'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' author to publish second children's book

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John Boyne, author of the internationally bestselling children's book The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, is due to publish a second book for children, announced The Bookseller on March 24. The new title will be out from Random House Children‘s Books on September 29.

Noah Barleywater Runs Away will be illustrated by award-winning Irish artist Oliver Jeffers, creator of The Incredible Book Eating Boy, Lost and Found, and The Heart and the Bottle. According to the author's blog, the book is "a fairytale about a boy - Noah Barleywater - who runs away from home one morning deep into a forest. At the heart of the forest he discovers a small toy shop, owned by an old man who has a host of stories to tell."

Boyne also said of the upcoming title, according to The Bookseller: " It's a very different book to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - more fairytale than fable - with a mystery at the centre and a surprise at the end."

Irish writer John Boyne is the author of seven novels that have been published in 40 languages. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the story of a young boy growing up in WWII Berlin, was Boyne's first book for children; written in 2006, it has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, became a bestseller in the UK, US, Ireland, Australia, Spain, and many other countries, and was adapted into a 2008 film.