One shiny egg falls down, down, down through the midnight sky. A wooden egg, no larger than a goose egg, but much heavier. And inside the egg is Barkbelly…
Barkbelly is an outsider – a wooden boy – and when a terrible accident happens, everyone in the village blames him. Suddenly Barkbelly is on the run for his life.
Through the mountains and on he runs. A dark and dangerous journey to the other side of the world and back again. Barkbelly sleeps under the stars, rides on a circus wagon and sails on the deck of a pirate ship. He runs faster than he has ever run in his life. And along the way, he learns the truth about where he
comes from.
Once he knows where that place is, he has to go there. But will it be where he belongs?
BARKBELLY is a magical, fast-moving adventure story, packed with amazing machines, giant hedgehogs, salty pirates, a circus and a jam factory!
Reviews of Barkbelly
A startling fresh voice in children’s books. Cat Weatherill is one of our great storytellers, vivacious and inventive. She brings all her consummate skill to the creation of her first magical book – Michael Morpurgo
The real star of this month’s fantasies is Cat Weatherill’s BARKBELLY. What makes the book special is not just the quality of the author’s imagination but her richly poetic style – Amanda Craig, The Times
Cat’s curious fable of a wooden boy cries to be read aloud – Helen Brown, The Daily Telegraph
Cat Weatherill’s BARKBELLY falls squarely in the glorious category… As in all the best stories, what he learns on the way about love, friendship and courage becomes the real point of the tale – Christina Hardyment, The Independent
I think it’s just wonderful. Cat has brought her vivid storyteller’s gifts straight on to the page — her Barkbelly is a lively, affecting wooden hero, as much a real boy as Pinocchio ever was. This is a magical and moving debut –
Erica Wagner, Literary Editor, The Times
This is magical and wonderfully exciting storytelling, which lifts effortlessly aloud off the page, fuelled by the musical rhythms of the language and the tidal rhythms of traditional stories – Books For Keeps
- Shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award for best debut novel
- Shortlisted for the Calderdale Children’s Book of the Year
- Published in America by Knopf Books
- Reading age 8+