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OUP acquires new series from author-illustrator Harriet Muncaster in four-book deal
Oxford University Press Children’s has acquired four diary-format titles from author-illustrator Harriet Muncaster, her first new series in five years.
Muncaster is best-known for her Isadora Moon series, which has been translated into 42 languages and adapted into a Sky Kids TV programme; the second series of the animated series is due to air in autumn 2025. OUP has been publishing Muncaster since the first Isadora Moon title, Isadora Moon Goes to School, launched in 2016. She has released more than 40 titles with the publisher and recorded life sales of just over one million units for £6.3m through Nielsen BookScan UK.
OUP Children’s development editor Debbie Sims bought world rights in the four-book deal from Jodie Hodges at United Agents. The first, The Diary of Wiska Wildflower: The New School, will be published on 2nd October 2025.
The titles are aimed at seven-to-nine-year-olds and the publisher describes them as "the perfect next step for readers of Isadora Moon who are looking to move onto older fiction". The series opener tells the story of Wiska Wildflower, a tiny "wiskling" creature who flies around on an enchanted bloom, and her search for friendship at Inkcaps Academy.
Muncaster said she developed the wiskling’s "miniature, crystal-punk" world when working on her middle-grade Victoria Stitch series, a spin-off from her Isadora Moon books. She added: “It’s been an absolute dream to work on this first story in the series and be able to bring the world to life with full-colour illustrations. I’m also loving writing in a diary style for the first time, as it lets me include so many extra little details and illustrations. It’s probably the most fun project I’ve ever worked on because I am so super-passionate about wisklings.”
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The series follows Wiska from her first day at Inkcaps, when she is relieved to make friends with Cleobelle and Primrose. However, as she gets to know her new friends, she soon feels she must hide her true self and follow their rules.
Gillian Sore, senior commissioning editor, said: "The Diary of Wiska Wildflower series gives fans of Harriet Muncaster’s books the perfect next step in their reading journey. These are longer stories with more complex themes around friendship and self-expression but are still crafted with the same passion, creativity and story-telling magic that’s made Isadora Moon a firm favourite."
The division’s children’s publishing executive Lou John added that the new books were "fresh, and brimming with imagination, delving into a more expansive, yet still magical world, that will delight readers and leave them desperately wanting more".
