The Return of the Heroes

 Right now I'm busy working on a new series of books that feature Fernanda, Keira, Ling, Mo, and Ronan - the young heroes from the Global Heroes series of books. 

This new series of books will be even more exciting than the first ones as the young heroes will be travelling back in time to come face to face with dinosaurs - rather them than me. I'm delighted to be able to say that the books are once again going to be illustrated by the wonderfully talented Alex Paterson. 

The first two books in the series - Terrifying T. Rex, and Pterosaur Trouble are to be published in September and the following two - Jurassic Giants, and Creatures of the Deep, are due to be published in December.     

I do know that Pterosaurs and Plesiosaurs aren't actually dinosaurs - but they did live at the same time as dinosaurs (and there are other dinosaurs in the books). 

Global Heroes - Author Visits to School

I’m always looking for ways to make my school visits more fun, exciting, and informative, and I think that my new Global Heroes books will be a great way of doing this.

The Global Heroes  are a group of children, recruited from around the world by mysterious billionaire, Mason Ash. 

Mo is the newest member of the group. He comes from Britain and has a great knowledge of animals and living things that make him an important part of the team. 

Ling, from China, is an environmental expert. She saw the damage people were doing to the world and was determined to change it. 

Keira is African American and is a gadget whizz... when she's not trying out a new gadget, she's busy repairing an old one. Her expertese proves vital for the Global Heroes missions.

Ronan with his love of maths and physics comes from Ireland. His logical approach to solving problems comes in very useful. 

Fernanda’s from Brazil, where one parent is a vet and the other a doctor. She’s picked up medical knowledge from both of them and is eager to put it to good use. 

Working together from The Beehive, their top secret island headquarters, they use their special skills help protect the future of the Earth and everything that lives on it. 

The first four Global Heroes books came out at the end of last year and, with fantastic covers and inside artwork by the wonderful Alex Paterson, I think they look great. Each book is a stand alone story that mixes fact with fiction to creat a story full of action, adventure and scientific information. 

In Bushfire Rescue, the team are sent to Australia where bush fires have been raging out of control. There, they will discover some of the causes of these wild fires, help rescue stranded animals. 

They also discover that there are a band of villains known as the Evilooters who will stop at nothing to get money... even if it means damaging the planet to do so.

Mo has always wanted to see polar bears in the wild so he's very excited to be chosen to take part in a mission to the frozen Arctic. Their mission there is to find out why polar bears are at risk and what might be some of the causes behind it. 

You can also join the Global Heroes in Rising River Escape - on their mission to Madagascar where flash floods have left pets and animals stranded - and Waves of Waste where waves of plastic rubbish are being washed up onto the beaches of Brazil. Who is behind all of these disasters?

 

 

Back to School

Next week I'll be getting out from behind my desk, packing my bags of books and setting off to spend the day with everyone at Excalibur Primary School, and Hensingham Primary. 

Whilst there I'll be sharing lots of stories and rhymes, talking about writing and being a writer, and answering any and every question thrown my way. 

I'm particularly looking forward to introducing everyone to my latest series of books - Global Heroes... something that I haven't had chance to do yet. The first two books, Bushfire Rescue, and Waves of Waste, are out now. Books 3 and 4 - Rising River Escape, and Arctic Adventure come out on the 10th November. 

You can buy them from amazon or borrow them from your local library...

See you all soon...

New Books

This week I've been incredibly busy. I've been working on some new young reader stories for one of my publishers, editing some that I had written earlier, and proof reading a couple that had been sent to me with finished artwork.. It's always good to see the finished artwork as it can really bring a story to life - it's also interesting, and sometimes surprising, to see the different styles that illustrators have.

During the week, I managed to coomplete the second draft of a larger, non-fiction book about dinosaurs that I have been working on for a while. It has involved a lot of reasearch but it's been fun and interesting. I've also been busy retelling some traditional Chinese stories. 

For a while, it didn't look as though I was going to get everything finished in time, but Friday afternoon is here and I'm completely up to date with everything. I've even managed to submit some ideas for more early reader books - so this weekend will be spent with fingers crossed, hoping that my editor and others like some of the ideas.

It's always exciting to see a new book when it's been published. Nothing beats the look, feel and smell of a new book. This week, the postman arrived with copies of 5 new titles that have been published (or are about to be published) by Franklin Watts. They all look great, but I'm specially proud of the two Global Heroes books - Bushfire Rescue and Waves of Waste. Click here to visit the Global Heroes page on my website to find out more about them.

The other three books, The Poor Boy and the Cat, The Glass Mountain, and The Trapped Tiger, are retellings of traditional stories from around the world - from Iceland, Poland, and Korea. There are a few more tales from around the world due out in the next month or so too.

On Tuesday evening I had the pleasure of chatting with some keen readers from around the world, thanks to Fiction Express, about a book that I wrote with them earlier this year - Camp Silverlake. A huge hello to everyone that joined the online video chat from Malaysia, Spain, Kenya, Britain, and South America... it was greeat to meet you all. 

Next week I'll be starting work on a new, bigger book which hopefully will be of interest to one of my publishers. I'm sure I'll be working on other things too... 

The Global Heroes Are Here

 As well as working on lots of little books during the past year, I've been busy working on a new series called Global Heroes. You can find out more about them HERE on my website. The first two in the series have just been published - and I think you'll agree, they look GREAT! The illustrations have been done by the excellent Alex Patterson and he's done a great job bringing the characters and settings to life. 

The heroes are a group of children - each with specialist skills - that go on missions around the world to help tackle environmental disasters and problems. The first book, Bushfire Rescue, is set in Australia where a wild bushfire has swept across the countryside. The Global Heroes mission is to help rescue wild animals that have been affected by the fire - but they also have to keep their wits about them as a group of villains, known only as Evilooters, have been seen in the area. What are the Evilooters up to and have they got anything to do with the fire? 

In book 2, Waves of Waste, the heroes are sent to Brazil to find out why mountains of plastic waste are being washed up on the beaches. As well as action filled adventure stories, the books are full of fascinating facts and will be great for children who have an interest in science and the environment - especially in connection with current global issues like Global Warming, and Animals in Danger. Two more books in the series will be coming out in November. 

Each book is a story on its own and they can be read in any order.

Denbighshire Libraries and Writing

Over the past few months I've been busy working on some new books. They won't be published until later this year but I thought that you might like to have a sneaky look at the covers.

The first one to be published this year is this little non-fiction book about Lizards. I love the picture of the Komodo Dragon on the cover which has been done by Bruno Robert - an illustrator that lives and works in Normandy, France. 

I have also done a retelling of the popular fairy tale, 'The Elves and the Shoemaker', which will be published later this year - but I am most excited about a series of books called Global Heroes. The covers, and the artwork inside, has been done by a brilliant British illustrator called Alex Patterson. Alex has illustrated lots of great books including Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree books. I'm delighted that he's illustrating The Global Heroes - they aren't finished yet as I'm still writing them and Alex is still illustrating them, - but here's a couple of the covers.   

These books will be coming out later in the year but I will tell you more about them soon.

After a couple of years of not being able to visit schools and libraries like normal, it's exciting to be returning to libraries in Denbighshire this month. 

Here's a HUGE HELLO to everyone in years 3 and 4 from Ysgol Bryn Collen and Ysgol Gwernant - see you soon at Llangollen Library. Everyone in years 4 and 6 from Christ the Word School in Rhyl - visiting Rhyl Library. Everyone at Ysgol Caer Drewyn and Ysgol Carrog - visiting Corwen Library ... and finally everyone who will be coming along to Rhuddlan Library. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone.