Eoin Colfer beats Roald Dahl for ‘Puffin of Puffins’

Author of the Artemis Fowl series and latest Highthikers’ Guide to the Galaxy And another thing, Eoin (pronounced Owen) Colfer said that winning the Penguin ‘Puffin of Puffins’ award is his proudest professional moment. The award saw 10,000 children vote for their favourite Puffin book, and Artemis Fowl came up on top, beating Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Stig of the Dump.

The series about the 12-year-old criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl II is a ruthless and extremely intelligent young man who thinks of nothing other than acquiring money usually illegally. The idea of the book series, according to Colfer, is “Die Hard with fairies”. The series has seen six books so far.

The award names the series “best modern classic” and is described as “a book for the 21st Century” by Puffin Managing Director Francesca Dow. The series has sold over eight million copies in English and around 20 million copies worldwide.

The series also beat E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, Michelle Magorian's Goodnight Mister Tom and Eve Garnett's The Family from One End Street. Colfer said that it was huge honour for the series to even be listed in the same category as Stig and Charlie, but even more so to win a public vote.

The Artemis Fowl Boxed Set is available from WantItAll for the Best Price of R513.