- Comedy
- Picture Books
- Ages 3–11
The shape of it
One universe, several ways in.
The Café at the Edge of the Woods is BAFTA-winning, Oscar-nominated animator Mikey Please's award-winning story world, where café owner Rene serves the woods' oddest regulars alongside her enormous, enthusiastic ogre friend Glumfoot. It began as a picture-book phenomenon, the first illustrated title in years to be named Waterstones Children's Book of the Year, in densely detailed, animation-still artwork and absurdist rhyming verse that lands equally for children and adults. The world has since expanded into a chapter-book trilogy for older readers, taking the same characters and the enchanted Wandthorn Woods into longer, more adventurous storytelling. Across both strands the recipe is constant: the monstrous made polite, the revolting made delicious, and real warmth under the comedy.
A Waterstones Book of the Year-winning story world, absurdist rhyming picture books plus a chapter-book trilogy, funny and grotesque with a genuinely warm heart.
Primary themes
Tone palette
- Funny
- Whimsical
- Irreverent
- Warm
Two series inside
Pick a way in.
The Café at the Edge of the Woods
Absurdist, densely illustrated rhyming picture books to be read aloud immediately; a modern award-winning classic and its equally strong sequels.
Books
3Ages
3–7Status
Ongoing- Funny
- Whimsical
- Irreverent
- Silly
The Café at the Edge of the Woods: Chapter Books
The picture-book world grown into a funny, warm-hearted woodland adventure trilogy for eight-plus readers moving on to longer stories.
Books
1 of 3Ages
8–11Status
Ongoing- Funny
- Adventurous
- Warm
- Whimsical
Cultural footprint
A shelf of evidence.
What The Café at the Edge of the Woods has done
- Major award winner
Cultural ubiquity
3/ 5Well-known to people who know the room.
Sensitivity
Low, and collection-wide.
Across the collection
All 4 books.
About the creator