A silver tongue and a monster imagination: Paula Harrison, Robyn Silver and The Midnight Chimes

Paula gets the 'rock star' treatment from the children!

A girl who is born on the stroke of midnight and inherits the power to see what no-one else can see – that the world is full of monsters! – is the gripping premise behind Paula Harrison’s latest book, ‘Robyn Silver the Midnight Chimes’.

Paula Harrison visited Dunmore School and Rush Common School in Abingdon to talk about her book and the inspiration behind it. 

Robyn Silver come from a large family and is well-known for being clumsy – but sometimes she isn’t just making a mess sweeping cobwebs, she is actually fighting monsters - but no-one else in her family can see.

When Robyn’s school moves to a big spooky house in the town, Robyn teams up with two other friends from school, Aiden and Nora, also born on the stroke of midnight and realises she is not alone in seeing all sorts of invisible creatures.

A horrifying 'Blug' was just one of many extremely
scary monsters hatched by the children!

They team together to learn fighting skills in secret, but the biggest threat comes not from an invisible monster, but from a monster who has learned to become visible.

Paula said her favourite part of writing the book was dreaming up the monsters and these are brilliantly brought to life by illustrator Renée Kurilla, who also did the compelling bold jacket.

Paula is a good friend of Mostly Books, having visited the shop for the launch of her mega-selling Rescue Princess series, and also involved in the Nosy Crow takeover of the shop back in 2013.

The children at both Abingdon schools enthusiastically joined in creating their own monsters, giving them everything from superpowers to stilettos and inventing mixed-up monsters that would give everyone a scare if they found one hiding under the bed.

The second in the Robyn Silver series is due next year and is perfect for young fantasy readers.

Paula Harrison is best known for the Rescue Princess series for younger readers, as well as the Red Moon Rising series (about an ordinary girl who discovers she has faerie powers) but said she had always wanted to write a book about monsters.

But where in Paula's brain do these monsters come from. We thought we'd better ask a few more questions...

Five questions with...Paula Harrison's Writing Life

1. What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on the next Robyn Silver story, a yet untitled, which will be out in June, and I am working on another series for younger readers which is based on the idea of the Prince and the Pauper where two girls look identical but are from very different backgrounds. They get involved in lots of mysteries.

2. What is the best writing tip you’ve ever been given?
Just do your own thing.

3. What is the best thing and the worst thing about being a children’s writer?
The best thing is you can make anything into a story. The worst thing is too many ideas and too little time.

4. Do you have a writer’s survival kit, eg a place, snack or other essential thing you need before you start work?
I have certain music I play that matches the mood of the characters and I play that beforehand. Then I sit down at 8.30 and work until lunch and then go for a walk and then work until the children return from school. I do tend to stride around the room trying to solve a problem, so it probably does not look very productive.

5. What was your biggest breakthrough?
Having my first rescue princess book picked up off the slush pile by Nosy Crow!

Thank you so much to Paula for travelling to Abingdon, and to both schools for making her so welcome. We've have some fantastic reviews already in the shop from children who've read 'The Midnight Chimes', so if you want to discover more about Paul and her other books, we'd love to see you!

Books Are My Bag Party with Suzanne Barton and Robin's Winter Song

On Saturday, October 10 we're celebrating the publication of one of our favourite and most charming children’s picture books this year, ‘Robin’s Winter Song’ by the wonderful illustrator and author Suzanne Barton.

And it's all part of a day-long 'Book Are My Bag' Bookshop Party!

We are delighted that Suzanne, author/illustrator of hugely popular ‘The Dawn Chorus’ will be making a welcome return to Mostly Books after her amazing transformation of our window last year. 

She will be giving everyone an early introduction to her latest book by reading this charming story at 11.30 on Saturday October 10. So we hope you will bring your children along to meet her and hear the story. We think there is nothing like being able to meet an author to introduce children to the wonder of books, so we are celebrating this year’s ‘Books are my Bag’ Day by speaking to some of the youngest book lovers out there.

You can win a signed first edition of the book by taking part in coming up with your own robin-themed feathery masterpiece throughout the day (pop into the shop to take part!).

Suzanne Barton is also one of the featured illustrators in a special, limited edition commemorative calendar which celebrates the wonderful quality and diversity, of illustrating in children’s fiction today, produced exclusively to celebrate Books are My Bag. Featuring illustrators including Cressida Cowell, Mick Inkpen, Alex T Smith and David Melling.

And as if that wasn't enough fun, we'll be asking you all for your #DesertIslandReads - eight titles that you would want to take to a Desert Island. BAMB illustrator David Melling has given us his - and if you provide yours, we'll enter you into a competition to win a Giclée print worth £45!

Come in to meet Suzanne, listen to the story, meet an author, enter a competition, have fun - and discover the calendar!

Help create a 'Dawn Chorus' window at Mostly Books

We reckon it’s about time our window had a make-over – so we’ve asked artist, children’s author and illustrator Suzanne Barton – author of the beautiful new picture book ‘The Dawn Chorus’ – to design a 'Dawn Chorus' window – and she needs some help!

The 'Dawn Chorus' is a wonderful debut by Oxford-based Suzanne. It's the story of Peep, desperate to find out where the beautiful song is coming from one morning. The illustrations just make this book particularly special.

If you’d like one of your creations to feature in our stunning window display for ‘the Dawn Chorus’ call in to pick up a bird template – decorate it and bring it back to us for a chance to win a prize. Or call in on the day – Tuesday April 8 – as we’ll all be making bird collages to hang in our window.

See the finished results at the end of the day – and meet the author herself!

Old Bear guest stars at Teddy Bear’s Picnic

We were delighted to have a real VIP visitor on Tuesday, when one of the most loved bears visited in person as guest of honour at our teddy bear’s picnic.

Our courtyard garden was packed out with picnickers - and their bears - who came along in the sunshine to listen to Old Bear stories and to meet some very famous bears indeed.

Author and illustrator, Jane Hissey, explained that Old Bear was the original inspiration and features in most of her books, which have been loved by children around the world for over 25 years.

In fact, Old Bear is now so old he very rarely makes a guest appearance, so Mostly Books felt particularly honoured that such a venerable bear made such a very long journey from Jane’s home in Sussex (and also very grateful to Jane for making such a long journey and bringing us all her delightful characters).

Old Bear was her very own bear. She had studied on an illustration and design course and worked as a teacher, but started drawing Old Bear when she had free moments after she started a family. She finally found a publisher who was interested in publishing her stories and quickly found readers who loved the books.

Old Bear was quickly joined by other characters – Hoot the owl, Little Bear – and her most recent creations – Ruby, Blue and Blanket. In the eighties the characters featured on everything from jigsaws to china figures.

Our audience featured lots of children and plenty of mums who had loved the books when they were young, as well as some new fans. And lots of sandwiches, cake and much-loved teds.

It was a glorious day and we were extremely lucky as a torrential downpour in the morning had flooded the garden and threatened our plans to be outside. We spent a good hour trying to clear all the water! But luckily the sun shone again and the weather was perfect by the time the picnic started.

Jane brought along all the original characters for us to meet and all of them had their own story of where they had all come from and how they ended up with starring roles in her books.

The stories would make a book in themselves.

It was as delightful a way to spend an hour as you could possibly have.

Her books are popular the world over and were made into an animated television series and they have been praised not only for their charming stories and colourful pictures, but also use of texture and perspective.

It was great that Jane also gave us an insight into how the books come to life.

She explained how she first writes the stories and then uses the characters to set up the scenes that will appear alongside the text, sometimes using pins, hooks and threads if the characters need to be in action or flying.

It was a unique insight into the meticulous attention to detail that goes into producing children’s book. It really gave an idea of how much work goes into the books, but also why they seem so full of life and texture. There are really no other books like them.

She also says she only uses coloured pencils to draw with and brought some of the original drawings for us to see.

With an audience from babes in arms, they appeal to a great range of ages. Now celebrating twenty-five years since being published, the Old Bear stories will now be delighting a whole new generation of children.

A tremendous thank you to Jane for such a delightful hour of insight and stories and for being generous enough to share them with us. We had a lovely time.

(Want to get a parent's view on the event - visit Child-Led Chaos's report on the day, and also visit Jane Hissey's own website for much more on the story behind Old Bear)

A Boy and His Unicorn: five questions with Simon Rae

On Thursday April 30 we took Simon Rae - author of Keras - to Cholsey School and Our Lady's Abingdon. At both schools he received a very enthusiastic welcome, and some of the best questions I think I've heard children ask an author.

Simon is a poet, broadcaster, biographer and playwright. His first novel - Unplayable - was a book about cricket, but Keras (published by David Fickling Books) is a very different beast altogether.

We've loved recommending the book in the shop. It's the story of a young boy, Jack, who discovers an incredible secret in the local landowner's woods - a unicorn. The story that unfolds is one that appeals equally to boys and girls, and is an exciting twist on the unicorn myth.

The book itself is a thing of beauty, a smaller-format hardback that just cries out to be read thanks to the wonderful artwork on the cover.

Simon's story as an author is one that started with a bookshop. As a boy, his parents ran a bookshop in Canterbury, so he grew up surrounded by books (and of course disappointed his parents by not following them into the business).

He started out reading two extracts from the book - and then settled in to answer a wide range of questions from the children: which books did he like as a child, does he base the characters on any real people, why did he become an author in the first place?

We then Whisked Simon back to Abingdon, where - unusually (because typically we're on a tight schedule) we were able to bring Simon to the shop and give him some lunch.

Cue shot of author proudly standing in front of bookshelf with book on display (partially obscured by author's elbow...)

Then on to Our Lady's Abingdon, where it transpired Simon might have become their English teacher four year's previously...

 ...before more storytelling and questions from the young audience...

 ...and a few very pleased purchases of Keras, signed by the author...

Inevitably we asked Simon a few questions before letting him return to north Oxfordshire.

Five questions with...Simon Rae's Writing Life

1.    What are you working on at the moment? 

The next book for David Fickling called 'The Stone Butterfly'. I'm delivering it next week for publication in February.

2.    What is the best writing tip you’ve ever been given? 

Use as few adverbs as possible. (I pressed him on this, but why?). The advice of Stephen King, in his book 'On Writing' is that he likens them to dandelions on the lawn. They increase slowly until your lawn is covered with them...

3.    What’s the best thing and the worst thing about being a children’s writer?

I haven't found a bad thing about writing for children yet. The best thing is being able to write a novel and not have to include adult "stuff".

4.    Do you have a writer’s survival kit, eg a place, thing of snack essential before you can start work? 

Coffee!

5.    What was your biggest breakthrough?

Probably being born! I have had a number of career lurches, and time will tell whether this novel is the breakthrough... 

On the river and In The Trees: five questions with Pauline Fisk

At Oxford Spires Academy on World Book Day, we did an event with Rachel Ward (which we'll be writing up separately) and Pauline Fisk - author of books including Sabrina Fludde, Midnight Blue and In The Trees, a book she wrote after time spent amongst the rainforests of Belize.

Pauline spoke to pupils about her books and writing life - before signing books in the school library:

This was appropriate really given that Pauline practically lived in the library as a child, something which she talks about on her blog:

"I grew up in the suburbs of south London, a shy girl who loved books and created a world inside her head.  The way I saw it, my parents’ garden was full of hidden fairy folk, the alley behind it was their kingdom and if home life was boring at least the local library was close by - my gateway to all things fabulous and exciting."

We were able to interview Pauline between signings in the library, and find out more about her writing life and inspirations...

Five Questions with...Pauline Fisk's Writing Life

1.    What are you working on at the moment?

I’ve just begun a new book – but I’d rather not talk about it too much as it’s at an early stage. However, I’ve really got into blogging recently, involved in a project entitled My Tonight from Shrewsbury. It’s a one year blog, and I’m interviewing everyone I can in the town (from the Big Issue seller up to the prison governor . We’re trying to get to the heart of an English town – it’s a big commitment, but I’m loving it.

2.    What is the best writing tip you’ve ever been given?

(Thinks hard about the question) - I’m a bit torn about this, can I have two? OK, the first is ‘please yourself’. I was told this by Gerry Anderson, I was working with him on Lavender Castle (a children’s stop-motion television series). He said “if you are enjoying it, the reader will enjoy it”. The second tip is ‘trust your own voice’. When I was very young, I tried to make myself 'read' like other authors, but you have to trust your own voice, your own way of writing.

3.    What’s the best thing and the worst thing about being a children’s writer?

Best: the stories themselves, I love writing from young people’s point of view, discovering things for the first time, opening up, getting out there and having new experiences. There’s optimism there, and hope. But basically, children are really interesting! The worst thing – and this isn’t just for children’s writing – it’s a terrible time for authors at the moment, publishing is in disarray, no-one knows where it’s going to end up.

4.    Do you have a writer’s survival kit, eg a place, thing of snack essential before you can start work?

Well, I don’t need much to start writing, certainly not a survival kit – in fact, it’s harder to get me to stop writing than start. But to get my best writing, I like to get to the computer as soon as possible after getting up. No coffee, family, conversations – as quickly as I can. There is something very special about the in-between world before full ‘awakeness’. Issues you have, in fact the problems of the world, seem to solve themselves at this time.

5.    What was your biggest breakthrough?

Well, creatively, as mentioned above, was finding my own voice. But the real publishing breakthrough came with winning the Smarties Prize (in 1991). I was up against Roald Dahl and other fantastic authors. That was a fabulous year, shortlisted for Carnegie, no-one had ever heard of me before then!