author, script-writer and actor with huge range across TV, radio, film and theatre. From classic comedy such as Green Wing,Episodes and I’m Alan Partridge and acclaimed drama such as The Split, Stephen also presentsPortrait and Landscape Artist of the Year and regularly appears on stage, most recently as a highly praised Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Stephen also voiced the title role in Postman Pat: The Movie. He has been a member of the judging panels for the Costa Book of the Year prize and The Laugh-Out-Loud Awards (The Lollies). His children’s books are the bestselling Escape the Rooms and The Fart that Changed the World.

Stephen on writing for children (interview on ITV’s Lorraine):
“Every page has to grip them, make them laugh, be interesting because they can drop it. There are screens everywhere that they can pick up. That’s part of the reason why I started writing books because I had such fun as a kid reading books. I always had my head in a book. I wanted to write books that were unputdownable for children, that were full of adventure and crazy big characters and made them laugh.”

Anita Mangan is a celebrated graphic designer and illustrator who has designed over 60 books including for Leon Restaurants, Gizzi Erskine and Fearne Cotton. She illustrated the best-selling Be a Unicorn series. Her first children’s book was the bestselling Escape the Rooms.

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