Category Archives: Books

Summer 2020

I’d almost forgotten I had a blog! So much has changed in the last seven months since my last update, mainly involving the world being turned on its head, that my own little bits of news seem unimportant. But it’s helpful for me to record things, otherwise I’m bound to forget what’s happened – and a lot of it was good, so that would be a shame.

I hope my readers have managed to get through the epidemic (at least this first wave of it) unscathed. I know a few people who have suffered from COVID-19 and it sounds absolutely horrific, with recovery almost as troublesome as the disease itself.

Lockdown has been quite productive for me despite my brain being full of worrying distractions, just like everyone else. I illustrated a couple of books and signed up for some more, and some books have appeared in shops (see below for details).

I’ve also been working on editing the text for the first book of my new series. It’s changed quite a lot – I mentioned in my last post that it’s a spin-off from my Dundoodle Mysteries series but I’m playing down that idea as it’s become much more of its own beast, and I’m looking forward to seeing what people think of it. I’ve seen some artwork by the illustrator and have been blown away by how he draws the world I’ve created in words. It’s very exciting and I’ll share more information when I can.

Here are some of the happenings since the beginning of the year.

January: I spent some time updating my portfolio with some new art. Above is a favourite pic, which is on my welcome page, and you can see the rest here. I think it’s time I gave my website a major overhaul, although I probably won’t get time to do that until Christmas!

March: The fifth Naughtiest Unicorn book came out – The Naughtiest Unicorn on a School Trip! School trips always involve a visit to the gift shop and I had a lot of fun drawing this – here’s a snapshot.

The book came out on World Book Day, when children are encouraged to go to school dressed as their favourite book characters. I was thrilled to see a few Naughty Unicorns dotted around social media. Here’s my favourite:

Hilarious! She’s dressed as Dave the Unicorn in his sports kit and looks like she’s loving every second.

Here’s a tweet from Blake Harrison, the actor best known from the TV comedy The Inbetweeners:

Archie McBudge from The Chocolate Factory Ghost didn’t miss out:

Lockdown came into force in the UK in the middle of March. I was very pleased to discover my book activities were being put to good use by home schoolers. You can find all my activities, including ideas for drawing, making comics and creating stories, as well as colouring-in sheets, puzzles and teaching resources here.

Finley Epps let me know he’s been inspired by my Dundoodle books. I love to see readers’ art:

April: The last of the Dundoodle Mysteries arrived in shops! Unfortunately none of them were open, and even Amazon weren’t prioritising book deliveries. (By the way, please don’t use Amazon for buying books – they demand huge discounts from book publishers, so that the only people who make money from sales are Amazon. Use your local bookshop if you’re lucky enough have one, or order online from Waterstones and other proper booksellers. There are links on all my book pages.)

Having a book come out during lockdown was rough, but at least The Revenge of the Invisible Giant was the last book in the series and not the first, and sales picked up as shops began to open up. This was great fun to write, and I think I’ve given Archie and friends a decent send-off. Claire Powell brings the whole thing to life, as usual, with her brilliant illustrations.

The Naughtiest Unicorn was shortlisted for the Alligator’s Mouth Award, a prize that recognises illustrated children’s fiction. We didn’t win, but it’s always lovely to see a book appreciated in that way, and see so many friends on the shortlist too.

June: The French edition of The Chocolate Factory Ghost came out, after my French publisher (PKJ) decided to delay release from April. I was particularly pleased to see this, as Claire Powell had created a brand new cover for the book, at PKJ’s request. European publishers are far more daring with there covers than UK publishers, and Le Fantôme de la Chocolaterie is a glorious pink.  There was even a matching trailer:

Also out in June was a piece of educational illustration I do from time to time if my schedule allows. This job was to illustrate a set of cards that teachers and parents can use to discuss and explore character strengths with children, enabling them to learn, recognise and express all sides of their character. It’s great to have a bit of variety in work projects and these types of projects are particularly interesting. Here are some snaps:

Speaking of variety, there was an announcement in The Bookseller about another project that I’m working on right now, a book written by TV doctor Ranj Singh (also known from his appearance on Strictly Come Dancing in 2018). The book itself hasn’t been properly announced yet, but it’s due out in February next year.

July: Coming right up to date, the sixth of the Naughtiest Unicorn books – The Naughtiest Unicorn on the Beach – has just been released, perfectly timed for some holiday reading. Mira is dreaming of pirate treasure but Dave’s mind is fixed on lazing in the sun with his chips, if only the seagulls will leave him alone!

The series has been so popular that publisher Egmont have commissioned two more books beyond the planned seven, so I’ll be busy with Dave and friends well into next year!

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer and stays safe and healthy!

Winter 2019 Update

It’s cold and frosty in these parts, so a good time to stay indoors and update on what’s been going on since the summer. It’s not been that eventful, but I have been very busy with writing and illustrating, so a productive time all in all.

The fourth book in The Naughtiest Unicorn series (The Naughtiest Unicorn at Christmas) should be on the shelves of a bookshop near you right now.

It’s filled with snowy, tinsel-themed antics – including the search for the perfect Christmas tree and the traditional school play, The Legend of the Snow Unicorn. As ever, I drew the pictures for Pip Bird’s story (life’s a lot easier for illustrators when everything is covered in snow!). Find out more about this fun series for younger readers here.

Meanwhile, I’m in the middle of writing a new book at this very moment. I’m really excited about it! Whilst I’m not allowed to divulge too many secrets, it’s part of a new series that takes place in Dundoodle, the setting for The Chocolate Factory Ghost, but involves a new set of characters – effectively it’s a spin-off of The Dundoodle Mysteries.

Archie McBudge and his friends may well feature in the books, but I’m using the stories to explore the different aspects of the magic that infuses the town of Dundoodle. It turns out that the Wyrdie Tree is not the only source of enchantment around. The first book in the series won’t be out until 2021, but I’ll keep this blog updated with as much detail as I’m permitted.

Speaking of Dundoodle, here’s the colourful cover of The Revenge of the Invisible Giant, the last of The Dundoodle Mysteries, brilliantly created by Claire Powell .

The book is in shops next April and I can’t wait to see what people think. The story involves the quest for a mysterious object that takes Archie, Fliss and Billy to parts of the magical world rarely seen, where they encounter many fantastical creatures of the Wyrd.

Druids, giants, warlocks, selkies and mermaids all feature — it’s a bonanza of information for Billy and his wyrdiological research and a lot of fun for me to write!

You can find out more at my web page for the book here.

The Polish version of The Chocolate Factory Ghost (Duch z fabryki krówek) came out in August and appears to have gone down well, judging from the reviews. I’ve been making a list of the different versions of Archie’s name taken from the foreign editions I’ve seen so far:

English: Archie McBudge
Danish: Archie McBudge
Dutch: Arthur McBell
German: Archie McEllen
Polish: Archie McKarmelek
Persian: Archie Maccabee

Who would have thought Archibald was such an international name?

Finally, The Chocolate Factory Ghost has been nominated for a number of awards and I’m pleased to add another to the list: it’s among the twenty books up for The Fantastic Books Awards, run by Lancashire Library Service. It’s lovely to have this kind of recognition and have my fingers crossed for the announcement in the Spring.

I hope you have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Summer 2019 Update

The year is whizzing by in a rather startling way and I’m very behind with my blog. I could blame my disorganisation or I could blame this guy, who happens to be my namesake:

This is Dave the Unicorn who, along with his BFF Mira, is the star of The Naughtiest Unicorn, a series of books written by Pip Bird that I’m currently illustrating. Dave and Mira meet at Unicorn School and have a bunch of silly adventures, mostly involving glitter, doughnuts and trouble!

There’s an interview with Mira and Dave here! Dave spends most of his time scowling, eating and farting. I’ve no idea why I was given this illustration job…

There are SEVEN books in the series, and they’re all out in the next year or so – that means lots of drawings of unicorns and rainbows which is keeping me very busy indeed! The first and second books are out already and the third appears in shops in September – you can’t miss them as they’ve all got very shiny covers. Perfect early reads for unicorn fans aged 6 and upwards.

But what’s happening in Dundoodle?

Meanwhile, The Dentist of Darkness had been out in the world for a few of months and appears to be going down well. I did some launch events at a few schools in north London, that coincided with World Book Day, that were exhausting but a lot of fun.

The story centres around Unquiet Night which happens to be very soon (the first Tuesday of the school holidays, as every Dundoodledonian knows)! It’s the night when tree-spooks, bog-people and other wyrdi-folk appear and dance their wyrdi-dance through the darkness of the forest.

Everyone in the town will be baking Gingerbread Dragons, amongst other goodies, to celebrate in the Unquiet Night festival held in Dundoodle’s main square. And they’ll have their own dance around the streets, as so brilliantly illustrated by Claire Powell:

You can make your own Gingerbread Dragons with the recipe from my DoD activity pack, available to download from here. As well as the recipe, there are puzzles and story-making ideas – ideal for keeping bored minds busy during the school holidays. If you need more things to do the CFG activity pack is here. I’m going to expand on the activities section of my website, to include more creative writing advice, so keep an eye on that if you know any budding writers.

I’ve also had to do some travelling and events back in May, thanks to the award nominations that The Chocolate Factory Ghost has received. I didn’t win anything (apart from the runner-up sparkly glass thing that’s the size of an egg from the Leeds Book Awards!) but it was great to meet all the children from the local schools who’d participated and sign all their books. I got more reviews than anyone else on the Leeds Book Awards website (not all of them good, mind you – young reviewers have very firm ideas about what they like!) and it was wonderful to know that my story had got into the hands of so many enthusiastic readers. Here’s a couple of photos taken at the ceremony:

Then in Surrey, I went on some school visits for the Surrey Children’s Book Awards, as well as popping into the wonderful brand new library at Horley:

Finally, the third Dundoodle Mystery is on the long road to publication – the text was signed off back in April and the illustrations are underway. And I can reveal its title: The Revenge of the Invisible Giant! Ta-daaa! Here’s the official blurb:

When a batch of his experimental sweets goes wrong at the McBudge Confectionery Company, Archie needs a distraction. And when he hears about a book of magical wisdom lost in a tunnel beneath the mountains, Archie is determined to find it. It’s DEFINITELY so he can be the best magical guardian of Dundoodle that he can be and DEFINITELY NOT so he can turn tree branches into flying surfboards. Only trouble is, the key to open the tunnel was broken into four pieces hundreds of years ago and hidden.

Archie, Fliss and Billy set out to find the pieces of the key, but why was the tunnel sealed off in the first place? And what is the deep, sinister, MOUNTAINOUS voice Archie keeps hearing on the wind?

This is a fast-paced, action-packed story that I’ve stuffed with magic and fun, and has a huge cast of mermaids, selkies, warlocks, golems, gods, druids and, of course, giants. It’s not out until next April but it’s already available for pre-order now from the usual places, but please do use your local bookshop if you have one. All the info on ROTIG can be found here, which I’ll keep updated as best as I can.

I’ll finish with the bittersweet news that this will be the last of the Dundoodle Mysteries books, but…. it’s not the last of the tales of Dundoodle! I’m not allowed to say more just yet – something tantalising for the future…

Out now – the Dentist of Darkness

The second book of The Dundoodle Mysteries finally came out in Thursday – World Book Day in the UK! Once again, it feels like I’ve been talking about a book for ages and then, suddenly, it’s actually in shops and in people’s hands. It’s always exciting when a new book comes out, and this was no exception.

Here’s the fabulous animated trailer – made by illustrator Claire Powell.

The trouble with talking about the same book over and over again is that it’s difficult to find something new to say each time. But I don’t think I’ve written before that I think The Dentist of Darkness is my favourite of the the Dundoodle books. It has the fun and sweets and the mystery of The Chocolate Factory Ghost, but it also has a atmosphere of magic and darkness all of its own. It goes deeper into the mythology of the town and Archie’s own family history.

I’ve loved getting lost in the world, and particularly loved creating Unquiet Night, the Dundoodle version of Halloween, as Archie learns from his friends over a hot chocolate in Clootie Dumpling’s cafe:

‘Dundoodle doesn’t have Halloween,’ explained Fliss. ‘Halloween is at the end of October, and in Dundoodle that means icy wind and horizontal rain. The weather’s so miserable even the undead stay in and watch TV! So we have Unquiet Night in the summer instead…’


‘Unquiet Night is when the dead and undead walk, and the spirits and ghouls rise,’ said Billy. ‘Legends say the magical folk come out of hiding for the night and dance the Dance of the Wyrd.’


Archie frowned. ‘That sounds like Halloween to me,’ he said.


From The Dentist of Darkness

Whilst Unquiet Night does sound a lot like Halloween, it has its own special Dundoodle flavour. Festive food such as Coffin Cake, Witchberry Buns, Spellcaster Sugarbeer, Wyrdie-pudding, Spooky Pie and Corpse Rolls are consumed in great quantities. But the favourite treats are Gingerbread Dragons, which prove to be central to the story as Archie discovers more about his magical heritage…

All the info for The Dentist of Darkness can be found here. I’m really looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks about it. I’ve been doing some events as part of the launch for the book, and will post some photos once I get hold of them.

Of course, World Book Day also means people dressing up as their favourite book characters. There’s a bit of a debate as to whether this is a good thing, as it puts parents under a lot of pressure, but I know that authors are delighted if their characters are chosen, me included. Sarah McIntyre and I regularly see a Jampire out and about:

But I was particularly pleased to see a Joe Shoe from Monster & Chips!

There’s even a menu!

I love the apron – just right for serving some monstrous food. Monster & Chips came out almost exactly six years ago, so it’s great to see it’s still got readers after all this time. Thank you so much for choosing to dress as Joe, Xavier! It’s made for a fantastic week all round.

Winter 2018 Update

It’s been a busy year and lots of good things have happened, though I feel like I’ve been chained to my desk lately. Here’s what’s being going on since the summer.

Scotland visit

In August we paid a visit to Fife for a friend’s wedding. It was a chance to visit in person a place I had discovered when writing my first draft of The Chocolate Factory Ghost. When I came up with the story, I only had a vague idea of how the little town of Dundoodle looked. Originally, there was no chocolate factory at all, and Dundoodle was a fishing village, rather than in the Highlands. When searching online for images of Scottish fishing villages, Crail would often pop up. It’s very picturesque and, as it was only a shortish drive from the wedding venue, it wasn’t too difficult to go and visit.

Above is one of my photos, but there are plenty more much better ones online. I love the stepped gables that give the houses a castle-y look. It’s very distinctive of Scotland and I picture Dundoodle with similar look and feel, even though it’s ‘located’ on the other side of the country, and surrounded by mountains. I’ve written before about how a strong sense of place can bring its own magic to a story, and that’s particularly true of the countryside around Fife.

The Dentist of Darkness

In other Dundoodle news, Book 2 of The Dundoodle Mysteries – The Dentist of Darkness – is at the printers. The art by Claire Powell looks a brilliant as ever and I’m pleased to say it’s going to look as spectacular as the first book! Everything is on schedule for publication day next March. Here’s what the cover will look like:

But there’s no rest: book three of The Dundoodle Mysteries is under way, though I’m finding it quite a challenge to write whilst doing other work projects simultaneously. I’m not very good at multi-tasking but I’m hoping it should all be done by January. It’s set in the spring, and has a watery theme – but my publisher has demanded that there are plenty of sweets in it too!

The audiobook of The CFG has been released, with superb reading from award-winning actor Angus King. I think he had quite a bit of fun doing it, judging from some of the character voices. You can listen to a snippet:

The Dutch edition of the The CFG came out at the end of September, translated by Sandra Hessels (who also translated my Monster & Chips series). The book is called The Secret of the Sweet Factory (Het Geheim van de Snoepfabriek). It’s so exciting to see foreign editions. The Dutch version is in hardback which is always nice. The German edition – Das Karamell-Komplott, translated by Leena Flegler – is out in February 2019.

Cheltenham Literary Festival

I really enjoyed taking part in the Super Sleuths panel at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in October. Actor and author Andrew Clover chaired, and Lauren St John and Lisa Thompson also took part. It was a lot of fun talking about how we write and what makes for a good detective story, and wonderful as always to meet some of our readers. It was also wonderful to do an event where I just had to sit and chat. If I’d had a mug of tea it could almost have been relaxing. Here’s a fuzzy photo. I’m wearing a cobwebby shirt specially for the occasion.

Awards!

Finally, some lovely news I received a week or so ago: The CFG has been shortlisted for two book awards! It’s in the running for the 7-11s category of the Leeds Book Awards, and also for the Surrey Libraries Book Award 2019. I’m up against some very strong competition so I don’t think I’m being too modest in saying I haven’t a hope of winning, but it’s still a great honour. However, both awards ceremonies are on the same day so I’ve a tricky choice as to which to go to! A nice problem to have.

I hope you have a great Christmas break and a brilliant 2019!

Summer Update

Along with half the planet, I’m officially melting here at O’Connell HQ – even typing seems to be a huge effort! However, here are some bits of recent news…

  • I had some library posters made after receiving a number of requests. If your school or public library would like one then let me know. They’re size A3 and there’s a space for a message/autograph too.

  • In the Autumn, Archie Budge transmogrifies into Arthur McBell in the Dutch version of The Chocolate Factory Ghost (The Secret of the Sweet Factory) – here’s the cover! I’m guessing McBell rhymes with karamel, as there’s no Dutch version of fudge! It’s been translated by Sandra Hessels who also translated Monster & Chips, so I know it’s in safe hands.

That’s all! I’m thinking of having August away from the internet as best I can – I expect I won’t be able to resist popping up on Instagram and Twitter occasionally, and my next newsletter comes out at the end of the month too, but otherwise I’m going to focus on some writing and brushing up my illustration skills. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

CBC Writing & Illustrating A Picture Book Course

If you’ve ever thought about writing or illustrating your own book, then Curtis Brown Creative have launched a series of online courses for aspiring picture book creators. They asked me and my fab friend and Jampires co-author Sarah McIntyre to help come up with content for three courses: one for writing (me), one for illustrating (Sarah) and a combined course offering material from both of us.

When I quit my day job to work in children’s books I spent a long time floundering around: I was completely clueless as to how to go about it. We’re passing on our experience so you don’t have to make the same mistakes and can get on with being creative.

There are detailed notes and accompanying video content, creative exercises and mentoring, all to help you make your picture book idea a reality. The courses start in October, so sign up now at the CBC website.

Summer Reading Challenge is here!

It was announced back at the beginning of the year but the Summer Reading Challenge has finally launched in England and Wales (Scotland started in June). The challenge is simple but needs a bit of stamina: read as many of these books as you can during the school summer holidays (and The Chocolate Factory Ghost is just one of them)…

The Beano is a sponsor of  the challenge – my favourite childhood read – so it’s great to see The CFG on the list.

You can find all the details at the SRC website where you can sign up and find out more about the books, check out the competitions and other activities. Some libraries are running their own events as part of the challenge so make sure you’re a regular visitor so that you don’t miss out.

Independent Bookshop Week 2018

On the way back home from Bournville, I picked up a copy of The Guardian and was very pleased to see a plug for The CFG in its  Best New Children’s Books supplement that launched Independent Bookshop Week, celebrating independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland.

Do make use of your local independent bookshop if you’re lucky enough to have one. Other bookshops are great too, but they’re all facing tough times competing with online retailers and won’t last on our high streets if we choose price over good service: many bookshops run homework clubs or book groups as well, and offer their premises for launches and other community events. It always warms my heart to see a town with its own bookshop – you can find your nearest one here.

The House of Chocolate


Last Saturday, Claire Powell and I went to Bournville, home of Cadbury’s chocolate factory, for a rather fabulous event held at Selly Manor. This Tudor manor house (it actually dates back to at least 1327, but has had alterations since) was transported in the early 20th Century to Bournville from nearby Bournbrook. George Cadbury wanted it to be one of the centrepieces of Bournville village, and in doing so saved it from destruction.

Bournville is an amazing place, a model village built by Cadburys for their workers. It’s very picturesque, with plenty of the Cadbury trademark purple in evidence, and well worth a visit if you’re visiting Cadbury World nearby.

For our event, organised by Sarah Mullen of the Busy Parents Network (who also organise the Bournville BookFest), Selly Manor had been transformed into Honeystone Hall! (You can see the sign over the door way below.) It was just part of a day of chocolate-themed events taking place in the Hall and its gardens.

There were chocolatey cake stalls, a demonstration from a Cadbury chocolatier, a poetry workshop and a treasure hunt trail based on The Chocolate Factory Ghost. Along with our own drawing and story-making session in the adjacent hall, the Minworth Greaves.

The chocolatier in action. He showed how to temper chocolate to make it shiny and smooth for use in cooking. The smell in the hall was amazing!

Birmingham Poet Laureate (and boxer) Matt Windle turned the children into ‘chocolate rappers’ with his poetry workshop. Over lunch he talked about his work in schools and prisons, connecting people with poetry. It was very inspiring to listen to him. Also he divulged the secret to his sculptured moustache: a handy Pritt stick!

Claire led the children in a monster-making session, before I did some interactive story-telling with volunteers from the audience. There was lots of imagination at work.

It was such a beautiful setting for an event, and everyone made us feel very welcome. Thanks so much to Sarah and all the volunteers at the Manor for their hard work, as well as our Bloomsbury publicist Emily Moran who looked after us – a really special day.

All these lovely photos were taken by Dan Cottle. You can find him on Instagram here.

Barry Mk.2

A lovely reader letter arrived the other day that really made me chuckle: Zachary wrote that he and his brother Solly had named one of their kittens Barry after the monster cat from Monster & Chips, much to the amusement of everyone!

Solly also drew a picture of all the Monster & Chips characters (plus Barry Mk.2).

Brilliant! Thank you so much, chaps!

Tom’s Book Club 2


I’ve had to keep this a secret for so long so it’s a relief that the news is finally out: on Monday the new books for Tom Fletcher’s WHSmith Book Club were announced, and The Chocolate Factory Ghost was amongst them! I’m really thrilled and honoured that one of my books has been associated with such a high profile initiative – it’s very exciting!

Illustrator Claire Powell and I travelled to Wilmington Academy near Dartford which was hosting a launch event. We met Tom and all the other authors (above) whose books had been picked (all very pleased and excitable). We each had to do a presentation on our book to an audience of about 400 children: here’s Tom taking a selfie of all of us looking very relieved after the talks! (Photos by our lovely publicist, Lizz Skelly)

Then we went to the school’s lovely library to film some promotional material. Here’s me chatting to Tom about the book just before Claire did some choc-related drawing!

You’ll be able to watch all the videos over on Tom’s Youtube channel over the next couple of months. Tom worked extremely hard all day – he even appeared on ITV London News the next evening, promoting the Club. The CFG was very visible on screen – even getting its own close-up!

The Book Club picks get their own display stand in WHSmiths, where they can be bought as a bundle. There’s information about all the books on the WHSmiths site, including Tom’s thoughts on them. I noticed there are some teaching resources for The CFG there too, which I’ve not seen before.

Thanks so much to Tom and the WHSmiths team for having us and for all their hard work!

Boyband of the Apocalypse: WASHED UP

Happy publication day to Tom Nicoll‘s brilliantly funny and action-packed Boyband of the Apocalypse sequel, Washed Up!

It was my pleasure to illustrate this book, which continues the story of Sam’s supernatural misadventures in the world of reality TV – this time on a twisted version of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!

Not only is Sam back, but also the villainous Nigel Cruul, and a bunch of annoying celebrities that may or may not resemble some real life characters, but obviously I couldn’t possibly comment on Tom’s intentions…

Tom’s a very witty writer with a great sense of the absurd, and I really hope the book is a big success for him.

Here are a couple more of the interior illos. You can find out more about the series here.