Kate Wilkinson’s Favourite London Children’s Books!

14th November 2021

Tiny TripFiction is thrilled to welcome children’s author Kate Wilkinson to the blog as she takes us on a lively literary tour around London!  Kate Wilkinson’s Favourite London Children’s Books. Kate’s debut middle grade book, Edie and the Box of Flits, is a magical adventure around London and its Underground network about eleven-year-old Edie Winter and her magical box of winged people that only children can see.

Kate Wilkinson’s London Literary Booklist

I sometimes wonder why I love London as much I do with all its grime and grubbiness, its crowded tube trains, tangled trafficky streets and endless sprawl, but if you are born here or stay here long enough it’s a city that definitely finds its way into your bones and you love it despite everything. Lots of childrens’ authors, including me, have been inspired to write about its many different guises, both drawing on its extraordinary history and the bold, sparky and very contemporary city it is today.  Here are a few of my favourites:

A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond

Illustrated Peggy Fortnum

The first of Paddington’s many adventures and one of the London books that I truly loved as a child. A small and slightly sticky bear arrives from Darkest Peru and finds himself lonely and friendless at Paddington station. He is discovered by the Brown family sitting on his suitcase. Age 7+

The Clockwork Sparrow by Katherine Woodfine

Illustrated Júlia Sardà

This story has a fabulous heroine Miss Sophie Taylor and is set in 1909 as Sinclair’s Department Store opens its doors for the first time. This taps into the glamour and sparkle of retail London with its perfume counters and fashionable hats. As a child, I was taken to department stores like Sinclair’s for a special treat and would be wide-eyed at the patisserie counters, the window displays and the escalators that glided upwards. Age 9+

Elsetime by Eve McDonnell

Illustrated Holly Ovenden

This is a wonderfully original time travel adventure that begins in a fictional version of London on the banks of the Thames the day before the Great Flood of 1928. The story flips between Needle a mudlark living in 1864 and Glory a jeweller’s apprentice from the 1920s. They strike up an extraordinary friendship but can they change the future? Age 9+

The Umbrella Mouse by Anna Fargher

Illustrated Sam Usher

Set in wartime London, this totally engaging story begins in one of my favourite shops (also a London landmark) – James Smith and Sons Umbrella Shop.  A young mouse has called this shop home all her life until a bomb drops on Bloomsbury Street.
Age 9+

John Diamond by Leon Garfield

Illustrated Peter Williamson

Another classic story from a brilliant storyteller who takes us into the dark and treacherous  cobbled streets of Victorian London peopled by pickpockets and swindlers and swirling fog. How does 12 year-old William Jones navigate his way round and get to the root of his father’s secret? Age 9+

High Rise Mystery by Sharna Jackson

Illustrated Peter Williamson

It’s a boiling hot day in a London summer and there’s been a murder in the high-rise block on an estate called The Tri. Sisters Nik and Norva are aspiring detectives and set out to solve the crime. I love it as it’s a modern and truthful evocation of London as many Londoners actually experience it. The audiobook version is a treat. Age 9+

This is London by Miroslav Sasek

All the usual suspects are here from red buses to the Queen’s guards with their bearskin helmets, but my two boys loved exploring London through the wonderful illustrations of Czech artist Miroslav Sasek. Age 7+

Edie and the Box of Flits by Kate Wilkinson

Illustrated Joe Berger

I have very boldly and cheekily added my own book to the list, but it was completely inspired by the ghost stations and abandoned tube lines of London and a parallel world of small creatures that I imagined might live in the Underground. Edie Winter’s dad runs the Lost Property Office and the adventure begins when a strange box turns up on the Bakerloo line. So much can be lost in London and yet so much can also be found! Age 9+

Introducing Kate Wilkinson…

Kate started out as a children’s writer for BBC Radio creating audio stories for pre-school listeners that involved a lot of animals (and animal noises). She then became a radio producer for many years, recording everything from boiling spaghetti to a poet in a broom cupboard, and working primarily on arts programmes, literary features and readings such as Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime and Book of the Week. She completed the MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University in 2018. Kate has two teenage boys and lives in North London with her partner who is a news journalist.

Follow Kate on Twitter at @katewilkinsonf1 and on Instagram at @katewilkinsonflits

Find out more about Kate’s middle grade debut, Edie and the Box of Flits (Piccadilly Press, 2021), here!

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