44 ratings | 4 reviews | avg rating:3.91

more photos (6)

Jon’s Bookshelves

read (44)
currently-reading (0)
to-read (0)

Jon’s Friends (186)

Ben

320 books | 51 friends

Claire

1,702 books | 17 friends

Sachie

601 books | 11 friends

Penny

1,171 books | 30 friends

George

18,636 books | 20 friends

Kelsey Castro

1,397 books | 953 friends

Heather

828 books | 32 friends

Tracy

1,990 books | 167 friends

More friends…

Jon Blake

Goodreads Author

Born

Mortimer, Berkshire, The United Kingdom

Website

http://www.jonblake.co.uk

Twitter

jonblakeauthor

Genre

Children's Books, Literature & Fiction, Young Adult

Influences

D.H.Lawrence, Mark Twain, Flann O'Brien, Emily Bronte, [a:Jonathan Swi ...more

Member Since

September 2009

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/jonjblake

edit data

Jon Blake is the author of over sixty books, primarily for children and teenagers: most recently "Thimble Monkey Superstar" which was shortlisted for the 2017 Laugh Out Loud awards (Lollies), and its sequel "Thimble Holiday Havoc". Thimble features disabled narrator Jams Cogan, based on Jon's son.

Jon was brought up in Southampton and now lives in Cardiff where he teaches creative writing at http://parkwrite.com. His successes include the picture book “You’re A Hero, Daley B” (ill. Axel Scheffler, worldwide sales of over 250,000) and “Little Stupendo” (shortlisted for the Children’s Book Award).

Other big sellers include “One Girl School” (over 35,000), "Stinky Finger's House of Fun" and literacy hour favourite “Mark Two”.

In 1995 Jon’s TV pl Jon Blake is the author of over sixty books, primarily for children and teenagers: most recently "Thimble Monkey Superstar" which was shortlisted for the 2017 Laugh Out Loud awards (Lollies), and its sequel "Thimble Holiday Havoc". Thimble features disabled narrator Jams Cogan, based on Jon's son.

Jon was brought up in Southampton and now lives in Cardiff where he teaches creative writing at http://parkwrite.com. His successes include the picture book “You’re A Hero, Daley B” (ill. Axel Scheffler, worldwide sales of over 250,000) and “Little Stupendo” (shortlisted for the Children’s Book Award).

Other big sellers include “One Girl School” (over 35,000), "Stinky Finger's House of Fun" and literacy hour favourite “Mark Two”.

In 1995 Jon’s TV play ‘Life’ was shortlisted for a Writers Guild Award, while in 2002 he won a BBC Talent award for his adult radio sitcom “Degrees R Us” (series broadcast on BBC Radio Wales). Jon is particularly noted for original and anarchic humour, typified by the “House of Fun” series. However he has also written politically-charged fiction for an older readership.

Born in Mortimer, Berkshire, and living in Southampton between 1960 and 1973, Jon went to Exeter University, but dropped out from his drama course and worked in a furniture shop in Winchester before continuing studies at York University and Bretton Hall. He subsequently became a teacher and community centre warden in Peterborough and Nottingham.

Jon moved to Cardiff, Wales in 1987.

Besides being a writer, Jon has been involved in many community projects and is also an activist, musician and songwriter. In 2011 he collaborated with Mark Roberts (ex Catatonia) on the album This is the Sound of Adamsdown (www.soundofadamsdown.com). This features a range of Cardiff inner city residents.

Jon’s critically acclaimed 2008 novel, “The Last Free Cat”, has a website at http://www.feela.co.uk . "The Last Free Cat" was selected for the ILA's Young Choices list of 2013 - the very best YA books published in the US.

...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Jon Blake questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Jon Blake’s books

Average rating: 3.8 · 432 ratings · 98 reviews · 55 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Last Free Cat 3.70 avg rating — 260 ratings — published 2008 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	You're a Hero, Daley B! by Jon Blake (Goodreads Author), Axel Scheffler (Illustrator) 4.20 avg rating — 64 ratings — published 1992 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	One Girl School really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2002 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wriggly Pig by Jon Blake (Goodreads Author), Susie Jenkin-Pearce (illustrator) 3.90 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 1991 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Thimble Monkey Superstar by Jon Blake (Goodreads Author), Martin Ed Chatterton (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2016 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Macbeth 4.33 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2001 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dogsbottom School Goes Totally Mental by Jon Blake (Goodreads Author), Sarah Nayler (Illustrator) 4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2005 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Stinky Finger's House of Fun by Jon Blake (Goodreads Author), David Roberts (illustrator) 3.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2007 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mystery Guest at the House of Fun by Jon Blake (Goodreads Author), David Roberts (illustrator) 4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2006	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	4 storie quasi vere by Jon Blake (Goodreads Author), Francesca Cavattoni (Translator) , Martin Ed Chatterton (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator) 3.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1991 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jon Blake…

22 posts
Jon Blake's Blog

Thimble shortlisted for Lollies!

Thimble Monkey Superstar has been shortlisted for the 2017 Lollies (Laugh Out Loud awards). This is quite achievement for a book published by small Cardiff publishers Firefly Press, and for a writer who many people seem to have forgotten! One reason this has happened is that there was a period of several years when I hardly wrote anything while raising my young son Jordi, who has cerebral palsy... Read more of this blog post »

1 like · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on July 04, 2017 02:47 • Tags: disability, humour, lollies

View all 22 posts »

Upcoming Events

No scheduled events. Add an event.

Jon’s Writing

Snails and Lovers (Literature & Fiction)

1 chapters — updated May 13, 2015 06:36PM

Description: Extract from Snails and Lovers, young adult novel first published as Geoffrey's First and now available in a Kindle edition. Described by Sunday Times as "a funny and moving love story".

rss
Jon’s Recent Updates

Jon Blake is now friends with Kay Lawrence
Mar 10, 2019 08:45AM · like
Jon Blake made a comment on The Last Free Cat — Why oh why is there no sequel?? " Thanks for your messages Skye. I think the problem is that the publishers never felt the same way as readers like you! But as the book is well known a ...more "
Jan 23, 2019 03:39AM
Jon Blake joined the groups Last Free Cat fans and What's the Name of That Book???
Sep 01, 2018 04:14AM
Jon Blake liked a quote “Die anderen Kaninchen hüpften herum und schrien Hurra und umarmten sich. "He Duda, du bist ein Held!", riefen sie. "Wie komisch", überlegte He Duda. "Ich dachte, ich wäre ein Kaninchen.” Jon Blake
Dec 07, 2017 02:54AM · 1 like · like · more quotes by Jon Blake
Jon Blake liked Nancy's review of 69ers: a Novel about the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival of Music:
Jul 10, 2017 10:08AM · see review
Jon Blake made a comment in the group Goodreads Librarians Group — Thimble Monkey Superstar topic " Thanks. It is actually 160, just listed 144 on Amazon. "
Jun 07, 2016 04:05AM
Jon Blake liked Grace Prinzing's review of You're a Hero, Daley B!:
Jan 07, 2016 02:58AM · see review

More of Jon's books…

Quotes by Jon Blake

“Die anderen Kaninchen hüpften herum und schrien Hurra und umarmten sich. "He Duda, du bist ein Held!", riefen sie.
"Wie komisch", überlegte He Duda.
"Ich dachte, ich wäre ein Kaninchen.”
― Jon Blake, You're a Hero, Daley B!

tags: kaninchen, wer-bin-ich

2 likes

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
UK Book Club: Zoe's List	46	105	Sep 27, 2010 02:15AM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. A competition, burgers, male character, hypnotism and the fall of a fast food empire/theme park. [s]	11	100	Aug 03, 2017 11:18AM