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  • Published: 2 July 2020
  • ISBN: 9780241453612
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $21.00

The Unadoptables

Five fantastic children on the adventure of a lifetime





The amazing humour and world-building of Nevermoor meets the wisdom and warmth of Rooftoppers in this most un-ordinary adventure about five amazing children . . .

The remarkable. The extraordinary. The brave.

Way back in the autumn of 1880, five babies are discovered at the Little Tulip Orphanage in most unusual circumstances. Those babies are Lotta, Egbert, Fenna, Sem and Milou.
The vile matron calls the children 'the unadoptables' but this talented gang of best friends know that their individuality is what makes them so special - and so determined to stay together.
When a sinister gentleman tries to get them in his clutches, the children make a daring escape across the frozen canals of Amsterdam, embarking on an adventure packed with pirate ships and puppets. But is their real home - and their real family - already closer than they realize?

  • Published: 2 July 2020
  • ISBN: 9780241453612
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $21.00

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Praise for The Unadoptables

A high-speed, witty, absurd and joyful adventure

Katherine Rundell, author of Rooftoppers and The Explorer

I adored this story from the very first page. Sleek as Amsterdam velvet and full of heart-clutching mysteries, moonlit escapes on frozen canals, puppets with heartbeats and secret messages engraved upon pocket watches. Follow Milou and her adopted family on a glorious adventure as they race through the streets of Amsterdam, determined to fight for their freedom with spectacular wit, dazzling theatrical wonder and huge amount of hope, courage and everlasting friendship. A book to absolutely fall in love with.

Cerrie Burnell, author of The Girl With the Shark's Teeth

Effortlessly merging the gothic and ghastly with the eccentric and absurd, Hana Tooke's mesmerising debut sends a quintet of abandoned orphans off on a caper across nineteenth-century Amsterdam, complete with sinister supervillains, heart-in-mouth cliff-hangers and lashings of evocative period flavour.

Waterstones Blog

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Video
The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke | Reader reviews

Buy now: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-unadoptables-9780241417447 The amazing humour and world-building of Nevermoor meets the wisdom and warmth of Rooftoppers in this most un-ordinary adventure about five amazing children. #TheUnadoptables #HanaTooke

Video
The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke | Book trailer 2

Buy now: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-unadoptables-9780241417447 The remarkable. The extraordinary. The brave. Way back in the autumn of 1880, five babies are discovered at the Little Tulip Orphanage in most unusual circumstances. Those babies are Lotta, Egbert, Fenna, Sem and Milou. The vile matron calls the children 'the unadoptables' but this talented gang of best friends know that their individuality is what makes them so special - and so determined to stay together. When a sinister gentleman tries to get them in his clutches, the children make a daring escape across the frozen canals of Amsterdam, embarking on an adventure packed with pirate ships and puppets. But is their real home - and their real family - already closer than they realize? #TheUnadoptables #HanaTooke

Video
The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke | Book Trailer

The amazing humour and world-building of NEVERMOOR meets the wisdom and warmth of ROOFTOPPERS in this most un-ordinary adventure about five amazing children . . . THE UNADOPTABLES by Hana Tooke. 'Milou,' Lotta said softly. 'We need adoption papers to leave. And no one except that horrid merchant wants us.' 'Well then,' replied Milou with a grin. 'We'll just have to adopt ourselves.' In all the years that Elinora Gassbeek has been matron of the Little Tulip Orphanage, not once have the Rules for Baby Abandonment been broken. Until the autumn of 1886, when five babies are left in outrageous circumstances: one in a tin toolbox, one in a coal bucket, one in a picnic hamper, one in a wheat sack, and finally, one in a coffin-shaped basket. Those babies were Lotta, Egg, Fenna, Sem and Milou; who were swiftly and firmly deemed 'the unadoptables'. Twelve years on the children still have each other - until the fateful night a most sinister gentleman appears and threatens to tear them apart. The gang decide to make a daring escape, fleeing the frozen canals of Amsterdam for an adventure packed with puppets and pirate ships, clock-makers and cruel villains - and with only a scrap of a clue to guide them to their mysterious new home . . . Find out more: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-unadoptables-9780241453612 Read an extract: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-unadoptables-9780241453612/extracts/2322-the-unadoptables #TheUnadoptables #HanaTooke #AyeshaLRubio

Article
Real readers review: The Unadoptables

We asked young Kiwi readers all over NZ to read and review Hana Tooke's debut novel, The Unadoptables. To a person, every reader adored this book. Out in all good bookstores from 2nd July 2020. Read on for more! 

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