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For those with a nervous disposition?
Boo!
Sorry if I startled you. I leapt out sans-intro in keeping with my new book, but it’s only me - Jeanne Willis, veteran children’s author who should know better than to make people jump.
Apparently, I was a very anxious baby - if anyone peered into my pram with a sudden ‘coochee-coo,’ I’d spring up, shriek and crack my head on the string of plastic ducks dangling above me. It explains so much. Finally, I’m getting my revenge…
A Little Spooky
Who Said Boo? is a little spooky as the main character is a small ghost who lives in a castle. He’s not malevolent but he’s full of mischief. Like a paranormal toddler, he has a fondness for creeping up, shouting ‘Boo!’ and making royal folk jump out of their skins - not unlike Emily Maitlis, but in medieval times.
A crime to rhyme?
It’s a rhyming picture book. Sometimes rhyme just happens and this one went bouncing off the furniture like a five-year-old after a pint of Sunny Delight. For anyone too young to remember, ‘Sunny D’ was an 80’s soft drink the colour of an orange highlighter pen with more e-numbers than a telephone directory. According to legend, it turned a Welsh child a glowing shade of tangerine- there’s poetry for you, Dylan Thomas.
Brian Fitz-Perfectly.
I must mention my illustrator, the brilliant Brian Fitzgerald who always responds to a picture book brief with glowing colours. He’s rendered this one in a glorious palette of Gaelic Green, not because he’s from County Kildare but for reasons that will become obvious – or will they? No, because the little ghost lurking within the castle walls is also green, the plot being that he’s very hard to spot, camouflaged against the green, green décor and the green, green soft furnishings.
One of Those Knights
Here’s my favourite couplet from the book, voiced by the Green Knight. He’s just been accused of shouting boo by the be-spectacled Green Prince, who’s ruff is in a ruffle after the little green ghost freaked him out. (The internal rhymes made me go, ‘Oooh!’ for which I blame my muse)
‘The Green Knight said, “I never booed,
It is taboo to boo - and RUDE!”
My new favourite?
Tadpoles Promise (Andersen Press) has possibly held that position for over forty years, but Who Said Boo is jostling for New Favourite. My nearest and dearest are so blasé about me being an author, new books rarely get a mention, are put away un-read or used as a mat.
This time, they all picked up my author copy, read it and said, ‘Ha! Nice one!’ Very articulate, my family.
It’s Behind You!
It’s the picture book version of a pantomime…Oh, no it isn’t! Oh yes, it is, if you read it like Brian Blessed in a darkened room with the wind howling and a side order of gingerbread. ‘Who Said Boo?’ allows for plenty of repetition, repetition, repetition and participation when reading the book out loud…Very Loud!
Don’t Have Nightmares.
Fear not, it isn’t scary - no need for an emergency pair of pull-up pants.
Like the green, green owl, it’s a hoot. Although the hapless characters in the book can’t see who’s yelling boo, our KS1 audience will soon spot him with their youthful 20-20 vision and supersonic x-ray specs. They will anticipate the ghost’s arrival and in true pantomime fashion will be eager to shout ‘Boo!’ on cue.
On the other hand…
For author visits, the performance will be enhanced by the timely appearance of a cute finger puppet ghost prop. He was made from a cheap fluffy glove, a pot of dye and a pair of googly eye
s during the heatwave – why not make one yourself? I’ll tell you why – the green dye stained my sink a nasty shade of snot which no amount of Cif will shift. That said, he’s adorable and has taken on a life of his own. It makes me chortle to think he’s a ghost and he’s ‘dyed.’ I like a cracker joke as much as the next child.
Hello…Is Anybody There?
Who said Boo? is published in hardback by Scallywag Press and will manifest itself in time for Halloween, haunting you for e
ternity in the sweetest possible way.
Come September, the little green ghost and I are available for book signings, along with Brian if he’s in the country, which he often is. As I said earlier, it’s a book that cries out to be performed and made into events - something I love doing…
A Spooktacular Event.
If you’re Head of Literacy, run a library, bookshop, playgroup or have a hall full of Brownies and Beavers, there’s a treat in store.
For a reasonable fee – far less than an exorcism- I’ve put together a ‘Who Said Boo?’ Bash with a book reading, glove puppet, games, dancing to spooky tunes, free stickers, scary scribbles (if Brian can make it) games and a book sale if you’d like one and whooooo wouldn’t? Each book will be stamped with a unique ghost print and signed.
The event can be as long or short as you like, from a straight reading to a full-blown fancy-dress event. I shall be strutting my green, green Queen Jeanne outfit… And you?
Contact me via my website or Scallywag Press to make a booking.
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