Ten-year-old Hugo Pepper has been raised by kindly reindeer herders since being orphaned as an infant in the Frozen North, his parents eaten by polar bears. When Hugo inadvertently discovers an Aeronautical Snow Chariot, the very sled that had borne his parents northward, he sets off to find the story of his beginnings. Detailed ink drawings and silhouette insets provide the perfect accompaniment to a tongue-in-cheek telling that inter weaves chapters of Hugo’s search against a panoply of eccentric characters— including mermaids, pirates, inventors, lamplighters, and storytellers. There are also just-right doses of villainy, magic carpets, snow monsters, and hidden treasure. Third in a series. 2008 USBBY Outstanding International Books List; winner of 2006 Smarties Prize Silver Medal (6–8 Category). lmp

Originally published by Random House/Doubleday Great Britain, in 2006.