The Legend of Podkin One-Ear by Kieran Larwood - Best of 2017

There are several things that might surprise you about the great warrior adventurer; the amazing Podkin One-Ear, that son of a chieftain and famously great hero.

Firstly, Podkin isn’t impressive at all at the beginning of his great adventure. He’s too lazy to even want to be a hero. In fact, he is spoilt rotten. But then everything changes when the big bad Gorm, the dreaded enemy, arrives.

Kieran Larwood’s tale of a rabbit thrust into an unwanted adventure won this year’s Blue Peter prize. It features the wonderful, Podkin, who lives in a cosy and well-ordered world, entirely happy to leave it to his sister, Paz, to pay attention in sword-fighting lessons – or any lessons at all. What is the point of them?

Podkin, his big sister, Paz and little brother, Pook, have to go on the run in a harsh and snowy world. Podkin has zero survival skills and must rely on the kindness of others if what is left of his family and his whole burrow are to stand any chance of not being wiped out.

But in his heart, Podkin doesn’t want to be the sort of person no-one can rely on in a crisis. He needs to find out if any of his family have survived, save his burrow, and defeat the dreaded Gorm, who are ruthlessly taking over the previously peaceful world of the rabbits. 

Podkin might be the only one who has any chance of finding a way to defeat the Gorm. But is it too late to pay attention not just to sword-fighting, but to his history lessons and find any way a small, scared and not very brave rabbit can stop the evil Gorm from dominating in a world where they have been banished underground.

The Gorm are a terrifying group of baddies, part-iron, part-rabbit, seemingly invincible. Why have the Gorm suddenly got so powerful? How on earth can they be defeated? Podkin is plunged into a position where there seems to something he has much to learn at every turn as he tries to gather an unlikely team to take on the enemy. But he's a character easy to like in this wonderful tale of a very unlikely adventurer. 

Podkin discovers he has plenty of courage and learns to use guile rather than fighting skills, trying to outwit his opponents. He goes on an amazing journey, learning the history of the world he dearly loves and it so close to losing and finds friends and strengths he never knew he had.

A wonderful and imaginative adventure, sensitively told, packed with action and set in a well-realised world. This is definitely one of my Books of 2017.

Nicki Thornton