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Saying No: Why it's Important for You and Your Child

By Asha Phillips

Published by Faber
Price £8.99

Asha Phillips writes as both a child psychotherapist and a mother, using case studies as well as informal anecdotes from family and friends as illustrations. She strips away the negative associations surrounding the word 'no' and celebrates change and setting limits as essential ingredients in development. In a new introduction, Asha Phillips explains why the idea of limits and boundaries have become ever more pertinent since the book was first published. Now with a new chapter on illness in the family, "Saying No" can continue to build confidence and self-esteem in both children and parents.
Asha Phillips is a child psychotherapist trained at the Tavistock Clinic. She has worked for Education and Social Sevices and in a Hospital Paediatric department and Special Care Baby Unit. At present she works privately, seeing children, families and couples. She is a visiting lecturer at the Tavistock Clinic and regularly lectures abroad. She is married, has two daughters and lives in London.

With ten questions to ask on such a fantastic book and topic, we did our best to make them the best....

1. Why did you decide to advise on childcare from birth all the way to teenagers?

I believe that the issue of boundaries is important at all stages of a child’s development and into adulthood. The principles underlying why this is the case are also relevant throughout life. However different ages need different thinking, understanding and strategies. I hope my book addresses these in the context of ordinary development and also allows parents to dip into the section most suited to their children.
2. Is there any age which stands out as being more problematic?
This depends a lot on each parent’s own history, but generally most people find early babyhood and teenage most difficult to manage emotionally; although from the point of view of setting limits the ‘terrible twos’ of toddlerhood can also be problematic.
3. Do you have children of your own and, if so, do you use the same thinking, and does it work!?
I have two children, although they are no longer really children but wonderful young women. I am notoriously bad at saying no and I am quite serious when I say that I wrote the book because I needed help in setting limits, looked for a book to guide me and could not find one so decided to write it!
4. What made you decide to go into the field of publishing books? Do you enjoy writing?
I do a lot of teaching and this prompted me to share what I learn with others. A book seemed the ideal way to reach many. I love writing and generally communicating with people.
5. Have you any plans for further books?
I have two projects on the go, another book about children and the importance of play and one about couples.
6. Have you ever had feedback on how the book has worked for families?
I have been thrilled to have very positive feedback from families. Parents tell me that the book has helped them see limit setting as helpful to children rather than tyrannical. It gives them courage to face conflict knowing it is in the best interest of the child.
7. Do you feel a responsibility towards your readers as you obviously are wanting to help?
I do feel some responsibility as a book can only be quite general. It could be frustrating for a reader if I haven’t addressed their very particular dilemma. I can only hope that at least some of the examples echo with most families.
8. When you are not working, what do you enjoy doing?
I love dancing, cooking and eating and spending time with my family and friends. I strongly believe that pleasure and fun not only enhance life but give people strength.
9. What do you think is the hardest area to handle, behaviour-wise, for a parent?
Any behaviour that puts the child at risk, self harm/eating disorders/serious drug taking etc. Nothing is harder for parents than feeling that they are helpless to stop their child’s suffering, especially if it appears self inflicted.
10. As a psychotherapist, who's the better behaved - parent or child?
I don’t think passing judgement is ever helpful, what matters is how parent and child match and find a way of understanding and accommodating each other, differences and all!

SHIRAZ: THE FAME DIARIES
By Grace Dent

Published on 16th October by Hodder
Price £5.99
Shiraz is back with her fifth fabulous diary, chasing fame and fortune and trying to keep it real…

After her nightmare trip to Ibizia, Shiraz is overjoyed to be back in Goodmayes with her family and friends and Wesley of course. Wes is soon a regular fixture at 34 Thundersely Road, but Shiraz know that there is a big wide world out there, just waiting for the unique charms of Shiraz Bailey Wood. Soon she’s writing off for college applications and spending the rest of her time trailing after her mate Carrie Draper, who’s determined to infiltrate the celebrity circuit. However, things get difficult when Shiraz gets a job as PA to a Premier league footballer and his wife – Carrie had her heart set on it and she’s furious. It doesn’t take long before Shizza realises that celebrity life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…And at the end of the day she really, really wants to be a writer. But what about Wesley? Can she really leave him behind for good.
With FOUR bestselling novels in the past 12 months, Grace Dent is undeniably one of the hottest names in teen fiction right now. SHIRAZ THE FAME DIARIES – released on October 16th – is set to be one of the hottest reads for Autumn 2008.

Put simply: right now, no other author nails how young people REALLY speak and behave like Grace Dent. It’s reached the point where Shiraz Bailey Wood fans refuse to believe that the lovable Essex sensation is a fictional character! Messages and pleas for advice for Shiraz, Cava-Sue and the gang pour in day and night via Bebo and Myspace, MSN!

Grace says: ‘I’ve cajoled kids who claim to have never read anything longer than a text message into reading three entire novels and nagging for the fourth. This makes me insanely proud.’

Grace Dent is a comedy writer and broadcaster specialising in all aspects of ‘Pop Culture’.

She is a presenter on The Culture Show on BBC2 and has recently interviewed Mitchell and Webb and the cast of Gavin and Stacey.

Grace’s recent work includes: Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe (BBC4), Big Brother’s Big Mouth (C4) Woman’s Hour (Radio 4) The Sara Cox Show (Radio One) The Nemone Show (Radio 2) and ‘Sex Lies and Soaps’ (Channel Four Schools). Grace is a regular pundit on shows such as Britain's Best Loved TV' (BBC2), 'Top Children's TV’ E4 and ‘50 ways to Leave Your Lover’ (Sky One).

As well as working on the forthcoming Shiraz Bailey Wood Diaries, Grace is also currently working on a television show with friend and co-writer Caitlin Moran.
Grace has worked as a broadsheet writer and columnist for ten years. She began at Marie Claire as editorial assistant before writing for The Mirror, The Guardian, Glamour, More! and many others.

Grace’s on-line Radio Times Big Brother and Apprentice blogs were incredibly successful. Grace writes a soap column for the Guardian Guide ‘World of Lather’ and is a regular contributor to the G2 section.

Grace lives in East London with her husband who works in the music industry. When she’s not writing comedy she’s ‘faffing about on the internet’ or ‘or faffing in the garden or kitchen. Or just faffing about generally. I’m an excellent faffer.’
We managed to pin down the ever so busy Grace and asked her ten must know questions.

1. You seem to have 'teen-speak' sussed - what's your secret?
I just earwig on conversations and watch lots of tv. Bebo and Myspace and blogs are good too. I love language so soaking stuff in and regurgitating it is something I do for fun anyhow. I can do it for old people's voices too. I just get into character and start typing and make myself laugh.

2. Were you a good teenager? If not, what is the worst thing you did which is printable?

I was a hideous teenager. I didn't go to school very regularly and the teachers were quite relieved about it.

3. What do you think are Shiraz's good points?

She's lovable, loyal, kind-natured and incredibly funny.

4. And bad?

She speaks without thinking, she constantly doubts herself and she can be very, very easily led.

5. Where did the idea for Shiraz come from and is she based, however loosely, on someone you know?

Shiraz is a mixture of a lot of girls I knocked about with in Carlisle when I was growing up, with a big dose of me chucked in. Shiraz is symbolic of a lot of normal working class girls in comprehensive schools across Britain right now. She's not a bad person and she's not stupid, she's just poor. The title 'diary of a chav' was a tease really. You may think you know exactly what a girl who looks and dresses Shiraz will be like, but after a few chapters you'd feel uneasy calling her such a name.

6. 'The Fame Diaries' is your fifth Shiraz outing - have you decided how many more will be written or will we see Shiraz in her twenties and beyond?

I'm certainly writing a sixth Shiraz 'The Real Diaries' which is out in spring 2009. After that, I'm working on a different project for a while. But who knows with Shiraz. I feel very uneasy about just leaving her there aged 19 floating in limbo. Or just abandoning Uma, Carrie, Wes and Cava-Sue. I'm as curious as anyone else to find out what happens to them.

7. You have an enviable TV CV - which has been your favourite show to work on?

Big Brother's Little Brother was fun this Summer. My slot was every Sunday so I used to have a pre-show coffee with whoever got slung out the Friday before. I'm a huge Big Brother geek so this was lovely. Getting in the booth where they do the 'voice of Big Brother' was amazing. I was nearly hyperventilating with happiness. I love Big Brother.

8. With such a busy working life, if you decided to stick to just one area, would it be writing or broadcasting?
I'll always write as I've got a lot to get off my chest. It's very therapeutic. I love sitting in my office writing novels and newspaper columns. Being on TV is fun and I love it, but one thing is you have to do the full 'glam' hair, makeup, hullabulloo thing every single day. Writing is much less strenuous, you can literally stay in bed.

9. Do you have any ideas for a new series of books?
Yes, thanks!

10. You say that you're an 'excellent faffer' - what is your fave thing to faff at?

It changes every day. Today I've been perusing many different websites for vintage biscuit tins. Then I might re-pot a spider plant, wander about ASDA for an hour listening to ASDA fm, then sort my pen drawer into 'fancy', 'book signing' and 'everyday office'. I'd love to start writing my new novel, but as you can see, I'm pretty up against it.

THE BLOODSTONE BIRD
INBALI ISERLE

Published by Walker Books
Price £5.99 paperback original for 9+

When Sash is forced to move from his comprehensive school in Peterborough to a private school in London he feels like an outcast. His taxidermist father, Max, is too busy to notice, absorbed in his secret life.

Sash finds a riddle in his father’s study that changes his life forever. Max is searching for a legendary bird of flames, rumoured to bind enemies in friendship. Sash resolves to find it first. Verity, the most popular girl in the school, insists on helping, on one condition: no one must know of their secret alliance. Together they discover the entrance to the Fleet, London’s largest underground river and find a portal to Aqarti – the tropical homeland of the mythical bird of flames. But beneath the suns of a dazzling new world, dangerous forces are also at work. Soon Sash and Verity are in a race against time to find the bird and decide its fate, before returning to this world to face their own futures.

Inbali Iserles was born in Israel and lived in both England and the United States as a child, before finally returning to Cambridge as a teenager. She has always written, but started writing seriously at the age of 17. Inbali attended Cambridge and Sussex universities and is now working as a lawyer in London, balancing her life as a writer with a City career.

The Bloodstone Bird is Inbali’s second novel. Her first, The Tygrine Cat, recently won the 2008 Calderdale Children’s Book Award, which particularly delighted Inbali, as it was chosen by children.

Here we ask the beautiful Inbali some probing questions, as only FromBumptoGrump know how!

1. You were born in Israel and lived in both England and the United States as a child - do the experiences of different countries influence your writing?

Absolutely. For instance, my first book, The Tygrine Cat, tells the story of a young cat called Mati who arrives in England from a distant land to find himself on a noisy market-place, occupied by a hostile clan of feral cats. Parallels with my own life are probably inevitable (replace the market-place with a playground!). Israel also inspired the book in a more direct sense. I was fascinated by ferals from a young age, watching as they prowled the streets of Tel Aviv.

2. Where do the ideas for your books come from?

The Bloodstone Bird was set in motion by a chance discovery on a London street and a mysterious taxidermy shop; The idea for The Tygrine Cat entered my head while leafing through a book on cat breads, and imagining an ancient rivalry between feline tribes.

3. The cover for your latest book is stunning - do you have any input on illustration and is the bird featured on the cover similar to your vision of the Bloodstone Bird?

Thank you! My publishers, Walker Books, are brilliant at keeping me involved in the whole process. I am delighted with the finished product - it catches the mystery and danger of the quest, without giving too much away!

4. Did you read fantasy books as a child and if so, what was your favourite childhood book?

I loved fantasy from a young age - I still remember my mum reading me Tove Jansson's Moomin adventures in Hebrew. As I got older, I enjoyed Ursula Le Guinn's Earthsea series and the stories of Margaret Mahy. Mahy has a knack for bringing fantasy into everyday life - magical things happen to ordinary children. "Perhaps," I thought, as I read her books, "perhaps that could happen to me..."

5. You have always written - what is the first thing you remember writing?

Even before I could write I would make up stories. From the age of four I shared a bunk bed with my sister, Tali. She was older, and therefore claimed the top bunk. I considered this to be a gross injustice (everyone knows - surely - that the top bunk is best!) and devised a story that I owned a pet dragon who lived under my bed. He would breathe fire on anyone who came too near (except for me, of course). Despite denying the dragon's existence, Tali would scamper up the ladder to the safety ofher bunk - just in case.

6. You are a lawyer and manage to dedicate time to both. If one had to go, which would it be?

I am very fortunate because my firm has been really supportive about the writing, allowing me to wear both lawyer and writer hats.

7. Your books contain very real, down to earth characters that children can easily relate to. Is there any of you that you bring to any of them?

There are elements of me in all the characters (bits of other people too!), but none are expressly modelled on a particular person.

8. Your first novel, The Tygrine Cat, recently won the 2008 Calderdale Children’s Book Award - how did that feel?

It felt wonderful! The award ceremony was the culmination of a whole day of events with children from across the region, and it was enormous fun.

9. Will you continue to write within the fantasy genre and how many other books do you already have ideas for?

I am currently writing the sequel to The Tygrine Cat, which will also be published by Walker Books. I have various other ideas for fantasy stories and I would like to explore new genres too. If we had world enough and time...

10. Law and writing aside, what else are you passionate about?

In no particular order: human rights;scuba diving; Attenborough documentaries; hazelnut coffee; my cat Wilma; wildlife; theatre/film/art; my funny little degus (exotic rodents that I adopted a few years ago from the RSPCA).

Hungry?
Quick Easy Everyday Food
by Lindsey Bareham
Penguin Books/ Michael Joseph

3rd April 2008

£7.99

Hungry? Quick Easy Everyday Food is full of quick and easy food for students, beginners and hungry people everywhere.

Hungry? is the brand new look for Lindsey Bareham’s classic A Wolf in the Kitchen. She wrote this book when her son Zach first went to university and wanted to take some of her recipes with him. It has since been the favoured book for students everywhere, approaching the realities and practicalities of a student kitchen with style and simplicity.

As we're always hungry, we were extra keen to ask Lindsey Bareham some questions of our own!

1. You wrote this book when your Son Zach started university. Was he impressed by your dedication and did he use it?

Yes and yes! He went off to college with a box of ingredients that formed the basis of the book’s chapters. My theory being that if he could make a decent pasta sauce with a can of tomatoes, he could build on it, adding whatever else he had. He still uses the book now – it was initially published as Wolf in the Kitchen and is revised and updated, republished as Hungry?
2. What was Zach's favourite recipe and did it inspire him to cook more inventively?

Zach’s enduring favourite is Thai Green Chicken Curry with Tarte Tatin (Upside Down Apple Tart) for pudding. He is known for HIS Thai Green Chicken Curry and HIS apple tart, and that’s what happen.. when you cook the recipes, they become yours.

3. Has he now cooked for his Mum?

Yes, he’s now a very accomplished cook and tells me what he’s been cooking.
He has a complete collection of my books!

4. The book is incredibly well thought out - where did you get your ideas from?

The book dictated itself, it seemed to fit into place because of the constraints of budget, lack of space, minimal time and interest in food shopping and the need for plenty of quickly and easily achieved tasty grub.

5. Do you have a favourite recipe?

I find it hard to pick out one favourite recipe but I do make the Thai-style potato soup often, make hummus once a week and repeatedly return to about a dozen recipes!

6. We're hoping there may be a 'Hungry 2' or 'Even More Hungry' in the pipeline?

I’d love to write more Hungry? titles; if this one goes well, perhaps I will!

7. Do you have ideas for a different type of cookbook?

I have many ideas for different types of cook books but all mine are grounded in every day food, by which I mean food that doesn’t take all day to make, tastes good and doesn’t break the bank.

8. We would love a cracking recipe book for younger teens - can you oblige?
Younger teens; that’s a good idea, I’ll look into it!

To celebrate the release of "SERIOUS SURVIVAL:HOW TO POO IN THE ARCTIC & OTHER ESSENTIAL TIPS" by Marshall Corwin, we have his ultimate Top Ten Survival Tips!

RRP £14.99

TOP TEN SURVIVAL TIPS
1) Have a positive mental attitude: ‘I CAN survive and I WILL survive!’. This has proved to be by far the most important factor in extreme survival situations, beyond physical strength and specialist knowledge.
2) Don’t replay in your mind the (possibly) stupid thing you did to get yourself into the situation in the first place. Even top explorers occasionally do really dumb things. Imagine instead what a great tale you’ll have to tell WHEN you get out.
3) Easier said than done, but don’t waste energy by panicking and running around like a headless chicken. Stop and coolly assess your situation and your options. In many cases staying put and waiting for rescue may well be the best option, especially if you…
4) …prepare for disaster by always carrying an emergency kit with you (eg in a ‘bum bag’ or belt pouches), containing such essentials as water, compass, waterproof matches and high energy snack.
5) Remember to leave your plans with someone you trust before you set off, so they can raise the alarm if you don’t turn up on the expected day.
6) Include iodine drops in your emergency kit to purify water (and cleanse wounds). Always take water from fast-flowing streams if possible.
7) Before disaster strikes practise building a waterproof shelter from local materials (or digging a snow cave in cold environments). This is much harder than you might first think.
8) Similarly, practise lighting a fire in wet conditions – not something you want to try to master for the first time in an emergency situation.
9) Use the ‘buddy system’ where two people buddy up to look out for each other. For example, if one of the buddies stops to go to the toilet in the jungle, the other will alert the rest of the expedition to wait so the buddy isn’t left behind.
10) Carry a portable satellite phone & GPS handset (satellite navigation device) with spare batteries.

The Thousand Nights and One Night

Puffin Books £14.99

Welcome to an ancient world of enchantment and adventure where animals talk, genies grant wishes and sorcerers and sultans rub shoulders with men. Based on the original nineteenth-century English translation by Sir Richard Burton, David Walser retells these fantastic tales with a flourish of magic. Jan Pienkowski's exquisite silhouettes on stunning colour bring the stories vivdly to life, with silver ink printing throughout making this a truly sumptuous production of one of the oldest and best-loved story collections.
We love interviews, and were very lucky to talk to Jan Pienkowski...

1. You moved about a lot as a child - was it an enriching experience despite the backdrop of war?
Yes, very much so. Apart from the destruction of Warsaw, I have few unhappy memories and I am grateful to have ended up in England, which I love.

2. You have an artistic heritage - did you ever want to do something different?
Not really. When I was interviewed for my first job, in advertising, I asked to work in the Art Department - " But you've got a degree in English!" said the Personnel officer in disbelief.

3. You manage to create many different styles of illustration - is this intentional to keep your drawings fresh?
Yes, I don't like to go down the same path twice, if there is an alternative. Sometimes I get lost but I'm never bored.

4. You co-founded a greetings card company - do you illustrate the cards you give personally?
Occasionally.
5. As the founder of the modern pop-up, are you critical of others' attempts?
I do not look at Illustrators' work. I only look at the paper mechanics - in a predatory way!
6. Meg and Mog is superb - how does it feel seeing your designs on TV?

I found it exciting working with Roger Mainwood, the Animation Director, whose work I admire. The challenge of inventing and drawing new characters to a deadline once a week, I found hair-raising but fun.

7. You have created Sleeping Beauty at Disneyland Paris - Do you visit to see your stage designs?
Yes I did, several times. Each time another bit of me had been amputated.
8. The Thousand Nights and One Night is illustration beyond belief - from where did you draw your inspiration?
From staying in all the countries that the Genie covers, carrying Aladdin's palace from China to Morocco. My favourite place would probably be Samarkand.

9. How long did it take to complete?
The best part of three years.
10. If you could choose a day doing your illustrations or a day enjoying the outdoors, which would it be?
Drawing out of doors is what I like best.

The Book Club Bible

RRP £7.99

Publisher: Michael O'Mara books

Every book club member knows the agonies of choosing a book. Will everyone hate it? Is it too long? What will I say about it? Will I sound dim or – worse – pretentious if I suggest it? What other book would complement it well for discussion? Fear no more, help is at hand!
The Book Club Bible is packed with 100 recommended titles, from classics to recent bestsellers and little-known gems, concentrating on 20th and 21st century fiction.
Each entry includes a precis of the book (without spoilers!), historical background, brief author biography, insightful discussion points, suggestions for complementary books, honest opinions from real readers and the all important page count!
Ana sampson joined Michael O’Mara Books in March 2006, a small independent publishing house, as the Publicity and Marketing Manager. Publishing almost exclusively non-fiction, including humour, celebrity titles and a children’s book imprint, ideas are welcomed from within the company, and she begged them to publish a Book Club Bible.

Here we ask Ana more about the book that every Book Club should read...

1. How would you describe a book club to someone who has never been involved?
In a way, a book club can be whatever you make it! Some people meet at each other’s houses, and others at a pub or restaurant. Some talk over dinner and others simply enjoy coffee or drinks. However, what they all have in common is that it’s a group of people meeting on at least a semi-regular basis to discuss what they have been reading.

2. Tell me about yours - how long have you been in it, how many members, when do you meet, how did it come about?
I’ve been a member of a book club for about 4 years now. The original suggestion came from Mike, who is definitely the most widely read and well prepared at most of the meetings, and he recruited from among his friends. I squeezed in because Mike’s fiancée used to work with my friend Helen!

We’ve had a few line-up changes over the years, but we’re now down to a hard core of six. We’ve got more than our fair share of men – apparently 98% of book club members are women – because we’re lucky enough to have two! Originally we tried to be terribly clever and pick venues that matched our books – so a pub called The Bull when we read The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, and a Cuban bar when we read To Have and Have Not… but that got a little tricky after a while. So now we have found a venue in London Bridge that’s usually quiet, does excellent cheesy chips, and never has the football on. I’m not telling you its name though – otherwise it’ll be overrun with book clubs!

3. What inspired you to write the book?
Well I can’t claim to have written the whole book – there were many contributors, which I think makes for a much more interesting collection, and I personally wrote only six of the entries and the introduction! However, I was very keen that we publish this book because I can’t stand the moment every month when you have to choose the next book and your mind goes completely blank. It’s actually a great responsibility making a group of people read a book you have chosen: what if everybody hates it? You’ll soon know when they arrive at the next meeting clutching their copy and eyeing you with resentment! I felt that I needed a helping hand and some inspiration, and this book was the answer to my prayers.

4. How did you come up with the final selection?
It was incredibly difficult. The editor, Kate, collected suggestions from people from within and outside the company, and then she whittled them down to 100. We decided not to include the ‘classics’ because it was felt that, either through film and television adaptations or from school, people were generally pretty familiar with them. So, we concentrated on modern and contemporary literature, and limited each author to only one book, but it was still a nigh on impossible task. There was plenty of debate over the final list at my book club and some controversy too – which is what the best book club meetings are all about!

5. What is your favourite book club read?
I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed talking about We Need To Talk About Kevin – and I’m not just saying that because Lionel Shriver has written the foreword! This is a classic book club book – by which I mean it’s incredibly thought-provoking, controversial and divisive, in the best possible way. Interestingly, I think your reaction to the book is particularly affected by your own life experiences. Parents and those who aren’t parents tend to have a very different view of the narrator’s relationship with her son. It gave us plenty to talk about and there’s also some superb plot twists. Call me a dummy, but I never seem to see them coming, and I love to be surprised!

6. How does it feel to have turned an outside activity into a book?
It’s a little odd, but not too much of a busman’s holiday for me. Here at Michael O’Mara we very rarely publish any fiction, so it was fun to work on something based on fiction titles. I’ve also enjoyed talking about the book in interviews – I think I’m in danger of becoming a book club evangelist…

7. Have you any ideas for other books?
We have a pretty democratic process in the company where ideas are actively encouraged from all members of staff… so I’d better keep them secret until the next editorial meeting!

8. Who would be your dream book club members?
What a brilliant question! I think Stephen Fry would be an obvious choice. He’s very well read and extremely funny… though he might make me feel very ignorant, I’m sure he’d do it in the most charming way possible! It would be wonderful to have Jane Austen along to tell us what she thought of modern fiction in her own inimitable style, and purse her lips when the conversation became rowdy or somebody spilled her cordial. I’d also like to include Jon McGregor whose first novel, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, is one of the best books I have ever read – I have a feeling he’d have all sorts of insightful things to say (and perhaps he could sign my copy!) Finally, I’d draft in Wilkie Collins, author of The Woman in White, to remind us all that a page-turning plot is sometimes more important than any number of musings on the nature of eternity.

I know you didn’t ask, but I would bar D H Lawrence. I studied Women in Love at school and I have a feeling he’d become dreadfully repetitive and depressing after a few drinks.

9. What do you think of Richard & Judy's TV version of a book club?
I haven’t read all their choices, but I did enjoy The Time Traveller’s Wife. I think it is a great way to encourage people to read more and superb if it isn’t easy for you to get out and join a ‘physical’ book club, but I don’t think watching others discuss a book is a patch on having a good discussion about it yourself, to be honest.

10. Will you publish an update?
I would really love us to follow up with another edition as there were so many books we had to leave out this time that would be amazing book club reads. I think we’ll have to see how this one does to check that there is a demand for this book out there – but the response of everyone I’ve mentioned it to has been overwhelming positive, so I very much hope it will be a great success. I have been flicking through it and have already found new ways of looking at many books I thought I knew inside out – I’m so impressed by the quality of the entries – so let’s hope the book clubs of Britain agree with me, and then we can have all the fun of putting another edition together!

Interview with Christopher Rush, author of 'Will'

Published by Beautiful Books

Price: £14.99

March 1616. William Shakespeare is dying, with his lawyer at his bedside. It is time to dictate his will. But how can a man put his affairs in order before he’s come to terms with his past?
And so he launches into a dazzling monologue, his memory soaring from humble beginnings to moments of supreme success. He takes us right back to his childhood, his first encounters with sex, the dangers of politics and plague and love, the glittering lethal worlds of London and the Court. Yet even as he prepares to meet his Maker, he is still haunted by his real-life Dark Ladies, Jacqueline Vautrollier, Emilia Bassano and others, by the bewitching Henry Wriothesley, by the dramatic rise and fall of his great love for Anne Hathaway . . .

Poet and novelist Christopher Rush taught Shakespeare for thirty years, and in this unforgettable blend of scholarship and imagination takes us right into the mind of the Bard, a man whose almost superhuman art was forged from very human frailties and misfortunes. We hear his chilling account of the Tyburn executions, see him crossing the frozen Thames with the wooden beams that would become the Globe theatre, and return with him to Stratford on the heartbreaking journey for the funeral of his only son.
Cutting through all the pieties which encrust Shakespeare, Rush has created a compelling and utterly convincing figure, irrepressible, bawdy, witty and wise, his every word steeped in the situations and phrases of his own plays, yet tormented by the question whether his towering talent was a blessing or a curse. His captivating voice speaks to us across 400 years.
1. Did you like Shakespeare at school?

Not until an amazing thing happened. I had always hated the idea of sitting inside the living room awash with a dull light that the arrival of the telivision set in 1954 brought to the houses in my village as gradually each and every one succumbed to the lazy entertainment. But one day, when I was 15, I had to rest inside for a while (too long I seem to remember) because I had just fallen out of a tree, mucking about in the fresh air, and needed my head to recover before I could carry on. In front of me was a hazy, crackly screen but what was on it suddenly transfixed me. It was Laurence Olivier in Richard III. By this stage, I had already confirmed that I had had enough of school and would turn my attentions to the outdoors: to fishing and to the Navy. This sudden moment in front of the television altered the path of my whole life. I made my mother buy me the Oxford Shakespeare and found that, at weekends, I was able to devour five plays a day – I read it cover to cover five times in that first year when I went back to school.

2. Were you always destined to be a writer?

It seemed I was destined to go to sea (in the genes on both sides) – but destiny took me on the road less travelled – I think there are fewer writers than seamen!

3. Who, apart from Shakespeare, did you enjoy reading as a child?

Robert Louis Stevenson, the King James Bible as a smaller child; as a youth, all the poets up to Dylan Thomas

4....And now?

Things haven’t changed much. Few modern writers have made much of an impression on me in the UK. Foreign writers, especially Russian novelists, are more inspiring, though Dickens is hard to beat, and George Mackay Brown is the greatest wordsmith of his time.

5. What first gave you the idea for 'Will'?

From the moment I discovered Shakespeare, or he discovered me, I felt that for some reason that something or someone else had taken leave of my senses slightly. For all the absurdity and pomposity that must surely accompanymy words here, I have found a source of enlightenment about Shakespeare that I cannot fully comprehend, let alone explain. Shakespeare the man, not only the poet and playwright. This is what led me to devoting my time to Will…

6. Have you visited Stratford upon Avon?

Yes indeed – to scent the ghost, feel the vibes. And they were there!

7. What are you working on next?

A stage-play version of Will, that may yet happen. But so will other things. Watch the space...

8. What is your favourite Shakespeare play?

It has to be HAMLET. I read it fifty times in my teens, taught it for 30 years and it goes on yielding its riches: an endlessly fruitful harvest of ideas and images and sounds, and the most fascinating play in the world which completely dispenses with genre, rule and form, and does its own thing. In this play above all others you see Shakespeare the free artistic spirit, unfettered by convention, going the way of his artistic nature. He is no fixed star – and anyone who follows him will also be free.

Visit Shakespeare's blog - www.thebardisback.blogspot.com

The 10 Coolest facts from the Science Museum

Taken from "Why is Snot Green?" by Glenn Murphy

Published by 'Macmillan Children's Books' RRP £3.99

1) Why do stars twinkle?
Because we're looking at them through the murky veil of our atmosphere. From outside it, they look clear, steady and bright.

2) Why do planets bother going round the sun?
Because the Sun's gravity pulls planets round it, preventing them from whizzing off into Space. But despite this, the planets are still gradually inching away from the sun over time.

3) What would happen is you farted in a space suit?
It would be the worst kind of fart ever; you couldn't deny it, you couldn't escape it and the smell would stay with you all the way back to the space station.

4) Could you dig your way thought the Earth to Australia?
Er .. no, not really. Even if you could dig that deep, you'd be squashed flat or melted before you got there - by the searing temperatures and cruising pressures inside the planet.5) What would it be like to be inside a tornado?
That depends on how you got in there, and how big the tornado is.
Ordinarily, getting sucked into a tornado would be a terrifying experience. But if you somehow managed to get inside safely, it would be noisy, yet eerily still.

6) Is the earth really getting hotter and is that so bad?
The world is definitely getting hotter - it'll probably get between 2 degrees and 6 degrees C hotter over the next 100 years. That might not seem so bad, but even this small rise will have a serious effect on countries all over the world.

7) Do rabbits fart?
Quite simply - yes. In fact, nearly all animals do as it's a necessary part of digesting food.

8) Can animals talk, and what do they say? Plenty of them can - although not exactly the way we do. We still can't understand most of them, ie what they're saying, but a lot of it seems to be about food, fighting and lurrrrve!

9) Do spiders have ears?
No they don't. But this doesn't seem to bother them too much. Probably because they can hear things through their legs. Oh, and they can smell and taste things through their legs too.

10) Why is snot green?
Basically, because it's the result of a fight between nasty bugs and body cells that make a green-coloured goo - ick!

Interview with Jill Marshall

Author of the 'Jane Blonde' series

'Jane Blonde:Twice the Spylet'

Age range: 9-11 years

RRP £5.99

Publisher:'Macmillan Children's Books'

Jill is a single mum who moved from the UK to New Zealand in 2003, along with her small daughter and her even smaller mad dog.

Having graduated from Cambridge University with a masters' in History in 1987, Jill then spent 14 years in commerce, ending up as the Director of the Training and Development division of a huge international telecommunications company.

In 2001, Jill gave all that up to concentrate on writing for children as befitted her childhood dream and ambitions. Two years later she gained another Masters' degree, this time in Writing for Children in 2002, and wrote several children’s books. Two of her books, about girl spy Jane Blonde, will be published by Macmillan Children’s Books UK in 2006, in a deal brokered by Jill’s literary agent, Glenys Bean.

When not working, writing and being a mum, Jill plays guitar, takes singing lessons and is learning to play the drum-kit she has set up in the garage. She lives in an old kauri villa outside Auckland.

1. It seems like you enjoyed writing this book more than ever before. Does your confidence in the character grow and grow?

It’s funny – when I was writing this book I found it quite hard going because I’d planned it much, much more than usual, but once I’d finished it I sat and read it again and made myself giggle. All the characters have taken on a life of their own really, and they do help me to write it.

2. Do you wish you were Janey Brown?

At her age, I would definitely have wished I was Janey Brown, or, more accurately, Jane Blonde. I always loved the idea of having adventures while everyone else was asleep! I was probably more like Janey, and let’s face it, what primary age girl doesn’t wish they were more popular/clever/adventurous/had more friends? These days I’m more like a cross between Jean Brown and G-Mamma.

3. You have a daughter? Does she provide any inspiration for your stories?

My daughter was the very first inspiration as I used to call her Blonde Girl, and that’s when Jane Blonde was born. She wasn’t old enough to start with, but she’s now the right age for the stories so I can check in with her if something is right or wrong for the age, and she gives me ideas for gadgets. She puts me straight in no uncertain terms!

4. Was the sheep farm storyline inspired by you living in New Zealand?

Most definitely, although I must confess to hardly seeing any sheep since moving here! It’s all a myth, I’m sure…Maybe they’re all on the South Island – I haven’t seen as much of that as I’d like.

5. Why did you choose to emigrate and why New Zealand?

The answer to both those questions are that I wanted somewhere safe and beautiful for my daughter to grow up, and creative and friendly for me. NZ is all of those things and more. I just love it.

6. Your ambition was always to be an author. Did you think of Jane Blonde many years before you actually decided to write the books?

The idea for JB started when my daughter was about two, and then I started writing the first one when she was five or so. I’d written quite a few books before that, most of which will probably never see the light of day again!

7. Is your daughter showing any literary talent?

Her writing is astonishing. She has a great grasp of story, structure and voice, and I’m sure she could do something in writing one day, but actually I think she might end up doing something in film.

8. How many more books do you think you could write about Jane Blonde?

I’m currently working out the fifth, and I’ve ideas that would take it up to seven (007 – that magic number for spies!).

9. Do you have any character ideas for different series for children?

Well, I’ve played around with the idea of G-Mamma at school – I think I could have a lot of fun with that! And I do have more books coming out in 2008 that boys won’t be ashamed to read (Doghead). I do have male JB fans, but they tend to keep it quiet! Though as one wise young man said, “I know she’s a girl, but she does totally boy stuff.”

10. You are learning the drums – is that hard?

Ah, my drums, my drums. I was learning drums, but then moved to a house without a garage so I had to get rid of them. I am currently working on restructuring the whole building so I can fit them in again. It is pretty hard, and I was very self-conscious about practising! But it was hugely enjoyable, cathartic, absorbing, fun fun fun…

Meanwhile I still play guitar regularly, and even bought an electric one recently, ostensibly for my daughter who’s learning to play too (but we know the truth).

Interview with Alex Williams

Author of 'The Talent Thief'

Age range: 8-11 years

RRP £9.99

Publisher:'Macmillan Children's Books'

Alex Williams has written for television and film for the past ten years producing many successful children’s television scripts and in 2002/3 he won a BAFTA for his children’s show ‘Sir Gadabout’. Following an audition with a major movie company to write a screenplay of a book they had the rights for, Alex realised that he should be writing the books not trying to win jobs to adapt them and his debut novel, THE TALENT THIEF published in October 2006.

1.Your talent as a scriptwriter is obvious on reading this book - can you tell us what scripts you have written that we might know?

I was lead writer on the children's TV series Sir Gadabout which was a comedy/drama based around King Arthur and his knights. Recently I've worked on The Secret Show and The Likeaballs, both animation series.

2. What made you take the plunge into fiction?

I saw it as a way of telling big, lavish stories without having to compromise. It feels very self-indulgent but in a good way.

3. Is the writing experience very different from script writing?

Writing books is a different, more intense process than writing scripts. Every word has to count and you have the ability to tell the reader what a character is thinking and feeling at any given time. If writing a script is like drawing up blueprints for a house then writing a book is actually building the house.
4. To me, the book is very reminiscent of the 1930s or 1950s. Is that right and, if so, are you a lover of that particular era?

Yes, I love the 1930s especially in America. Fashion, architecture, trains, planes, cars - everything had style and it was possibly the last time technology blended so well with art and design.

5. Was the idea for the book truly derived from a dream?

Yes, it was. A lucid dream I had just before waking saw me staring at a gangly creature with shining eyes and straggly hair at the foot of my bed holding a sphere which I knew to be my 'talent'. The feeling was that if I wasn't going to use it more productively then this creature would take it. Pretty scary but thrilling at the same time.

6. Have you any plans to turn the book into a film or TV programme?

I think it would make a wonderful movie and there does now seem to be hopeful signs that others may agree...

7. This is your 1st book for children - have you started your 2nd?

I've almost finished my 2nd! This one is more of a fairytale really and features an incredible journey through all types of weather, amazing machines and a blue dog.

8. Why did you decide to write for children as opposed to adults?

I like tall tales and high adventure and children are possibly more willing to make the leap to believe in all of that. That's not to say there's no hope for adults.

9. You enjoy watching movies - what's your favourite film of all time?

Not very original but I'd have to say Star Wars. For a lot of creative people of my generation it was truly life-changing.

10. The book is genius and will undoubtedly be hugely popular - what will or have you spent your first humungous royalty cheque on?

Locks on my windows to keep that pesky Talent Thief at bay!

Interview with Frank Cottrell Boyce

Author of 'Framed'

Age range: Reading age approx 9-11

RRP £5.99

Publisher: 'Macmillan Children's Books'

Frank Cottrell Boyce, father of seven, is an established British screenwriter whose film credits include WELCOME TO SARAJEVO, HILARY AND JACKIE and 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE. He lives in Merseyside with his family. Frank’s first book, Millions won the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2004 this year and has been shortlisted for a number of awards including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award 2004. Millions has also been made into a movie directed by Danny Boyle and was chosen as the Liverpool Reads book for 2005 / 06.

Frank’s latest novel is Framed which published in Hardback in September 2005 and in Paperback in July 2006. Framed has followed the success of Millions already being shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Award and the Guardian Prize.
1. You have that natural Liverpudlian talent (I'm from a Liverpudlian family but not born there myself!) of making every page a comical masterpiece. Were you always the joker when you were growing up and did it get you into trouble?

I was NEVER in trouble. I was always a good boy. Honestly. No, really. I was.

2. Have you ever based any characters, even loosely, on your own kids and experiences?

Not on purpose but afterwards you start to notice similarities. Dylan for instance is 'the only by in the village" and my son Benedict (10) has plenty of brothers but they're either too old or too young to play with so he's always hungry for male company.

3. You sometimes write in an almost diary style format. Did you keep a diary as a child or you do you now?

I do keep a diary - very short entries for each day and mostly about my children because they seem to grow up so quickly and I want to remember the way they talked.
4. 'Millions' was a brilliant film. Will 'Framed' also hit the big screen?

I'm working on the script at the moment and hoping it will be shot next Spring. But it's always hard to predict with films.

5. What inspired you to write 'Framed'?

It's based partly on a true story - they really did evacuate the paintings during World War II. Also the connnection between the Ninja Turtles and the Renaissance is a joke waiting to happen. If I hadn't've grabbed it someone else would.

6. Do good ideas constantly spring to mind, do you always carry a notepad in which to record them?

No. Good ideas come along once in a blue moon and I seem to need at least two or three for each book. The odd thing is, once you start writing, good ideas seem to floor in.

7. I had 3 childhood ambitions. To own a BMW, to travel to Hong Kong and to write a successful book. If I could write a successful book, I could then achieve the other two! What advice could you give me to make my dream come true?

I think you're doing it the wrong way round. You should steal a BMW, drive it to Hong Kong nad then write a book about your adventures.

8. Do you ever write short stories for your children?

No. I read to them a lot but I actually find writing really difficult and I'm too nervous to let people see it before it's right. Especially my children who are genius critics.

9. After the publication of 'Framed', do you already have another masterpiece ready?

Well at the moment it's not ready and it's not a masterpiece. But I truly believe that I'm going to change all that this morning.

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