Caryl Hart's Blog, page 3

Knock Knock Dinosaur illustrated by Nick East

It's fun to find a T-Rex on the doorstep, but when all 54 of his friends arrive, it's time to panic! With awesome illustrations by the hugely talented Nick East, this playful dinosaur counting book is packed full of chaos and silliness!

"This is such a bright, colourful, and fun story that it's impossible not to get swept away" Picture Book Challenge

"I have already recommended this beautiful book to all the parents I know." My Trending Stories

ONE T-Rex sniffs and rubs his tummy
He thinks Mum's apple pie smells yummy

Then something makes a dreadful crash.
It's TWO Triceratops THUMP BUMP BASH!

THREE Stegosauruses Clump upstairs
Oh help! There are dinosaurs EVERYWHERE!!

This chaotic story is great fun to read aloud and is fantabulously illustrated by the super-talented and oh-so-fresh Nick East, this uber-stylish book is bursting with dinosaur fun on every page.

Knock Knock Dinosaur is illustrated by Nick East and published by Hodder Children's Books.
Download FREE activities here
Order your personally signed copy from my shop here

The Princess and the Peas - For Royally Fussy Eaters Everywhere!

Lily Rose May lives with her daddy in a beautiful wood. She is kind and polite and is usually good.. until one day her daddy tries feeding her peas. 

Poor Lily Rose May does not like these little green wonder foods. She says they make her feel poorly! Oh dear.  Her worried daddy calls the doctor who announces that if Lily is allergic to peas, she MUST be a princess!

Off to the palace goes Lily Rose May, with a promise to write to her dad every day...

But life at the palace isn't quite what she expected! Will Lily opt for a life of luxury or learn to eat her peas?




Gloriously illustrated by Sarah Warburton and published by Nosy Crow, this is the first book in our Princess Series. 
The Princess and the Peas won the 2013 Stockport Brilliant Book Awards AND the Oldham Brilliant Book Awards
Watch me read the story here

You can buy a personally signed copy from my shop here

Prince George Goes to School

Have you got little ones starting school? Or older ones going back after a looong break?  It's a really tricky time at the moment, not just for children starting school, but for parents, carers and teachers too.  School will not be quite the familiar place some children are used to. And for others, it'll be their first contact with large groups of other people for months.

But hopefully this funny story will help ease any collywobbles and get your little ones in fine spirits for their next adventures

Prince George is off on a big adventure to a shiny new kingdom called SCHOOL! But when he arrives, it seems he's forgotten something rather important... his school uniform! 



Luckily Miss Merry has some spares to help out!
When he first enters his class, poor George thinks the Big Chair is for him. But a kind girl called Beatrice is there to look after him and make him feel at home. 



But what will happen when it's time to paint and later to build a huge castle out of boxes? Can George cope with someone else being King of the Castle? 


By the end of the day, George has made lots of new friends and is eager to return for more fun and games.
Prince George Goes to School is illustrated by Laura Ellen Anderson and published by Orchard.
Buy a personally signed copy from my shop 

Superheroes, Dragons, Bears, Planets and Mini Monsters - New Books for 2020

I am incredibly lucky to have had FIVE picture books published so far this year. Six if you count another picture book that I wrote with families as part of the Storymakers community project.
And I've been madly promoting them on social media, organising blog tours and giveaways to help get these new titles in the public eye.  Promotion online has become hugely important this year, as a many retailers have been closed for several months and are only just beginning to re-open so there have been very few opportunities for families to browse through books and choose the ones they like best.
Here's a bit about each one.

Knock Knock Superhero

Knock Knock Superhero is the fourth book in my Knock Knock Series, fabulously illustrated by Nick East and published by Hodder, an imprint of Hachette. 
It's a hugely diverse, and very silly counting adventure that features 55 whacky superheroes on a crazy quest. When one small child hears a knock on the door, who should it be but Pasta Man! But something's wrong. Pasta Man has run out of pasta-power and naughty Madame Chilli is after him.  
Can the Muscle Mums and Glasses Girls help?  Quickly they find a secret trap door in the child's house and get booted and suited with the help of the Gadget Grannies and Brainy Boys. Then it's off to Meatball Mountain to find a cure.  
The thing I love most about this book is that the characters are not your typical superheroes, they come in all shapes, sizes and ages. There are characters with all sorts of skin tones and hair styles and body shapes.  We have grandads, and stepdads and body-building mums, we have superhero boys who use mobility aids and superhero sisters and aunties!
We hope this book shows children that ANYONE can be a superhero - even them!

Meet the Planets

Meet the Planets is the first in a new series illustrated by the truly unique Bethan Woollvin and published by Bloomsbury.
I was invited to write this book by my editor at Bloomsbury,  who had spotted some planet characters that Bethan had posted on her website.  Meet the Planets is a rhyming journey through space for very young children. Each planet has its own rhyme, many of which include bite-sized planet facts.  
You might be surprised to know that I did LOADS of research for this book - you'd think writing one four-line verse about each planet would be easy, but it was actually quite a challenge to decide which aspect to draw out for each one.  I wanted each character to have their own personality and voice, so what looks like quite a simple book was actually quite tricky to write!
As for the illustrations, Bethan creates all the artwork as layers of physical paintings. Normally, layering is done digitally but Bethan's technique much more complex. What results is a truly unique style that is different from any other illustrator I've worked with.
Not wishing to waste all my research, I've created a fact sheet for each planet and a couple of others about Really Big Numbers and The Solar System.  You can download them all free here.
Meet the Planets was listed by The Independent in their list of Best Books to Read to Your Children in 2020.
Watch out for more books in this series coming soon!


Mini Monsters - Can I Play?

Can I Play? is the first book in a new series for preschool children illustrated by Tony Neal and published by Simon and Schuster. 
It follows the adventures of four super-cute monster characters in a preschool or nursery setting and deals with the big emotions that our little people experience every day.
In this story, Sparkle is practising for a magic show with Arthur, but when Scout wants to join in, Sparkle isn't happy.  She doesn't want to share her game.  Scout becomes very upset and when Arthur goes to comfort him, Sparkle finds that she is the one who feels left out.  
This is such a relatable scenario for so many young (and older!) children that I hope this story can help stimulate discussion on what friendship means and how our actions can affect other people's happiness.
I've been delighted at the hugely positive feedback this book has received. BookTrust say:
"Caryl Hart and Tony Neal's bright and colourful story about being a good friend (and saying sorry when you've been mean) is perfectly pitched for older toddlers and pre-schoolers." BookTrust
You can read some of the reviews here.
Book two is out next year! 


Bears Love Squares

Shapes are all around us, we see them everywhere, but bears are very choosy. Bears love squares!
Bears Love Squares is the third book in a series illustrated by Edward Underwood and also published by Bloomsbury. It is a cute story about the joys of shapes.  Bear is very determined that squares are the only shapes for him. But can Raccoon persuade Bear that other shapes can be fun too?
I didn't realise until I read a review of Big Box Little Box, the first book in this series, that the rhymes are somewhat influenced by the Dr Seuss books. It's funny how everything we read infuses into our work - by a sort of literary osmosis, influencing how we write and how we create our characters.
In my mind the bear in this story likes his world to be predictable and just-so.. something many families will experience with one or more of their children.  It can be easy to form arbitrary preferences for any number of things in our lives - food, clothing, television shows, walking routes.  But if you doggedly stick to the same set of things, it's much harder to grow and develop as a person.  That's why friends are so great. They can introduce us to new things and bring us joy in discovery.
Bears Love Squares is a colourful celebration of shapes with adorable characters that I hope you will love as much as I do.
"A really fun and colourful story that my 3 year old loved. I've read it 5 times today and every time she  has shouted BEARS LOVE SQUARES at the right moment."Wormmcd42 via Toppsta.
Click here for more reviews


When a Dragon Goes to School

The second book in the Little Dragon series, adorably illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw and published by Nosy Crow, is a lovely little story about going to school or preschool. 
When a dragon hears us say, Hooray! We're off to school today!" Does she refuse to come inside Or try to run away and hide? Why no! Dragon's don't do that!"
How many parents have experienced the clinging, weeping anxiety of a young child who is worried about being left at school or nursery? My own children turned into screaming limpets every single morning and had to be prised out of my arms by understanding teachers. Many a morning, I would wobble away, sobbing silently and could spend the rest of the day feeling terrible.  Later, I learned to peek back through the window - always to spot my little darlings happily engaged in activity as if it was the most natural thing in the world!  
Starting school can be traumatic for parents and children - so books that help prepare them for what to expect are always helpful.  In this story, we acknowledge that behaving is not always easy, and children love to see the chaos that the Little Dragon could create... but does not!  
We've created some lovely activities for your own Little Dragons to accompany the book. You can download them free here.
We are currently working on a third book in this series and it's looking even more adorable than the first two!

Thank You!
I'd love to say a HUGE Thank you to all the amazing illustrators, editors, designers and publicity & marketing teams who have helped create and promote these amazing books. Publishing is a massive team effort and none of these projects would be possible without everyone involved being 100% dedicated to making each and every book the best it can possibly be.
Thank you, too, to all the book shops, book bloggers and lovely people on social media who have helped us promote these new titles - you've all been amazing.
Finally, and most importantly, to all the families, teachers, teaching assistants, librarians and children who keep our industry going. Thank you for buying our books and reading them! 

Meet the Mini Monsters - New Preschool Series Launching 11 June!

Meet the Mini Monsters
The Mini Monsters are four adorable characters who are learning valuable lessons about friendship and how to get along, in a pre-school setting. 
This brand-new character led-series is perfect for LITTLE pre-schoolers learning to deal with BIG emotions.
The first book, Can I Play?  publishes in the UK on 11 June.
In this story, Sparkle is putting on a magic show with Arthur, but when Scout wants to join in, Sparkle is not happy. After some heartache, Sparkle soon learns that playing together is much more fun. Hooray!  
Find out more here


BIG Blog TourTo mark the occasion, I'm doing a BIG blog tour and will be broadcasting storytime videos for BookTrust, Seven Stories Story Centre and Picture Book Author Events Online.

Bloggers will be running giveaways and publishing interviews and exclusive Q&As so do visit the blogs and get involved. Here's the timetable:



Monday 8 JuneMini Monsters on Booktrust StorytimeTwitter: @booktrust
Tuesday 9 JuneIvy’s LibraryTwitter: @ivyslibrary
Wednesday 10 JuneStory SnugTwitter: @cjfriess
Thursday 11 June - Launch DaySeven Stories StoryCentreTwitter: @7StoriesBooks
Friday 12 JuneLive OtherwiseTwitter: @liveotherwise
Saturday 13 JuneCreate Sheffield Twitter: @CreateSheff   Sunday 14 JuneAdventures inBooklandTwitter: @scout finch
Monday 15 JuneAcorn BooksTwitter: @Acornbooks
Tuesday 16 JuneBooks for Topics -Give Me 5Twitter: @booksfortopics Wednesday 17 JuneThe Reading RealmTwitter: @MrEagletonIan
Thursday 18 JuneBear Hunt Books
Twitter @ bearhuntbooks
Weekend of 20/21 June tbcSeven Stories Live Facebook EventCheck for Tickets Here

Picture Book Author Events Online

Since the beginning of March, a week before lockdown, I've been working with Author Jonathan Emmett to create and run a project called Picture Book Author Events Online.

It's a one-stop-shop to bring together and showcase a huge range of free book resources, together with story time and draw-along videos from some of the best loved picture book creators.

Here's how the project came about and why myself and Jonathan have given up weeks of our time to help make it a success.

Creating Storytime Videos for Children at Home

On the 13th March, I read a tweet by author Sarah Crossan saying she was planning to do some live Instagram posts to encourage young people to get writing and to chat about books during self-isolation.


I thought this was a great idea and decided to post some videos of my own based on my picture books

Call to Action
Later that day, I put out a call to other authors and illustrators to see if anyone wanted to join me as I felt this was something I could do to help families who were stuck at home with young children.

Authors Holly Webb and Gill Lewis got back to me straight away and by the end of the following day I’d had messages of support from Steve Antony, Fred Blunt, Jonathan Emmett and Sarah MacIntyre.

Sarah alerted me to the hashtag #FreeBookResources that she and some other creatives were using to enable families and teachers to find downloadables and printables easily by searching on social media.

Hit the Ground Running
By 15th March, Holly Webb had broadcast our very first video and I’d created a web page that listed timings of live broadcasts that our little group was planning to do.  I was sending out dozens of tweets and retweets to help highlight the resources that authors and illustrators were making available.  
Free Book Resources for Children and Families at Home
At the same time, I also set up another web page with links to free downloadable book resources for children to access from home. This includes both resources created in response to school closures, and those that predate the outbreak.

Visit the Picture Book Author Event Free Book Resources 


Following discussions on the best ways to broadcast live and building on his experiences with another project, Jonathan Emmett suggested we set up a Facebook Page that contributors could broadcast from, where we could also re-post videos shared on other platforms.

Facebook Page for Videos and Broadcasts
The very next day, 16 March, the Picture Book Author Events Online Facebook page went live.  Jonathan was the first to broadcast from this new platform. We subsequently decided to focus the scope of the project on traditionally published picture books, in order to limit the quickly growing administration time needed for the project and ensure the quality of the material being shared

We now have over 1,000 followers on our Facebook Page and have broadcast and reposted over 250 new videos, all created since 16 March. 

Visit the What's On Page

The picture book creators shared on the page include : Steve Antony, Catherine Barr, Rob Buddulph, Cerrie Burne, Nathan Bryon, Jill Calder, Jane Clarke, Coo Clayton, Benji Davies, Nicola Davies, Helen Docherty, Elys Dolan, Julia Donaldson, Malachy Doyle, Jonny Duddle, Jonathan Emmett, Charlie Farley, Jane Clarke, Jim Field, Kes Gray, Caryl Hart, Chris Haughton, Timothy Knapman, Steven Lenton, Ben Mantle, James Mayhew, David Melling, Lydia Monks, Sarah McIntyre, Susannah Lloyd, Tom McLaughlin, Guy Parker-Rees, Tom Percival, Jane Porter, Kjartan Poskitt, Joshua Siegal, Zeb Soanes, Robert Starling, Kristina Stephenson, Linda Strachan, Ed Vere, Chris White, Gill White, Mo Willems.

Visit the Picture Book Author Events Online Facebook Page

Look! We Have a Logo!
Two days later, Chris Haughton, who had also started broadcasting his wonderful draw-along storytimes, kindly agreed to create us a logo. Chris’s first video, Shh! We Have a Plan, posted on his own social media and re-posted on Picture Book Author Events Online, had over 2,000 views.









Up and Running in Time for School Closures
By the time schools actually closed on 20 March, the project, some great content and our administration systems were already up and running.


Book Trust and Sunday Times Listings
Our resources are listed by BookTrust and were featured in an article by Nicolette Jones for The Times: Your favourite children’s authors online for free 

Advice for Authors, Illustrators, Teachers and Librarians
As well as creating a one-stop-shop for content, Jonathan and I also provide guidance for authors, illustrators, teachers and librarians wishing to create story videos. This includes information from how to set up your studio, to licensing and copyright permissions.  Most publishers have relaxed licensing to allow content to be published online for a limited time period and are, indeed working with us to actively promote our material.

You can find our guidance here

Showcasing Authors’ and Illustrators’ Work
All but the most famous authors and illustrators rely on their own efforts to promote their books to readers.  Those of us lucky enough to have publicists engaged by our publishers do get some help around the launch of a book, but this is generally for a limited time only. So platforms like Picture Book Author Events Online can be a great way for us to showcase our work and highlight all the extra resources we create for our readers.

Loss of Income due to School Closures and Event Cancellations
Many children’s authors and illustrators rely on events with schools, libraries and festivals to supplement the income they get from book sales. 

For books created as a partnership between an author and illustrator, each contributor typically receives just 5% on a hardcover and 3.75% of the selling price on a paperback. Royalties are paid in two parts. The first is an up-front advance of a few thousand pounds. If a book does well enough to cover this initial advance, contributors may then receive additional payments depending on volume of sales. This works out around 30p a copy for a book that sells at full price, down to less than a penny for books selling at a high discount.

But as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak, this second stream of income has vanished overnight.   With schools closed and festivals cancelled for at least 6 months, many of us will lose thousands of pounds in cancelled bookings, lack of future bookings and the associated loss of direct book sales these events generate. I personally expect to lose at least £7,000 from my income this year.


Virtual Author Visits
I am now starting to take bookings for Virtual Author Visits from schools, book shops and libraries via FacebookLive, Skype and Zoom.  I've already run a trial with a volunteer school and have put together some guidance on setting up tech and safeguarding children accessing these resources from home.


If you would like to discuss a Virtual Author Visit, please GET IN TOUCH

Showcasing Authors and Illustrators
Picture Book Author Events Online is helping to showcase of the kinds of stories and activities authors and illustrators have to offer, and could become a central point of contact for educators looking to book their favourite creatives for virtual events.

All the resources on Picture Book Author Events Online are, and will remain COMPLETELY FREE, because the authors and illustrators involved understand the importance of stories and want to support those caring for children at home. 

Creating Videos of Book Readings for Children

Since the start of self-isolation and physical distancing, I've been inundated with requests from teachers, educators, librarians and parents all seeking permission to record themselves reading one of my stories to children who are isolated at home.

The great news is that many publishers are allowing education professionals to do this, provided they stick to a few guidelines. I've created a summary here.
Guide to Creating Book Videos

Authors and illustrators across the UK are also publishing story time, activities and draw-along videos based on their own books. You can find lots of them here:
Picture Books Author Events Online 

I've also compiled a brilliant list of Free Book Resources too! 
Free Book Resources

Have Fun and Keep Busy with Authors Events Online -

Authors and illustrators are responding in the best way possible to the Coronavirus outbreak.  

We are working together to bring families a huge range of activities, videos and storytelling online to families and teachers get through these difficult times.

You can find some of these events here 

You can also search for hashtag #FreeBookResources on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for LOADS of other resources you can access FREE! 

So if you're self-isolating, or you are dealing with school closures or are just looking for inspiration, we're here for you! 

STEM Careers for Girls

I was recently asked by Passed Papers to write a blog about Girls Can do Anything and how it relates to careers for girls in Science Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). Here's what I wrote:

Girls Can Do Anything  is a book about choices aimed at very young children. It explores all the possible choices girls can make about their lives. From the clothes they wear to the hobbies and interests they nurture – and the careers they choose as adults. Including those in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).The colourful pages are bursting with characters engaged in a wealth of activities from chemistry sets to construction, from solving sums to sub-aqua diving. It gives a clear message to children – and their carers – that girls can have whatever interests they choose. That they can pursue any career path they choose and that their choices are as valid and valuable as anyone else’s.  It is a book that says your gender does not define you.I hope that it is also an inclusive book, where every child can find a character they have something in common with, be that hobby, passion, hair type, skin tone or body shape. I wanted all children, not just girls, to be able to find someone like them within the pages.
STEM Careers for girlsGrowing up, I had no positive female role models.  Despite my parents telling me that I could do anything I wanted if I worked hard enough. The evidence in the world around me told a different story. As far as I could see, all the important things in science and history had been done by men. All the scientists we learned about were men. The statues of great achievers were of men. All the news items were about men and read by male presenters.  In books and on television, all the most interesting characters were male.It made me question my value as a girl and made me see being female as a weakness and an annoyance. Being a physically active child, passionate about wildlife and interested in biological sciences, I felt that I was not really a proper girl. I felt that my interests and personality were abnormal for a female. Subsequently, I was often frustrated that my gender seemed anomalous with my interests because I had no relatable adult women to look up to. Of course, I now know that society was lying to me. As an adult, I discovered that the role of women in STEM careers has been at best overlooked and at worst, shamefully misrepresented and deliberately ignored and belittled. Women have made many, many incredible contributions to scientific and technological advancements, it’s just that we don’t hear about them.  Either their achievements have been overlooked, or else the men they worked with have shamelessly taken the credit. 
STEM CareersIn her book Inferior, Angela Saini demonstrates how the scientific community has not only sidelined women but has continually lied to the rest of the world about women’s achievements and has actively prevented women from accessing the full range of education and resources available to men.  Although such blatant discrimination is frowned upon these days, it is true to say that women are still discouraged from taking the top jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics through a constant drip of everyday sexism that is still rife within these communities.Girls Can Do Anything is a book that aims to redress this balance by showing children that girls can be interested and skilled in STEM subjects without compromising their identities in any way.
Gallery of Inspirational WomenAs well as showing children what girls can do, I wanted to prove that women all over the world are making huge contributions in their chosen fields, including STEM. I wanted to provide children with the female role models lacking from my own childhood. To this end, the book includes two galleries of inspirational women. These depict both historical and contemporary figures who have made significant contributions to STEM advancements. These galleries are full of portraits of women who are actually doingall the things we tell children about in the book. I had many, many discussions with my editor about who to include – and who to leave out.  I was sick of hearing about the same half dozen historical figures – great as they were. Surely, I thought, there were other women out there who had made a difference, that are making a difference now. In our final selection, we included ordinary people as well as famous record breakers because we want children to grow up believing that their own goals are achievable – to know that they don’t have to be the best in the world at their chosen career, just the best they themselves can be.
270 Wikipedia pages about female scientists I recently came across researcher Jess Wade, who has single-handedly written over 270 Wikipedia pages about female scientists of note. Her goal is not to focus on the negative statistics of how few women succeed in STEM careers, but to celebrate the amazing achievements of those that have. She aims to make these women visible to the next generation of children as proof that real women can and do make a huge contribution to these industries. She is working to redress the balance, to show the world the valuable contributions that women make every day.I hope Girls Can Do Anything can do the same for the youngest members of our society by telling children in a very simple and straightforward way that there is nothing about a person’s gender that dictates the things they are allowed to be interested in or the careers they choose to enter.
STEM and CreativityGirls Can Do Anything does not just celebrate science, it also celebrates the value of creativity. Recent cuts to spending in schools means the creative curriculum is being butchered. Something I strongly believe is a huge mistake. The creative industries themselves provide a huge amount of employment and revenue for the UK – the music industry alone is worth over £4.5 billion. But creativity is not just about making music, or art. It is also hugely important in the advancement of STEM. Creative thinking is essential to STEM careers because it enables us to find new solutions to problems and to develop new ways of thinking. A scientist who can’t think creatively may only seek to replicate the work of others. They may subsequently never come up with the ideas or novel approaches that ultimately lead to breakthroughs. I strongly believe we need to nurture both STEM and creativity in our young people as an investment in not only their own futures but the future of our planet.
I hope that, in some small way, Girls Can Do Anything will also help reassure the next generation of children that it’s okay to be whoever they are now, and whoever they aspire to be in the future.  I hope it helps children see that their interests and passions are valued and relevant in society as a whole and that the whole spectrum of choice is available to each and every one of them.
Visit Passed Papers and read all their posts here

Together We Can - On Friendship, Diversity and Being Nice!

To celebrate the publication of Together We Can, I spoke to Sarah Farrell from The Reading Realm about why I wrote the book and what I hope it will achieve. Here's a copy of the interview:


I love how ‘Together We Can’ celebrates diversity and inclusion so well! What made you decide to write a book on that topic?I’ve been asking publishers to include a diverse range of characters in my books for several years, ever since I came across Inclusive Minds at an event I was part of in London. They showed me how important it is for children to see themselves in books. Since then I’ve requested, cajoled, begged and prodded every editor, designer and illustrator I’ve worked with to include main and secondary characters with different skin tones, hair type and gender and more recently characters with prosthetics, mobility aids and those with cognitive and physical difference.Over the years I’ve become more and more convinced of the importance of representing diversity in children’s books. The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) published a report last year that officially quantified what some of us already knew. That less than 1% of children’s books had a main character of black, asian or other minority background, even though around 14% of our population is made up of these groups.Hate crime was up 17% in 2017/18, with over 94,000 reported crimes motivated by hostility or prejudice towards a person based on personal characteristics. 76% of these were race related.

These are appalling statistics and I strongly believe that we urgently need to take action to improve empathy, compassion, tolerance and understanding if we are to maintain harmony in our communities and across the world.

Together We Can, and its partner Girls Can Do Anything, are two books that I hope can help address these issues at the youngest level, helping to normalise these perceived differences amongst our children, and help parents, carers and teachers to work with children to combat fear and resentment and instead encourage acceptance and joy in the rich diversity that is present in so many of our communities.Ali Pye’s illustrations are absolutely gorgeous! How did you feel when you first saw them?  Obviously I was extremely grateful, excited and happy that Scholastic had found someone who could create such amazing images of what I had inside my head! Illustrating Together We Can and Girls Can Do Anything has been a monumental achievement. Ali Pye has created over 140 different characters in each book, which is enough to make most illustrators quake in their boots! Each character has so much personality that every single one could have a book of their own. I am awed by Ali’s skills and humbled by her commitment.Although ‘Together We Can’ is targeted as being a book for younger children, the messages in it can certainly be used for children of all ages. How would you see it being used across primary school?I’ve already read the book to a group of year 2 children in school – just to see how they would react. And, honestly, I nearly cried! After a couple of pages they’d jumped up from their orderly rows and were crowded around me to get a closer look at the illustrations, jostling to pick out which child was most like themselves. To my utter surprise and immense joy, they ignored gender and appearance and chose purely on the basis of the activities the characters were engaged in. So that was proof perfect to me that children do not naturally judge and discriminate. It’s something they learn as they grow up.I’ve read Girls Can Do Anything to children up to 10 years old and had great feedback from them all so I’m confident that Together We Can will appeal to children of primary school age.We’re in the process of developing teaching resources to accompany the book. To get a taster of what these might be like, check out the fab resources we have for Girls Can Do Anything here!I’m always a fan of books written with a rhyming structure and a strong rhythm! How do you approach writing a rhyming book? Some books simply refuse to come out in prose no matter how hard I try, while others don’t want to be written in rhyme! When writing in rhyme, I usually start with the rhythm and the rest follows. There’s a huge amount of chopping and changing to be done when writing in verse. It’s tricky to say what you want to say within the rigid structure of your rhythm – and make it rhyme as well! If I write two verses in a day, I’m pretty happy, so it’s slow going, but hugely satisfying when it works. Until, that is, your editor asks for a change – then quite often I have to start from scratch with that verse and write it again! That’s the reality of a writer’s world!‘Together We Can’ covers many different aspects of friendship, including the different types of friend, how to make friends and how to be a good friend. What is the main message that you’d like readers to take away from reading it?I think I want readers to know that most people are actually really, really nice once you get to know them and that the best way to make friends is by being a friend.As well as writing books based in modern reality, such as ‘Together We Can’ and ‘Girls Can Do Anything’, you’ve written children’s books on many different topics, from aliens and pirate to dinosaurs and superheroes. What has been your favourite book to write and why?Oh gosh, that’s such a difficult question! It’s like asking a parent who their favourite child is! At the moment I’m totally in love with When a Dragon Comes to Stay, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw and published by Nosy Crow, because Ros has created the most adorable characters! I’m super-proud of our retelling of Peter Pan, illustrated by Sarah Warburton, and also published by Nosy Crow as it was a hugely difficult book to write and the illustrations are incredible. Also I’d have to say my Albie series, illustrated by Ed Eaves, which has sold over 250,000 copies to date. Oh, and my new series of Knock Knock books with Nick East because they are so whacky and silly! Oh and….See what I mean?You’ve mentioned before that your musical background has had an impact on your writing style, particularly the rhyming. How? Do you still play any instruments? Ha! Not really. I’m much too busy to practise at the moment. I spend most of my spare time out walking or at the gym. But I’d love to turn my classical violin training into fiddle playing and fancy myself playing the cello so you never know. Maybe if I ever retire.
One page of the book that I particularly enjoyed was about pets being friends too! Do you tend to have lots of four-legged friends?I have a dog and a cat and my children have persuaded us to get all sorts of pets over the years. We even had a lamb once that lived in our house and a baby blackbird that we reared. My daughter was always finding stray dogs and bringing them home. But really, I wanted to include pets in the book because some children struggle to relate to people and find pets a huge comfort and source of happiness. So the references to animals as friends was for them really. I also wanted to acknowledge that not everyone is able to have what we would think of as a traditional pet, so I included insects as well. When I was a child I was so desperate for a pet, that I collected snails and made a home for them! I still love snails, by the way, even when they’re eating my lettuces.I liked the way that you have presented potential barriers to friendship (such as distance, language and disability) in such a positive way and how you’ve used such a wide variety of different types of friendships as examples. Did you use any inspiration from your own life and friendships when writing this book?I wanted to move away from the typical stereotype that a friend is someone the same as you. I think it’s really important, in this climate of fear and suspicion, that children see everyone in their community as potential friends. Obviously there has to be a high level of safeguarding when it comes to children getting involved with adults they don’t know, but as far as making friends with other children, I wanted to make the point that friends come in all shapes and sizes and from lots of different places.I grew up in an area that was predominantly white. There were two black children in my school, both of whom were in foster care. All my friends were white. All my parent’s friends were white, not because this was a conscious choice, but because there were very few non-white people in our community.So growing up, I never encountered anyone who didn’t look like me, or have a very similar home life to the one I had. I knew one boy with brittle bones and he was the only person I ever came across who was physically different from me. As an adult, I was shocked by how this affected my unconscious attitudes and I spent a lot of time in my twenties trying to erase my feelings of discomfort in this respect. Now I live in a very diverse community in Sheffield and work with lots of children in schools from a wide range of backgrounds, and I still find myself worrying about how to talk and what to say and being super-conscious not to offend anyone.

But the more I look at difference, the more convinced I become that people are really basically the same. It’s so easy to judge people by what they look like, or the circumstances of their lives, but scrape just a little below the surface and you will find that we all really want the same things and have the same worries and concerns.

The vast majority of us want to be understood and accepted for who we are. We want to be liked, and ideally loved. We want to feel appreciated and acknowledged. We want to have equality of opportunity and aspiration. We want to have hope, and to dream and to spend time with people we care about and who care about us. Our similarities far outweigh our differences and it is this belief that drives me to create books like Together We Can.I hope that through my books, and my work in schools and libraries, that in some small way, I help the next generation feel that diversity is normal. That we are all different and all the same too.I read on your website that you will have published more than 50 books by 2020 and aim to write at least 100 in your life time! What project are you currently working on? Taking a project from development to publication takes a long time and there are lots of stages to go through before the book arrives on the shelves, so I’m always working on several things at once. Here’s what I’m up to at the moment:I’ve just approved rough illustrations for a picture book that is second in a series and am starting to think about book 3. I’m drafting book 11 in the Albie series for Simon and SchusterI’m also awaiting editorial comments for book 2 in a new preschool series out next year and a non fiction rhyming picture book out in 2021. I’ve recently gained a new contract for a new picture book I first wrote in rhyme but redrafted in prose.I’ve also got a few book proposals out there that I’m hoping to get deals for, and am working with Tameside Libraries to plan the third year of a project in which we create picture books with young families.Oh, and I’ve written a teen novel which I’m doing final edits on before it goes out to publishers.With thanks to all at The Reading Realm for taking the time to speak to me!Visit The Reading Realm