The Hilda series is back with a new entry that will make the perfect companion to all of her previous adventures. Instead of releasing a new adventure, this book is a guide to all of the different beasts and spirits that exist in the world of Hilda. For devoted fans it is a beautiful love letter to the various creatures that reside in Trolberg and the surrounding areas, but if you are new to the series it is an excellent introduction to the fascinating and magical world. Ever since the book touched my desk, I have had children repeatedly staring in wonder and begging to read it. Much like the others in the series, the book is full of stunning illustrations from Luke Pearson and each entry contains an excellent level of detail. The characters are explored in depth and even allowed those less familiar with the characters to quiz some of the self confessed Hilda know it alls.

When I was offered the opportunity to host the book tour, I knew that I needed to get my students involved. My current year six class adore everything about the books/show and I know that the year five children in my graphic novel group are truly obsessed too. As the book is a collection of beasts and spirits it seemed only right to create our own to add to these.

I started off by briefing the children and explaining that they had a month to come up with their own fan art or creations related to the series. Some of the group were unfamiliar with the series, so I leant them the graphic novels and gave them time to explore them. Initially a lot of the group were intimidated by the idea of coming up with their own beasts & spirits and they seemed to find the freedom of the task too much. After a session or two of trying to encourage them to loosen up and take some risks I changed the approach slightly. Together we studied the beasts & spirits book and really explored the text surrounding the creations. Reading about the habits and behaviours of them helped them to realise that these creations are more than just a drawing. Planning out the characteristics first helped the group to visualise what they wanted to create and helped to switch their focus. All of a sudden, the desire to only draw Hilda and Twig disappeared and I was constantly being told about their new characters and how they would fit into the world of Hilda. Over the next two weeks they worked hard during our lunch time sessions and also at home to create a weird and wonderful range of characters that could easily be a new addition to the wonderful book of beasts and spirits.

The final creations were wonderfully crafted and some were the result of painstaking redrafts and late redesigns but you can really tell how much each child cares for their creation. As you can see, they focused more on the mischievous or troublesome beasts and spirits but those are the ones they found the most fascinating to read about in the book. Most of the group was working up till the last moment to get their designs finished and finalised but some had spare time and chose to create some fan art of their favourite characters. Even with no time left I still had children coming to my classroom to check if they could fit in one more piece of work before I collected them all in. That was nothing to do with me, it was all to do with their love for Hilda and the truly engaging world it is based in.

If you aren’t familiar with the Hilda books then I cannot recommend them enough. They are popular across the school and are excellent value for money because they are constantly being re read by fans. For those who are fans of the series, this is a wonderful companion to the pre existing books and it is a superb way to flesh out some of the characters that haven’t had as much coverage. Hilda: Book of Beasts and Spirits is out now from Flying Eye Books and is well worth adding to any school library.