Award: Silver Birch Honour Book

Come along with the Blande family on this fun fantasy adventure to the Verulian Mountains. Meet eleven-year-old Eleanor, who is longing to fly; seven-year-old Solly, who dresses as a superhero known as Googoo-man; Dad, the world’s foremost expert on fountains; and Mom, who guards an ancient family secret. Together they embark on a mysterious quest across seas and over mountains to determine who is stealing the fountains of Rome. And of course, there’s Kaspar Snit — the world’s most evil, yet lovable, genius.

Cary’s comments on this book:

“I wanted to write a book that would be really fun to read, that would be an adventure but funny too. For a long time I’d been thinking about a girl who could fly — mostly because I wanted to fly when I was a kid. Then I went on a trip to Rome with my brother and saw all the beautiful fountains, and the two ideas just clicked. Kaspar Snit came about because I wanted to create a real, honest-to-goodness bad guy, which I had never done before. From the very beginning I wanted to write three Kaspar Snit books.”