Elphinstone and Woodcock join forces for Snow Dragon picture book

Simon & Schuster Children’s (UK) will this Christmas publish a short story about a snow dragon by Abi Elphinstone in picture book format, with illustrations by Fiona Woodcock.

The Snow Dragon, out on 31st October in hardback (£12.99) and paperback (£6.99), is about a girl called Phoebe who lives in Griselda Bone’s Home for Strays. Daydreaming is banned and the Christmas holidays are cancelled but one day a snow dragon appears and takes Phoebe on an adventure.

The story was first published in Elphinstone’s short story collection Winter Magic, published in 2016, but has been adapted for the Christmas picture book market.

“It has been a joy to team up with the extremely talented Fiona Woodcock for the picture book edition of The Snow Dragon,” said Elphinstone. “Her illustrations are utterly enchanting and because of them every single page sparkles with magic.”

Woodcock added: ‘“What a privilege it's been to create the illustrations for Abi's stunning story. I loved being absorbed in this project. As an illustrator it gave me such scope, creating the pinstriped, confined world of Griselda, through to the magical freedom of nature, adventure and hope.”