I love this book. How Brave is That? is full of warmth and wit but best of all, it contains a wonderful message about courage and never giving up. Of course, with Carnegie Medal-winning author and former Children’s Laureate Anne Fine at the helm, you know that you are in a safe pair of hands when you crack the spine. […]
Last year we sat in on a workshop on improving children’s writing in the primary school. The workshop leader talked about stimuli, prompts, scaffolding, collaborative plotting, mind-maps and other ways to inspire kids to get a story down on paper.Then, he said, teachers should look at the texts produced and ask: ‘Is there a way […]
I had a heads-up recently that the issue of ‘gendered‘ books might raise its head at the Society of Authors Independents’ Day, where I was taking part in a panel event with Simon Mason of David Fickling Books, Kate Wilson of Nosy Crow, Liz Bankes of Catnip Publishing, and Mal Peet in the chair (no […]
“He hopped off along the stand, as light as a mountain goat on his bare brown feet.” This cracking story of football and friendship has a brilliant Brazilian flavour ”“ just right for the 2014 World Cup. Geraldine McCaughrean is a multi-award-winning author, perhaps best known for Peter Pan in Scarlet ”“ though I’d also […]
I was excited when Barrington Stoke asked me to write a book for dyslexic readers, specifically reluctant teen boys, because I suspected there would be certain constraints, and constraints almost always make me a better writer. Sure enough, the editors of Barrington Stoke warned me that I would have to simplify vocabulary, shorten sentences and […]
