The Book of Legends: A hilarious and fast-paced quest adventure from bestselling comedian Lenny Henry

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Wherever you are, wherever you're from, whatever race, colour, creed, gender, or sexuality, I say welcome, welcome, and once again, welcome. Their mother’s book will provide a portal to transport them there on a quest to solve the mystery of their parents’ double-disappearance and reunite the family. At least the stories Mum tells them, the tales of the Nine Dominions, provide some much-needed consolation. There will be photographs, joy, clips and all manner of plugs (shameless) for everything that I'm doing.

Book of Legends: What if all the stories were real?: A The Book of Legends: What if all the stories were real?: A

By adding to the contemporary work of authors such as Malorie Blackman, Nadia Shireen and Nathan Bryon, Henry says he’s loving being part of an “upflowering” of minority children’s writing. This may result in small marks to the dustjacket and title page, please also bear in mind that each signature will be a little different from the one we show here.

The following year he appeared with Norman Beaton in LWT's sitcom The Fosters, Britain's first comedy series with predominantly black performers. While his current job on The Rings of Power is probably the most prominent acting role he’s had (Makin helped him shoot his audition footage on their iPad), you get the sense that prose writing has become Henry’s primary passion. A story wrapped around legends, a brilliant family dynamic, a hilarious zebracorn and lots of lovely messages. But then, in a chapter paying off that notion of Henry “rising to the surface”, he describes winning a major industry award for one of his 2000s TV shows.

Lenny Henry, Keenon Ferrell - Waterstones The Boy With Wings by Lenny Henry, Keenon Ferrell - Waterstones

Recently, with the broadcast of The Rings of Power, there has been some bleak and predictable criticism about the casting of actors who look like Henry as hobbits, elves, dwarves and such. Perhaps to cover his pride, he segues straight into a character, pretending to be a Hollywood starlet modestly accepting an award. While intended for readers aged 8 and older, I feel that like many Middle Grade books it will appeal to readers of all ages.The chapter comes with a photo of him holding a Golden Rose of Montreux entertainment award and the words: “What surfacing looks like. His formative years were spent in working men's clubs, where his act was as a young black man impersonating white characters such as the Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em character Frank Spencer (whom he impersonated on New Faces).

Book of Legends by Lenny Henry (Hardback) The Book of Legends by Lenny Henry (Hardback)

Both kids use jokes, humour and storytelling to help them deal with the grief of losing their father the year before. But when mum goes missing and her stories turn out to be a portal to another world, they're going to have a huge, magical adventure on their hands.

Following the mysterious disappearance four years ago of their father, twelve-year-old twins Bran and Fran are living with their mum in a small Midlands town. Bran and Fran just love living with their mum, everyday is different as she Loves telling them daily stories. In a Netflix adaptation of Sandman that debuted this year, Death is played by a British woman of colour, Kirby Howell-Baptiste. In his recent memoir, Rising to the Surface, he goes further, admitting the experience left him with “everlasting shame, smothered in a duvet of depression”. But four years on, history repeats itself when Mum disappears in similar circumstances, apparently taken by a fork of lightning.