It is with enormous pleasure that Waterstones announce The Café at the Edge of the Woods, written and illustrated by Mikey Please, as the Overall Winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2025.
Inspired by a game Mikey Please played with his wife and son during lockdown, The Café at the Edge of the Woods is a timeless comic tale about a café owner and her trusty waiter’s attempts to serve a particularly picky customer. Told in witty rhyming text and adorned with evocative illustrations reminiscent of Jon Klassen and Maurice Sendak, children will adore this laugh-out-loud funny stew of the heart-warming and the grotesque, as a little imagination and creativity ensure that a visiting ogre gets just the monstrous meal he requested.
‘Our booksellers fell in love with The Café at the Edge of the Woods for its charmingly evocative artwork and its funny, quirky story which is told in such beautifully engaging cadence. This is a book which champions the fun and playful joy to be found in children’s books, takes delight in the delicious and disgusting in equal measure, and begs to be read on repeat. We know that children and adults alike will fall for Rene and Glumfoot, their sweetly slapstick dynamic, and their gorgeously surreal world.’ – BEA CARVALHO, WATERSTONES HEAD OF BOOKS
