Shortlisted for the 2012 Carnegie Medal. Shortlisted for the 2012 Branford Boase Award for outstanding Debut novel.
The Judges said: A refreshing and plausibly magical novel which joyfully celebrates cleverness and a delight in words. Both the main characters and the cameo parts are extremely vivid and humorous, and the mystery and trail of clues throughout the plot are very well-worked out. A story that is terrific fun, so perfectly paced and exquisitely written that it reads aloud beautifully.
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Small Stuart embarks on an awfully big adventure in this quirky puzzle-solving novel. Uprooted from London by his kindly but distracted parents, Stuart finds himself with nothing to do in his seemingly lifeless new home town. The only interest comes from the confusion caused by the identical triplets next door, and that just makes things worse. But a long-lost letter from a long-lost great uncle sets Stuart off unlocking one baffling puzzle after another. Each more curious than the one before, the far-fetched solutions they require bring the book to a hugely satisfying conclusion.
Shortlisted for the 2011 Costa Children's Book Award.
Stuart Horten, ten years old and small for his age, is about to have the strangest ADVENTURE of his life. After moving to the boring town of Beeton, he finds himself swept up in an INCREDIBLE QUEST to find his great-uncle's lost legacy: a magician's workshop stuffed with trickery and MAGIC. There are clues to follow, unbearable neighbours to avoid and PUZZLES to solve, but what starts as FUN ends up as DANGER, and Stuart begins to realise that he can't finish the task on his own . . .
LissaEvansstillrememberscrackingherfirstjoke,age7.Itinvolvedahippo.(We’llsaynomore.)Butthecomedybugwasbornand,followingamedicinedegree,LissachangedcareerstobecomeacomedyproducerforradioandTV.Eventually,afteradecadeofrunningaredpencilthroughotherpeople’swork,Lissabegantowritesomethingofherown.This is Lissa Evans' third book for children. Her first, Small Change for Stuart (published in the USA as Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms), was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Costa Children’s Book Award. She has also written books for adults. She has two teenage daughters, and lives in London.
