By Nick Lake (author) , Emily Gravett (illustrator)
"A modern classic in the making – original, full of encouragement on how to face your fears"
Paperback In Stock £7.99 £7.19
Hardback In Stock £12.99 £11.69
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Lily, our heroine, got sick a while ago, and now she just wants things to go back to how they were. This is complicated by the fact that Lily’s parents are just about to have another baby, so Lily is sent to her grandmothers to live whilst the baby arrives. Lily will not stay – and runs back home to find her parents have been replaced.
Lily has one night to defeat the replacements and find her parents again – and make everything ‘right’. In this she is helped by some fascinating animal companions – Mouse, Mole, Crow and Snake have a wonderful humour, as well as providing the magic needed in every child’s story.
Written with reference to our folk tale past – where talking animals often represent elements of human character, this is a delightful story you want to devour again and again.
The story is supported and enhanced with Gravett’s dark illustrations; the writing is so visual the illustrations would be hugely missed. Gravett has used shadow and greyscale to create the wonderful characters, and an atmosphere that just oozes off the page as we read.
This is the work of two masters of their arts – both can create wonderful reading experiences but joining them together makes for an unforgettable book that will find its way into many small hands now and long into the future.
A startlingly original, stunningly-illustrated modern classic about learning to face your fears from the multi award-winning partnership of Nick Lake and Emily Gravett.
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Lily just wants things to go back to the way they were: before she got sick, before her parents decided to have another baby. So when she's sent away to stay with her grandmother while her mum has the baby, Lily is determined to go home. But she doesn't expect to find people in her house - people who look like her parents, but definitely aren't ...
Together with some unlikely animal companions, Lily must face her fears and summon the courage to break into her own house, and defeat 'The Replacements' before the night is out. Nick Lake's atmospheric story of family and friendship is brought to spectacular life by Emily Gravett, twice winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal.
'A book of such wit and flair and delight: the kind of book you finish and immediately begin again, so that you can live again alongside the characters' Katherine Rundell, bestselling author of The Explorer
Nick Lake is the critically-acclaimed author of many YA novels. His books have won several prizes including the Michael L. Printz Award, and have been shortlisted three times for the Carnegie Medal - most recently for his novel Nowhere on Earth. Nick is also the Fiction Publisher at HarperCollins Children’s Books. He lives with his family in Oxfordshire, in a very old house protected by magical symbols..
Previous occupations: Student, and then book editor. Which I still am. Favourite job: Being a book editor. No one told me at school that there was a job where you got paid for being a fan of writers and writing.
High school and/or college: I went to High School in Luxembourg, and I went to Oxford University after that for a degree and then a fairly pointless masters. In phonetics, of all things.
Name of your favourite composer or music artist? The Pixies. Favourite movie: I usually lie and go for something clever like Vertigo . But really it's True Romance . How would you describe your life in only 8 words? I would use the word "busy" eight times.
What is your motto or maxim? To paraphrase the existentialists - life is what you make it. Which amounts to a practical kind of karma, I suppose.
How would you describe perfect happiness? A fire, a good chair and a new Stephen King book. Or the moment the soundchecks finish and the band take to the stage. Or sunset on the mountains, with weary feet, and the lights of a pub ahead. Or the sound of a breakbeat. Or a very sweet tea, anywhere in the Middle East, at any time of day.
What’s your greatest fear? Not being good.
Which living person do you most admire? Haruki Murakami. Stephen King. Anyone who works for Medecins sans Frontieres or Amnesty International.
What are your most overused words or phrases? "Apparently".
If you could acquire any talent, what would it be? The abillity to play a musical instrument well. Also, the ability to speak all languages fluently.
What is your greatest achievement? Meeting my wife.
If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be? I wouldn't mind being Simon Cowell. I could make The X-Factor go away. Not to mention R&B flavoured pop music.
What trait is most noticeable about you? I have no idea. My hair? It's usually quite big, because I keep forgetting to have it cut. I look like the freakish son of Tom Hanks and David Hasselhoff.
Who is your favourite fictional hero? Sally Lockhart.
Who is your favourite fictional villain? Steerpike. (Also hero.)
If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her? I'd like to meet Shakespeare and I'd ask him how to write better.
What is your favourite occupation, when you’re not writing? Reading? Actually probably sleeping, to be honest.
What’s your fantasy profession? Bestselling and universally admired author.
What 3 personal qualities are most important to you? Compassion. Empathy. Humour.
If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be? Chocolate, in any form.
What are your 5 favourite songs? Hmmm. "Beat It"; "Here, There and Everywhere" by the Beatles; "U-Mass" by the Pixies; "Heartbeat" by Annie and "Etched Headplate" by Burial On Books and Writing: Who are your favourite authors? Haruki Murakami. Stephen King. Neil Gaiman. Margaret Atwood. Joan Didion. Ismail Kadare. Philip Reeve. Philip Pullman. Meg Rosoff.
What are your 5 favourite books of all time? Tough one. I guess... Middlemarch ; Coraline ; For Whom the Bell Tolls ; the collected works of Shakespeare... and Little, Big , by John Crowley - the single most unfairly overlooked, beautiful, miraculous and magical book I know.
Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers? I wouldn't presume to think of myself as someone anyone might look to for advice! But I suppose I'd tell them to read as much as possible, in as many genres as possible.
What comment do you hear most often from your readers? "You're very... imaginative aren't you." I think they mean I'm strange.
Nick Lake introduces There Will Be Lies : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHahGI6t5Qk
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Brilliantly illustrated throughout by Emily Gravett, ‘Locked Out Lily’ is an eerie tale.
Lily wants things to go back to how they were before. Before she became sick…before her mum became pregnant. So when she has to stay with her grandmother- Granny Squeak- whilst her parents go the hospital, Lily is determined to return home. To her horror, she finds that her house is not empty as she had expected, but is inhabited by people who look like her parents, but are not. Unexpectedly, she finds help from some very unlikely companions- a snake, a mouse, a mole and a crow- who help her to face her fears and drive out ‘The Replacements’ before it’s too late. Similar in some ways to Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, Locked Out Lily is an eerie tale about a little girl confronting her demons.... Read Full Review
This book helps you to dive into a world of talking crows and ancient keys.
Locked Out Lilly is about a young girl who feels abandoned by her parents but when she tries to return to their home she finds ‘The replacements’ there instead! With the help of a mole, a snake, a crow and a mouse will Lilly have the strength to defeats the strangers in her home before the night is over. This book was quite a slow starter but once I got into it then I couldn’t stop reading it. I think that this novel had a perfect ending which makes a book really memorable.... Read Full Review
A startlingly original, stunningly-illustrated modern classic about learning to face your fears from the multi award-winning partnership of Nick Lake and Emily Gravett. Lily just wants things to go back to the way they were: before she got sick, before her parents decided to have another baby.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Locked Out Lily and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-10 years old
Locked Out Lily features in the following genres: Stories about Family and Friends, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Fantasy / Magical, Featured Books for 9+ readers, Recommendations, Books of the Month, Horror & Ghost Stories, Books Reviewed by our Reader Review Panels
Paperback, Hardback. £7.19, down from the £7.99 cover price. In Stock.
Locked Out Lily was written by Nick Lake and published by Simon & Schuster Childrens Books an imprint of Simon & Schuster Ltd
Locked Out Lily has 236 pages
£7.19, reduced from £7.99. In Stock.
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