Love SimoneXXX
Following on from my ‘back to school blog’ I thought it was high time to give Simone a mensh. Simone is one of my favourite characters. She came to me almost complete which is so rare for me. Usually I have to wait a while, sometimes until I’m three quarters of the way through a book, before the character reveals themselves to me fully. Simone though – she was there from the start; bright and enthusiastic, observant and kind. Amazingly, for someone who began as a short story called Dear Rumpelstiltskin, she blossomed and grew into a three book series beginning with Simone’s Letters where she is in Y5 at the beginning but ends when she’s in Y6 and about to leave for secondary school. Simone’s Letters did so well it was nominated for the 2000 Carnegie medal (yeah, baby). OUP had commissioned a sequel by then, which became Simone’s Diary. Simone’s Diary is why I’m writing. It’s perfect for anyone about to start Y7; girl or boy. I’m not just saying that because I wrote it but because I don’t think there’s been any other book since that specifically covers starting secondary school. When it was a stand-alone title (it’s only available as a bind up now along with Simone’s Letters and Simone’s Website called Love SimoneXXX) Y6 teachers used it as a class reader after the SATS to reassure their classes that they’d be fine at secondary schools and Y7 teachers used it to help the new kids settle in and to give them a laugh. Simone’s experiences cover every base, from fear of losing her bus pass to dealing with changing friendships. In the diary, which is written by Simone for Ben Cohen, the student who was on teaching practice in her primary school and is now doing a dissertation on transferring from primary to secondary, Simone describes her timetable:
‘I can’t believe I have fourteen different teachers. I’ll never remember them all. And we have the really strict Mr Skibereen for history, so I’m not looking forward to period four on a Monday and period six on a Thursday. Lessons are called periods here. Chloe started giggling when Mr Curbishley said we would be having thirty periods a week. She said in a dead loud whisper that she thought one a month was bad enough (as if she knows) and I was scared in case anyone heard her but no one had.’
It made me realize how long ago I wrote the Simone books when I saw that Simone’s Diary was dedicated to my son Joe ‘who went through Year Seven at the same time as Simone.’ Joe has just graduated from university and found his first job. That means Simone would too! Scary thought.
You know what though? Simone’s Diary is just as fresh as it was when I wrote it and just as relevant to today’s Y7s. So there.
By strange coincidence, I was searching my stationery drawer for a jiffy bag the other day and I came across Sue Heap’s original illustrations to Simone’s Diary. I’m ashamed to say I’d forgotten I had them so it was such a pleasure to re-discover them, all individually wrapped in acid-free paper. Sue captured Simone simply and perfectly.
Sue Heap's original artwork for 'Diary'
Love Simone xxx published by OUP £6.99. Cheap as chips.
For more on Sue Heap check out her page on the Walker website http://www.walker.co.uk/contributors/Sue-Heap-1686.aspx