Winner of the Klaus Flugge Prize for Illustration 2023
Shortlisted for Illustrator of the Year – British Book Awards 2025

From the award-winning creator of Flooded and Lost comes a magical story about discovering a connection with books for the very first time.

This brightly illustrated adventure story is perfect for kids who claim to hate reading, as the enchanting narrative opens their eyes to a fantasy world created by words on a page.

In this spellbinding story, we meet a little girl excited for the end of term. No more school! However, she’s given the very unreasonable task of reading a whole book over the holidays. A whole book? But she HATES books. But her sister takes her to the library – she says she has just the thing.

Slowly, the little girl is drawn into a world of adventure: a little fennec fox leads her to meet fairytale witches and creatures, as they find ingredients to cast a special spell at the end of her book. At first, the little girl is dismayed to learn that this spell seemingly hasn’t changed a thing . . . however, the little fox points out that she HAS transformed: discovering the power of her imagination has changed her forever.

This charming, engaging picture book shows children how wonderful books can really be, to encourage a lifelong love of reading. Discover adventure on every page – and turn I Hate Books into I Love Books!