Simon & Schuster Children's signs two-book deal for 'epic' debut middle-grade series from SJ Poyton

Simon & Schuster Children’s has bagged a debut middle-grade series from SJ Poyton, the first title of which is about an "epic" quest to save a mammoth. Fiction publisher Lucy Pearse and editor Olive Childs acquired world all-language rights to Mammoth Rider, and a follow-up, from Callen Martin and Lauren Gardner at Bell Lomax.

Mammoth Rider is a contemporary action-adventure for readers eight and up and will be published in hardback in February 2026. The publisher added that it is its lead title at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and is "already gathering significant international interest". 

The book follows 12-year-old Ash who, born and raised in an arctic facility responsible for the cloning and releasing of mammoths back into the wild, is determined to be a mammoth rider, just like her father. But then "a billionaire trophy hunter threatens the safety of the mega herd. Ash, along with best friends Jack and Ruby, must face a race across the tundra to save the compound, her dad and the rarest creature on the planet – a white mammoth calf."

Poyton, who lives in the Chiltern Hills, is a "mammoth-obsessed" neurodiverse writer and illustrator who has previously worked as an artist and bookseller. She said: "As a child, I struggled to read due to undiagnosed dyslexia, but the books I loved most explored the relationships between animals and humans. In Mammoth Rider, I wanted to write a compelling adventure that shows readers that magic and fantasy stories are not the only solution for saving our planet – STEM and science-based solutions can fire the imagination, too."

Pearse said: "Mammoth Rider is a jaw-dropping new middle-grade adventure, and a masterclass in accessible, fast-paced writing with a fantastic cast of characters and strong emotional drive."