Tom Percival Books In Order

Publication Order of Big Bright Feelings Books

Publication Order of Dream Defenders Books

Publication Order of Dream Team Books

Publication Order of Little Legends Books

Publication Order of Picture Books

Tom Percival is a children’s fiction illustrator and author best known for the “Skulduggery Pleasant” series. He has also authored and illustrated more than a dozen picture books over the years. His works have been nominated for several prestigious awards including the Greenaway award.

“Ravi’s Roar” and “Perfectly Norman,” which are some of his most popular works, have been translated into more than twenty languages across the world. In 2020, he published “Goodbye Rainclouds,” an animated series which was commissioned by BBC Children in Need.

The series is a celebration of unsung heroes across the UK and the BBC used it to launch their highly successful campaign.
Outside his writing, Percival is a creative at heart and does all manner of creative things. He is a vocalist for a Grasscourt band, a guitarist, songwriter and creator of animation works.

He currently makes his home in Gloucestershire where he lives with his wife and two children.

Percival grew up in a beautiful and remote part of Shropshire where he had a very unconventional childhood. He grew up in an old and freezing cold caravan with no heating or electricity. However, it was in those early years that he would get interested in creative pursuits.

Ever since he learned how to hold a pencil in his small fingers he started making up stories and drawing whenever he could. Basically, he is a person that has been imagining things his whole life and this aspect of the illustrator/author in his character only grew stronger over the years.

The first books that he fell in love with were the Sheila McCullagh “Tim and the Hidden People” series which featured Tobias the magical cat. For the young Percival, reading by gaslight in a draughty caravan, everything seemed so real.

Later in adulthood he moved away from his hometown but after living in several cities he moved back to the countryside. He now lives in the small community of Rodborough in Gloucestershire.

Despite his humble beginnings, Tom Percival is now a much sought after illustrator and author of children’s fiction. Besides the “Skulduggery Pleasant” series of novels he has also illustrated the “Emerald Fennell Shiverton Hall” series and the “Chronicles of Egg” series.

He has also illustrated and written picture books for several well known publishers including Bloomsbury, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Harper Collins.
He just likes creative things and whenever he is now working all his hobbies are about creative pursuits. He loves to take photographs, make music, do some woodworking and make animations and videos whenever he can.

However, illustrating and storytelling rmain his first loves as he likes to create worlds and then spend some time in them.

“The Spell Thief” by Tom Percival is a story that features Jack and Betsy the chicken from the Jack and the Beanstalk folktale.
The two have never had any trouble making friends but when Jack spots the spider Anansi who just arrived in town busy chatting with a troll he is alarmed. Everyone knows the trolls are trouble and Jack is convinced that since Anansi was talking to one, she must be a troll spy.

This is an excellent transitional work as it makes use of characters that fairy tale fans are already familiar with combined with charming and fun illustrations. Even children that may not have a good understanding of the lore will quickly catch up and enjoy this tale.

Jack is a little jealous of Anansi since she is new but has been getting all manner of attention from his friends. What is even worse for Jack is that his friends brush off his worries. He becomes so obsessed with proving that they are wrong that he changes, which alienates him from his new and old friends.
is an interesting story though a bit heavy handed in some spots. Overall, it is a great read that will spark interest in readers on earlier folktales for readers that may not have read the earlier works of Anansi or Jack and the Beanstalk.

Tom Percival’s “The Great Troll Rescue” is the story of a character named Hilkka. She is known for her extraordinary confidence but what is surprising is that she cannot say no particularly when it comes to fish ice cream.

The story begins with Anansi getting a letter from her mother informing them that is in Tarina, a nearby island following a shipwreck incident. With the help of Hilka, Anansi’s mother suddenly finds herself caught up in the machinations of an evil witch that lords over Tarina.
To get her out they will need the assistance of the islanders and Jack’s beanstalk. However, the mission goes bad and the only way for Hilkka to get out is by collaborating with Taikku, another resident of the prison castle.

Together, they try to figure out how they can snatch Anansi’s mother and many of Hilka’s friends that suddenly find themselves imprisoned by the witch.
Overall, this is a very humorous work that stars a new character in Hilkka. Just like with his other works it is not necessary to know Hilkka’s ro Anansi’s backstory to enjoy this tale as it could be read independently.

“The Genie’s Curse” by Tom Percival is a brilliant novel that continues to follow the many fairy tale characters that we grew up with and come to love as children. In this latest work in the “Little Legends” series, we are introduced to Rapunzel the princess. For a young woman life could not be anymore fun as she does what she wants every day without anyone to answer to.

But things go wrong when she stumbles over a magical urn and breaks it. Afraid of what might happen, she blames the accident on Ella, her new friend. It does turn out that she had cause for worry since the magical urn was the home of a hermit genie who was very angry that someone had destroyed his home.
He is not easily fooled and knows exactly who cast the spell and intends to make her pay. He casts a spell which makes everyone in Tale Town blame everything that goes wrong on Rapunzel. To undo the spell, she might need the help of her friends which might not be so forthcoming after what she did to Ella.