R.A. Spratt's Blog, page 21
November 5, 2015
Listen to me talk to ABC Rivernina about my upcoming tour of the Wagga area!
Thanks Gateway Bookshop for organising the tour and sharing this link.
October 29, 2015
Nanny Piggins has been immortalized as pumpkin art!
Thank you 5th and 6th graders from Summit View for honouring Nanny Piggins with this fabulous Halloween Pumpkin. Not only is it a beautiful artwork, it also totally discourages anyone from eating this pumpkin. Nanny Piggins heartily approves. Much better to save your stomaches for the Halloween candy.
October 27, 2015
Starred review for ‘Friday Barnes’ from Publishers Weekly!
‘Friday Barnes, Girl Detective’ just got this wonderful review from Publishers Weekly, ahead of the January release in the USA.
Friday Barnes, Girl Detective
R.A. Spratt, illus. by Phil Gosier. Roaring Brook, $13.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-62672-297-2
Ignored by her theoretical physicist parents, 11-year-old Friday Barnes has gotten used to going unnoticed, aided by her ordinary looks and brown cardigans. Having immersed herself in her family’s extensive library, she has little to learn from teachers, so she devours detective novels during class. She has also watched so many Agatha Christie films “she was beginning to speak with a trace of a Belgian accent,” and her newfound investigative skills help her solve a jewel theft. With the reward money, Friday funds a year of tuition at an elite boarding school, where she brushes off the taunts of her well-to-do classmates, cracks some outlandish cases, and bests her nemeses. Spratt’s (the Nanny Piggins series) effortlessly funny narration will keep readers laughing from start to finish, and she gives Friday a wonderfully dry wit—one she isn’t even aware of herself—to accompany her exceptional deductive powers and knowledge. Gosier’s angular b&w cartoons don’t draw much attention to themselves, but readers have plenty of reasons to look forward to future adventures from this irresistible young sleuth. Ages 8–12. Illustrator’s agent: Jodell Sadler, Sadler Children’s Literary. (Jan.)
http://publishersweekly.com/978-1-62672-297-2
October 25, 2015
Just sat down to edit Friday Barnes 4
First thing I noticed – I’ve written a lot of books.
October 7, 2015
Nanny Piggins 5 has been sighted in a US bookstore! That means you can get one too!
The green book in the bottom left is ‘Nanny Piggins and the Rival Ringmaster’ (book 5). Book 4 is also available. It has a blue cover and is called ‘Nanny Piggins and the Accidental Blast-Off. They are now in the US book distribution centres, which means your local bookstore can order a copy for you! Or you can order one from an online seller. Here’s a couple of links…
Barnes & Nobel has them too…
And in even better news books 6 and 7 in the series will be availabe from November.
September 22, 2015
Best author picture ever!
When I visited Wingello Public School last week I wanted a photo with my friend Katherine because she had dressed up as Mrs Cannon complete with props – job ads and a copy of Chaucer. Her daughter had dressed up as Friday Barnes as well. There were no other grown-ups in the room so we had to get one of the kids to take a photo. To protect our identities he chopped our heads off and captured us in soft focus.
Kirkus says ‘Friday Barnes’ is “Delightful, highly logical, and well informed fun.”
Here’s the Kirkus review for the US edition of ‘Friday Barnes, Girl Detective’…
Kirkus
She’s only 11, but she’s smarter and better informed than most adults, and she’s determined to solve mysteries for a living. Friday’s academician parents barely even know she’s there, and that suits Friday just fine. She tries to avoid contact with people as she pursues her own interests, which include reading her parents’ entire extensive library. But when she solves a mystery for her detective uncle and wins $50,000, she decides to spend it on a year in the area’s most prestigious boarding school. There, she finds she can’t blend in, but she also becomes embroiled in various mysteries that she solves with the aplomb of Sherlock Holmes. She irritates the school headmaster, among others, with her know-it-all attitude but makes a good friend in her roommate, Melanie, a girl who constantly notices small details—a trait that will help Friday in her detective pursuits. From solving petty crimes and finding missing homework, she moves on to an enthusiastic investigation of the monster hiding in the school swamp. Spratt begins this new series with a nifty, engaging protagonist who can keep readers laughing and help young geeks feel good about themselves. Friday and Melanie make a great team that clearly will continue to detect their way through the coming sequel. Gosier’s animation-inflected illustrations are a nice complement. Delightful, highly logical, and well-informed fun. (Mystery. 8-12)
September 17, 2015
Watch out Wagga I’m coming to visit you! Leeton, Cootamundra, Gundagai and Tamora too!
Thanks to Gateway Bookshop in Wagga this November I’m going to be touring schools in the Riverina. Check out their Facebook page for details. I’m going to finish the tour with a book signing at their shop on Saturday 14th November so come along and say ‘hello’.
