Live webchat with Francesca 'Horrid Henry' Simon, author of The Sleeping Army, Tuesday 29 May, 1pm

[RachelMumsnet]

We're delighted to announce the start of our children's book club, which means we're going to be highlighting a great children's book each month, offering you the chance to access free copies of the book, share your thoughts - and perhaps your children's - chat to authors and enter competitions.

This month we're kicking off with Francesca Simon's latest novel, The Sleeping Army. Click here to find out more information about the book and apply to receive a free copy. We'll announce on this thread when all the books have gone.

Francesca will be joining us later on Tuesday 29 May at 1pm for a live webchat to discuss The Sleeping Army as well as her other children's books. If you're unable to join us on 29th, do post your question or your children's questions in advance here.

[RachelMumsnet]

Francesca we'd also like to ask our two standard MN Bookclub questions (which we like to ask all authors, and will be archived on the site):

Which childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give anyone attempting to write fiction?

[FrancescaSimon]

@catclarks

I have just asked my children what they would like to ask you as they are huge fans of Horrid Henry but they have become all awestruck and the questions are not forthcoming. However they do say a big thank you for writing the books and are wondering if you are going to continue to write more in the series?

I absolutely love the Lewis Chessmen partly because I grew up in Lewis so have the local connection. The chessmen are meant to represent fearsome warriors but their faces are almost comical. I would love to know how they came to be on Uig beach where they were found. What is it that you find so fascinating about the chessmen?

I am hard at work on a sequel and I envisage one more book (so that totals three books). It started as a one-off book, but it just grew too big for one story. I never, ever plan to write more than one book at a time.

No-one knows how the chessmen came to be buried on Uig beach, which adds to their mystery. I fell in love with the chessmen when I first saw them in the British Museum in the late '70s and I used to have a poster of them in my university room. What intrigued me most was why they look so miserable, and I've always wondered what their story was, so it's an idea I've had in the back of my head for many, many years.

The chessmen are very mysterious, and they're comical as well as being dour, and that's just an irresistible combination!

[FashionEaster]

Am I too late???

My son adores the books and younger dd is very much drawn to the cartoons on television:

My question is what do you think of the cartoon adaptations and do you get much input into those?

[FrancescaSimon]

@LadySybildeChocolate

Hi Francesca,

How did you manage to get your first book published? I'm writing picture books and am finding it very difficult. I do get agents and publishers interested but it never lasts.

It took me a year to get published after a lot of rejections. It's always been extremely hard to get published, but my agent continued sending my book to publishers and then eventually MacMillan accepted it. But if you have an agent, you're already doing well, so good luck!

[FrancescaSimon]

@DogEared

Thank you for answering my question. It's very interesting isn't it, this labelling of children as "the good one" or the bad one, or even "the creative one", "the brainy one" "the scientific one". I've never given it much thought before, but of course, it happens all the time. Thanks for giving me brain food!
Horrid Henry is great, by the way... I have a lot of admiration for you. And your hair. :o

Frizz-Ease and I are best friends .

[LadySybildeChocolate]

Thank you :) The agent has just ditched it, sadly, so I'm back to square 1. It's very, very difficult.

[Ishoes]

No question just a BIG THANK YOU to francesca-my ds has learning difficultes and struggles with reading. The horrid henry books are one of the few fiction books that he will sit and try and read without too much nagging on my part

[FrancescaSimon]

@FashionEaster

Am I too late???

My son adores the books and younger dd is very much drawn to the cartoons on television:

My question is what do you think of the cartoon adaptations and do you get much input into those?

I have nothing to do with the cartoons, and the few I've seen do not, to my mind, reflect the humour or the spirit of Horrid Henry.

[FrancescaSimon]

@LadySybildeChocolate

Thank you :) The agent has just ditched it, sadly, so I'm back to square 1. It's very, very difficult.

I have a lot of unpublished books in my drawer - perhaps you need to get on and write something else.

[FrancescaSimon]

@gazzalw

Tried reading this to DD (6) but think she was a bit young as it met with some resistance. I had thought to try it with her as we not long ago saw some of the Lewis Chessmen at the British Museum and she has grown up with two (the White King and Queen) staring down at her from one of our bookshelves. I think DS (11) is beyond it as he's been reading Malorie Blackman and The Hunger Games of late.

However, I really, really, really enjoyed it with my keen interest in mythologies, although I did think you borrowed shamelessly - but then so did CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien so you are in good company! I did get some funny looks on the Tube though reading a kids' book - but there again I can think of many adults to whom it would appeal!

Just wondered what inspired you to write a story centred around the Lewis Chessmen, as an American living on this Isle - had you fallen in love with them at the British Museum and further research had just intrigued you more and more? Or did you always think there was a story to tell about them even when you were growing up in the USA?

I think the book works for children aged 8+. It's not so much that I 'borrowed shamelessly', I deliberately was using the myths and extending them, in fact much more directly than J.R.R. Tolkien did. I only encountered the Lewis chessmen when I came to England to do a second degree; I didn't know about them when I lived in North America. However, I've always loved mythology.

[FrancescaSimon]

@Ishoes

No question just a BIG THANK YOU to francesca-my ds has learning difficultes and struggles with reading. The horrid henry books are one of the few fiction books that he will sit and try and read without too much nagging on my part

A lot of parents have told me that the Horrid Henry books are the first books that their child ever read for fun and for pleasure, and books that they actually chose to read, which is a huge compliment. This was not planned, but the Horrid Henry books seem very successful with children who are dyslexic, or who are autistic, or who have Asperger's.

[LadySybildeChocolate]

:) I have a few on my computer. I love writing.

[FrancescaSimon]

@akaemmafrost

My son is 9 and has Autism. He absolutely loves Horrid Henry and this has lead to some terrifying re-enactments of HH type behaviour . I have asked him what he would like to ask you and he says will you be doing any book signings in West London? When is your next Horrid Henry book coming out? He wants me to tell you how much he enjoys your books and how funny they are.

The next Horrid Henry book, Horrid Henry's Monster Movie, has just been published. At the moment no plans to do any book signings in West London, though I am appearing at the pop-up festival in King's Cross at the end of June.

I'm delighted that your son enjoys the books. The Horrid Henry books seem to work very well with children who are dyslexic, or have Asperger's or autism, I think this is possibly because the characters have labels i.e. weepy William, moody Margaret, and behave very consistently, and also because of the alliteration. And because they're funny!

[FrancescaSimon]

@MarkGruffalo

Hello to Francesca Simon

I loved Horrid Henry stories - it was the one thing my child would read in translation (live abroad).

The movie on the other hand was abysmal. Truly truly awful. I understand you had no part in it. How did it feel seeing what they had done to your work? (you do not need to reply if the question brings you painful flashbacks).

Or maybe you liked it. Tell me you didn't like it!

I never saw the film. I read the script, and that was enough . Keep reading the books...

[Merrylegs]

Francesca - my boys really liked HH when they were younger, and everytime I read 'it was the work of a moment' I would to myself because Edward Eager was my most adored author as a child so I kind of feel you are a kindred spirit!

[FrancescaSimon]

@RachelMumsnet

Francesca we'd also like to ask our two standard MN Bookclub questions (which we like to ask all authors, and will be archived on the site):

Which childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give anyone attempting to write fiction?

1. Edward Eager's book, Half Magic, most inspired me. This was a boko about magic coming into the lives of a very ordinary, squabbly, single parent family and it made me believe that maybe magic could happen to me as well. I've always been interested in the idea of magic being unreliable and unpredictable, which is something that I pick up in Sleeping On Me, when Woden's charms do not have the expected effect.
   

1. Write what you want, not what you think the market wants.

[FrancescaSimon]

@Merrylegs

Francesca - my boys really liked HH when they were younger, and everytime I read 'it was the work of a moment' I would to myself because Edward Eager was my most adored author as a child so I kind of feel you are a kindred spirit!

I have read every Edward Eager book at least twelve times . Sadly my son didn't like the books, which makes me feel he must have been a changeling.

[Eirwen]

Thank you for your reply. I have just picked up my daughter after this morning's GCSE English Language exam. She was pleased to hear that you are writing a sequel. I thought that at 16 she might be a bit old for the recommended reading age but from the above comments it seems that many parents have also really enjoyed it. I haven't had a chance to read it yet - four kids and not enough hours in the day - but I will get around in the future!
Thanks for all the books you have produced over the years.

[FrancescaSimon]

@popelloucla

I finally managed to read the book yesterday, I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to more books in the series.
DD1 is now reading it, but hasn't got very far yet.
I don't have a question, but just wanted to say thank you for writing such an enjoyable book.

I'm really delighted that you enjoyed it, as 'The Sleeping Army' is my favourite of all the books I've written. It was the most challenging to write, but also the one that most reflected a lot of my interest in mythology, history and quest literature, so I was able to use practically every interest I have in one book.

[FrancescaSimon]

@schilke

Hello Francesca.

This is my dd1's book review. She's 8.

My favourite part was when Freya blew the horn. My favourite character was Alfi. The funniest part was the sentence "Snot scratched his bum." The worst part was when Snot died. I didn't like that bit because it made me feel sad. The scariest part was when the wolves came.

She thought it was brilliant.

Delighted that your daughter enjoyed the book. I did laugh at her choice of the funniest bit, and I'm intrigued that she found the wolves much scarier than visiting Hell.

[FrancescaSimon]

@Eirwen

Thank you for your reply. I have just picked up my daughter after this morning's GCSE English Language exam. She was pleased to hear that you are writing a sequel. I thought that at 16 she might be a bit old for the recommended reading age but from the above comments it seems that many parents have also really enjoyed it. I haven't had a chance to read it yet - four kids and not enough hours in the day - but I will get around in the future!
Thanks for all the books you have produced over the years.

I have Horrid Henry fans in their early twenties! Which is why I recommend the Sleeping Army for 8+, because my books do seem to work over a very, very big age range. Thanks for your kind comment.

[FrancescaSimon]

@gazzalw

I have Lewis Chessmen King and Queen replicas sitting resplendent on a bookshelf, so the children have grown up asking about them. So thank you for the book - both DCs will enjoy - one to be read to and the other to be encouraged to read.... Think I might get more out of it that them too!

I also have the entire set in my office

[FrancescaSimon]

@gazzalw

I have Lewis Chessmen King and Queen replicas sitting resplendent on a bookshelf, so the children have grown up asking about them. So thank you for the book - both DCs will enjoy - one to be read to and the other to be encouraged to read.... Think I might get more out of it that them too!

If you want to visit the originals, they are in room 40 of the British Museum; my second home

[FrancescaSimon]

@edam

Hello Francesca. Ds wants to ask, did you have an irritating little brother (and did he inspire Perfect Peter)? And why did you write a book with a male main character? (No criticism, he's just interested.)

I had two irritating younger brothers, but they inspired Beefy Bert, not Perfect Peter, because they both like saying 'I dunno', which is all this character ever says.

Believe it or not, it's always accidental whether my main character is male or female, and I tend to alternate. Horrid Henry started life as a one-off story, I had no idea it would grow into this series, so it was completely accidental. That said I knew I needed a strong female character - step forward Moody Margaret. Because I have one son, I do tend to default to male characters. But I do try to balance it out.

[FrancescaSimon]

@LottieJenkins

Hello Francesca! My son is now 15 and Horrid Henry's were the first reading books that he read on his own! He loved the film but i hated it! Were Henry and Peter based on two children or several different children??

Horrid Henry and Perfect Peter are two sides of everyone : the side that wants to build the sandcastle and the side that wants to stomp on it. So they are archetypes, rather than being based on two existing children.