Carrington's novels fall within the genre of
young adult fiction, early readers and
chapter books. His first three novels,
Inside My Head (2010),
In the Bag (2011) and
Drive By (2012), feature young protagonists whose lives reflect experiences with which teenagers and young adults in a twenty-first-century United Kingdom will be very familiar:
bullying,
anti-social behaviour,
mental health issues, identity and relationships. Carrington's fourth YA novel,
Boy 23 (2015), took a different course, creating a wider
dystopian socio-political world through which he examines the violent society in which a virulent epidemic of unknown origin emerges. This is seen from the perspective of two teenagers whose earlier lives have been radically different from each other. A
science-fiction comic novel for 7-11 year old readers is forthcoming. He has also published shorter works, including an ongoing collection retelling traditional Malay and Javanese folktales for younger readers, featuring the clever mouse-deer folk character
Sang Kancil. These form part of Cambridge Reading Adventures, a series of International Readers which constitute a primary-phase guided reading scheme created by the
UCL Institute of Education International Literacy Centre in collaboration with
Cambridge University Press. In 2016 Carrington was commissioned to create a series for LDA (
Learning Disabilities Association), a provider of teaching supplies which support children with
special educational needs (SEN). For this he created
Otis the Robot, a friendly android character whose adventures help children who have
autism spectrum condition to understand social skills. It is aimed at early years foundation stage and primary age children from 3–11 years old. The series follows Otis, who finds it hard to deviate from his programming and adapt to social situations. Each book explores a different social situation which commonly causes stress, misunderstanding or confusion about how to behave. Both the
Sang Kancil and
Otis the Robot series are illustrated by Juanbjuan Oliver. ==Awards==