Midnight Panther

Poonam Mistry is a illustrator based in Leicester. Her style incorporates her love of nature and her Indian roots and explores the relationships between pattern, shapes and colour. Alongside her illustrations, she tells powerful stories that are full of heart and packed with fable-like messages for children to hold onto. Her first book with Templar, The Midnight Panther, was published in 2022 and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Illustration in 2024. She has also been shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal three times; in 2019 for her debut picture book, You're Safe with Me, in 2020 for You're Snug with Me and in 2021 for How the Stars Came to Be.

Indulge your senses in a stunning picture book brimming with intricate artwork and important messages about finding your place in the world. The Midnight Panther is a feast of visual beauty and verbal lyricism from Greenaway-shortlisted author and illustrator Poonam Mistry who blends her love of nature with her Indian roots to explore the relationships between pattern, shapes and colour. Here we meet Panther who thinks he is not like the other cats. Leopard has beautiful spots, Tiger has impressive stripes and Lion has a magnificent mane while Panther is small, shy and dark. One night he decides to go and find out where in the jungle he really belongs. Finally summoning up the courage to scale the treetops, he answers the call of moonlight and ink-black night. Perhaps up among the stars he will find out something about his own strength and beauty. Mistry's mesmerising and inspirational fable about courage and self-discovery resonates with colour, fabulous design and atmospheric illustration. The perfect gift for little ones seeking their own way in the world.