Children’s Book of the Week… and the Month!
My new book Space Oddity is out now and, with the country in lockdown and the doors of bricks-and-mortar bookshops shut, it's safe to say that Thursday 7th January was a publication day unlike any I've ever experienced before. With so many people suffering at the moment and the endless tide of grimness on the news, it can lead one to question whether it's even worth sending another story out into the world, but as this eloquent tweet from the brilliant children's author Jonathan Meres wisely states, stories are what we need now more than ever. I really hope Space Oddity is a story that will help young readers to look up at the stars with a smile, which feels important right now.
As it's my first story for slightly younger readers, I really hope it's a book that parents and children will enjoy reading together, so I was thrilled to see Booktrust describe Space Oddity as "a perfect read for children and parents to share, and a great book with which to encourage children who usually only like funny stories to read something with more emotional depth." Picking it out as one of the best new books published this month, Booktrust go on to say, "it reads like a quiet classic."
It was also wonderful to see The Times name Space Oddity as their Children's Book of the Week and in the review, Alex O'Connell described it as "a bright, brainy book ... spiced with a good pinch of humour and lashings of emotional intelligence." You can read the full review here.