I watched the repeat of the film ‘Enid’ shown on the BBC last night. Golly gosh! Turns out Enid Blyton, adored by millions to this day, wasn’t such a nice person in real life. A bit of a control freak, in fact. She drove her first husband to drink and neglected her two daughters because all her emotional input went into her writing and her adoring fans.

By heck she worked hard though, banging out 6000 words a day. 6000! I nearly fell of my chair when I heard that. I don’t think I’ve ever written more than 2000. In the end she had something like 750 books published and people were starting to ask whether she could possibly be writing them all herself. That upset her more than anything. Writers don’t like having their integrity questioned.

I can understand why her books were so popular. Her Famous Five and Secret Seven stories painted a perfect picture of childhood where friends had amazing adventures without any boring old grown ups around telling them what to do. You’d think today’s children, who have much more choice, not just of books but other forms of home entertainment, would overlook her but the fact that Egmont chose her books first to convert to Nintendo DS format tells you something. Enid still rocks and I am so jealous!

National Football Museum Preston

‘The Old Year’s gone away

To nothingness and night’

- John Clare

It’s been a busy one. My writing highlights include:

1. Having the first 6 books in the GIRLS FC series published by Walker Books. Being particularly proud of ‘What’s Ukrainian for Football?’

2. Launching the series at the National Football Museum, Preston, in August.

3. Accidental Friends being shortlisted for three awards and losing out to Theresa Breslin by 1 vote at the Catalyst Book Award.

4. Meeting Tom Palmer (www.tompalmer.co.uk) and setting up ‘Reads United’ with him in time for the 2010 World Cup

5. Being invited to join the Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group (CWIG) Committee. I join Gillian Cross, Steve Barlow, Roz Asquith, Anne Cassidy, Am Vrombaut, Michaela Morgan, Bali Rai and Jeremy Strong to debate topical issues concerning children’s writers and illustrators.

6. Attending the Ultimate Book Guide Launch at the Groucho Club and meeting people like Cathy Hopkins and Jan Pienkowski.

7. ‘Doing’ not only the Oxford, Northern and Cheltenham book festivals but also all the school visits up and down the country.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the universe…

2009 will be remembered for Barack Obama becoming President of the USA, Swine Flu, Credit Crunch/Recession/Banks going bankrupt/MPs claiming for bath plugs, moat cleaning, duck houses and certain videos/ England Women’s football team getting to the Final of EURO2009, Tiger Woods digging a hole in one/ Ryan Giggs rightly being awarded Sports Personality of the Year/ my mum surviving not one, not two, not three but four operations in one week. That’s tough Yorkshire women for you.

But it was goodbye to:

Borders bookshops

Keith Waterhouse (journalist, playwright, Leeds lad made good)

Frank McCourt (writer of Angela’s Ashes, the best misery memoir ever)

Sir Bobby Robson (footballer and football manager, legend)

Michael Jackson (though I haven’t liked anything he did since Man in the Mirror, to be honest)

The Gruffalo

So The Gruffalo was given the ultimate accolade by being made into an animated film and shown on Christmas Day.  Good call. It should be the law that producers choose a picture book every year to feature in this way.  My favourite from last year was Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. I suggest The Jolly Postman by the Ahlbergs next.

I hope book sales of The Gruffalo increase tenfold as a result of the film, not because Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler haven’t sold enough copies already but because the TV version of the story might encourage parents to buy it in book form.  It is the perfect story for a grown up to read to a child over and over again until the grown up wants scream and hide it deep down the side of the settee and the kid knows it off by heart.

The Gruffalo is a classic because the prose has a rhythm and pace that make it easy for the reader to read out loud. ‘A mouse took a stroll through a deep, dark wood. A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.’ It takes even the most self-conscious, reluctant parent by the hand and says: ’say it like this…’  It’s also beautifully illustrated and funny. Children love funny.

top technical advisers: left to right Sangeeta,Mujgana, Hadia, Mahfuza and Amritha

It might still be the Christmas holidays and I do still have half a turkey breast and way too much cranberry sauce left in the fridge but I’m back at my desk writing today.  I’m finishing book 8 of Girls FC (please note I’m only using the word ‘finishing’ just in case my editor reads this).  Anyway moving quickly on…

Meet the team who are helping me.  Book 8 is Tabinda’s story. Tabinda’s Dad, Mr Shah, sponsors the team.  He and Tabinda’s Mum run Sweet Peas Garden Centre.  Tabinda is a Muslim name; the boxer Amir Khan’s sister is a Tabinda.  In my head my Tabinda was always going to be a Muslim girl but also in my head (and therefore from the beginning of the series) she wears her hair in long plaits. It wasn’t until I gave a talk at the YLG conference and showed the audience my team postcards that one of the librarians pointed out that it was nice to see a little Sikh girl on the team!  Turns out plaits are traditionally worn by Sikh girls whereas some Muslim girls cover their heads in a headscarf or hijab. Though wearing the hijab is optional, the plait took my character to another culture and religion altogether. So much for my great research skills!

I took my dilemma to Forest Fields Primary School in Nottingham and met a group of girls who all play football. Together we came up with a simple solution. Tabinda is now half-Sikh, half-Muslim. Sorted.

I learned so much from these girls in one lunchtime.  In many respects they are typical British 9 and 10 year old girls. Their favourite things include spaghetti, pizza, chocolate brownies, Sponge Bob and Harry Potter. They play on their Wiis and fall out with their brothers and sisters. Amritha supports Manchester United and wants to be a professional footballer when she grows up. Mahfuza is a big fan of Jacqueline Wilson, Sangeeta and Mujgana love wearing jeans and t shirts. But there are differences too. Mujgana, whose family originates from Afghanistan, loves a dish called mantoo. Mantoo are like meatballs in a ravioli casing topped with a yogurt sauce. On special occasions, the girls will wear a salwar kameez. They also told me about mehndi. Mehndi comes  in a tube and is used to paint patterns and images on skin. It starts off green then forms a crust as it dries that reveals a type of temporary tattoo underneath. Available from the Medinah superstore in Hyson Green for only £1 a tube. Apparently mendhi parties are all the rage.  I’m still trying to work out how to fashion a mendhi party into Book 8 when the story is about Tabina’s fear of heading but if I don’t manage it this time, I will somewhere along the line.

I’d like to give a quick mention to Hadia (nickname Saj). Saj has been giving me extra help by emailing me when I think of something I need to know. Thanks, Saj. You’re a star!

mendhi

oplatek

Merry Christmas!  I am writing this early on Christmas Day morning before everyone else wakes up. The Pielichatys began their Christmas yesterday because we are part Polish and part German. A tradition we had passed on to us on my husband’s side is the special Christmas Eve meal. It begins by each member of the family breaking off a piece of oplatek or wafer. Oplatek is similar to communion wafers but made especially for Christmas and has a Nativity scene embossed upon it. We then take our pieces of oplatek and share them with each member of the family and wish each other a Merry Christmas and good health. After that we have a condensed version of German-Polish feast. True meals have 12 courses but we keep it simple with borscht (beetroot) soup to start with followed by fish fried in breadcrumbs with vegetables and then coffee and stollen or mince pies.

Today will be more traditional English.  Let the tearing of wrapping paper commence!

I went to London again yesterday. Yep, twice in a month. Cosmopolitan or what?  I love the photo I took outside the Natural History Museum of the skaters on one of those temporary ice rinks that spring up in city centres round December.  It reminds me of a Lowry painting.

Yesterday’s trip was a family excursion to see ‘Santa’s Christmas Cracker’ at the Royal Albert Hall. It  was brilliant. Just being inside the Royal Albert Hall is worth the train fare on its own. I had never been to a concert there before (could never afford it!) and wasn’t prepared for quite how majestic and breathtaking it is when you first enter the auditorium. Everything is so vast, so plush, so undeniably Victorian.

Fortified with a glass of bellini my sister and I sang along to all the carols with gusto. Luckily the fantastic voices of the Southend Boys’ and Girls’ choirs drowned us out.

Christmas card by Paper Magic Group USA

Yey! The first snow of winter has fallen over Britain. Let’s celebrate! I reckon the Bard of Barnsley, Ian McMillan, won’t mind me sharing his poem funny with you.

I keep my snowman in the freezer

by Ian McMillan

I keep my snowman in the freezer

Just behind the pies

He likes it there, he told

me so

I can see it in his eyes.

I made him on a cold,

cold morning

When the snow was fresh and deep

Now he sits in the freezer

Near the fish that we got cheap.

I keep my snowman in the freezer

and look at him each day.

If I’d left him in the garden

He’d simply have melted away.

But now he’s like my Grandma

Living somewhere safe and nice;

He’s in a frosty, snowy palace

on a throne of coldest ice.

I keep my snowman in the freezer

Near a lump of frozen beef

And I’ve got a treat for him in August

I’m taking him to Tenerife!

copyright Ian McMillan

For more heart-warming poems by Ian McMillan check out his website on www.ian-mcmillan.co.uk

The Parrs U11s

I am so entrenched with Girls FC I’m even wondering what sort of Christmas they’ll have!

Here’s what I think, starting from the back row, left to right.

Lucy will struggle a bit. Her parents have split so it will be difficult sharing her time between them but I think her Mum and Dad will put aside their differences and Dad will come to the house on Christmas Day to watch her and  Harry open their presents.

Amy will be spoilt to bits, as usual. She’ll be opening her presents on Christmas Day in Marbella where she’s in an hotel with her mum for a few days. They’ve both got facials and manicures booked for after breakfast and if her mum can stop flirting with the waiter long enough, they’ll be going rollerblading later on.

Petra will be with her Mum, Dad, sister Charlotte and about 12 other members of her family on the farm.  It will be chaotic, with Petra wanting to sneak upstairs to read her new books instead of having to entertain her cousins. Lucky Charlotte will escape to feed the ponies.

Megan will be at her Auntie Mandy’s at the clubhouse on Christmas Day. Her Mum and Dad are both working until tea-time so she’ll open her presents then. Fingers crossed she’ll get the Shoot annual and new Adidas predators she’s asked for.

Jenny-Jane will be keeping out well of the way, hoping her brothers don’t get too drunk. She’ll have plenty of things to entertain her - they’ve been out robbing again so a few new Nintendo games will be floating around. Maybe she’ll go over to the clubhouse and hang out with Megan, if Megan doesn’t mind.

Eve and her brothers will be making Christmas dinner as a surprise for their Mum, who is having a lie-in after working nights in the hospital. When Mum gets up they’ll go to church and invite anyone back who wants to come and share the day with them. They’ll play games and Samuel will cheat as usual.

Gemma will open her presents with her Mum and Dad before they all set off for Grandma and Grandad’s house in London. If Dad’s brothers and sisters turn up it could turn a bit awkward, with her mum trying too hard and her dad being hyper-sensitive and picking a fight.

Holly (front row) will take her dad and step-mum Tracie breakfast in bed. They’ll open presents as they eat. Holly can’t wait to try on her new Uggs. Later, Tracie’s parents will be coming as well as Holly’s Grandma and Grandad so it will be interesting seeing if they all get on.

Tabinda will have presents to open.  Even though she is half Sikh, half-Muslim, her parents believe in participating in all festivals. Later the whole family will descend, as Tabinda’s house is the biggest. Her cousins will take over her Wii games as usual. Her cousin Hamza will make fun of her for supporting Liverpool and she’ll tell him to get lost.

Nika will celebrate Christmas in a traditional way. They’ll have their special meal on Christmas Eve, of fish and potatoes and fresh vegetables followed by cake and sweets. They’ll exchange simple presents and go to Church and telephone all their relatives in Ukraine.  She’ll end up getting annoyed with Yuri when they want to watch different things on TV.

Daisy and Dylan’s Christmas will be fun. The windmill will be sparkling with tinsel and holly galore. They’ll have chocolates and burnt muffins for breakfast. Jim and Luna will be drinking mulled wine and singing carols while Gran sticks to her Tetley’s (with a wee dram to keep the cold out tipped in). After dinner Dylan and Daisy will perform their pantomime they’ve written accompanied by Darwin and Declan on violin and drums.

All different. Just like my characters!

Rowan the Strange

Any book where a thirteen year old boy hears voices and is sent to a lunatic asylum after breaking his sister’s fingers isn’t going to make for easy reading. I began to read the story warily, wondering if I’d be able to handle the subject matter but I soon learned to trust the writer’s voice. I’m glad I did.

The first twist in this riveting story is that for Rowan the asylum proves to be a relief, at least initially, where he gets respite from his sneering sisters, anxious mother and cold, aloof father.  Maybe here he’ll be cured of the horrible voices making him do things he doesn’t want to do?

On the ward he meets a girl, Dorothea, whose guardian angel, she informs him pluckily, is Joan of Arc.  Despite her constant mockery and barbed comments they become close friends, supporting one another as each undergoes the radical new treatment being pioneered at the hospital.

There is so much going on in this book.  Rowan’s crush on one of the nurses and its consequences. The second world war setting. The harshness of the treatment itself and the negative attitude, even by the nurses and doctors, to the mentally ill inmates.  Yet in the end it’s a simple rite of passage story, with Rowan finding out who he is and where he fits in the world and discovering that he is not so strange after all.

Julie Hearn avoids sensationalising parts that would have been easy to sensationalise. She doesn’t dwell on the medical treatment that now seems so barbaric. Instead she weaves the plot skilfully so that as the characters develop, the reader flinches on their behalf. The ending is tragic and bittersweet.

Recommended for: Ages 12+ /fans of historical fiction

Rowan the Strange is the third book in the saga of the Mull Dare family with Ivy being the first and Hazel being the second. All published by OUP.

Top of the pops...

Congratulations to JK Rowling for being the best selling writer of the decade. Harry Potter topped the table by miles (or rather millions).  Quite right too. I remember reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone for the first time and thinking how special it was. All the ingredients were there - the neglected orphan who finds out he’s actually quite special - the amazing school - the gang of disparate friends and enemies. Witches, wizards and nearly headless ghosts. What’s not to like? Go Harry!

It’s heartening to see how many children’s authors are in the Top 30. Apart from JK Rowling at number 1, Roger Hargreaves and his Mr Men are at 3, Jacqueline Wilson at 4, Terry Pratchett at 6, Daisy Meadows at 11, Enid Blyton at 12, Julia Donaldson at 15 and Francesca Simon at 16. JRR Tolkein, Philip Pullman, Anthony Horowitz, Lemony Snicket and Stephanie Meyer are all up there, too. Meyer’s inclusion is quite an achievement given the relatively short part of the decade her Twilight series has been out.