Cymbeline Igloo
Part of the collectionCymbeline Igloo→Funny, big-hearted novels narrated by football-mad Cymbeline Igloo that turn everyday comedy into moving stories about grief, family and belonging - readers laugh and cry at once.
- Books4 / 4
- Arcs1
- Span2018–2022
- StatusUnknown
The series
At a glance.
Adam Baron's Cymbeline Igloo novels follow a football-obsessed, endlessly chatty South London boy through a run of adventures that begin in comedy and quietly open into something much bigger. Across the books Cym uncovers a family secret behind his mum's breakdown, helps his best friend Veronique face her grandmother's wartime past, weathers his mum's new blended family, and rallies his class through lockdown - each story a funny mystery wrapped around real grief, loss and love. The narrator's voice stays hilarious throughout, which is precisely what makes the emotional turns land so hard. Best read in order, as Cym's family and friendships develop from book to book, though each novel resolves its own story. Warm, wise and genuinely affecting middle-grade realism.
Funny, big-hearted novels narrated by football-mad Cymbeline Igloo that turn everyday comedy into moving stories about grief, family and belonging - readers laugh and cry at once.
Best read in publication order - each novel resolves its own mystery, but Cymbeline's family and friendships develop meaningfully across the run.
One arc
The shape of the series.
- INarrative arcBooks 1–4 · 2018–2022Moderate sensitivity
Cymbeline's story
Four linked novels following Cymbeline Igloo through grief, secrets, a blended family and lockdown.
This arc follows Cymbeline Igloo across all four novels, from the swimming-lesson disaster that sends his mum into hospital and uncovers a buried family secret, through Veronique's grandmother's wartime escape from Vietnam, the arrival of a blended family, and a lockdown history project that reaches back to the Second World War. Each book stands as its own funny mystery, yet read together they trace Cym's family finding its shape and his understanding of loss and kindness deepening. The comic narration never lets up, which is exactly what makes the grief, illness and displacement land so tenderly. Emotionally weightier than the humour first suggests - moving, hopeful, and handled with real care.
Book 1Boy UnderwaterHarperCollins Children's Books · MMXVIIIBoy UnderwaterBook 2You Won't Believe ThisHarperCollins Children's Books · MMXIXYou Won't Believe ThisBook 3This Wonderful ThingHarperCollins Children's Books · MMXXIThis Wonderful ThingBook 4Some Sunny DayHarperCollins Children's Books · MMXXIISome Sunny Day
Fit check
Right for your reader?
Where the series lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- 15
- 17
- 19
- Best fit · 9–12
- Read aloud · 8–11
- Independent · 9–12
Reluctant-reader friendliness
High
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Adult crossover
High
Grows with the reader
Designed to
Sensitivity envelope
Moderate overall, and consistent.
Content notes
- Grief
- Death of parent
- Death of character
- Mental health
- Illness or disability
- Absent parent
- War or conflict
Where it sits
In conversation with other series.
Similar in feel
Different shelves, same wavelength.
- The Boy at the Back of the Class →
About the author