Puffin Books Popular Books
Puffin Books Biography & Facts
Puffin Books is a longstanding children's imprint of the British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s, it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world. The imprint now belongs to Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. History Four years after Penguin Books had been founded by Allen Lane, the idea for Puffin Books was hatched in 1939, when Noel Carrington, at the time an editor for Country Life books, met him and proposed a series of children's non-fiction picture books, inspired by the brightly coloured lithographed books mass-produced at the time for Soviet children. Lane saw the potential, and the first of the picture book series were published the following year. The name "Puffin" was a natural companion to the existing "Penguin" and "Pelican" books. Many continued to be reprinted right into the 1970s. A fiction list soon followed, when Puffin secured the paperback rights to Barbara Euphan Todd's 1936 story Worzel Gummidge and brought it out as the first Puffin story book in 1941. The first Puffin editor, Eleanor Graham, saw the imprint through the 1940s and the struggles with paper rationing, and in the 1950s Puffin made its mark in fantasy with tales such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis and Charlotte's Web by E. B. White. Some other notable titles whose paperback rights were acquired by Puffin included The Family from One End Street by Eve Garnett, which Puffin published in 1942, the Professor Branestawm books by Norman Hunter (1946), Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild (1949), Carbonel: The King of the Cats by Barbara Sleigh (1955), and The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier (1960). Many different genres featured in the list, e.g. The Puffin Song Book (PS 100), 1956. 1960s to 1970s In 1961, Kaye Webb became Puffin's second editor, as a boom began in children's publishing, and in a decade the Puffin list grew from 51 titles when she took over to 1,213 in print by 1969. Puffin obtained the paperback rights to many of the best writers of the time, including Philippa Pearce, Rosemary Sutcliff, William Mayne, Alan Garner and Antonia Forest, all-time classics including Mary Poppins, Dr Dolittle and The Hobbit, and originals such as Stig of the Dump by Clive King. The books were promoted with flair through the Puffin Club, started by Kaye Webb in 1967 with the promise to Allen Lane that "It will make children into book readers". Though by 1987, it had become uneconomical and evolved into the schools-only Puffin Book Club, at its height the club had 200,000 subscribers and held regular Puffin Exhibitions, and its magazine Puffin Post appeared quarterly for many years, resuming publication in January 2009. Webb set up the Puffin Club partly to address class inequality in children's literacy. It was important to her that membership was affordable, and Puffin subsidised costs for that reason. She and her team replied to every letter that children sent in, in order to create a sense of community. Colony Holidays (predecessor to ATE Superweeks) ran Children's Literature Summer Camps for members of the Puffin Book Club. Fifty or so children from all over Britain who loved reading would spend a ten-day holiday together, and popular children's authors such as Joan Aiken, Ian Serraillier and Clive King would spend a few days with them. Webb continued as editor until 1979, and the 1970s saw Puffin further advance its position with successes such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and Watership Down by Richard Adams. Picture Puffins The range of Picture Puffins, introduced in the late 1960s for younger children, also developed rapidly. Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Janet and Allan Ahlberg's Each Peach Pear Plum became and have remained firm children's favourites, as have Eric Hill's Spot the Dog and Jan Pienkowski's Meg and Mog books from the 1980s. 1980s to 1990s The 1980s saw Puffin taking full advantage of popular culture with film tie-in publishing, forming close links with Disney and other production companies. It was at this time that Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone introduced the concept of adventure gamebooks to Puffin which grew into the Fighting Fantasy phenomenon. Philippa Dickinson, who had worked for Webb on the Puffin Club, was the editor for the first book, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. The 1980s also saw the launch of the Puffin Plus line of young adult fiction, a market earlier catered for by the imprint Peacock Books. In 2010, the young adult line was relaunched as Razorbill. The 1990s continued to see new writers join Puffin and in the 21st century the brand still shows heroes and heroines familiar to children such as Artemis Fowl, Percy Jackson, Max Gordon, Mildred Hubble and Scarlett, while celebrities such as Kylie Minogue and Madonna have written for Puffin. 2020s In 2023, it was revealed that Puffin had employed sensitivity readers to edit content regarded as objectionable from at least 10 of the classic works of Roald Dahl, making hundreds of changes to Dahl's works to remove words like "fat", "ugly", and "crazy", and references to gender. Phrases such as "boys and girls" became "people" or "children". Puffin explained that these changes were part of the usual editing processes "to ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today." After the revelation of these changes, Puffin was criticised by numerous literary and political figures, including by author Salman Rushdie and Queen Camilla. Following backlash Puffin announced that they would continue to release the Classic version of Dahl's original works alongside the edited versions, while other publishers of Dahl's works refused to consider the changes at all. Puffin Post Puffin Post was a children's books magazine published by Puffin Books, and the magazine of the Puffin Club. It was launched in 1967 by Kaye Webb, editor of Puffin Books. It declined after Webb retired in 1982, but was relaunched in 2009 through the bookseller The Book People as a bi-monthly magazine. The magazine was discontinued again with the November 2012 issue. The magazine contained a mix of stories, jokes, interviews, competitions and quizzes, and reader contributions. At its height, it had more than 200,000 readers. Prior to 1982, contributors to the magazine included well-known authors such as Alan Garner, Roald Dahl, Joan Aiken, Leon Garfield and Spike Milligan. After the 2009 re-launch, contributors included Charlie Higson, Cathy Cassidy and Michael Morpurgo. See also UK children's book publishers List of largest UK book publishers References Further reading Phil Baines (2010), Puffin By Design: 70 Years of Imagination 1940–2010. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 0-14-132614-X. External links The History of Puffin History of Puffin in the USA Puffin Books checklist (PS1-PS420). Discover the Puffin Books popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Puffin Books books.
Best Seller Puffin Books Books of 2024
-
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark TwainOn the banks of the Mississippi, Tom Sawyer and his friends seek out adventure at every turn. Then one fateful night they witness a murder. The boys swear never to reveal the secre...
-
Puffin Island Series Complete Collection
Sarah MorganUSA TODAY bestselling author Sarah Morgan will sweep you away with her Puffin Island series! In a town where anything can happen, sometimes love can be found in the most unlikely p...
-
First Time in Forever
Sarah MorganUSA TODAY bestselling author Sarah Morgan will sweep you away with her Puffin Island series! HappilyEverAfter isn’t on Emily Donovan’s agenda…Emily’s been too swept up in a challen...
-
Just Beyond the Very, Very Far North
Dan Bar-elThe adventures of Duane the polar bear and his arctic friends continue in this charming sequel to the modernday classic The Very, Very Far North, which Booklist compared to Winnie ...
-
The Mysterious Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan DoyleSherlock Holmes, the great genius of detection, with his assistant Dr Watson, once more attempts to solve the unsolvable. From the extraordinary case of The Resident Patient to the...
-
The Puffin of Death
Betty WebbCalifornia zookeeper Theodora Bentley travels to Iceland to pick up an orphaned polar bear cub destined for the Gunn Zoo's newly installed Northern Climes exhibit. The trip is inte...
-
Diggersaurs Explore
Michael WhaiteConstruction trucks and dinosaurs combine in this sequel to DIGGERSAURS! There are surprises in store in this rhyming, treasurehunt adventure, where the emphasis is on demolition a...
-
The Meg Langslow Series, Books 1-3
Donna AndrewsBestselling author Donna Andrews combines murder and madcap hilarity with a cast of eccentric oddballs in a small southern town. Here together for the first time in a fabulous eBoo...
-
Puffin
Martin Jenkins & Jenni DesmondTake a first look at this appealing northern birdand follow one diligent pair as they nurture their new chick. Everyone recognizes the puffin, with its black and white feathers and...
-
King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table
Roger Lancelyn GreenKing Arthur is one of the greatest legends of all time. From the magical moment when Arthur releases the sword in the stone to the quest for the Holy Grail and the final tragedy of...
-
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Anne Brontë & Stevie DaviesOne of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'The groundbreaking story of a woman's valiant struggle for independence from her abusive husband Gilbert Markham is deeply intrig...
-
The Call of the Wild
Jack LondonPuffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every childTo Buck it was boundless delight, this hunting, fishing, and indefinite wandering through strange pla...
-
Tales from 1,001 Nights
Malcolm Lyons & Ursula LyonsEvery night for three years the vengeful King Shahriyar sleeps with a different virgin, executing her next morning. To end this brutal pattern and to save her own life, the vizier'...
-
The Angry Little Puffin
Timothy Young“Look at the funny little penguin!” and “What a sillylooking penguin!” Hearing this all day long is enough to make any little bird angry, especially when he’s NOT A PENGUIN! This i...
-
The Puffin Keeper
Michael Morpurgo & Benji DaviesFrom bestselling author Michael Morpurgo comes a beautifully illustrated classic story for ages 9 to 12 about a lighthouse keeper, a daring rescue and puffins, for fans of War Hors...
-
The Tale of Troy
Roger GreenThe story of Helen and the judgement of Paris, of the gathering Heroes and the seige of Troy; of Achilles and his vulnerable heel, reared by the Centaur on wild honey and the marro...
-
The Wedding Crasher
Abigail MannOne reluctant photographer. One high society wedding. And a whole lot of chaos.‘Abigail Mann at her absolute best’Holly McCulloch‘Hilarious and touching . . . a setting full of Suc...
-
7 best short stories by Giovanni Verga
Giovanni Verga & August NemoBorn in Sicily, Italy, Giovanni Verga was one of the creators of Verismo. Verismo is an Italian literary movement that emerged between 1875 and 1895, based on the works of writers ...
-
They Had a Dream
Jules ArcherThe majority of the civil rights movement in the United States occurred in three stages. The first stage began with the slaves in America fighting for their freedom. Frederick Doug...
-
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles DickensIntroduced by bestselling author Roddy Doyle.Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton are alike in appearance, different in character and in love with the same woman. In the midst of the F...
-
The Odyssey
Geraldine McCaughreanTHE ODYSSEY retold by Geraldine McCaughrean is the epic journey of Odysseus, the hero of Ancient Greece...After ten years of war, Odysseus turns his back on Troy and sets sail for ...
-
Myths of the Norsemen
Roger GreenThe great Norse sagas are full of magic and heroic deeds. Odin's wanderings, Thor's hammer, the death of Bakkur, the vision of Ragnarok tales which have been told since time immem...
-
Puffin Cliffs
Sara WernhamPuffin Cliffs is part of the Jolly Phonics Little Word Books series. It is the eleventh of fourteen decodable readers providing a gradual and structured start for children who are ...
-
The Death of King Arthur
Penguin Books LtdRecounting the final days of Arthur, this thirteenthcentury French version of the Camelot legend, written by an unknown author, is set in a world of fading chivalric glory. It depi...
-
7 best short stories by Lafcadio Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn & August NemoHis loyalty and love for his adopted country was unflagging throughout his life. In his work there are attempts that sociological analysis of Japan (a country that was still exotic...
-
A Murder Hatched
Donna AndrewsCatch the first two books in Donna Andrews's awardwinning laughoutloud Meg Lanslow series: this ebook bundle contains Murder with Peacocks and Murder with Puffins. From ducks to pe...
-
A Christmas Carol
Charles DickensEbenezer Scrooge is a mean, miserable, bitter old man with no friends. One cold Christmas Eve, three ghosts take him on a scary journey to show him the error of his nasty ways. By ...
-
Flight of the Puffin
Ann BradenOne small act of kindness ripples out to connect four kids in this stirring novel by the author of the beloved The Benefits of Being an Octopus.Libby comes from a long line of bull...
-
The Prince
Niccolò Machiavelli & Tim Parks'A gripping work, and a gripping translation' Nicholas Lezard, GuardianNiccolò Machiavelli's brutally uncompromising manual of statecraft, The Prince is translated and edited with ...
-
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas & Tim GreenOriginally published in 1844, The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the most wellknown adventure tales of all time, and its story has formed the basis for dozens of films, television...
-
The Swiss Family Robinson
J. D. WyssFollowing a wild and raging storm, the Swiss family Robinson are stranded at sea. But the thundering waves have swept them off to a tropical island, where a new life awaits them. T...
-
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Roger Lancelyn GreenThe classic story of social justice and outrageous cunning. Robin Hood, champion of the poor and oppressed, stands against the cruel power of Prince John and the brutal Sheriff of...
-
The Time Machine
H.G. Wells & Patrick Parrinder'The father of science fiction' GuardianThe Time Machine is the first and greatest modern portrayal of timetravel. It sees a Victorian scientist propel himself into the year 802,70...
-
Murder With Puffins
Donna AndrewsWinner of the Agatha Award and the St. Martin's Malice Domestic Award for her first work Murder With Peacocks, Donna Andrews brings back her zany characters and disasterous events....
-
Wild Isles
Patrick Barkham & Alastair FothergillThis beautifully illustrated overview of the wildlife of the British Isles showcases the diversity of our plant and animal life.Wild Isles is a celebration of the wildlife found on...
-
Puffins
Colleen SextonPuffins is now available with audio readalong in an iPadfriendly format. Children can now listen and follow highlighted text from page to page as they learn about this seabird’s ne...
-
The Case of the Perilous Puffin
Alyn TroyLibrarian Sammi Cupertino thought her Klutz Curse was the most perilous thing about living in Eerie Falls, Ontario.At least until the annual gathering of the Puffin Rescue Society ...
-
Tales of Ancient Egypt
Roger Green & Roger Lancelyn GreenMichael Rosen, Professor of Children's Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, and bestselling author, poet and broadcaster, introduces these great myths and legends of Anc...