Christmas gift idea

The Da Vinci Code

This isn't a children's book? Why's he blogging about The Da Vinci Code?

Back in the summer of 2004 this book showed me that:

SHORT CHAPTERS + CLIFF-HANGERS ON EACH CHAPTER = UNPUTDOWNABLE

That summer it felt like every adult relaxing around the pool of the French holiday village was reading this story AND  it was being read in so many languages.

So for me, this book became my great inspiration.

I look forward to seeing my stories being read by the pool one summer soon.

GROSS TEACHERPOX by Andrew Ashcroft

My blog so far has been about children's books that have inspired me. Now I want to share the first result of all that inspiration - GROSS TEACHERPOX.

Gross Teacherpox is about when the authoritarian Miss Stern, the head teacher (principal) of Grimeton School is forced to use ANYBODY she can to takes classes for her when all of her teachers are ill with teacher pox. Mr Gross, a stinking monster with orange eyes is her last hope.

Here is some of my more of inspiration:

• I am a teacher and have also worked as a substitute.
• I aim to make interesting, inspiring, practical, dynamic lessons - like Mr Gross does… in his own way...
• I prefer people who are not bossy like Miss Stern.
• I wanted to create a story that would appeal to reluctant boy readers - but EVERYONE is welcome to read it!

It is 5,000 words long, took over five years to write and edit (life gets in the way…) but takes about half an hour for an adult to read aloud.

I had the good fortune to have the author Stephanie Baudet critique it before the publishing process began. She drew comparisons with Roald Dahl which was flattering for this fan!

Buy Gross Teacherpox here:

http://www.amazon.com/GROSS-TEACHERPOX-Andrew-Ashcroft-ebook/dp/B00MRRBWQU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408513215&sr=8-1&keywords=teacherpox

and visit my author page here:

https://www.amazon.com/author/andrewashcroft

You can download the Kindle app FREE at amazon.com

Meg Miller

Check out:

http://megmillerwrites.blogspot.se

Meg Miller writes for younger readers and her blog is most inspiring to people like me who love children's literature.

I think Meg's illustrations are warm and appealing. Look at those eyes!

Jill Bennet

The illustrator Jill Bennet designed the cover for Fantastic Mr Fox as well as many others. Here is a link to more information about her:

http://www.childrensbookillustration.com/view_artist.php?id=38

Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl

Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl was read to me by Fantastic Mr Payne at Highfield Priory School, Preston when I was seven years old during the Autumn term of 1977. He had also read Danny Fox to us, but his fox-theme turned into a Roald Dahl romp as he then read James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and Danny Champion of the World before the summer holidays came along and spoiled everything.

Typical Dahl? The hero faces colourful, grotesque, Dickensian adversaries, ie: farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean. Then there is the anarchistic view of norms that Dahl puts forward. I am thinking about the chapter where Fox explains to Badger that it is almost a moral duty to steal from the three foul farmers simply because they are so nasty and deserve the revenge of the animals. In the early 1990s, one dad told me that he would always hop over that chapter when he played a recorded version in the car for his three daughters.

I was entranced by the world Fox creates under the ground. I loved drawing places like that as a child such as rambling houses or underground hideaways. As an adult, things get a bit spoiled by what you've learned along the way. For example that the ground is not made of a nice thick cohesive layer of soil perfect for forming into an underground village, or that foxes and rabbits do not live together in harmony united against the common foe. Another thought: what did they do with all that soil that they dug through? Maybe it just got erased like a pencil-drawing.

So what? All these thoughts could just ruin a good story. James Bond could never happen if adults could not suspend belief, sit back and allow themselves to be entertained. Harry Potter is full of holes, questions and inconsistencies. It's pedantic to point them out, too late and probably a bit jealous!

By the way, as conservative little boy, I preferred Faith Jaques illustrations to those of Sir Quentin Blake. I preferred the details and intricacy of her drawings to the (apparently) sketchy nature of the later drawings - but now I can see the merits of both. I think that my own illustrating style (see www.andrewashcroft.net ) owes more to Blake.

The illustration is the cover of the version that I have owned from being seven years old. The version is illustrated by Faith Jaques. I have read my own old copy to many
classes and my own three sons.

It is great to read aloud. I love giving the three farmers Lancashire accents. Bean becomes growly and guttural, Boggis self-assured and drawly, Bunce squeaky and spiteful.

I have also read it aloud in Swedish to classes in Sweden. Great stories can have a world-wide appeal. Themes that translate to other cultures make for world-classics. Hooray for Roald Dahl!