Blog
The magic pencil
We redecorated JR’s room not long ago. It hadn’t been done since he was about six. He likes to hold onto things. The farmyard picture he’d had as a toddler was still hanging on the wall, and drifts of long forgotten toys lay in great heaps behind the cupboard door. Under his desk, plastic bins […]
Storm over Hogwarts
Happiness can’t be planned. I always forget that fact. I was reminded of it last week at Universal Studios in Florida. A theme park is a place where all happiness is planned, down to the last detail. They give you a map. You know what rides to take, how long you’ll have to wait in […]
The box of books
Do other writers ever feel like this? My latest book for children, The Secret Life of Daisy Fitzjohn (Orion Children’s Books) is going to be published in the UK soon. A couple of weeks before publication, I get a big box of advance copies in the mail. As soon as I see the box I heave […]
Beetles
There’s a lot to see at the Harvard Museum of Natural History but I spent most of my time with the beetles. It turns out that one out of every four animals on earth is a beetle. About 350,000 species have been identified. Harvard’s collection contains only a fraction of this vast diversity but it’s […]