{ "id": "epxe8jbtpf", "slug": "cherub-epxe8jbtpf", "title": "CHERUB", "updated": "2026-10-25", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.literature", "label": "Literature and written works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.literature" }, { "id": "culture.literature.works", "label": "Creative written works and worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.literature.works" }, { "id": "culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction", "label": "Prose fiction", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction" }, { "id": "culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction.series", "label": "Novel series and sagas", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction.series" }, { "id": "culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction.series.series-children-ya", "label": "Children's and young-adult novel series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction.series.series-children-ya" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction.series", "label": "Western Europe · 2001 to 2020: Novel series and sagas", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction.series", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001", "label": "Western Europe · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.literature", "label": "Literature and written works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.literature" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.literature.works", "label": "Creative written works and worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.literature.works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction", "label": "Prose fiction", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction.series", "label": "Novel series and sagas", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction.series" } ] } ], "excerpt": "CHERUB is Robert Muchamore's young adult spy novel series (begun 2004 with The Recruit) about a fictional British intelligence branch using orphaned agents under 18; 17 novels plus the Henderson's Boys prequel series and graphic novels.", "snippet": "CHERUB is Robert Muchamore's young adult spy novel series (begun 2004 with The Recruit) about a fictional British intelligence branch using orphaned agents under 18; 17 novels plus the Henderson's Boys prequel series and graphic novels.", "node": "culture.literature.works.works.prose-fiction.series.series-children-ya", "markdown": "# CHERUB\n\n**CHERUB** is a series of young adult spy novels by the English author Robert Muchamore, set around a fictional division of the British Security Service that employs minors, mostly orphans, as intelligence agents[1](https://www.ndhs.org.uk/_files/SUBJECTS/LRC/C155EDC8944892970655EE260C79ECFD.pdf) • [2](https://www.orderofbooks.com/characters/cherub/). The premise is that adult criminals guard against grown-ups but not against children, so agents under 18 can go where adults cannot[2](https://www.orderofbooks.com/characters/cherub/) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/30/cherub-cool-teenage-spies-hit-20-robert-muchamore). First published in 2004, the series grew into two novel cycles, a World War II prequel series, graphic novels, and a film and television development effort that has been running for nearly twenty years[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Author | Robert Muchamore, whose first published book was The Recruit (2004)[2](https://www.orderofbooks.com/characters/cherub/) |\n| Premise | A secret branch of British intelligence using orphaned 10-to-17-year-olds as agents, on the logic that criminals do not suspect children[5](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/21/robert-muchamore-cherub-novels) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/30/cherub-cool-teenage-spies-hit-20-robert-muchamore) |\n| Original series | 12 novels, The Recruit (2004) to Shadow Wave (2010), following James Adams[2](https://www.orderofbooks.com/characters/cherub/) |\n| Second series | Five novels from People's Republic (2011) to New Guard (2016), following Ryan Sharma[2](https://www.orderofbooks.com/characters/cherub/) |\n| Prequel series | Henderson's Boys, seven books set in occupied France from the 1940 invasion to the 1944 liberation of Paris[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/) |\n| Total output | 17 CHERUB novels, which Muchamore counts as 6,500 pages and over a million words[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/) |\n| Sales | 3 million copies in the UK as of 2011; Shadow Wave alone helped generate 600,000 sales in 2010[5](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/21/robert-muchamore-cherub-novels) |\n\n## The original series\n\nMuchamore began the series in 2004 with The Recruit, his debut novel, about James Choke, who takes the adopted name James Adams when he enters CHERUB at about eleven or twelve[2](https://www.orderofbooks.com/characters/cherub/) • [1](https://www.ndhs.org.uk/_files/SUBJECTS/LRC/C155EDC8944892970655EE260C79ECFD.pdf). In the first book, James joins after his mother's death and infiltrates a rural commune to foil an anthrax attack by eco-terrorists[3](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/30/cherub-cool-teenage-spies-hit-20-robert-muchamore). The twelve-book run ends with his retirement from CHERUB at seventeen; as Muchamore put it, he ended the series because James got too old to be a member[1](https://www.ndhs.org.uk/_files/SUBJECTS/LRC/C155EDC8944892970655EE260C79ECFD.pdf) • [5](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/21/robert-muchamore-cherub-novels).\n\nMissions across the run stay grounded rather than gadget-driven. In Maximum Security (2005), thirteen-year-old James enters an Arizona supermax prison to break out the son of a global arms dealer; Man vs Beast (2006) involves animal liberationists force-feeding sink cleaner to a television chef; [Mad Dogs](https://www.edgepedia.org/mad-dogs) (2007) opens with a clash between rival gangs in which a CHERUB agent is stabbed[3](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/30/cherub-cool-teenage-spies-hit-20-robert-muchamore). Reviewers noted this realism as a selling point: the books contain no super-villains or impossible missions, and the Guardian's books blog described the series as sold as an antidote to prim, sanitized children's fiction[6](https://www.nascotwoodjm.herts.sch.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=3481&type=pdf) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/jun/18/childrens-spy-fiction).\n\nA related 118-page limited-edition story, **Dark Sun**, was released in March 2008 to celebrate [World Book Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/world-book-day) and is now collected in *Dark Sun and Other Stories*[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/). The second book, Class A, also circulates under two other titles: The Mission, used for a UK book club, and The Dealer, used in the United States[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/).\n\n## The second series and prequels\n\nThe second CHERUB cycle began in 2011 with People's Republic and follows Ryan Sharma, a penniless orphan recruited at twelve to infiltrate a Kyrgyzstan-based international trafficking network, the Aramov criminal empire[5](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/21/robert-muchamore-cherub-novels) • [2](https://www.orderofbooks.com/characters/cherub/). It ran to New Guard in 2016[2](https://www.orderofbooks.com/characters/cherub/).\n\n**Henderson's Boys** is a seven-book spin-off telling the story of Charles Henderson and the beginning of the CHERUB organization[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/). Set during World War II, it runs from the invasion of France in 1940 to the liberation of Paris in summer 1944, opening with [The Escape](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-escape) in March 2009 and closing with Scorched Earth in early 2013[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/). Muchamore has stated there will be no eighth book[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/).\n\n## Reception and sales\n\nBy 2011 the series had sold 3 million copies in the UK and won Muchamore the [Red House](https://www.edgepedia.org/red-house) award, and the Guardian credited the original twelve books with helping turn children's spy fiction into one of the biggest children's publishing phenomena of the 2000s, reaching famously reluctant readers aged 11 to 15[5](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/21/robert-muchamore-cherub-novels). Muchamore wrote for boys specifically, but the readership settled at a 60/40 gender split, which he attributed to strong female characters he had not originally intended[5](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/21/robert-muchamore-cherub-novels).\n\nThe content attracted controversy. Some school libraries treated Muchamore as a controversial figure, and he was banned altogether in certain Catholic schools; after complaints to supermarkets, publishers added a \"not suitable for younger readers\" sticker to later editions[5](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/21/robert-muchamore-cherub-novels) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/30/cherub-cool-teenage-spies-hit-20-robert-muchamore). The author's own stated guideline is that there is nothing in the books one would not find on BBC1 before the watershed, with somewhat more violence and less sexual content than the television soap [EastEnders](https://www.edgepedia.org/eastenders)[5](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/21/robert-muchamore-cherub-novels).\n\nThe series is frequently compared with [Anthony Horowitz](https://www.edgepedia.org/anthony-horowitz)'s Alex Rider. Commentators have described CHERUB as the grittier of the two: its agents have real teenage problems alongside infiltrating drug gangs and terror cells, with swearing and relationships that felt, in the early 2000s, unfamiliar in young adult fiction[3](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/30/cherub-cool-teenage-spies-hit-20-robert-muchamore). Muchamore has dismissed any rivalry, recalling a dinner with Horowitz and finding him \"a very nice and charming chap\"[3](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/30/cherub-cool-teenage-spies-hit-20-robert-muchamore).\n\n## Origins and method\n\nBefore writing, Muchamore worked for a firm of private investigators as an heir-hunter, tracking down people entitled to money from wills and legacies, which he describes as unglamorous[5](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/21/robert-muchamore-cherub-novels). The idea for the series came during a visit to his sister in Australia, when his twelve-year-old nephew Jared told him there was nothing he wanted to read; Muchamore drafted a list of things Jared would like in a book and built a fast-paced spy novel from it, set largely in the north London streets where he grew up[5](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/21/robert-muchamore-cherub-novels).\n\nHe remained unusually accessible to readers, answering emails himself and taking part in a series forum during its peak, and he used reader feedback on language, brands, and plot to keep the books current[3](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/30/cherub-cool-teenage-spies-hit-20-robert-muchamore). Each book takes him typically 3 to 4 months from research to first draft[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/).\n\n## Graphic novels and screen adaptations\n\nThe first two CHERUB books were published as graphic novels in English and French; the Recruit adaptation was by Ian Edginton[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/) • [2](https://www.orderofbooks.com/characters/cherub/). The French publisher Casterman continued the series with further albums: a 2012 series whose first volume, *100 jours en enfer*, appeared in April 2012, followed by *Trafic* (2017), *Arizona Max* (2018), and *Chute libre* (2019), each listed at 15.00 EUR[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/) • [8](https://www.comics.org/series/127914/details/timeline/). At present there are no plans for new CHERUB graphic novels in any language[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/).\n\nNo CHERUB film or television series has been made; Muchamore describes himself as probably the biggest-selling UK children's author not to have had a story dramatized, and jokes that a CHERUB movie has been two years away for the last ten[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/). The project is ongoing in partnership with iGeneration [Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/entertainment), with an optimistic schedule of production starting in late 2026 for release in late 2027 or early 2028[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/).\n\n## Later work\n\nMuchamore stopped writing CHERUB after seventeen books. His own explanation: he was going nuts trying to create fresh CHERUB stories and it was time to write something different[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/). He subsequently published the standalone novels Killer T (2018) and Arctic Zoo (2019), the Rock War series about teenagers forming bands for a television talent show (2014 to 2017), and a modern [Robin Hood](https://www.edgepedia.org/robin-hood) series of ten books beginning in April 2020 and concluding with War and Peas in March 2026[4](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/).\n\n## References\n\n1. [Cherub Series by Robert Muchamore, Notre Dame High School LRC guide](https://www.ndhs.org.uk/_files/SUBJECTS/LRC/C155EDC8944892970655EE260C79ECFD.pdf)\n2. [Order of CHERUB Books, OrderOfBooks.com](https://www.orderofbooks.com/characters/cherub/)\n3. [Swearing, snogging and spying: Cherub's cool teenage secret agents hit 20, The Guardian (30 April 2024)](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/30/cherub-cool-teenage-spies-hit-20-robert-muchamore)\n4. [FAQ, Muchamore.com](https://www.muchamore.com/faq/)\n5. [Robert Muchamore: 'I sound like a smug git, but I am proud of what I've done', The Guardian (21 July 2011)](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/21/robert-muchamore-cherub-novels)\n6. [Books to Love, Nascot Wood Junior School reading list](https://www.nascotwoodjm.herts.sch.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=3481&type=pdf)\n7. [Kids spy fiction with their little eyes, The Guardian books blog (18 June 2009)](https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/jun/18/childrens-spy-fiction)\n8. [Cherub (2012 series) timeline, Grand Comics Database](https://www.comics.org/series/127914/details/timeline/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Prose fiction › Novel series and sagas › Children's and young-adult novel series*\n\n*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/cherub-epxe8jbtpf", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/cherub-epxe8jbtpf.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"CHERUB\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/cherub-epxe8jbtpf. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[CHERUB](https://www.edgepedia.org/cherub-epxe8jbtpf)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/cherub-epxe8jbtpf](https://www.edgepedia.org/cherub-epxe8jbtpf). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"CHERUB\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/cherub-epxe8jbtpf. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "CHERUB is Robert Muchamore's young adult spy novel series about a fictional British intelligence branch using orphaned agents under 18; 17 novels plus the Henderson's Boys prequel series and graphic novels." }