Hi Cerrie / Laura, thanks for joining us at ReadItDaddy. Can you
tell us a little bit more about yourselves and your new mighty girl
Harper!


CERRIE: Hello 'Read it Daddy' fans I'm Cerrie Burnell , writer, presenter and mummy. Some of you might know me from CBeebies, but I'm also a children's author. My picture books (also with the lovely Laura) include Snowflakes, Mermaid and Ballet Dreams. My first chapter book- which I'm super excited about is called Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella. It follows the story of Harper a girl with a rare, musical gift, whose beloved cat Midnight goes missing. Together with her three best friends, Liesel- a girl who wishes she was a mouse, Ferdie - a serious boy, with a serious scarf and Nate - a boy with mist-coloured wolf, she sets out across the City of Clouds in her flying scarlet umbrella to rescueMidnight and the other disappeared cats.

LAURA: Thanks ReadItDaddy! I'm an author/illustrator by day, and Batman by night. (Ed: We always suspected as much!)

Illustrating Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella was an absolute joy. I've illustrated many other children's picture books and fiction series, and loved every single one. I count myself very lucky.

I'm also the creator of Evil Emperor Penguin, who's first book was released at the beginning of October! Mwahahahaaaar! And I have my very own debut picture book being published early 2017, so watch this space! I love my job and wouldn't want to do anything else, other than perhaps go to Hogwarts and make spells.


Can you tell us a little bit about the books you loved as children?

CERRIE: As a child I couldn't read myself until I was 8 as I'm dyslexic, so my mum read to me, night after night, gently enriching my world with stories. The books I loved best were The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll which my grandma read to me, and I also loved Matilda by Roald Dahl.

LAURA: I was (and still am) a huge fan of the Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy. I loved the illustrations and they inspired me so much. The Twits and The Witches by Roald Dahl & Quentin Blake have always been favourites of mine too. Hilarious and wonderfully illustrated!


We love the format of "Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella", was it a
conscious decision to include more illustrations in the chapter book
format? (It's definitely a format we've seen more and more of recently
and one we definitely approve of!)

CERRIE: I really wanted Harper to be full of illustrations. It's quite a detailed story with a whole world of characters, so beautiful, fun drawings add to the magic. I'm delighted with the result!

LAURA: It's certainly a format I, as the illustrator, am extremely fond of and love to see in a chapter book. The text and illustrations in Harper & the Scarlet Umbrella go hand in hand and compliment each other well, which is why Cerrie and I work so well together :)


(To Cerrie) Are Alex, Andy and Sid as cheeky as they seem?
CERRIE: Yes Andy, Alex and Sid are most definitely as cheeky as they seem on screen. When we’re filming it’s normally a ten or eleven hour day- so you have to be yourself, and all of us like to fill the day with fun.

(To Laura) Can we please have another Evil Emperor Penguin collection
sometime soon?

Cerrie Burnell

Laura Ellen Anderson

Cerrie Burnell may well be known for her awesome TV work but she's also a bit of an awesome children's author as well. Her last children's book "Snowflakes" was a brilliant and inclusive book full of seasonal joy and wonder. Teaming up with Laura Ellen Anderson once again, Cerrie and Laura's latest book "Mermaid" traces the story of a young boy named Luka who lives by the sea. He longs to swim but doesn't know how to, his family are a bit apprehensive about him learning to swim too but the boy is determined that one day he'll dive and paddle along with the best of them.

When out walking along the beach one day, Luka sees a young girl diving and splashing amongst the waves. Luka soon finds out that the girl's name is Sylvia and very kindly she offers to help Luka learn to swim.

Luka also finds out that Sylvia is a new girl at his school so he helps her fit in, telling everyone about her amazing swimming abilities. Children want to know why Sylvia is in a wheelchair, and Luka points out that it's because she's actually a mermaid! How cool is that?

Writing a fabulous inclusive story that taps into a child's sense of wonder and simultaneously relates a tale that helps children deal with their own inner fears and also a child's natural curiosity about children who are different from themselves is a heck of a neat trick, achieved brilliantly here thanks to Cerrie's thoughtful storytelling and Laura's dazzling and sparkly illustrations. Though Charlotte claims to be "over the whole princess thing" she still has a gigantic soft spot for mermaids, and it's really wonderful to find a hugely original story that helps with Charlotte's own fears of learning and trying new things too.

Charlotte's best bit: Luka introducing Sylvia to all his curious and inquisitive classmates at school.

Daddy's Favourite bit: A hugely positive and joyous book from a very talented twosome!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Bloomsbury Children's Books)

Like this? We think you'll love these too!

"Snowflake" by Cerrie Burnell and Laura Ellen Anderson (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Claude is on the case (Images © Alex T Smith)

Discover Story's "The Big Write – Stories Remixed" festival opens this week. Starting on 6th March and running till the 16th, you can join in with a fantastic set of events during March.

The festival includes a spectacular programme for all ages with authors, illustrators, visual artists, popstars and comic makers joining us for all that is best and brilliant about writing and stories.

Some of the big names in this year’s guest events include Korky Paul (Winnie the Witch), Axel Scheffler (The Gruffalo), Nadia Shireen (Good Little Wolf), John Hegley (I am a Poetato), Cerrie Burnell (CBeebies) and Guy Parker–Rees (Giraffes Can’t Dance).

You can also create a pop song with Boogaloo Stu and enjoy a pop gig with Catherine Bennett Live!

Discover Story's fantastic events programme runs throughout 2014. More details can be found on the Discover Story website.

www.discover.org.uk

Check out some of the brilliant event pics below:

Axel Scheffler (Photo: © Discover / Tim Mitchell)

Codename Comic Maker! (Photo: © Discover / Tim Mitchell)

The divine Sarah Mcintyre (Photo: © Discover / Tim Mitchell)

The Big Write! (Photo © Discover / Tim Mitchell)

Troll-taming genius Adam Stower (Photo © Discover / Tim Mitchell)