Finder's Magic

A beautifully crafted fantastical mystery about a little boy called Till who loses his dog Bess.A mysterious stranger called Mr Finder offers to help Till find his dog, and they interview various witnesses including a heron, a mole, a riddling cat – and Miss Mousey, whose sketch of a peaceful riverbank offers a vital clue. The quest to find Bess is full of magic but Till begins to mistrust his supposed ally Mr Finder – until at last he realizes the truth, and they track down the real culprit, a finder who likes to keep what he finds. At the end of this enchanting story Till is reunited with his beloved Bess and a new book – of the story – will be born.

Philippa Pearce and illustrator Helen Craig share two grandsons, Nat and Will, the sons of their children Sally and Ben. Philippa wrote A Finder’s Magic for Helen to illustrate, and the name of the book’s hero, “Tillawn” (Till), is an amalgam of the boys' names. The peculiar relationship between the old and the very young is a constant theme in Philippa's writing and when, late in life, she had the “unexpected delight” of two small grandsons, it gave her a renewed burst of creative energy. She called being a grandmother “a privilege, a rare, almost inexplicable pleasure – not just fun but something different, more.” Philippa Pearce died in December 2006. The Philippa Pearce Memorial Lecture is held annually in September.