Blog

September is our favourite time of year here at Chicken House HQ – we love the ‘back to school’ feeling, the nip in the air, the changing leaves and (you guessed it) THE BOOKS! After hitting a pandemic pause on our publishing schedule for the last four months, we’re delighted to be back on track with three incredible novels to curl up with while the season starts to turn ...

Tamarind & the Star of Ishta

Jasbinder Bilan knocked everyone’s socks off with her debut, Asha & the Sprit Bird, which won the Times Competition and the Costa Children’s Book Award as well as being shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize. Tough act to follow, right? But she’s done it with middle-grade standalone Tamarind & the Star of Ishta, a beautiful magical-realist family drama set in the Himalaya.

Tamarind never knew her Indian mum, Chinty, who died soon after she was born. So when she arrives at her ancestral home, a huge mansion in the Himalaya surrounded by luxuriant gardens, she’s full of questions for her extended family. But instead of answers, she finds an ominous silence – and a trickle of intriguing clues: an abandoned hut, a friendly monkey, a glowing star ring, and a strange girl in the garden who calls herself Ishta. Slowly, Tamarind unravels a mystery at the heart of who she is …

K-Pop Confidential

We're super excited to be publishing the UK's first K-pop book! Fresh, funny and told with real heart, K-POP CONFIDENTIAL is a celebration of music, fashion and creativity for teen readers everywhere – if you're not a K-pop fan already, you soon will be!

When Candace wins a global audition held by the biggest K-pop label in the world, she moves from the US to Seoul, South Korea, to start her training. Under the strict supervision of her instructors at the label's headquarters, Candace hones her performance skills, learns Korean, and navigates the complex hierarchies of her teammates. But the number-one rule? NO DATING – which proves almost impossible after she meets superstar idol One.J and fellow Korean-American trainee YoungBae. Soon, Candace is in the middle of an international K-pop scandal. Is a spot in the most hyped K-pop girl group of all time really worth risking everything?

The Midnight Howl

Creative duo Laura Trinder and Benjamin Read entranced the world with their funny, imaginative and original debut, The Midnight Hour. Now, Emily and her sleepy stowaway hedgehog are back in this rip-roaring sequel! Are you ready? We’re ridiculously excited to re-enter this alternate-London world for a second madcap adventure…

Emily needs to work out why magic is leaking from the Midnight Hour, but her shape-shifting Pooka relatives and a terrifying haunting are standing in her way – not to mention the fact that she’s supposed to be grounded. If she can’t work out what’s going wrong, it could mean the end of the midnight world …