Trevor Forest's Blog, page 5

Stanley Stickle 2 Now in paperback

http://amzn.to/RQBMUv Stanley Stickle Does Not Have A Girlfriend now out in paperback on Amazon

New Stanley Stickle book Out NOW!

The new Stanley Stickle book, Stanley Stickle Does NOT Have A Girlfriend is now available on the Kindle at a price of just £1.54p https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00A810IOE

The paperback version of the book will be available from next week at a price of £3.50 with FREE postage.

Another fantastic review for The Wishnotist

Thank you Anne Stormont for a fantastic review. http://annestormont.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/a-scintillating-sparkler-of-a-childrens-book-the-wishnotist-by-trevor-forest/

Fab new review for The Wishnotist

Fabulous new review of The Wishnotist from Rachel Dove’s Frustrated Yucky Mummy blog. http://bit.ly/QKrjJA

Fab new Magic Molly review

Fabulous review of Magic Molly book one The Mirror Maze by the fantastic Mother-Daughter book review website.  http://motherdaughterbookreviews.com/book-review-magic-molly-the-mirror-maze-by-trevor-forest/

Stanley at the editor

Stanley Stickle does NOT have a girlfriend is now sitting under the watchful gaze of my fab editor Maureen Vincent-Northam. He is also on the desk of my lovely cover artist, Marie Fullerton, so watch this space. Stanley could be with you sooner than you think.

New review for The Wishnotist

fab new review for the second and final revision of The Wishnotist Thanks Jan Ruth.

Amazon

Goodreads

Teaser. Stanley Stickle does NOT have a girlfriend

Abridged version of the first two chapters of Stanley Stickle does NOT have a Girlfriend.

Stanley has a bad day

‘You were so lucky being off sick Stanley, you missed the Big Test.’

Stanley smiled to himself. It hadn’t been easy but he had managed to get ill and take a fortnight off school. He turned to his best friend. ‘Was it really bad?’

‘Dreadful,’ said George, ‘the worst test ever.’

Stanley craned his neck to look over George’s shoulder. Then he turned and looked up the street the other way. ‘Hurry up bus,’ he muttered.

‘Looking for someone?’ asked George with a sly grin.

Stanley shuffled his feet and looked at the floor. ‘Me? No, just watching for the bus, that’s all.’

‘You seem very eager to get to school,’ said George. ‘Are you sure you’re not still poorly. Or are you just keen to see someone?’

Stanley wanted to say he was hoping NOT to see someone; someone like Soppy Sonia. Instead he just shook his head.  ‘Ah here it is now.’

When the bus pulled up at the stop the orderly queue suddenly exploded as twenty children leapt forward to try to get their favourite seat. George and Stanley normally sat near the back.

George managed to get on first. He hurtled down the aisle and threw himself into the window seat four rows from the back. Stanley got stuck behind Limping Liam who had to come to school with his foot in a plaster cast after breaking it when he accidentally kicked a goal post in football training. Stanley couldn’t work out how anyone could accidentally kick a goalpost. It’s not like you don’t know it’s there; it’s eight feet high and painted white.

Stanley shuffled down the bus behind Limping Liam wondering why everyone seemed to be grinning at him. When he was half way down the bus he found out as a soft voice called to him.

‘Sit here with me Stanley.’

Stanley groaned. Soppy Sonia must have got on the bus at an earlier stop.

‘I’ve saved you a seat Stanley.’ Sonia removed her bag from the seat next to her and patted it.

Stanley’s mind raced like a formula one car on a test track. ‘Er, sorry Sonia, I’ve got something to sort out with George.’ Stanley almost knocked Limping Liam into Sonia’s arms as he pushed past and hurled himself into his regular seat. He hoped George hadn’t seen the incident.

George had. ‘What did Soppy Sonia want?’

‘Um, she er, wants to know if I collect stamps,’ replied Stanley. ‘She’s brought her album to school or something. I’m not sure why she thought I’d be interested.’

George looked surprised. ‘Oh, I thought she was asking you to sit with her.’

Stanley forced a laugh. ‘Sit with Soppy Sonia, why would I want to do that?’

George smiled and looked out of the window.

At school, Stanley was first off the bus. He raced for the boy’s toilets and locked himself in a cubicle. After about five minutes there was a knock on the door. It was George.

‘Stanley?’

‘Yes?’

‘Why are you hiding?’

‘I’m not actually hiding, I er, I just don’t want someone to see me.’

‘That’s the same thing isn’t it?’

‘Similar,’ agreed Stanley.

‘Soppy Sonia’s telling everyone you’re her new boyfriend,’ whispered George.

‘She’s doing what?’

‘SOPPY SONIA IS TELLING… ‘

‘Okay, I heard,’ hissed Stanley. ‘No need to tell the world.’

‘I think the world knows about it already,’ said George. ‘She’s got a whole crowd of people around her in the playground. She was whispering to her friends about it while you were off sick, but no one believed her then.’

Stanley clicked the bolt back and came slowly out of the cubicle.

‘I’m finished,’ he said. ‘My life is over.’

‘What’s been going on?’ asked George. ‘Why is she saying that?’

Stanley’s shoulders slumped. ‘It’s a long story. She just got hold of the wrong end of the stick, that’s all. I’ll try to sort it out.’

‘You’d better hurry,’ said George. ‘Some of the girls are planning a wedding.’

Stanley’s day got worse when he found out that he had to take the Big Test after all. Mr Strap, his form teacher, called him out to the front of the class after registration.

‘Stanley you are to go to hall and wait for Mrs Crochet. She will supervise you while you do the test. You can resume your normal lessons when you finish.’

Stanley was appalled.

‘But, but, I haven’t had to extra homework to help prepare for it like everyone else.’

Mr Strap was unsympathetic. ‘Would you like some extra homework Stanley, I can arrange it?’

Stanley thought about it for ten millionths of a second and shook his head. He hated homework even more than big tests.

Mrs Crochet, the music teacher, was waiting for him when he entered the hall. She had set up a desk and chair at the front of the room facing the stage.

‘Hello Stanley, aren’t you a lucky boy? You almost missed out on this.’

Stanley mumbled something about winning the lottery and slumped down in the chair. Mrs Crochet placed a wad of paper, held together with a staple, upside down on the desk. ‘Don’t look so dejected Stanley, there are only six sheets and you’ve got ninety minutes to do it.’

Stanley thought pile of papers looked about the same size as a phone book.

At 9 30 Mrs Crochet pressed a button on the clock on her desk and told Stanley he could turn over the test paper. ‘You are not allowed to leave the room or talk to anyone while you are sitting the exam,’ she warned.

Stanley looked around the empty hall. Talk to who?

Stanley turned over the paper and wrote his name on the top of the top sheet. His eyes skimmed the first question. It was about a girl called Cherry who had fifteen apples and gave some of them to a friend called Clementine.

He stuck his chin in his hands. Was this maths or cookery? Stanley worked through the questions quickly. He was quite clever in a lazy sort of way. After an hour he had almost finished but he didn’t want to go back to his usual lesson until he had worked out a plan to deal with Soppy Sonia.

It had all seemed such a brilliant idea at the time. Stanley had agreed to give Soppy Sonia a thirty-second kiss and be her boyfriend in the hope of catching chickenpox because he wanted to miss the big test. It had all backfired. He didn’t even catch chickenpox. His horrible sister, Stacey, had given him scarlet fever instead.

Stanley’s eyes suddenly lit up. That was it; scarlet fever! He already had a plan. A wonderful plan, a plan so magnificent it would go down in history as the plan that made all other plans seem puny. If only he could remember what it was? Stanley had thought up the big plan between bouts of being sick and taking medicine to bring his temperature down. He had written it down on a bit of tissue paper and hidden it somewhere in his room. Stanley racked his brains but couldn’t remember where

He finished the test, handed the paper to Mrs Crochet and walked back to his class with a smile on his face. Hidden somewhere in his room was the mega-plan that would rid him of Soppy Sonia forever. All he had to do was find it.

Angus and Michael

Many thanks to Michell Dunbar for sending this fabulous photograph of her sons, Angus and Michael with their copy of Stanley Stickle Hates Homework.

Thanks for brightening my day.

Trevor Forest

A new interview with Trevor Forest

Interview with Trevor Forest on Pat McDermott’s Across the Plains od Shining Books blog.

http://acrosstheplainofshiningbooks.blogspot.com/2012/09/trevor-belshaw-peggy-larkins-war.html