Tag: humour

Posted in authors, interviews

Nat Amoore on the Shower Land series

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
A photo of Nat Amoore standing with her hands in the pockets of her jeans

Nat Amoore has been a trapeze artist and circus performer, a podcaster, and now she’s an award-winning children’s author. Since Nat’s first book – Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire – was published in 2019, she’s published five more books and there are plenty more on the way! Today we’re pleased to be chatting about her latest venture: the Shower Land series, illustrated by James Hart.

From the publisher:

Felix hates Mondays. Dad’s yelling at him to get up. His little brother, Olly, is being super annoying. So when Felix shuts the bathroom door, he wishes he could get away. He turns on the shower and . . . REEEEKKKKKK!

A hilarious junior fiction series where getting in the shower might send you to another world.

When you were a kid were you up and out the door at the crack of dawn, or hard to get going after the alarm went off?

Oh, definitely up and out! I still am. I was never really much of a sleep-in kind of person. There was too much cool stuff out there waiting to be done. Even when getting up early meant going to school. Okay, so the actual school part wasn’t my favourite but I was always dying to see my friends. I also grew up on a farm so getting up early was kind of standard practice. My parents would kick us out of the house after breakfast and we would run around in the paddocks having cow poo fights and building treehouses. Then we were allowed back for lunch and sent out again until the sun went down. And to this day, I still get up early to write. I write best from about 5:30am until 12pm and then in the afternoon I’m kind of useless. So that’s when I do all my admin stuff … or go for a walk on the beach and pat everyone else’s puppies.

If you could be transported via shower to another place, would you try it? (Even if you might end up somewhere without any clothes on?)

ABSOLUTELY!!! Like Felix, I think I would figure out the clothes part quick enough. Teleporting to other worlds is my ultimate dream, even with all the risks involved. I mean it’s essentially why I’m an author right? So, I can just go to other worlds in my head for a living. Life is an adventure and I’ll take every cool experience I can along the way. Even with the risk of not knowing what or where, I couldn’t resist. Otherwise, I would always live in regret thinking, ‘What if I had said yes?’ Where would I have gone? What have I missed out on? I mean, once I had teleported to the prehistoric times and gotten my head bitten off by a T-rex, I might have second thoughts. But by then it’s too late anyway so YES! Let’s do it!

Even though Olly can be an annoying little brother, his jokes are pretty funny. Do you have a go-to joke for parties/Christmas lunch/ice-breakers at an event?

Ha! I love Olly. I’ve always wanted a younger sibling (I only have an older brother) and I love giving my characters funny younger siblings. I have a few go-to jokes. It’s good to have them up your sleeve I think and kids are ALWAYS asking me to tell a joke, or ‘what’s my best joke’? They change all the time but I like jokes that really rely on delivery and so my current favourite is …

What do we want? Low-flying airplane noises! When do we want them? NEEEEYYYOOOOOOOOWWWW!

But I also love …

What did the drummer call his twin daughters?

Anna 1, Anna 2

BA HA HA HA HA!

Do you have a tip for young writers who’d like to write a funny book?

Ooohhh, this is hard because I don’t really sit down and think ‘I’m going to write a funny book’. BUT what I am sure will help, is to think about what makes YOU laugh or what you think is funny and, even more importantly, what you DON’T find funny, especially when it is trying to be. I don’t like mean humour. Even when Olly makes fun of Felix, he’s not actually picking on any real characteristic of Felix’s. What is much stronger in the story and their relationship is the love, the banter and the bond that they have that allows for them to tease and play knowing that the brotherly love lies beneath. This then allows for them to joke and not get hurt. I would never have Olly insulting a random kid at school. Humour is less about the jokes and more about the interactions and relationships and the joy of laughter that falls in the gaps.

For a prompt, the next time you find something hilarious – I’m talking snort-laugh kind of funny – use that as a prompt for a story. It might be a joke your friend tells you, or when your baby sister comes out with her nappy on her head (clean or dirty, your pick!) Use this funny thing as a prompt for a story.

Can you tell us a little about what you’re working on next?

So, I’m working on two things at the moment. Firstly, the very final pages of Shower Land 3: Walk The Plank just before it goes to print. I love this stage of a book where you are just reading it for the last time and making any final little tweaks before you release it into the world. It’s nerve wracking and exhilarating at the same time. And I’m also working on a brand new middle grade book. It’s a bit of a change for me – a spooky, slightly fantasy style story but don’t worry, still funny! It’s a big project and I’m moving much more slowly on it than my other book because there are so many threads and important world building bits. I can’t wait to share it with you all!

Books 1 and 2 in the Shower Land series are out now! Ask for them at your favourite bookshop or local library.

AWESOME EXTRAS:

Watch a book trailer for Book 1 [YouTube]

Listen to Nat Amoore read from Book 1: Break the Curse (click on ‘play sample’ just under the book cover)

Take a sneak peek inside Book 2: Feel the Freeze

Visit Nat Amoore’s website for more about her and her books

The cover of the first book in the Shower Land series by Nat Amoore, illustrated by James Hart
the cover of the second book in the Shower Land series
the cover of the third book in the Shower Land series.
Posted in Book reviews by Aashi, Book reviews by kids

Book review: Gangsta Granny

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
The cover of a children's novel: Gangsta Granny

REVIEWED BY AASHI, 9, VIC

Gangsta Granny by David Walliams, HarperCollins, ISBN 9780007371440

Aashi reviewed her own copy of this book.

Ben’s granny is your typical granny. She knits, loves Murray Mints, has fake teeth, loves Scrabble, has white hair, and is obsessed with cabbage. Ben reckons she’s the most boring person in the whole, wide world. Ben goes to Granny’s every Friday after school while his parents go and watch Strictly Stars Dancing live. Ben’s parents love ballroom dancing and say they discovered their love of ballroom dancing too late, so they got boring jobs at a nail salon and a security guard at a shopping mall. They want Ben to be a professional ballroom dancer, but Ben has other interests like becoming a plumber.

When Ben goes to Granny’s one day, he goes to get a chocolate biscuit but finds something thrilling instead. He is mind-blown by this discovery and is determined to find out more about this mystery. Ben is on the case!

This fabulous tale by David Walliams is a stupendous book and I rate it 5 out of 5. Walliams has made a thrilling tale that has so many twists and turns. It kept me on the edge of my seat! It’s a great book and I recommend it for 6–9-year-olds, it will surely be loved by them. Once again it was a stupendous book, and you should surely read it. I hope you read Gangsta Granny as your next novel.

Aashi is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read more of her book reviews here. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Posted in Book reviews by kids, Book reviews by Reuben

Book Review: Secret Agent Mole Book 2

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
Secret Agent Mole (Book 2), a graphic novel by James Foley

REVIEWED BY REUBEN, 10, WA

Secret Agent Mole, Book 2: The Boar Identity by James Foley, Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd, ISBN 9781761200168

Reuben received a review copy of this book.

When I found this book in the mail I thought it would be about a secret mission where they had to break into a place and had to disguise as a skunk and a fox. And I was right!

My favourite character is Neil Hamstrung because he is a pig version of Neil Armstrong. 

This book can make you laugh your butt off. Anybody who likes graphic novels, space, ham, bugs, and naked mole rats will love this book.

I would rate this book 5/5 premium rib eye steaks. XD

Reuben is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. Check out his earlier reviews here. To send us YOUR story, poem, artwork or book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Posted in authors, interviews

Ashleigh Barton on Solomon Macaroni and the Vampire Vacation

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

MEET THE AUTHOR

A head and shoulders photo of Ashleigh Barton, author
The cover of a children's novel: Solomon Macaroni and the Vampire Vacation

Ashleigh Barton lives in Sydney, Australia. As well as writing the Solomon Macaroni novels, Ashleigh is the author of several picture books. Today we’re pleased to have Ashleigh visiting Alphabet Soup to talk about the second book in the Solomon Macaroni series: Solomon Macaroni and the Vampire Vacation, illustrated by Sarah Davis.

The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of this book.

From the publisher:

The world’s friendliest vegetarian vampire and his six mischievous cousins are going to Paris with Uncle Dracula. They can’t wait for the fine food, fabulous fashion and fang-dangled art. But Uncle Dracula is not himself. When the kids see the Mona Lisa, they get an idea to cheer him up … and it’s their naughtiest one yet.

Uncle Dracula takes Solomon and all the cousins on a holiday to Paris. If you were heading off to Paris yourself, what would you be most looking forward to?

I’m like Elvis – I would definitely be most looking forward to the food! The other thing I’d most be looking forward to is seeing the Bouquinistes of Paris (the booksellers of Paris), which are green wooden boxes along the Seine that hold hundreds of thousands of books, including second-hand and antique books. These open-air bookstores have been there for more than 500 years. I’d originally included a scene revolving around the Bouquinistes in Solomon Macaroni and the Vampire Vacation but it got edited out for pacing reasons. If I ever go to Paris again, I can’t wait to see these – I bet there would be so many amazing treasures to discover.

The Catacombs played a big part in this story and I haven’t seen them in person either, so I’d have to add that to my list too, along with a lot of other things I discovered in my research.

Have you seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre?

I have seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre but it was a very long time ago! I was lucky enough to go to the Louvre when I was nine years old. It was quite incredible knowing how long ago the painting was made and how revered it is. When I was researching for the book, I watched a lot of videos and read a lot of accounts to see how other people felt when seeing the Mona Lisa in person and one thing I read a lot was how surprised people were by the size. It’s actually fairly small (which made it much easier for our characters to steal!).

Unfortunately I didn’t make it back inside the Louvre when I visited Paris again many years later, but I will have to add it to my wish list above!

The cousins are big fans of ice-cream … which ice-cream flavours would be in your own multi-flavoured ice-cream tower?

If someone gave me a multi-flavoured ice cream tower I would have to try one of everything. When else would you get the chance to try every flavour in the shop and have no regrets about choosing the wrong one?

This book involves a careful plan being carried out with precise timing. Are you a plotter or a pantser when it comes to writing about planning a heist?

I think I’m a mix of both! I’m pretty terrible at admin generally and for me plotting feels a lot like admin. I also find that one idea leads to another, so things take unexpected turns for me along the way when I’m writing. But I do try to have some kind of plan in place, whether that’s a point A and point B with nothing planned to get from one to the other, or something more detailed. When I plotted this particular heist, I knew exactly what was going to happen once they pulled it off but I didn’t plan every step or the things that went wrong along the way until well into writing it.

Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?

I’m not sure what will be happening next with Solomon, but in the meantime, I have two picture books and a brand-new series coming out next year. I’m not sure I can say too much about this new series yet, but it’s completely different to Solomon Macaroni and for a slightly younger audience. It is contemporary fiction with a bit of a non-fiction twist and another amazing illustrator on board!

Solomon Macaroni and the Vampire Vacation is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.

AWESOME EXTRAS

Read our 2022 interview with Ashleigh Barton

Watch Ashleigh Barton’s quick introduction to the book [YouTube]

Download the Teachers’ Notes for this book

Download a Solomon Macaroni activity pack on the author’s website

Posted in Book reviews by kids, Book reviews by Reuben

Book review: Secret Agent Mole, Book 1

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
Secret Agent Mole Book 1: Goldfish-Finger by James Foley. The book cover shows a mole wearing square glasses and a white dinner suit, and a hippo in a vest and trousers looking serious, and a tiny green bug. The title is in a font that looks like an official stamp on a Spy/Secret Agent file.

REVIEWED BY REUBEN, 9, WA

Secret Agent Mole, Book 1: Goldfish-Finger by James Foley, Scholastic Australia, ISBN 9781761200151

Reuben received a review copy of this book.

Before I read any book I always read the blurb, and in this book parts of the blurb are just black lines, like it was an agent’s file. When I got this book I thought it would be about a mole, in a tuxedo, with a grappling hook but the hook was a plunger. And I knew it was a graphic novel.

It was what I expected because the mole had a plunger in a grappling gun – and it’s very funny. 

My fave character is Max because he is always telling dad jokes, and he’s the funniest character.

I am definitely looking forward to reading Book 2 in this series because I want to see if they manage to beat Dr Nude, the naked mole rat.

This is a great read for anyone who likes comics or animals or moles or insects/bugs and funny books.

I rate this book 5/5 plungers!

Read our March 2023 interview with the author-illustrator.

Reuben is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. Check out his earlier reviews here. To send us YOUR story, poem, artwork or book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Posted in authors, illustrator, interviews

Kelly Canby on Timeless

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
Kelly Canby, author-illustrator, and the cover of her new picture book: Timeless. The cover illustration shows a boy with a net trying to catch 'time'.

Kelly Canby is an award-winning, internationally published, illustrator and author of over two dozen books for children. Kelly was born in London, England, but has lived in Australia since the age of three. She says this is probably around the same age she started playing with pencils and crayons, and it was probably only a few years after that that she decided playing with pencils and crayons was something she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Kelly applies her quirky style to the pages of everything from picture books, to chapter books, to early reader books, to colouring books and beyond!

Today we’re talking to her about her new picture book, Timeless.

From the publisher:

Emit (whose parents turned back time to name him) is surrounded by busyness. Dad is too busy to read stories, Mum is too busy to play games and Emit’s brother and sister are simply too busy doing nothing to do anything, at all. Emit tries everything he can think of to get more time, he tries to catch it, wait for it, but it’s not until Emit tries to buy some time that he learns the secret …

Did you already have a stack of time-themed puns just begging to be turned into this book? Or did the idea for the book send you off in search of puns? 

The idea for the book came first and that then sent me down into a deep, deep, pun dive. In the end I had so many puns and idioms I couldn’t use them all! A couple of favourites that didn’t make it to the final book were Emit’s street address: 5 Oak Lock Lane, and a part where Emit told his family he’d like to be a time traveller when he grew up only they ‘didn’t think there was much future in it …’ Also there was a part in the first draft where Emit sticky taped two toy ducks together to create … A time pair o’ ducks. Genius ideas, I think, but in the end they didn’t suit the story so I had to leave them out.

What is your relationship with time? (Are you usually running out of it or always ‘on time’?)

I am that person who is always horribly … early! For appointments especially. And often times 30 or 40 minutes early too because I’m so afraid of being late. But it’s not always a bad thing because it gives me some thinking time in the car, or a chance to get familiar with where I need to be, or have a cup of tea, or reply to emails or ALL of those things. It’s amazing what I can squeeze into that half hour!

Your bright illustrations in Timeless almost seem to glow. Can you tell us about how you create your illustrations? 

The brightness all comes from the inks. I chose the most vibrant colours I could find and then got my fan brush (a brush shaped like a fan, of course) and splattered and flicked ink all over the page until it started to look like how I saw it in my head. I wanted the illustrations to have a lot of energy and movement, to echo how busy everyone was, and the fan brush was perfect for that. I didn’t mind at all if ink fell in odd places either because I thought it added to the chaos of being so busy. I also didn’t sketch any of the illustrations with pencil first, I just went straight in and created havoc! That’s right, this book is one great big happy accident!

Do you have a tip for kids who would like to write/illustrate their own picture book?

I definitely have a tip for illustrating and that is to not be afraid of the blank page. Ever! The important thing is to get down on that paper whatever is in your head and when you’re done, when its down, then you can edit or add to it or … throw it out if you wish! But just get something down. Usually I find not thinking about my work too much takes the pressure off and as a result my work looks alive and fresh and full of energy. Actually, that advice works for writing too.

Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?

Right now I am trying to come up with a new idea for a picture book AND I’m working on illustrations for the fifth book in Jaclyn Moriarty’s Kingdoms & Empires series. One of those things is much harder than the other and I’ll leave you to guess which one it is (Hint: it’s the one where were I have to come up with a new idea) !!

Timeless is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.

AWESOME EXTRAS

Image shows the cover of a picture book: Timeless by Kelly Canby. The cover illustration shows a boy waving a net behind him while colours and flowers and birds swirl around him.

Take a sneak peek inside Timeless

Download free activity sheets from the publisher’s website

Download the Teachers’ Notes

Visit Kelly Canby’s website for more about her and her books

Posted in authors, illustrator, interviews

James Foley on Secret Agent Mole: Book 1

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

MEET THE AUTHOR- ILLUSTRATOR

James Foley (author-illustrator). James has pale skin and a dark beard. He's wearing a black jacket over a tshirt and standing in front of a white wooden door.
Image shows the cover of a graphic novel for young readers: Secret Agent Mole (book 1) - Goldfish-Finger by James Foley. The cover is predominantly yellow and features an illustration of ahippo in a brown vest with her arms crossed, a purple mole in a white tuxedo and wearing square glasses and holding a toy rubber-dart gun, and a tiny green flying bug wearing a hat. The typeface of the font suggests this is a spy-themed book.

James Foley is the author-illustrator of a stack of picture books and graphic novels. His work has been published as books, in anthologies, and in magazines and newspapers. Today we’re excited to chat to James about the first book in his brand new graphic novel series, Secret Agent Mole: Goldfish-Finger.

From the publisher:

Max is a mole on a mission. With Helen Hippo and June Bug by his side, Max must stop the evil Goldfish-Finger from stealing a priceless, solid gold fishfinger. This dangerous, top-secret mission will involve explosions, a naked mole rat, and being flushed down a giant toilet. Will Max and the team defeat the fiendish fish? Time to rock and mole!

This is book 1 of a new series. How did you decide on the main characters for this series?

The whole idea came about from a conversation with fellow author/illustrator Matt Cosgrove. His publisher Scholastic had asked me to pitch them an idea for a book series, so I called Matt for some advice. I told him, ‘you can be my mole in the organisation‘. And that’s when the idea of Max Mole popped into my head. From there it was a pretty simple task to find his friends; all teams should have a variety of skills and personalities, plus when you’re drawing them it’s good to have a variety of sizes and shapes. So I picked a bigger, tougher animal (a hippo called Helena) and a much smaller, more fragile creature (a bug called Bug) to round out Max’s team. The main villain is a naked mole rat called Dr Nude, because naked mole rats are extremely funny. 

What’s your favourite graphic novel/comic book sound effect and why?

Good question. Probably any of the big, loud action ones (e.g. CRASH, SMASH, THUD, KABOOM). It usually means there’s something big and silly to draw.

Can you tell us about how you create your graphic novels?

First I write the events of the book as a series of bullet points. I put all my ideas down in order until I have enough ideas for a book. Then I write the book as a script – just like you would for a play or a film. It’s just the dialogue plus descriptions of the action. Then I lay out all the pages into a program called InDesign. This lets me see how much room the words need and how much space I have left to do the drawings. I figure out where all the panels are going to go and I start drawing the book as rough sketches straight into the program. Once all that is approved by my editor, I get started on the final artwork. I do all the black outlines in Procreate on my iPad, then I finish off all the shades of grey using Photoshop on my big Wacom Cintiq drawing tablet and my laptop. After about 6 months, I’ve got a 200 page graphic novel.

Do you have a tip for kids who want to write a graphic novel or their own comic book?

You don’t have to be a great at drawing to make a comic book; if you can draw stick figures then you can make a comic. 

The most important thing when making comics is to keep the reader in mind. Comics are meant to be shared, so you need to make sure that your reader will be able to understand the story you’re trying to tell. Every piece of information the reader will need must be on the page; you won’t be able to stand over their shoulder and help them if they get lost or confused. So you have to make sure every picture is large enough and clear enough; you have to make sure all the words are neat and readable; and you need to include enough pictures in the correct order to show what’s happening. It’s as simple and as complicated as that: make sure you have clear pictures and clear words in a clear order. If you can make those three things happen, then your reader will be able to understand and enjoy your comic. 

Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?

I’ve just finished all the artwork for Secret Agent Mole book 2: The Boar Identity. That was a heap of fun! It will be out in August/September 2023.

Next up, I have to start writing the script for Secret Agent Mole book 3. Wish me luck!

Secret Agent Mole: Goldfish-Finger is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.

Image shows the cover of a graphic novel for young readers: Secret Agent Mole (book 1) - Goldfish-Finger by James Foley. The cover is predominantly yellow and features an illustration of ahippo in a brown vest with her arms crossed, a purple mole in a white tuxedo and wearing square glasses and holding a toy rubber-dart gun, and a tiny green flying bug wearing a hat. The typeface of the font suggests this is a spy-themed book.

AWESOME EXTRAS:

Watch the book trailer on YouTube

Meet the VILLAINS of the Secret Agent Mole series on the author’s blog

Visit James Foley’s website for more about James and his books

Posted in Book reviews by kids

Book review: Astonishingly Good Stories

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

REVIEWED BY HANNAH, 10, QLD

Astonishingly Good Stories by RA Spratt, Penguin Australia, ISBN 9780143779261

Hannah reviewed her own copy of this title.

Image shows the cover of a book of short stories for children: Astonishingly Good Stories by RA Spratt. The cover illustration is filled with tiny illustrations of characters from inside the book: a child with an axe, a monster with a giant lollipop, a mer-pig.

Astonishingly Good Stories is a very funny, heart-warming collection of short stories including characters from RA Spratt’s other book series. The stories include Fractured Fairytales and stories of Nanny Piggins’ stunningly beautiful relatives (aunts and grandmothers). For Friday Barnes fans there is a short Friday Barnes story based on Christmas.

I like a lot of the stories but I actually liked the Friday Barnes one best. I am surprised by this because I thought Friday Barnes was too old for me and I didn’t understand the plot of other Friday Barnes stories, but I did understand the plot of this story and it was really good.

The prequel to Astonishingly Good Stories –Shockingly Good Stories – was equally good and I suggest you read both of them. I would not change this book at all.

I’d recommend this book to people who like books that make you laugh and ‘myths and legends as you’ve never read them before’. Ideal for ages 8 and up.

Take a look inside this book on the publisher’s website.

This is Hannah’s first review for Alphabet Soup! To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Posted in authors, interviews

Ashleigh Barton on Solomon Macaroni and the Cousin Catastrophe

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
Image shows a head and shoulders photo of Ashleigh Barton, children's author. Ashleigh has pale skin, shoulder length dark brown straight hair and blue eyes. She's wearing a white shirt and smiling directly at the viewer.
Image shows the cover of a children's novel: Solomon Macaroni and the Cousin Catastrophe by Ashleigh Barton. The cover is black and Solomon and his cousins are drawn in grey, purple and orange. There are purple bats the top of the cover. Solomon looks like a vampire in a purple cape lined with orange, short black hair that comes to a point over his forehead and fangs. The cousin behind him is pouring orange liquid onto Solomon's head from a glass bowl. Twin girl cousins in purple pinafores are about to cut off Solomon's ear with a pair of scissors. A young cousin in a purple cap is lying at Solomon's feet tying his shoelaces together. A girl in a purple dress and necklace of beads is pointing an airhorn at Solomon. And a girl in a yellow striped shirt and hair in pigtails stands off to one side reading an orange book and looking over her shoulder uncertainly at the others.

Ashleigh Barton lives in Sydney, Australia. She is the author of several picture books including What Do You call Your Grandpa?, What Do You Call Your Grandma? and What Do You Do to Celebrate? Today we’re pleased to have Ashleigh visiting Alphabet Soup to talk about her first children’s novel, Solomon Macaroni and the Cousin Catastrophe, illustrated by Sarah Davis.

From the publisher:

You’ve never met a vampire like Solomon Macaroni before – he’s friendly, polite and makes a mean tofu Bolognese. Understandably, when his parents go on a one-hundred-year cruise without him, Solomon is not impressed. Especially because it means having to stay in creepy Transylvania with his six cousins, who are the rudest and naughtiest vampires in existence. When his cousins venture into the spooky Wildwood on a dangerous mission, Solomon agrees to help rescue them. At least, that’s what he thinks he’s doing …

So … are Solomon’s cousins inspired by your own cousins?

Solomon’s cousins are probably inspired a little bit by my own family but not on purpose. I do have a lot of cousins (way more than Solomon does in fact – twenty-two first cousins in total!) and my siblings do love a good prank, but I didn’t intentionally base any of the characters on them. I’m sure some of their traits and our relationships growing up have probably showed up at least a little bit. Funnily enough, when one of my brothers first saw the cover, he thought the character illustrations were based on us. It was just a coincidence but I can see what he means – there is a bit of uncanny resemblance to our different personalities! (He thought Lucy, with her head in her book, was me.)

Did you suffer (or instigate) a memorable prank when you were growing up?

Looking back, pranking has definitely been a constant part of my life but fortunately nothing too traumatic. Everyone in my immediate family seems to love a good prank. My dad loved hiding our food if we left the room and once my brother stuck a fake spider high up on a wall to scare our dad when he got home from work. Poor Dad spent ages trying to get the spider down. A lot of my childhood friends and I loved pranking too. Some of the pranks we pulled were a bit naughty so I don’t want to share in case I give you ideas!

Which character in the book would you most like to spend an afternoon with?

Probably Uncle Dracula! He is a lot of fun and I’d be up for trying any of his whacky inventions, especially ones involving ice cream. It would also be amazing to listen to his stories and find out what life was like throughout the different centuries. Arrubakook – the wayfinding kookaburra – would also be a handy companion if I could hang out with her regularly because I can’t find my way anywhere.

Do you have a tip for children who’d like to try writing a novel?

One thing I’ve been having a lot of fun doing with kids in schools lately is coming up with a character to turn upside down the way I’ve done with vampires in Solomon Macaroni. The vampires in my story are completely different to traditional vampires – they don’t drink blood, they aren’t immortal (though they can live a really long time and age really slowly), they don’t have any powers or abilities and they can definitely eat garlic. This is because in Solomon’s world, magic has almost completely disappeared. The character of Dracula – a very well-known character from literature who is usually depicted as heartless and monstrous – is actually a very nice, caring and creative person. So, you could come up with your own character based on either a famous literary figure or a mythical creature and then completely rewrite them. Give them new characteristics and personality traits. You could even change their appearances, their family and friends, where they live and what they live for. It’s a great way to let your imagination run wild and then a story will often fall into place around this character you’re creating.

Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?

I’m always working on a bunch of things and constantly have ideas whirling around my head, but the project that I am properly working on now (or should be working on now) is the second Solomon Macaroni book. In book two, Solomon, his cousins and Uncle Dracula head to Paris for a family holiday that goes very, very wrong.

Solomon Macaroni and the Cousin Catastrophe is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.

Image shows the cover of a children's novel: Solomon Macaroni and the Cousin Catastrophe by Ashleigh Barton. The cover is black and Solomon and his cousins are drawn in grey, purple and orange. There are purple bats the top of the cover. Solomon looks like a vampire in a purple cape lined with orange, short black hair that comes to a point over his forehead and fangs. The cousin behind him is pouring orange liquid onto Solomon's head from a glass bowl. Twin girl cousins in purple pinafores are about to cut off Solomon's ear with a pair of scissors. A young cousin in a purple cap is lying at Solomon's feet tying his shoelaces together. A girl in a purple dress and necklace of beads is pointing an airhorn at Solomon. And a girl in a yellow striped shirt and hair in pigtails stands off to one side reading an orange book and looking over her shoulder uncertainly at the others.

AWESOME EXTRAS

Download the Teachers’ Notes

Visit Ashleigh Barton’s website for more about her and her books

Posted in Book reviews by Emily, Book reviews by kids

Book review: How to be Prime Minister and Survive Grade Five

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
Image shows the cover of a children's novel: How to be Prime Minister and Survive Grade Five by Carla Fitzgerald. The cover is predominantly light blue and shows a wall with framed photographs of australian Prime Ministers hanging up, and the main character of this book (a girl with brown hair, pale skin and a navy blazer and red tie) holding a frame up around her face as if she is also one of the prime ministers.

REVIEWED BY EMILY, 10, WA

How to be Prime Minister and Survive Grade Five by Carla Fitzgerald, University of Queensland Press, ISBN 9780702265587

The publisher provided a review copy of this book.

How to be Prime Minister and Survive Grade Five by Carla Fitzgerald is a humorous fiction book about a girl called Harper, her sister Lottie, and her friends.

The problems begin when Harper’s dad saves two children (and a labradoodle) from a shark! Harper’s  dad is then invited to be Prime Minister! But being Prime Minister isn’t that fun and all the pressure piles on Harper’s dad, when suddenly he decides to run away, leaving Harper to find a way to run the country, not get humiliated in her class and figure out which policy should become law – all without her dad.

I found this book fun and entertaining with bucket loads of humour. The message it teaches you is that when things are tough, you should stay strong and work through the problem. Another lesson that spoke loudly from this book was that working as a team always helps.

This book is probably going to be enjoyed by fans of Keeping up with the Dachshunds, which is also written by Carla Fitzgerald, as the same humour is used.

All ages from 6+ would enjoy this book.  I rate this an outstanding five out of five.

Emily is a regular reviewer for Alphabet Soup. Read more reviews by Emily here. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines. Happy reading!