Autumn updates from London — and a fox who saves the day 🦊🍂

Hello from a sunny London!
It’s a crisp and beautiful autumn day here with the blue skies a welcome change after recent rain and grey clouds. As the leaves start to turn, here’s hoping for some spectacular colours after such a warm summer. (I once followed the changing autumn colours down the east coast of the US— it was breathtaking!)

Moving on to my writing life, I have some exciting news about Ferdinand Fox — and a few new adventures that I think you and your young readers will enjoy.

🦊 Ferdinand Fox Saves the Day — Out Now!

I’m thrilled to share that Ferdinand Fox Saves the Day — a six-story illustrated collection for readers aged 6–8 — is now available!

Fox trotting across a building ledge late at night

Encouraging reading for pleasure

This special edition brings together three brand-new stories with my three original picture-book fox tales in a lively illustrated chapter-book format designed to inspire a love of reading. My aim was to create a book that bridges the gap between picture books and early chapter books — keeping the rhythm and fun of rhyme while offering enough text to stretch early reading skills and hold a child’s attention.

The short, self-contained stories are designed to make it easy for children to dip in and out, revisit their favourites, or share them with younger siblings — perfect for home reading or classroom story time. 😊

Four of the tales are action-packed page-turners full of adventure, mischief, and quick thinking, while the remaining two show Ferdinand’s gentler, big-hearted side — the qualities that make him so endearing to readers of all ages.

A huge thank-you to my advance readers who helped me shape the format for this edition; all were adamant that they wanted scattered illustrations throughout! I suspected this would be the case, but wanted to be sure. 😊

Illustration from 'Ferdinand Fox, the Kittens and the Alley Monster' showing Ferdinand Fox with kittens and a background of flowers.

And, needless to say, a huge thank-you to Andrew Smith, whose beautiful artwork perfectly captures Ferdinand’s character and the different settings!

Illustrated pages from 'Ferdinand Fox and the Break-In', featuring a fox on a ledge and in a kitchen with food, capturing a whimsical and adventurous scene.

👉 Available now on Amazon if you search in your country, and coming soon to all online and high-street bookshops. Quick links below. (US and UK are affiliate links from which I earn a small fee at no cost to you.)

Order on Amazon US →
Order on Amazon UK →
Order on Amazon CA →
Order on Amazon AUD →

I hope you and your children enjoy! Please do write or comment and let me know. 🦊

🎄 Coming Soon — The Christmas Tree Wish in Italian!

I’m also delighted to share that the Italian edition, Il Desiderio dell’Albero di Natale should be out next week!

The front cover of the Italian edition of The Christmas Tree Wish by Karen Inglis, translated by Elena Papaleo. Four smiling fir trees and a snowy background.

It’s been wonderful seeing this gentle festive story translated by the hugely talented Elena Papaleo — she took great care in explaining her interpretations, and I can’t wait for Italian readers to meet the little tree who dreams of being chosen for Christmas. 🇮🇹✨

Don’t forget that you can order The Christmas Tree Wish in English, French (Martin le Sapin de Noël), or German (Chris Christbaums Weihnachtstraum). Search by title online.

📚 The Secret Lake — Japanese Edition on the Way!

In other foreign news, I’ve heard that the Japanese edition of The Secret Lake is due out in late November. The cover, which I’ll be able to share later this month, features stunning watercolour artwork — a truly magical interpretation that I think readers will love. My son will be in Japan in November so I’m hoping he can snap a picture in a bookshop!

💬 Virtual Book Club Visits

I recently had a wonderfully relaxed session with a mother and daughter book club in Florida, chatting with 9–11-year-olds who’d just finished The Secret Lake. We talked about their favourite books, how I get story ideas, and how I plan characters and plots. They even had a sneak peek at Ferdinand’s upcoming cover!

Two young girls holding copies of 'The Secret Lake' by Karen Inglis during a virtual book club session, smiling at the camera. A woman with glasses and a scarf is also smiling in the bottom half of the image, indicating active participation in the discussion.

Clara has apparently already gone on to buy books 2 and 3 and devoured them! I have another US session coming up later in the month which I’m equally looking forward to – like most authors, I love meeting my readers!

If you’d like to book a virtual author visit — for your home book club or school class — do get in touch. Sessions can be from 30 up to 60 minutes, and I love connecting with readers wherever they are in the world.
👉 Contact me via my website →
👉 View my School visits page

🐦 Garden Robin Update

Finally, a little wildlife news! Those who follow me on Instagram will know that I have a pair of friendly robins in my garden. By early 2025, both were feeding from my hand. I named them Robbie and Roberta.

Robbie first appeared on his own two years ago, and I was thrilled when I discovered that he had a ‘mate’ last November. They had a very busy nesting season, but I haven’t see Robbie since late July. The last time he visited, he sat on my hand with a distant look and not feeding. Roberta – who has that same look in the picture below taken a few weeks ago – is still visiting and still takes mealworms from my hand — though she’s far quicker and shyer than Robbie, who used to perch calmly and look me in the eye while eating.

I’m hopeful Robbie will reappear before winter sets in. I think she’s missing him!

A close-up of a garden robin perched among green leaves and buds.

You can see more photos and videos over on my Instagram.

That’s it for now. I hope your children or pupils enjoy Ferdinand Fox Saves the Day if you order a copy. Please do let me know. And if you can take a moment to leave a short review on Amazon, Goodreads or your preferred store it would mean a lot to me, and help other families discover these fun stories.

Happy autumn once again, if that’s your season right now! And happy reading and rhyming!

Karen 😊 🍂 🦊 📚

October 5, 2025 0

Foxes & Hedgehogs, The Secret Lake & the World Cup

Hello from London

We’ve all been enjoying the sunshine today – I hope it’s shining where you are!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here – life is always so busy, what with new books to get out, school visits and all of the marketing tasks I have to keep up with. However, I promised to keep you up to date with what I’m doing and wanted to share two pieces of children’s books news – and to remind you about the World Cup!

Ferdinand Fox and the Hedgehog: a rhyming picture book for ages 3-6

Firstly, I have a new rhyming picture book out for ages 3-5+ Ferdinand Fox and the Hedgehog which introduces Hatty the hedgehog and her baby son Ed.

It’s already proving extremely popular with children, parents and grandparents and the rhyming story comes with eight pages of hedgehog and fox photos and facts to share with little ones – including how we can all help hedgehogs survive. If you have children or grandchildren in this age range, do take a look at the online reviews on Amazon UK . It’s also available in the Amazon.com store and all other stores worldwide. You can also order it at your local bookshop.

Inside the book you’ll find a link to free colour posters to download and print off…

I took the story along to the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival the weekend before last where it was a huge hit with little ones!

A magical new cover for The Secret Lake

The beautiful Isabella Plantation woodland in Richmond Park near London (where Henry VIII used to ride out) is in full bloom right now – see my images below from a visit last week – it’s where we used to take our boys to play when they were small.

To coincide with the season, I’ve recently updated the cover of my best selling time travel adventure The Secret Lake, which was partly inspired by a magical pond at Isabella, called ‘Still Pond’.

I asked for children’s votes on the cover at eight schools during my World Book Day visits in March this year and they overwhelmingly went for this one over a couple of other options – I hope you like it! I wanted to bring it up to date but also retain the classic feel that the story has, and I think my illustrator, Damir, has achieved this.

The Secret Lake has now sold over 9,000 copies and continues to be a firm favourite with girls and boys aged 8-11 – oh, and with grown-ups! It’s even been hitting best seller lists on Amazon UK in recent weeks which I’m especially proud about 🙂

You can read its many reviews on Amazon UK here. And more reviews on Amazon.com here.

The Secret Lake up at Isabella Plantation last week for a little tour

Three images from Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park -- with vibrant pink azaleas in a magical woodland — Still Pond, seen at the top, provided the inspiration for the lake in ‘The Secret Lake’

While here – just a quick reminder: with the World Cup coming around in June, if you have any soccer-mad boys or girls aged 7-10 at home do check out Eeek! The Runaway Alien – about an alien who comes to Earth for the World Cup 🙂 It has a huge surprise at the end (but don’t tell the kids!) and has been praised for getting both keen and reluctant readers turning the pages. LoveReading4kidsUK describes it as “Laugh-out-loud funny!” and it has been used in the Get London Reading campaign. I shall be posting a new crossword puzzle to go with it on my site in the next couple of weeks, so look out for that — I just need to consult with my husband on a few minor details…

Front cover of Eeek! The Runaway Alien - a green alien with blue smoke wafting from his ears and wearing a red and white England scarf and holding soccer boots — A match made in heaven for soccer fans 7-10 yrs!

Other news – helping local causes

Finally, one thing I love about being an author is getting involved with community projects, or doing what I can to help with fundraising relating to literacy. Below you can see me at Brandlehow Primary School in Putney a couple of weeks ago, close to where I live in London. The PTA is raising funds for a new library and asked a few local authors if we’d come and run some free workshops that both children and parents could attend. The money they raised through donations is going towards the library, and stood at over £700 when I last heard! The children also got to buy signed books, so everyone went home happy.

Image of author Karen Inglis speaking to children at a school author event — Author workshop with Years 3 & 4 at Brandlehow Primary – part of their library fundraiser

My next task for today is to drop off a signed copy of each of my books for prizes in a fundraising quiz being held this week at Greenmead Primary, a special needs primary school in south-west London for children aged 2-11.

I’m also extremely excited to have sponsored a bookshelf for a new literacy library being built in London by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education – a charity that works to improve literacy in primary schools.

That’s it for now – I’ll be in touch again, but not too often. In the meantime I hope you have a great rest of week – and let’s hope the sun stays shining in the UK for our upcoming bank holiday!

Karen

PS If you think your school would like a school visit – in person or via Skype – please ask them to get in touch and/or to look at my school visits page

May 22, 2018 1

To read or not to read – four recommendations for adult reluctant readers

Last Thursday I was at a book launch chatting with a friend who told me that her husband NEVER reads. She’s tried everything. Her husband was there, and happily joined in the conversation – he’s a highly qualified accountant in his mid fifties and they have two bookworm sons. 🙂

He went on to say that he simply has never found the ‘staying power’ with fiction (or indeed much non-fiction) and loses interest very quickly.

Bookshelves filled with books — One of our many bookshelves at home

As my children’s books are very much aimed at reluctant readers I quickly found myself recommending him a short(ish) book that I discovered at an airport back in the summer of 2003 en route to a a family holiday.

The book had gripped me from the start, and was a very easy and quick read. I made this discovery before it became better known and turned into a (relatively unknown) a film.

The book is called ‘I’m Not Scared’ by Niccolo Ammaniti and is translated from Italian. (The cover below is of a later edition than the one I have…)

On that holiday my then nine-year-old son insisted on taking I’m Not Scared from me and reading it whenever I put it down! It’s not really a children’s book – even though a child is the main character – but this probably tells you why it sprang to mind as a potential game changer for my friend’s husband. (I bet it was the title that grabbed my son’s attention…)

Back to the book launch. After I had left, I carried on thinking about books that I might recommend to reluctant ‘older readers’ and, with the holiday season upon us, thought I’d share four quality yet easy reads below if you’re stuck for a gift for an adult family member or friend who isn’t keen on reading but would be open to trying something new. All apart from the Anne Tyler are aimed at late ‘tween’ or YA audiences, but all are equally engrossing and suitable for adults.

I won’t pad out this post with book summaries – you’ll find them on each title’s Amazon page (click the book cover to open in a new tab). What I will say is that I’d be surprised if these books don’t engross the recipients…

As for my friend’s husband, I’ll no doubt have to report back what he thought!

Happy reading and happy holidays! 🎄

PS Don’t forget that you can quickly preview all of my children’s books for ages 6-11 for FREE with the fun interactive widgets below – just click then choose which book to read 🙂

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November 27, 2016 0

Category: Reluctant readers

Autumn updates from London — and a fox who saves the day 🦊🍂

🦊 Ferdinand Fox Saves the Day — Out Now!

🎄 Coming Soon — The Christmas Tree Wish in Italian!