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Unlocking the World of Stories by Barry Timms

Posted in Author/Illustrator Posts on Thu, 1 August at 10.12 am

My new picture book Griselda Snook’s Spectacular Books is all about possibilities. It’s about the magical worlds that open wide when we reach for a book or enter a bookshop.

This was exciting to me as a child, and remains so deep into my adulthood. It motivates me as an author – the opportunity both to open up new worlds for young readers and to entertain myself by exploring worlds of my own making.

Of course, when I’m writing, the idea has to be ‘right’. It needs to speak to me in some way, chipping away at an unanswered question or filling me with an infectious sense of What if…? Without this, either writer’s block or boredom will hit. My mind goes into a knot or floats off elsewhere. It’s much the same for children, I think, when they haven’t found the book that’s right for them.

Picture books are primarily stories to be shared. Parents and carers round off a youngster’s day by performing a little theatre show, weaving story-time magic from funny voices, join-in moments and goodnight cuddles. But what about when the child is older and must create this booky magic for themselves?

What if the child doesn’t feel sufficient passion for the story in front of them? What if facts about the Ancient Egyptians just aren’t their thing and they’d rather geek out over monster trucks? Perhaps they need someone to direct them towards a more appropriate book. Or to put their passion into words and say that yes, of course, there’s a book about that too!

The internet helps, of course, but it wasn’t there when I was growing up. I’m so grateful to the patient teachers, librarians and booksellers of my childhood who empowered me to seek out the books I wanted and needed. These opened up not just whole new worlds, but new chapters in my life.

There’s a feeling I still get today when holding a book that feels full of promise. Here we go . . . Buckle up for a whole new chapter! Learning to read is the key that unlocks it all. The key to the world, perhaps. Each and every child has a right to it.

It’s no accident, perhaps, that Griselda Snook’s Spectacular Books begins with our young hero Henry finding a key in the street. And — oh — what a journey he’s in for!