A week of reading!

February half term is never my favourite time of year, grey, wet and cold it was this year enhanced by some wonderfully sunny days but more so by a lovely big pile of new children’s books.  Some of the books I have had the pleasure of reading are not to be published for a couple of months yet – one of the benefits of being part of the industry – being able to read in advance.  However I will tell you about them nonetheless as you can then add them to your wants list!

Despite the apparently large selection I am about to share with you here there are still more on my pile and I will find time to get to them all so if, publishers and authors, you are reading this, I will get to your books very soon!

I am regularly asked if I have a favourite author or indeed book and I can honestly say I don’t, not for children’s or for adult literature.  I have favourites whose books I love to return to or make a point of reading when a new one comes out but one single favourite is impossible to choose and so it is with this selection here, there were some I loved but I enjoyed them all.

Starting with books for teens, the ones I have quite literally just read Ann Brashares The Here and Now (Hachette Children’s) is an exciting and quite different time travel romance, it is at once entirely believable and also wonderfully futuristic.  I found myself willing Prenna to make everything right, to fall in love and for it to work for her, she is a brilliant heroine, strong, clever, and feisty, someone to look up to.  Prenna must live by a set of rules in a community driven by fear.  She knows that there is always a second chance.  She knows that there is more-than-meets-the-eye taking place.  A gripping thrilling romantic story this book had me gripped and I know it will you too.

Another thriller, this one contemporary and equally believable is A J Grainer’s Captive (Simon & Schuster).  Robyn Elizabeth Knoylls-Green is 16, the daughter of the prime minister and survivor of an assassination attempt.  This makes her an A-List celebrity and a target.  Kidnapped by a mysterious game, caught in a web of deceit and corruption Robyn must keep reminding herself of the most basic facts including that she is still alive.  But who is the mysterious and melancholy boy in charge of guarding her?  Can she find a way in and a way out, can she unravel the deceit in time?  This is a most intelligent thriller, one which makes you feel you know where it is going only to surprise you again!

The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle (Penguin Random House) may not be published until July but it is a debut not to be missed. This MUST go on your to-buy list.  Whilst I worked out the twist quite early on there were strands to be followed and understood that kept me reading and meant I got through it all in one sitting!  Intelligent, dark and bewitching this is the story of one family and the mysterious curse that hangs over them.

Now to books for Junior readers and I will start with a sequel, one that I hope is only the second in a new series.  I thought that A Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens (Penguin Random House) was rather like a cross between Famous Five and Agatha Christie!  Arsenic for Tea is the second Wells and Wong Mystery and is equally fun and intriguing  Schoolgirl detectives on the case of a mysterious poisoning, can they solve the mystery before another victim succumbs?  Wonderful fun.

Cathy Cassidy is an author with a strong and loyal following.  Alice in Wonderland is a classic title.  Put the two together and Looking Glass Girl by Cathy Cassidy (Puffin Books) is the modern day Alice, a girl who falls down a hole and finds herself.  A growing-up fantasy with echoes of realism, this is a perfect modern retelling.

A Whisper of Wolves by Kris Humphrey (Stripes) has echoes of Michelle Paver’s Wolf Boy but is a unique story of one girl, her power to understand wolves and the danger she faces when it appears no-one will believe the demons have returned.  This is the first of four stories in a new series of adventure, fantasy and war, family and courage.

On the subject of courage I come to the new novel by Lucy Coats.  Known for her stories of ancient myth this one is no exception.  A young Queen Cleopatra is the heroine of Cleo (Hachette) and with all the glamour of Ancient Egypt, the glory, the wealth and the power we learn of her struggle against monstrous half-sisters and blood-thirsty gods.  A gripping and exciting read.

Well that is it for my half term reading but I would love to know about yours!

Picture book bears with Lucy Coats

A brand new picture book from the lovely Lucy Coats Bears Best Friend, was published on Thursday 14th March.

I spoke to Lucy about her book and the full interview can be found in the Spring Edition of Armadillo Magazine along with a review of the book too - here is a taster to whet your appetite and a question for you too!

Lucy, you are taking the theme of Bears, obviously, for your story.  What made you choose a bear and why do you think the bear is such a popular character for children’s fiction? Bears have always held a fascination for me as an adult - especially since I came in contact with real ones in the wild when I was staying in Colorado.  As for this particular book, my wonderful illustrator, Sarah Dyer,  showed me an adorable Bear with snipping scissors in her sketch book, and the story idea just came from that. 

I suppose the whole bears-in-children's-fiction thing really took off after the advent of Teddy Bears in the early years of the twentieth century.  Before that there had been bears in folk tales, obviously, (Goldilocks, East of the Sun, West of the Moon etc), but as more and more children had bears as fluffy toys, I think they became less wild and scary and more of a ubiquitous symbol for a kind of friendly, cuddly bedtime comfort which has translated well into bearish picture book characters for younger readers ever since. 

How long, from developing the idea, did it actually take you to write a story with which you were happy?  With this book, it was quite quick from development to a text my agent and I were happy to send out to a publisher - say a month or so.  Then there were the publisher's edits, which fine-tuned it into its current form.  But every picture book is different. Some you have to wrestle with for months, some only come right after they've lain in the bottom drawer for years and then they appear in a totally different form to the one you first imagined.

If you could create a named bear character what name would you give your bear and why?  The bear I take round to schools with me happens to be called Podge, and he belongs to my daughter. I've no idea why he's called that, except that he is fairly rotund around the middle. I should probably be picking a noble name, like Arcturus, but nope. Podge it is. It's a comfortable sort of name for a bear.  I should like to write a story about him one day - I expect one will come knocking eventually.

Who is your favourite literary bear and why?  But there are so many wonderful literary bears!  How can I pick just one?  Pooh Bear (the real one, NOT Disney's version) was an integral part of my childhood - so he'd be one, and then the icy Bear Prince from East of the Sun, West of the Moon would be another. I love the enquiring, ever innocent, slightly clumsy Pooh for his eternal optimism, love of hunny, and for his bravery in the matter of Heffalumps and Woozles. He is the perfect best friend for Piglet, and I love that generosity of spirit in him too.  The Bear Prince is another matter entirely - wild and free, and yet sad and noble. He'd probably be who my adult heart picked, especially having just read Jackie Morris's brilliant modern re-imagining of him.

I must admit to have a number of them – Alexander is big chief, then I have Albert and an unnamed one too!  Do you have a cuddly bear at home and if so what is his name?  My own beloved childhood teddy - Panda - was stolen by an errant dog and buried in the garden.  My mother never let me see the 'remains', and I still mourn her passing.  I've passed most of my other bears on to my children, all except for Edward, who is a large Steiff bear with worn ears and paws.  He still smells faintly of woodsmoke and home, even after all these years.

Finally, for children who do find story writing challenging do you have any useful tips?  First of all, I'd say, "Read read read read! Ask yourself what you like about your favourite stories.  What are the most exciting bits? What did the author do with the words to make you feel like that?" 

Then I'd say, "Ask yourself 'What if...'. Start off by imagining something extraordinary in your ordinary life. 'What if a giant came to my school? Is he a good giant? Is he an evil giant? Is he confused? Clumsy? What would happen if he nearly stepped on a classroom? My best friend? Me? Would I be brave? Would I be the hero? Would someone else be the hero? My teacher? Someone unexpected? Someone who's always been very quiet?'" 

Practice by making stories up in your head.  Let's say you're on a bus. Listen to the conversations around you. Look at passers-by. That man driving the digger - is he an alien? That lady discussing what she had for lunch - has she eaten a magic lettuce leaf which will make her hair grow down to her ankles? That kid with the dog - is he an orphan on an adventure, or is he part of a big noisy family with a mad uncle in the attic? Let yourself daydream - some of the best story ideas come up to the surface when you're daydreaming.

Most of all, though, don't try to force a story, and have fun writing it!

Now a question for you - my readers - do you have a favourite childhood bear and what is its name?  

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