CHEERIE-on-SEA is a wonderful place of sand, swimming and icecream – in the summer.

In the winter, the CH seems to vanish into the thick, rolling, cold sea mist, leaving the inhabitants of EERIE-on-SEA battling the bleakness and snow. Something else arrives in the winter, as it has done for as long as anyone can remember. A darkness within the fog and shadow. Something with spines and teeth and luminous discs for eyes. Locals call it the Malamander.

Herbie Lemon is the Lost-and-Founder at the beachside Grand Nautilus Hotel. It’s his job to collect and look after any items left behind or discarded within the hotel or on the beach. The ‘Founder’ part of his job suddenly makes life more interesting.

A girl scrambles through his window one night, begging him to hide her. Soon after, Herbie learns she is Violet Parma, daughter of a couple who vanished from the beach 12 years before, leaving only their shoes on the sand.

Violet is feisty, brave and determined to find out what happened to her parents, and she wants Herbie to help her. The tale of her vanishing parents is well known in the little seaside town and just as mysterious as the Malamander itself.

With the help of a professional beachcomber, a Book Dispensary and its magical monkey machine (that chooses the best book for shoppers), a historian and a talking cat, Herbie and Vi are quickly on a pell-mell adventure of discovery, revenge, legends, dreams-that-can-come-true, and bite marks. Eerie-on-Sea is a weird and wonderful town with an ever-swirling undercurrent of danger, ready to swallow them up.

A wonderful, fantastical, mystery! I loved it.

There are quirky characters like Mrs Peregrine’s home for Peculiar Children, (and only a little less odd), and there are characters that you’d love to know in real life. The story rollocks along, bursting with questions, and secrets and mystery. Loyalties are tested and bravery too.

The setting sent a shiver through me more than once, its cold fog seeping into my bones from the pages as I read.

Is the Malamander real or just a legend to share with the tourists each summer? You’ll have to venture into the sea mist of Eerie-on-Sea to find out!

See Book Trailer here

Teacher’s Notes here

Activity sheets here

Author / Illustrator – Thomas Taylor

Age – 9+

(Creepy, Thrilling, Monster, Legend, Myth, Mystery, Disappearance, Rivalry, Greed, Wishes, Courage, Friendship, Beach, Holiday town, Books, Quirky, Spooky, Mist)