Magic Cat snaps up Amy-Jane Beer's 'enchanting' new children’s book

Magic Cat has snapped up Amy-Jane Beer’s "enchanting" new children’s book, illustrated by Elin Manon, "inviting young readers to embark on a thought-provoking voyage through the world’s most vital element — water". Magic Cat co-founder and creative director Jenny Broom acquired world rights to A River Running Through You from Jane Turnbull for the text, and illustrations from the illustrator direct.

Published by Magic Cat in May 2026, the book will serve as a "rallying cry for our waterways, framing rivers not only as a resource, but as the very essence of life itself".

Beer is a biologist, naturalist and river campaigner and won the 2023 James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing for her adult work, The Flow. Her new book is written in her "signature lyrical style" and "asks timeless questions about nature, our connection to it, and our place within it: questions as ancient as the rivers themselves".

Beer is a biologist turned naturalist and writer. She has worked for more than 20 years as a science writer and editor, contributing to more than 40 books on natural history. She is currently a country diarist for the Guardian, a columnist for British Wildlife and a feature writer for BBC Wildlife magazine, among others.

Beer said: “What began as a way to share the wonder of fresh water with a new audience became a new and joyously immersive creative experience. In Elin Manon I’m blessed to have found a kindred spirit with an astonishing ability to conjure the layered and braided dreamscapes of water’s journey, and in Magic Cat a publishing team whose attention to detail is, in my experience, completely unique.”

Broom said: “With our waterways in crisis, Amy-Jane Beer stands at the forefront of the vital work being done to reconnect a generation with their rivers. Working on this book has been a privilege and its impact will be long lasting.”