Attractively packaged in an all-important shiny cover, and clocking in at just shy of 450 pages, Matthew Skelton's debut novel is a substantial and impressive addition to the oeuvre of modern children's books that many commentators say is undergoing something of a 'Golden Age'. Endymion Spring, feverishly sought after by many a publisher when it was completed and thrust forth upon the books community for acquisition, has catapulted its shy creator into a very large limelight. And it is attention richly deserved. It's a well-written book that impresses from the beginning. The author expertly interweaves two narratives with aplomb. The first tells of the adventures of 12-year-old Blake Winters, who is visiting Oxford with his academic mother and his kid sister, Duck. While their mum...