Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke

My daughter Rhiannon, who is seven, has recently started reading the Anna Hibiscus books. Thanks to a recommendation by

stephanieburgis we picked up the first one and Rhiannon breezed through it and asked for more straightaway. She is now reading 'Hooray for Anna Hibiscus' and it looks like the author is producing more in this series all the time.

I went to find out more about Nigerian author Atinuke and I think I am a little in love. She writes; 'Throughout my childhood I wanted firstly and desperately to be a Boy, then an Adventurer, and lastly, An Author. Two of these were impossible (I was told) and one was dangerous. Forget it. So I carried on reading instead.' And...'I wrote 10,000 words one year to get over a lost love and got into Oxford instead. But the writing I had to do there was so dry that I left. I decided to go Adventuring instead. I lived and travelled in England and France, Morocco and Germany and Spain, sleeping like a nomad on beaches and mountainsides. I sang for my supper, painted portraits, weeded gardens, worked as an artist's model and lived in a round mud hut in the wild wet woods of Wales. One day, pregnant with my first son, I told a story to some bored children at a festival and that's when my proper job found me! I haven't stopped telling stories since.'

How cool is that?

And here is an interview with Atinuke on You Tube