 Edison's
Fantastic Phonograph
(Frances Lincoln)
Designed to capture the excitement of invention, this picture
book tells the story of how Edison recorded sound for the very
first time.
More information
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|  The
Bear Father Christmas Forgot
(Scholastic)
The idea for this book popped into my head one day as a picture
of a teddy bear dangling from the back of Father Christmas' sleigh.
The resulting story of a bear who has to deliver himself became
my first paperback and is still my most successful with over half
a million copies sold worldwide. First published in 1994, it has
been translated into Finnish, Norwegian and Danish as well as
being published in the USA where there is also a Spanish/English
dual language edition.
(out of print, rights available)
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from Amazon
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A Good Place for Kittens
(Scholastic)
It's a stormy night and the cat has nowhere to go. But she knows
she must find a good place for kittens before it's too late. Her
searches take her to a variety of places which turn out to be
unsuitable before she finds the perfect home just before her kittens
are born. The text is perfectly illustrated by Kathryn Prewett's
watercolours.
(out of print, rights available)
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from Amazon
|
 Ruby
Red and Sky Blue
(Rigby Rocket)
When I was asked to write a story including the words red, blue
and purple, it seemed natural to use the fact that the first two
colours mix to make the third.
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The Clay Dog
(Ginn - Lighthouse series)
Have you ever realised that many of the items archeologists find
were originally lost? I hadn't until I went to a fascinating talk
and it was that talk that inspired this story. It tells of a Roman
child's toy which is lost for centuries until it's finally dug up
and found by a present day child. It's designed for use as a guided
reader in the Literacy Hour and comes in packs of 6 with teachers'
notes.
ISBN 060230086X |
 Sounds
(Ginn - Lighthouse series)
This guided reader for the Literacy Hour also links to Key Stage
1 science. It's a challenge writing about science in so few words
and is definitely not as easy as it looks.
ISBN 0602300983 |
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Pets
 (Rigby
- Springboard series)
I loved writing for the Springboard series. It's aimed at older,
weak readers and my instructions were to come up with books that
would attract children's attention and which, if possible, were
funny. This one, as the name suggests, is about keeping pets.
It has a very simple text and much of the information is carried
in the pictures. I don't draw them but I do describe exactly what
I want in what's called the artist's brief.
(out of print)
ISBN 0602280850 |
|
 Puppets
on Film
(Rigby - Springboard series)
This was my first book to come from my fascination with special
effects. It's quite different from traditional puppet books about
marionettes and Indonesian shadow puppets as it concentrates on
puppets children will have seen in films like Star Wars, Labyrinth
and ET. The eye catching colour photographs really grab children's
attention.
(out of print)
ISBN 0602281016 |
|
 Don't
Panic
(Rigby - Springboard series)
This started from a request to write a book about dealing with emergencies
but it turned into a book on problem solving. The problems range
from 'my bike has a puncture' to 'the gerbil ate my T-shirt' and
each has a number of solutions, both silly and sensible, which get
rated as either good or bad ideas. To my delight, it was described
as 'unputdownable for upper juniors' in the TES review of the series.
(out of print)
ISBN 0602281075 |
|
 Rainbows
(Oxford University Press)
Rainbows fascinate children so they were a natural choice when I
was asked to contribute a book on weather to the Oxford Literacy
Web. It deals with the science behind them and how to spot them
as well as mentioning some of the myths about them.
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from Amazon
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Big Book from Amazon. |
|
 Horse
Stories that Really Happened
(Scholastic)
It was hard finding exciting stories about horses. They're not brave
like dogs so they don't rescue babies from burning buildings. In
fact, the horses given medals in the Second World War were awarded
them for standing still when most horses would have run away. But
in the end I found 6 stories that blend well together and include
a nail-biting rescue story, Foinavon winning the Grand National
and a story of a mustang foal that's so new it was actually happening
while I researched the book.
Currently out of print but may be available in libraries.
(Rights available for several of the stories)
ISBN 059063741X
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|
 Pony
Puzzles
(Macmillan)
When I wrote this book, I was aiming at pony-mad children everywhere
but especially those who have no chance of ever owning a pony or
even of having riding lessons. It's a mix of information, puzzles
and activities with the emphasis on fun.
(out of print - rights available)
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from Amazon |
|
 The
Hospital Highway Code
(Macmillan)
Because both my sons were born with cystic fibrosis, I've spent
more than my fair share of time in children's wards and it was
there that the idea for this book was born. It's aimed at
8-12 year olds and combines serious information with jokes,
puzzles and cartoons. The wide range of topics it covers allows
it to fit in well with most admissions and I deliberately avoided
phrases like "when you get better" to make it suitable
for children with ongoing conditions.
(out of print - rights available)
ISBN 033032957X
|
 A
Parent's Guide to Helping with Maths
(Penguin)
Just to prove I don't only write for children, here's one for parents.
It's designed for helping children who find maths difficult and
have fallen behind at school. You don't need to be a maths genius
to use it as it tells you exactly how to help your child learn a
step at a time. The English edition is now currently out of print
but it's still available in French (Fort en Vite) and in Chinese!
ISBN 0140239030 |
