The Reading Room

• Name: Philip Reeve
• Date of Birth: 1966
• Place of Birth: Brighton
• Family: Wife and one child
• Lives: Dartmoor, UK
• First Book: Mortal Engines (2001)
• Pets: 2 Dogs
• Featured Title: A Darkling Plain
• Website: Click to here visit
• See all titles from Phillip

The approach of Christmas always makes me reflect on the past year and realise, with suprise, how much happens in eleven months.

2006 will always be memorable for me as the release year of Darkling Plain, the conclusion of my Mortal Engines quartet.

What started with a lovely launch party in March came full circle in September when I attended a ceremony in London to accept the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for the book.

Winning awards like this makes me feel elated and simultaneously sheepish. "What? My book? But it's a lovely surprise and I hope the many fantastic awards for children's fiction encourage young people to read books and parents to buy them. And what a choice they have. There have been some fantastic books published this year, from Geraldine McCaughrean's marvellous Peter Pan in Scarlet to the sumptuous Pirateology.

There have been debuts like the immensely readable, H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden to new books from true masters of story-telling like Alone on a Wide Wide Sea by Michael Morpurgo.

People sometimes say that young people and parents are daunted by the sheer number of books on the shelves. I don't buy into this; choice of genre, author, format and price means there is literally a book for every child. Worlds of adventure, escapism, mystery and humour just waiting to be discovered. Choosing just the right book for the young person in your life this Christmas may be a tricky decision but it's one to be relished and pored over. Enjoy it.

Philip Reeve

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Philip Reeve was born and raised in Brighton, where he worked in a bookshop for a number of years while, at the same time, co-writing, producing and directing a number of no-budget theatre projects. Philip then began illustrating and has since provided cartoons for around forty children's books, including the best-selling Horrible Histories series.

Philip has been writing stories since he was five, but Mortal Engines was the first to be published. A Magical and unique read, it is a gripping adventure series set in an inspired fantasy world, where moving cities trawl the globe.

Philip lives on Dartmoor with his wife and son, and his interests include walking, drawing, writing and reading..