1st book in the Landy and Friends series

Product Information

In this first novel, the two heroes are caught up in a battle intended to stopping evil forces from stealing Stephanie uncle most treasured possession- the Sceptre of the Ancients. When thinking about Tanzania, I saw some footage of a baby elephant rescue and this inspired me to get Fender and Dan to meet some Masai people and get involved in something similar. The author Landy was first contracted to write a trilogy, with a promise that any further books would highly depend on how the books sold in the market. The success of these novels led to the extension of the deal to a total of six novels in 2011. However, to defeat it, Pleasant will require the aid of a new partner, a twelve-year-old teenage girl named Stephanie. The seventh special edition Landybook Three weeks before Defender production stopped at the end of January, Land Rover challenged Veronica to write a story about Landy visiting the factory and this book is the outcome…then they opened the factory for her on a Sunday so she could take all the reference images. All the people in the book are the real people who were working on Defender 2 week before production stopped.

In 2011 the author announced in a video blog that even though the first of Skulduggery Pleasant series, a second series of the Skulduggery series would commence with the publication of Resurrection in June 2017. With every evil out there aimed at killing both Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie, the two must undertake whatever it takes to stay alive and find the Sceptre, the only weapon capable of banishing the terrible evil from the face of the earth. After I released the YouTube video of Landy last year on my Landy and Friends channel – and discovered how much fun it was, I created the Fender film, which came out in June.Did you ever intend to create a series? I always saw it as a series of books as the stories are endless really, but I am actually going to stop writing for a bit now and concentrate on the educational side of my work. What do you love about writing stories for children? It is the initial thinking of the story in imagery that I find wonderful – you can take it wherever you want to go. When I write, I am not just writing for children, but for the grown-ups who read to children. I want people to identify with my characters and for my books to trigger lots of conversation between children and adults, especially at bedtime.

Can you tell us something about Landy or yourself that even most loyal fans may not know? Every time I start a new book I always have a vision of it - I think in images rather than words – but am always afraid that I might not be good enough to translate the vision into good illustrations. Landy at the Factory is an exciting story of Landy’s birthday treat – an invitation to visit the real Defender Factory in Solihull. Her book 'Jojo's Wire Car' was published in June 2014, by Random House Struik Publishers in South Africa.

See the Landy and Friends books brought to life in these lovely little videos:

There are eight books in the series so far. The seventh book is a special edition about Landy visiting the Defender Factory in Solihull.

What is your favourite children’s book? The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge has always been my most favourite children’s book and I loved the Magic Faraway Tree books by Enid Blyton. Fender – we meet Landy’s friend who lives near the beach. The story is based around a beach clean-up and how Fender and Dan rescue a seal pup. Skullduggery Pleasant is a fantasy novel series written by bestselling Irish author Derek Landy. The books are themed on the adventures of a skeleton detective, named Skulduggery Pleasant and a teenage girl named Valkyrie Cain/Stephanie Edgley together with other friends. The characters presented in this novel are fantastic. First of all, Skulduggery is the very smart guy who will do everything under his magical capabilities to save those close to him. Also, Stephanie is a strong 12-year-old who manages to withstand all the challenges that the world has to offer despite her world being turned upside down. Lastly is Tanith Low, a brilliant fighter. The plot is tight despite the novel mostly focused on action. Derek Landy is an Irish writer and screenwriter. In addition to the bestselling children's/YA series of Skulduggery Pleasant books, a supernatural mystery series starring Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton detective, and Valkyrie Cain, a young female magician, he has written two screenplays that have been made into films: the IFTA award winning "Dead Bodies" and the IFTA nominated "Boy Eats Girl". Landy himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script.

He doesn’t like to brag about all the awards he’s won, such as the Irish Book of the Decade, or the Red House in the UK, or all the other awards that he humbly displays on his mantelpiece. He is also far too modest to mention things like the first book being a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year, but would like to extend an invitation to Oprah to pop around one day for tea, in thanks for selecting his book for the Oprah’s Book Club Kids Reading List. Tell us about the animation stuff? I’ve always hoped that someone might ask if they could do an animation of my books but, not one for hanging around, I thought with a little help I could do something myself. I did some research and found the Engine House in Cornwall and worked closely with them to create simple animations. I then found Fionn Crowe from Sharksbay Films and together we made the short film.

In the debut novel of the series, we meet Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton. He may lose his skull again and again, and he is more than he appears to be. In fact, the current skull he is got is a prize from a poker match that he won. Pleasant might be long dead but is a magician who escaped the grave so that he could remain and save the world from evil.

The Landy and Friends series of books engage children in diverse, real life activities through the lovable, animated characters of Landy (1956 Series 1) and Fender (1999 Defender).