{"id":124730,"date":"2020-05-07T17:04:21","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T06:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/?p=124730"},"modified":"2020-05-11T16:47:44","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T05:47:44","slug":"thomas-taylor-on-his-5-favourite-books-with-magical-creatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2020\/05\/07\/thomas-taylor-on-his-5-favourite-books-with-magical-creatures\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Taylor on his 5 favourite books with magical creatures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Thomas<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Taylor is an award-winning author-illustrator for children. He illustrated the cover for the very first <\/em>Harry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone and has since gone on to write and illustrate several picture books and young novels; most recently he illustrated <\/em>Scarlett Hart: Monster Hunter, written by Marcus Sedgwick. Thomas Taylor has just released <\/em>Gargantis<\/a><\/strong>, his second title in the Legends of Eerie-on-Sea sequence; the first, <\/em>Malamander<\/a><\/strong>, was published to huge acclaim in 2019 (read our review<\/a><\/strong>).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Thomas is on the blog to tell us all about his five favourite books that feature magical creatures. Read on!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

1. The Crowfield Curse<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Pat Walsh<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Thomas<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I love the bleakly glittering world of medieval mystery conjured in this book, the sense of old magic mingling with monastic life, and the quirky little fairy being known as the Hob. Read this book in the warm, by flickering light, while a cold wind howls outside. The Crowfield books deserve to be rediscovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

2. The Amulet of Samarkand<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Jonathan Stroud<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Thomas<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the most intriguing and evocative depictions of practical magic I\u2019ve come across in fiction. It\u2019s fascinating to see the world through the unreliable and multi-dimensional perspective the Djinn, Bartimaeus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

3. No Such Thing as Dragons<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Philip Reeve<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Thomas<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When I first read this story of a hunter sent to destroy a terrible dragon in its wild mountain lair, I found myself hoping that the dragon would be no more than a legend. Until, that is, the dragon itself shrieked and bristled and clawed its leathery way into the story, to become probably the best depiction of a dragon \u2013 with more than a hint of prehistoric survivor about it \u2013 I have ever read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

4. Five Children and It<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by E. Nesbit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Thomas<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What would you do with a wish a day, until sunset? Could you be sure that what you wished for would turn out the way you wished it? The grumpy little sand fairy \u2013 a psammead \u2013 in this book is so odd as to be unforgettable, not least because of the comical way he puffs himself up and projects his eyes when he makes your wish come true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

5. The House with Chicken Legs<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Sophie Anderson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Thomas<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Strangely present as an extra character throughout this wonderful inversion of the traditional Baba Yaga myth, the house itself \u2013 striding around on its scaly chicken legs \u2013 is a magical being like no other. The book is beautifully written, the sentiments expressed poignant and profound, and the imagery darkly delightful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

—Gargantis<\/a><\/em> by Thomas Taylor (Walker Books Australia) is out now.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The author of Gargantis and Malamander on the magical creatures he loves the most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":124751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1249,11360,6799,11359,11352,11356,11351,9822,11358,11354,11357,11362,11355,11353,11361,9823],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Gargantis-Social.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124730"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124730"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124967,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124730\/revisions\/124967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}