Remember those classic children’s books you read as a kid? Would you like to read them again? Or what if you got the chance to actually live them…? Booksurfers is an exciting new series (and one of those ideas I’m kicking myself for not having thought of!) by top children’s author, David Gatward (nightmare giving [...]
Category > Brilliant Books!
You don’t want to mess with a Furious Angel
My 10-year-old daughter used to beg for scary movies with the excuse ‘But I LIKE having nightmares, Mum.’ (This has changed recently, not least since I took her to the Edinburgh Dungeon, where famed cannibal Sawney Bean attempted to eat her and she almost fell into an open grave. But I digress.) Regardless of anything [...]
Top Notch Teenage Fiction
Sometimes I read books that don’t have monsters, action, fantasy, horror or monsters in them. Sometimes they are EXCELLENT. Over the last five years or so Anthony McGowan has been making a name for himself: his books for teenagers are some of the very best around right now. Henry Tumour (or Jack Tumor as it’s [...]
The Lonely Beast!
I was interviewed by the illustrator Chris Judge during my recent trip to Dublin. I went to meet Chris at his studio and we sat down for a 20 min chat. He is the author and illustrator of the very funny picture book The Lonely Beast, published recently by Anderson Press. Chris has produced an [...]
More of a villain than a monster but…
I was lucky enough to launch Wirral Authority’s Summer Reading Challenge last Friday. The wonderful librarian there put me back in touch with some books I’d probably taken out back in the 70s! “Uncle” was an irreverent series about a benign but hugely rich elephant who lived in a massive castle called Homeward. It was [...]
Icelandic Adventure
I’ve just returned from a trip to Iceland. The country was every bit as astonishingly beautiful as I’d hoped. I was there on a tour of locations from one of the best-known, best-loved and (to this day) most controversial of the Icelandic Sagas, Njals Saga. If you’ve not tried the sagas before, Njals Saga is [...]
Read To A Million Kids!
How would you like to hear (and see) me read from Scream Street 9: Terror of the Nightwatchman? All you have to do is register for an exciting new project from Renaissance Learning called Read To A Million Kids and you can do just that. Plus, you have until 30th June to submit any question [...]
My bookcase has a new arrival…
Hi all! Guest blogger Laura back again! I know! I know! I said i’d post up about the book i’m illustrating, packed with ghosties, mummy’s, vamps, moving statues, gambling zombies, pond creatures, and such things as the unmentionables which dwell beneath manhole covers… but oh no, I have not done so (yet). This is becaaauuuse… [...]
Villains by Justin Somper
As a special additional date to his hugely successful blog tour, Vampirates author, Justin Somper, has battled his way deep into the caves to share his thoughts on bad guys with us. Immortal War is the fang-tastic finale to the Vampirates series so, if you haven’t already, sink your teeth into a copy today! — [...]
A Monster Bedtime Read!
One of the few good things about life in the caves is the internet connection. It does allow me to spend time Skyping with my kids and they especially like bedtime stories. It is a bit worrying that it is often stories about monsters that are most often requested, especially given my predicament for the [...]
