Books by Christopher

How to Steal the Future

Macmillan Children’s Books July 2026

The Traitors meets Inception in an action-packed adventure. 

How to Steal the Future follows twelve-year-old Drew Blake, who faces the ultimate challenge. At the heart of a heavily guarded maze lies a secret – known only as the Avenir – which has the power to unlock the future. Many have tried to steal the Avenir, but no one has ever succeeded. Drew is the latest to try, just like his sister Evie did before him. But Drew has his own secret: he doesn’t care about the Avenir; he must find his sister. Facing dead ends, traps and double-crosses Drew realizes that the maze holds secrets more dangerous than he ever imagined. Can he find the Avenir and save Evie before it’s too late? His future depends on it . . .

Fear Files: Hide and Seek

Walker Books, 2025

The first spine-tingling title in a brand-new middle-grade horror series.
Nobody knows who started the Darkive. It’s a database filled with first-hand accounts of strange, unexplained experiences. Ghosts; paranormal entities; weird anomalies. Each one is stored with a bank of evidence to prove the story. Are you ready to dive in? Adam didn’t think his camping trip with his best friend, Sol, could get any worse. Stumbling upon an abandoned ghost town, they find themselves playing a strange game of hide and seek. But who or what is trying to find them? And can Adam stay one step ahead? 

Deliciously creepy fun
– The Bookseller, Children’s Highlight of the Season
A deliciously scary and suspense-filled treat
– The Guardian

Escape Room Game Zero

Nosy Crow, 2025

A brand-new Escape Room adventure. A twisty, puzzle-filled story, it’s a gamer’s delight. Eden’s visit to The Escape sees her dropped into a world of puzzles and peril with no way out. She must find the keys, climb the levels and meet her fate. But what if she’s not playing the game? Maybe the game is playing her… A thought-provoking story about the power that games give us to reimagine the world.

Punchy and action-packed, with a killer twist
– The Bookseller

Black Hole Cinema Club

Nosy Crow, 2024

When Lucas meets his friends at the local cinema – nicknamed ‘The Black Hole’ – they’re excited about the movie marathon ahead. Non-stop action, blockbuster special effects and all the snacks they can eat. But as the lights go down, the five friends watch in disbelief as a jet-black tidal wave comes crashing out of the cinema screen and they find themselves swept into an epic adventure. Secret hideouts. Prehistoric monsters. Lost cities. Impossible missions. Being the hero of your own film should feel like fun. But as the cliff-hanger scenes they’re pitched into become ever more perilous, the friends start to wonder if these movies are really make-believe. Can they save the day before the end credits roll? The fate of the world might just depend on it…

Praise for Christopher Edge:

‘Christopher Edge will captivate children interested in philosophical adventures of the kind that may later make Christopher Nolan their favourite film director… mind-bending and suspenseful for 9–13s, it evokes the joy of sitting in a real cinema’ Amanda Craig, New Statesman

Escape Room

Nosy Crow, February 2022

When twelve-year-old Ami arrives at The Escape, she thinks it’s just a game – the ultimate escape room with puzzles and challenges to beat before time runs out. Meeting her teammates, Ami learns from the Host that they have been chosen to save the world and they must work together to find the Answer. But as he locks them inside the first room, they quickly realise this is no ordinary game.

With cover illustration by David Dean

Praise for Escape Room

Drawing on themes of gaming and Artificial Intelligence, this is smart, thrilling sci-fi that reads like “Black Mirror” for a middle-grade audience: punchy and action-packed, with a killer twist.
–The Bookseller

The Times Children’s Book of the Week

Christopher Edge, who creates brilliant, plotty novels with agglomerations of science and maths, has surpassed himself with his latest story…Gamers will love this mad, intense thriller… reminiscent of Lord of the Flies, Squid Game and the Indiana Jones film … Perfect for puzzle-hungry beginner horror fans who require lashings of jeopardy
– Alex O’Connell, The Times

A writer of genuine originality
– The Guardian

Space Oddity

Chicken House, January 2021

Science and laughs combine in this out-of-this-world adventure for ages 7 and up! An intergalactic adventure filled with UFOs, black holes, killer robots and some very foul-smelling aliens – but mostly about a boy called Jake, his embarrassing dad, and the mind-boggling question . . . are we really alone in the universe?

A bright, brainy book
– The Times

If you like your science with a dose of laughter, then this rollicking space adventure is for you.
– Week Junior

The Longest Night of Charlie Noon

Nosy Crow, May 2019

Secrets, spies or maybe even a monster… what lies in the heart of the wood? Charlie, Dizzy and Johnny are determined to find out but when night falls without warning they become impossibly lost. Strange dangers and impossible puzzles lurk in the shadows and, as time plays tricks, Charlie starts to fear for the future… What if this night never ends?

Praise for The Longest Night of Charlie Noon

Christopher Edge — the coolest science teacher you probably never had — is no ordinary author. There’s no one quite like him writing now. His stories fizz with scientific ideas, the perfect fodder for the child with more questions than answers.”
– The Times, Children’s Book of the Week

A heart-stopping adventure with thrills and twists, codes and puzzles, underpinned by an intense evocation of the natural world.
– The Sunday Times

The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day

Nosy Crow, May 2019

Nosy Crow, May 2018

It’s Maisie’s birthday and she can’t wait to open her presents. She’s hoping for the things she needs to build her own nuclear reactor. But the house is empty and outside the front door is nothing but a dense, terrifying blackness.
Trapped in an ever-shifting reality, Maisie will have to rely on the laws of the universe and the love of her family to save her. And even that might not be enough…

Praise for The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day
Winner of the STEAM Children’s Book Prize
Nominated for the 2019 CILIP Carnegie Medal

The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day is a heartbreaking, head-melting science fiction mystery from the superlative Christopher Edge.
– The Guardian

The Jamie Drake Equation

Nosy Crow 2017

A cosmic adventure for anyone who’s ever looked at the stars
Rocket launches, zero gravity and flying through space like a superhero! Jamie Drake’s dad is orbiting the Earth in the International Space Station and Jamie ought to think it’s cool but he just really misses him… Hanging out at his local observatory, Jamie picks up a strange signal on his phone. It looks like alien life might be getting closer to home. But space is a dangerous place and when his dad’s mission goes wrong, can Jamie prove that he’s a hero too?

Nominated for the 2018 CILIP Carnegie Medal. Shortlisted for the North Somerset Teachers’ Book Award, the Haringey Children’s Book Award and the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award.

Told with the intelligence and heart we expect of Christopher Edge … Edge has found the equation that solves the problem of how to write a fun, intellectually challenging novel with an emotional centre. It’s a big tick.
– The Times, Children’s Book of the Week

The Many Worlds of Albie Bright

Nosy Crow 2016

How far would you go to change your world?
When Albie’s mum dies, it’s natural he should ask where she’s gone. His parents are both scientists and they usually have all the answers. Dad mutters something about quantum physics and parallel universes, so Albie gets a box, a laptop and a rotting banana, and sends himself through time and space in search of his mum. What he finds may or may not be what he’s looking for, but he does learn the answers to some big questions.

Nominated for the 2017 CILIP Carnegie Medal. Winner of the Brilliant Book Award, the Redbridge Children’s Book Award, the Harrow School Library Service Book Award, the Hounslow Junior Book Award, the West Sussex Story Book Award and the East Sussex Children’s Book Award. Longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2017 and the Amazing Book Awards. Shortlisted for the Teach Primary New Children’s Fiction Award 2016, the Derbyshire Schools’ Book Award, the Coventry Inspiration Book Award, the Chorlton Children’s Book Award, the St Helens Book Award, the Salisbury Schools Book Award, the Centurion Book Awards, the Sheffield Children’s Book Award and The Read 2018.

Proves the theory that novels about science can be enormous fun. Give the man his own element on the periodic table of children’s authors.
– The Times, Children’s Book of the Week

Twelve Minutes to Midnight

Nosy Crow 2012

A thriller with a fast-paced cinematic style, Twelve Minutes to Midnight is an electrifying story and the first book in a must-read series

Penelope Tredwell is the feisty thirteen-year-old orphan heiress of the bestselling magazine, The Penny Dreadful. Her masterly tales of the macabre are gripping Victorian Britain, even if no one knows she’s the author. One day, a letter she receives from the governor of the notorious Bedlam madhouse plunges her into an adventure more terrifying than anything she has ever imagined. 

Winner of the Stockport Schools’ Book Award. Shortlisted for the Northern Ireland Book Award, the Warwickshire Secondary Book Award, the Hillingdon Secondary Book of the Year Award, the Dudley Teen Book Award, the Oldham Schools’ Book Award, the Redbridge Children’s Book Award, the Phoenix Book Award and Southampton’s Favourite Book Award. Selected by the International Youth Library for The White Ravens 2013.

An excellent mystery in a league with Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus, Philip Pullman’s Sally Lockhart, and Eleanor Updale’s Montgomery series.
– Starred review, Booklist

Shadows of the Silver Screen

Nosy Crow 2013

Another thrilling adventure for Penelope Tredwell and her friends at The Penny Dreadful.

A mysterious filmmaker approaches The Penny Dreadful with a proposal to turn one of Montgomery Flinch’s sinister stories into a motion picture. With Monty installed as the star of his production, filming begins but is plagued by a series of strange and frightening events. As Monty pleads with Penny to help him, she is drawn into the mystery, but soon finds herself trapped in a nightmare penned by her own hand. Can Penny uncover the filmmaker’s dark secret before it’s too late?

Shortlisted for the Phoenix Book Award.

A gripping, page-turning adventure.
– Julia Eccleshare

The Black Crow Conspiracy

Nosy Crow 2014

The most dangerous mystery yet for Penelope and the team behind the Penny Dreadful.

When Penny receives a story for The Penny Dreadful about a strange and supernaturally tinged crime, she’s instantly gripped. However, when the story is published, she’s shocked to discover that it describes a recent crime, the existence of which the police want to keep hidden. With the finger of suspicion pointing at Montgomery Flinch, Penny faces a race against time to track the elusive author down and uncover the Black Crow Conspiracy.

Shortlisted for the Young Quills Award for Historical Fiction.

Intricately plotted Victorian fun.
– 5-star review, The Telegraph

How to be a Young #Writer

Oxford University Press 2017

The go-to guide for becoming a writer.

Everything you need to get you started on your writing journey for aspiring authors everywhere! This essential guide gives practical advice on beating the fear of the blank page, plot structuring, choosing a viewpoint, creating characters, writing killer openings and perfect endings. With advice and inspirational extracts from bestselling authors, How To Be A Young #Writer will support you on every step of your writing journey, helping you to create and share your stories.

With advice and extracts from the best authors to provide inspiration, this book provides invaluable support for aspiring young writers.
– World Book day.com

How to Write Your Best Story Ever!

Oxford University Press, 2015

Awaken the author in every child with this inspiring book.

Here is everything you need to write your best story ever! Set the scene, create unforgettable characters, use brilliant words, and wrap your story up with a punchy ending – all with the help of this essential and unputdownable guide to writing. For children aged 7+, this fun and inspiring book gives you hints and tips about how to write different types of stories from adventures and mysteries to comic book scripts and mash-ups too. All you need to add is your imagination…

Here is the perfect book to get kids enthused about creative writing. Whether they already love writing stories, or struggle with words or ideas, children will find plenty of handy tips to help them on their way. 
– Blackpool Gazette

My Best Short Story in 500 Words

Oxford University Press, 2018

A fun and practical guide to writing short stories!

A must-have ‘write-in’ creative writing book for kids to put down their ideas, set the scene, choose their characters and craft the best short story in 500 words. With colourful illustrations throughout, it has prompts and ideas from bestselling children’s author Christopher Edge for building plot, action, characters, scenes, beginnings and endings to help kids who are looking for a starting point for story-writing competitions, for homework, or for fun.

Quantum! The Strange Science of the Smallest Stuff in the Universe

Walker Books 2024

A fun and fascinating look into the amazing world of quantum physics

Learn about the building blocks of our universe through the eyes of a quark: the smallest particle to exist! From the Big Bang to how stars are made; from gravity to black holes, this stunning, full-colour illustrated picture book will inspire and awe any reader. With mind-boggling facts and funny illustrations by Paul Daviz, Quantum! is a book for the curious, the dreamers and the science-mad!