Jumblecat

A hilarious and madcap adventure from a delightfully quirky debut authorBilly Slipper is a fairly normal boy with a definitely not-so-fairly normal family. All he wants to do is add to his 'Collectabillya' (an assortment of weird and wonderful objects he finds) in peace, but his cleaning-mad mum (she even clingfilms the carrots!) and his fantastically horrid twin sister have other ideas. However, they don't bargain on Billy finding his best ever Collectabillya - Jumblecat! Jumblecat is a . . . well, a jumbled-up cat (who talks, by the way), and he's set to change the Slippers' lives forever. With the help of his batty old-lady next-door-neighbour, Billy must battle to win the town pet show (top prize: £10,000), find a vet who can un-jumble Jumblecat (price: £10,000), RESCUE Jumblecat when he is stolen (culprit: an insane taxidermy-obsessed general) - and then stop Jumblecat from getting stuffed, all with the help of his dad's milk float. Sounds easy? Well, you just haven't met Jumblecat yet. Beautifully illustrated by the Greenaway Medal nominated artist Kate Hindley, JUMBLECAT is sure to capture your heart.

This is a delightfully nutty story, fizzing with energy, colourful characters and a lively use of language., Its portrait of a difficult domestic life is funny while retaining its grit, and Billy's friendship with his elderly neighbour Mrs Mandiddee comes straight out of Roald Dahl. This is a first novel, and I will watch with great interest where Kimpton goes next.

Archie KimptonEver since reading 'sodium monofluorophosphate' on the side of a toothpaste tube, Archie Kimpton has enjoyed putting words together and seeing what comes out. He graduated from Manchester University in 1991 and has spent the last twenty years in preparation for this moment of authordom - flogging salami, script writing, book binding and care working in the interim. JUMBLECAT is his first novel. He lives in south London with his wife, kids and Doonican, the diabetic cat and sometime-inspiration for his animal cruelty based stories (only joking, Dooni). Follow Archie at www.archiekimpton.wordpress.com or on Twitter: @ArchieKimpton Kate Hindley [Illustrator]Kate lives and works in Birmingham (near the chocolate factory). She studied illustration at Falmouth College of Art, and went on to work for two years as a children's print designer at a studio in Northampton, whilst working on children's books and greetings cards. She has exhibited with her good chums Girls Who Draw and Inkygoodness across the UK, and had a jolly good time painting up a totem pole for the Pictoplasma Character Walk exhibition 2011. Things Kate finds inspiring include Bob Godfrey, Richard Scarry, The Magic Roundabout (in particular Dougal and the Blue Cat), and Sharps Doom Bar. Kate's first picture book THE GREAT SNORTLE HUNT, written by Claire Freedman, was published by Simon & Schuster in August 2013, and was longlisted for the 2013 Kate Greenaway Medal. Follow Kate at www.katehindley.com or on Twitter: @hindleyillos