Blue Peter Book Awards: The Shortlisted Authors Part 2

With just a few hours to go until the winners of the Blue Peter Book Awards 2013 are announced, we caught up with some of the authors and illustrators shortlisted for the Best Book with Facts category

Tony de Saulles

How does it feel to be shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2013?

It is such an honour to have been shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards especially as we are competing with writers and illustrators such as Michael Rosen and Sir Quentin Blake. So many thousands of books are published every year so it is especially exciting to have your work singled out as being a possible winner.
 
How did you first get interested in science?

The only science I really enjoyed at school was biology but I have always loved anything to do with nature. It wasn't until I landed the job of illustrating Horrible Science that I began to discover the exciting (and horrible) side of chemistry and physics and following on from that a love of all things scientific. Sometimes the truth can be a lot more horrible than fiction. With a horror story you can always tell yourself it's just a story but with Horrible Science EVERYTHING is true no matter how horrible it gets.

What was your inspiration for the book House of Horrors?

We have just bought my Mum's 400 year old cottage in the country which is full of character… and spiders and cobwebs and mice and even bats. So I have first hand experience of living in the sort of house described in our House of Horrors book. Children will be amazed at the number of different creatures that live in our houses. I lie in bed at night listening to scuttling and flapping noises - what more inspiration do I need?

Do you have a favourite fact from the book?

One particularly horrible fact that I often mention (and illustrate!) in my drawing workshops is that there was an Italian scientist in the 18th Century who ate his own sick whilst experimenting to try and discover more about the human digestive system!

Nick Arnold

How does it feel to be shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2013?

Honoured, elated, excited and thrilled. To be shortlisted for such a prestigous award is to be recognised as being amongst the best of the best. What more could an author wish for?

How did you first get interested in science?

From researching and writing the Horrible Science books. Working on these books was like opening a door into a secret universe in which science was funny and horrible and amazing all at the same time.

What was your inspiration for the book House of Horrors?

When I was a boy my mum would moan about the messy bits that she somehow missed when cleaning. Every home has them and I suddenly realised that if you look closely, these awful areas are oozing with interestingly gross science.

Do you have a favourite fact from the book?

Oh my goodness! Just one fact? Hmmm - this is a difficult choice. Is it the facts about toilets? Cockroaches? Maggots? The facts about viruses are shocking but how about this one about spiders? Do you know why spiders don't stick to their webs? They take care to walk on the non-sticky threads.

Michaela Morgan

How does it feel to be shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2013?

I feel… surprised, honoured – and very, very pleased! Blue Peter is an iconic programme – the oldest children’s programme on the best broadcasting company in the world. Generations have watched it.

To be chosen as one of the Blue Peter shortlist – chosen by experts, voted by children - is a fantastic acknowledgement for me and for Walter Tull’s Scrapbook.

Whether my book wins or not I remain absolutely delighted.

How did you first find out about Walter Tull's story - and what made you want to write about him?

About ten years ago, I read a very small article in a newspaper. It was about an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in Manchester. The subject of the exhibition was war and sport. I am from Manchester originally, but this museum was since my time.

By chance, I was on my way up to Manchester, so I went to have a look.

I find everything about the First World War very moving. In the exhibition I saw a picture of Walter Tull in his Spurs kit – looking so brave and self-controlled and dignified. He looked full of life and promise. There was a postcard in his own handwriting.

His story was very briefly outlined. It is an amazing story and yet I had never previously heard anything about it.

How did you go about researching the book?

Back then nobody seemed to know about Walter either so in the early 2000s I researched and wrote a book about Walter. I called it Respect! It was published in 2005 by Barrington Stoke and I dedicated it ‘to all the unsung heroes’. Finding out the facts for my first book was a challenge but as the years went by, more and more information became available. In the end Walter Tull even had his own Facebook page!

I started to collect snippets and fragments, scraps of information that gradually built up. I also got in touch with Walter’s family, who supplied original photographs and approved the final script for accuracy. I wanted to tell Walter’s story in more detail and I wanted everyone to have a chance to see the photographs and artefacts I had found.

I came up with the idea of making a scrapbook for Walter Tull. It deals with enormous issues – such as being orphaned, becoming a famous football star ‘living the dream’, and the First World War (‘living the nightmare’).

The 1914 war, which is about to have its centenary, is really hard to imagine but through the scrapbook you can follow one man’s journey and you can read real letters, telegrams, messages and see real photographs. I hope my book helps to make the experience real and understandable.

Read our interviews with the authors shortlisted for Best Story

Find out more about the Blue Peter Book Awards and this year's shortlisted books, or read about what our young Blue Peter judges made of the shortlist.

You can also tell us which is your favourite book on this year's shortlist to be in with the chance of winning a full set of the shortlisted titles.