Q&A with Children's author Giles Andreae

[RachelMumsnet]

To celebrate the launch of his new series of thirteen books, World of Happy, children's author and illustrator Giles Andreae is joining us this week to answer your questions.

Giles is author of many children's classics including Mumsnet Best award winner, Pants, Giraffes Can't Dance, Rumble in the Jungle and The Lion Who Wanted Love, which won the Red House Best picture book in 1998. He is also the creator of the bestselling brands Purple Ronnie and The Interesting Thoughts of Edward Monkton.

Giles dreamed up Purple Ronnie when he was having treatment for cancer in his twenties. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma just before he sat his finals and the treatment he had for it means he is now infertile. He's since married and had four children who were all conceived via IVF. World of Happy, was created after a period of chronic depression which completely crippled Giles for about eighteen months. The series launches on April 4th and incorporates thirteen books, each one introducing a different animal dealing with a different emotion such as love, happiness, courage, trust, manners and teamwork. Giles brings to life dancing hippos, knitting gorillas and belching sharks in a series that will be loved by both children and adults.

As an exclusive offer, Egmont is offering mumsnetters the whole set of World of Happy for just £25, which is less than half price. Just visit www.egmont.co.uk/wohmums and enter the code P11-WOHMUM

Send your questions to Giles before the end of day on Tuesday 5th April and we'll link to the answers from this thread shortly after. To find out more about World of Happy, please visit www.worldofhappy.com

You wrote brilliantly about depression - it helped me explain a similar period in my own lucky life. I always think the speech from Hamlet, quoted to the wolves by Withnail sums it up beautifully "I have of late,?but wherefore I know not,?lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory... etc" Does that sound familiar (as a feeling) to you?

PS Do you see much of David Cameron now he's PM? I like the guy, but must be hard to keep up with your mates in his job, it's hard enough just becoming a parent!

Hi Giles.

DS1 is 8 and is currently reading Billy Bonkers. He would like to know:

1. Did you base the character of Billy Bonkers on a real person that you know?

1. Do the illustrations of Billy by Nick Sharrat look exactly as you imagined Billy when you wrote the story?

Thank you!

Love the Purple Ronnie cards - not read any of the books yet but will look out for them for my daughter.

I've been through panic attacks with depression and got through with learning calming measures through TM but paid £250 at time to learn it - felt it was last resort for me. But with hindsight an exploitative price. Others can learn exactly same meditation style via Paul Wilson's The Calm Technique - loads on Amazon for 1p plus postage. Got through it all without medication.

Float tanks are good too - tried one in Clapham - laugh at AbFabs Edina in float tank episode. Laughter is good for climbing out of depression. Force yourself to watch funny programmes.

Glad you climbed out of it. Think the article in The Times about that period of your life helped others.

Any plans to write a book on how you were affected and came through?

Apologies if you have already written one.

Following on from DS1's question I was preparing a story for my nursery class and realised that the book was also written by you! It is Rumble in The Jungle, but translated into Welsh.

Which led me to wonder... Do you think that the stories stay the same once they have been translated or do you think that they change slightly? Do you have any input in the translation process, eg making sure that the original story isn't changed too much?

Hello to the lovely Mr Andreae! I taught your son FA at AH in Year 2 - Miss P here!! My favourite book is PANTS - do you remember the book the class wrote called HATS that we based on your book? I have always loved your books, poems and illustrations. I read to my five month old little girl a lot and must go out and get her a copy of Pants! Love to FA x

Hello to the lovely Mr Andreae! I taught your son FA at AH in Year 2 - Miss P here! My favourite book of yours is PANTS - Do you remember the book the class wrote called HATS that was based on your book? I read a lot to my 5 month old daughter and must buy a copy of PANTS to add to her ever expanding library. Love to FA x

Well the first message disappeared so I wrote a second one, only to find the first reappear - well...hey, repetition is a good thing!

My daughter and I love "There's a house inside my mummy". I'm a journalist, any tips on how to write that well :) Courses maybe?

My amazing Dad is currently fighting Burkitt's Lymphoma (and we're going to win). Is there anything in particular that helped you get through chemo? All top tips are gratefully received.

PS Pants is our all time favourite battered book

I just wanted to say that Giraffes Can't Dance is such a beautiful book. Thank you!

My question (and I am very sorry if this is a bit of a crap one/brings up bad times. Feel free to ignore if so) is, do you think adversity/mortality/ etc can sometimes bring about a state where you use the talents you have to show that, day to day, the world can be a remarkable place to live, even in the simplest ways?

Did it afford you a freedom, almost in a 'Seriously, I am VERY ill, please do look at the joy that surrounds most of us, that we don't really recognise' kind of way?

Thanks so much for all your questions which have now been forwarded on to Giles. We'll be linking to his answers from this thread asap.

Thanks for waiting! You can now read Giles' answers to your questions here

He answered my question!!!!