Read this ... erm ... interesting post where I interview myself!
1. What was the first book you read when you were little?
The first book I read to myself was one of the Enid Blyton Mysteries. I can't remember which.
2. If you were a character in a children's book who would you be?
This is a difficult question to answer ... my choice has nothing to do with being like the character. It's to do with liking the character and thinking they're very cool. I'd like to be Sophie in Diana Wynne Jones's Howl's Moving Castle. She's brave and kind and she has an interesting experiences. And she gets Howl in the end. Swoon!
3. If you could live in a children's book for a week, as yourself, which would it be?
Another toughie. Hmm ... again, Howl's Moving Castle, although it's quite a dangerous story to live in, especially if I was living in the castle itself. If I were feeling less adventurous, it'd be Eileen Bell's Tales from the End Cottage, which is a very cosy sort of book, about a woman who lives, with her dogs and cats in a little cottage in the country. And I'd also like to live in one of J. P. Martin's Uncle books. Uncle is this eccentric millionaire elephant and his world is always fun.
4. When you were little did you read only girly books? Or were you into everything?
I liked adventures and mysteries as written by Enid Blyton, but yes, I guess I never got into Huck Finn, Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island and those sort of boy-type books. I did, however, love a book called Ajax: The Last of the Dragons. It has knights and battles between rats and stuff. Quite action-packed. I still have this book and I suspect it may the only copy left in the world as no one else seems to have heard of it ... apart from the British Library.
5. What picture books do you like? Any favourite picture book authors/illustrators?
I like so many picture books. It wouldn't be possible to list them all here. Fave writers/illustrators are John Burningham, Sandra Boynton, Barbara Nascimbeni, Lauren Child, Helen Oxenbury, Mick Inkpen, Maurice Sendak ... I could go on and on ...
6. Are/Is there (a) children's books you still re-read regularly? Name them.
Oh, yes, all the Diana Wynne Jones's, which I discovered in my late teens. Antonia Forest's. I still read my Enid Blytons. And lots of books for younger children too. I like good stories, nevermind what age group they're written for. I think if you don't read children's books simply because they're written for children, you're missing out on a whole lot.
7. What (if any) book are you reading to your son at the moment?
Martin and I are reading him The Chronicles of Narnia. It's Prince Caspian at the moment. Also, random picture books. And he's deep into The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage. He's reading that to himself!
8. If you were going to write a children's book, what would it most likely be about?
A boarding school, with some romance thrown in. Maybe even a ghost story.
9. Name your five favourite children's books.
Just five???? Okay, these are the five I couldn't live without:
i. End of Term by Antonia Forest
ii. Tales from the End Cottage by Eileen Bell
iii. The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones
iv. Uncle Cleans Up by J. P. Martin
v. Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson
I haven't included picture books because I think there should be a separate list for those!
10. And lastly, "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"
This depends on the woodchuck (is he/she a small woodchuck or a large, muscle-bound one) and the sort of wood - twigs? Planks? Logs? What?
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