To liven up her creative writing lessons, Mrs P has got Class Five to write a story on a roll of wallpaper. Each child must add a sentence to make it the longest story ever. Soon we are swept along in the tale of King Fred, who narrowly escapes death at the hands of pirates and attempts to save mermaids from the monstrous Wugblammer. (But he fails - it ate them all.) While Ecky Thump indulges his imagination, Noah Mount, who hates English, keeps trying to kill everyone off. Little does he or anyone else realize that in a parallel fantasy world all their characters come to life, in the whirlwind of action that is the story. It's when the children make spelling mistakes or forget what's happened that things get interesting. The 'holey' archbishop finds himself in tatters, fluttering along like a ghost, while an army of 'nights' has plunged the kingdom into complete darkness. The story twists and turns with ever more hilarious consequences. Fully illustrated in black and white line and tone this is a truly original and captivating book. Highly illustrated insides (in black and white line and tone) from an exciting new and sought-after illustrator, Jago, whose first picture book Fig's Giant is also written by Geraldine and will be published by OUP in autumn 05
It's 30 years now since I first got published, and 50 since I found out how writing let me step outside my little, everyday world and go wherever I chose - way back in Time, to far distant shores, towards my own, home-made happy ending. Not that all my books are an easy ride. I write adventure, first and foremost, because that's what I enjoyed reading as a child. But since I have published over 150 books now, there are all manner of books in among that number - gorgeously illustated picture books, easy readers, prize winners, teenage books and five adult novels.
The White Darkness won the Printz Award in the USA, which, for as Englishwoman, was the most amazing, startling thrill.
Then there was Peter Pan in Scarlet - official sequel to J M Barrie's Peter Pan, written on behalf of Great Ormond Street Hopsital for Sick Children. I won the chance to write that in a worldwide competition, and because Peter Pan is loved everywhere, my book sold worldwide too. I can't say I expected that when, as a child, I dreamed of being like my older brother and getting a book published one day.
These days I have a husband (who's good at continuity and spelling) and a daughter who is an excellent editor. But she's at the Royal Academy of Dramtic Art now, studying to become an actor. So, naturally, I have turned my hand to writing plays. (So many actors, so few plays!)
My Mum told me, "Never boil your cabbages twice, dear," which was her way of saying, "Don't repeat yourself." So I have tried never to write the same book twice. You'll find all my novels quite different from one another. I have also done lots of retellings of myth, legend, folk and fairy tales, and adapted indigestible classics such as El Cid, the Epic of Gilgamesh, The Odyssey, Moby Dick, Shakespeare and the Pilgrim's Progress.
Something for everyone, you see, my dear young, not-so-young, eccentric, middle-of-the-road, poetical, sad, cheerful, timid or reckless reader.
All they have in common is that they all contain words. If you are allergic to words, you'd best not open the covers.
