Emma Warner-Reed

Emma Warner-Reed writes middle grade fantasy and has also worked in law, higher education, and journalism. DOTTY and the Calendar House Key began her DOTTY series when it appeared in 2015. The story sends nine year old Dotty Parsons from Cardiff to the Calendar House in Yorkshire after a family loss. Strange sounds in the chimneys, her mother’s hidden locket, and the discovery of another world turn the house into both a mystery and a gateway. Warner-Reed followed the book with DOTTY and the Chimney Thief and DOTTY and the Dream Catchers, expanding the magical rules and recurring characters. The first novel combines an adventure plot with themes of loneliness, friendship, memory, and belonging. Its series position matters because the Calendar House, the chimney passages, and Dotty’s personal history establish the framework used by the later books. Warner-Reed writes for younger readers without treating uncertainty or grief as simple obstacles.