Still magic...

I visited the school my sister teaches at last Friday. I read my new picture book The House That Went to Sea (Duck Creek Press, 2011). I also read a short story of mine The Monster Under My Bed, recently published in Pick 'n' Mix: Volume 2 (Scholastic, 2011) to two class groups. They laughed at the monster's voice and were already joining in with it before I finished reading the story. I had visited the school in 2009 and talked about and read The Were-Nana (Scholastic, 2008). This time after chatting with the 2 classes I visited with just my sister's class. They wanted The Were-Nana read to them although they have heard it before. Their pleasure in hearing the story hadn't diminished. They loved the tension the book plays out. My sister said she thought the book would stay around for a long time. It's timeless and a keeper. I know in reality few books get to stay, but I very much appreciated how much the children enjoyed it although they must have heard it a number of times before, and my sister's kind words about my book.