Author: Bonneville, Hugh

Interest age: from c 8 years

Published on 9 October 2025 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (Bloomsbury Childrens Books) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 272 pages
223 x 145 x 26 | 362g

Rory Sparkes and the Elephant in the Room is heart-warming and very funny. I couldn’t stop reading it. 5 stars - Noah, aged 9A laugh-out-loud new adventure from Paddington star Hugh Bonneville, the perfect Christmas gift for fans of Loki, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Bunny vs Monkey.

Filled with brilliantly funny illustrations from Loretta Schauer.

Rory Sparkes is a boy with a head full of dreams. He might become a strongman and travel the world with the circus. Or he might try to make it as a cowboy – that would be a fan-tas-tic second best. Although at the moment he’d settle for missing his maths lesson and making his torch work properly.

As he plots to help his best friend, Guy, earn enough money to buy the latest top-of-the-line model boat (so they can set sail for South America), the circus rolls into town and everything spirals out of control. With Guy needing help doing odd jobs for the terrifying Madame Lowe, and with Clare, Rory’s annoying older sister, planning a dastardly prank, will Rory’s plans ever work out? Let’s see …