West Earlham Junior School have been asking authors 4 questions. A whole bunch of authors have replied and it's quite enlightening to check out everybody's answers here:
http://wejsbookblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/4jbs-author-questionnaire.html
I've chipped in. The email asking me to do this said I should take 30 seconds over it. So I didn't think about it very much and just typed as fast as I could. Here's what I said:
1. What was your favourite book as a child?
Age 8: Magnus Powermouse by Dick King-Smith
Age 10: The Guinness Book of Cricket Records
Age 13: Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
Age 16: New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
Age 32: The Sneetches & Other Stories by Dr Seuss
2. Which of your own books are you most proud of?
This changes every day. Today it's either Jimmy Coates: Blackout or Jimmy Coates: Power. I was re-reading JC: Power yesterday for a work thing and I found myself thinking, "Wow, I really knew what I was doing with this plot." It was a bit weird to be getting into the story and finding it so exciting when it was something I'd written myself a few years ago.
3. Is there a book that you think all children in Year Four (age 8/9) should read or have read to them?
Obviously Jimmy Coates: Killer. But apart from that... READ WHATEVER YOU LIKE. Try something new and if you don't like it after two pages pick up something else. I go through a lot of books this way, but I also find a lot of books I end up loving. And it doesn't cost you anything because at the library books are free. Awesome.
4. Do you think children should be allowed more time to read in school?
I think we should all have more time to read, especially in school. You should also be able to pick a week in the year and declare, THIS IS MY READING WEEK and in that week you do nothing at all except read. And there should be more time for creative messing about too. Reading, experimenting, discovering, failing over and over again... those are the most important things if you want to come up with anything that rocks the world.
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