Neversink

If you follow the Arctic Circle around its path, you'll run into a small island called Neversink, the home of all sorts of seafaring birds, including the one particular auk this story concerns, Lockely J. Puffin. You'd also inevitably run into his wife, Lucy, along with his best friends, Egbert Walrus and Ruby Hummingbird (mostly because they're impossible to ignore). They've lived on Neversink most of their lives, and lovely lives they've been - oceanfront property, friends and family nearby, and all the fish you can eat.

But all of this is about to change. Rozbell, the newly crowned king of the Owl Parliament, is not content to let a colony like Neversink exist out there on their own while the birds of mainland Tytonia starve, and his sampling of Lucy Puffin's famed fish smidgens is like the small stones that start an avalanche. The insurgence of the owls will inevitably destroy life on Neversink as the auks know it - unless Lockley can do something about it.

Barry Wolverton's debut is funny, heartwarming, and epic in turn, a story with undeniable charm, unforgettable characters, and one that young readers won't be able to put down