"Little Bell and the Moon by Giles Paley-Phillips and Iris Deppe (Fat Fox Books)

We're fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to check out Giles Paley-Phillip's new book and the man himself stopped by the blog for a quick questions and answers session with us here at ReadItDaddy. Kicking off with three questions from me, and three questions from "The Boss" herself, Charlotte. Take it away Giles...!

From Me:

1) Hi Giles, thanks for talking to ReadItDaddy - so tell us a little
bit about yourself, and your new book "Little Bell and the Moon"

Hey ReadItDaddy, I spent a number of years touring and playing in bands, I started writing after my first son was born and haven't stopped since.
My new book is called Little Bell and the Moon, it's the story of a lonely little girl, who loves the moon and in a flight of fancy she flies off with the moon to see all the wondrous things in the world. Their journeys go on for many years until she is very elderly and can't travel anymore, eventually the little girl who is now very old, passes away and something very magical happens to her.

2) Your previous books have been huge hits with our readers. Tell us a
little bit about your influences, favourite authors and illustrators.

Thank you that's lovely to hear. My biggest influences have been several American writers, in particular Shel Silverstein and Edward Gorey, I love Gorey's dark humour, something I've always try to have in my previous books.
Little Bell and the Moon is very different in tone from anything I've done before I was reading a lot of adult poetry at the time and especially Sharon Old's 'The Father' which I found very inspiring.
I have to say the illustrator Iris Deppe deserves enormous credit for her work on Little Bell and the Moon, they are simply wonderful and I couldn't be more thrilled with them.

3) You obviously have fun telling stories and trying ideas out with
your own family. Are they harsh critics? (Mine are :)

Yes they can be, but it is really helpful to know what things do and don't work.

From Charlotte

1) I love "The Fearsome Beastie" - Does it ever frighten people? He is a bit mean!

He is very mean, but it does tend to be grown ups that are scared of him, children think he's funny! (Editor's note: Charlotte also thinks he's funny but would definitely keep a brave granny to hand if she ever met him!)

2) Are you going to write any more monster books?

I've written two now, and you never know I might, although people might be a bit bored of them now (Editor's note: NOOOOO We're not! More monsters, more monsters!)

3) What's your favourite book at the moment?

Well, my favourite children's book is The Box of Delights by John Maresfield and I'm also currently reading The Human Flies by Hans Olav Lahlum, which is a traditional whodunnit set in Sweden.

Phew! Thanks for whistling by to talk to us Giles. We wish you huge success with "Little Bell and the Moon", out now from Fat Fox Publishing. Find out more about the book on the Fat Fox Website.

We've followed the career of Giles Paley-Phillips for quite some time now, and have loved his rhyming stories. From the gruesome but endlessly gleeful and satisfying "Fearsome Beastie" to Giles' latest story. This time Giles weaves a tale with an almost mournful melancholy air, that begins with Little Bell - a tiny tot who is lucky enough to take nightly trips hand in hand with her friend the moon. They journey far and wide, her hand in his, as they soar into the air and cruise above the mountains and deserts, jungles and seas, with always something new to see and experience.

Little Bell's journeys fill her life with richness and imagination, and the moon adores her.

As the story unfolds, Little Bell moves through all the stages of her life, becoming a teen, then an adult (at this point Charlotte excitedly pointed out that in one of Iris' illustrations, Bell looks like she's having a baby as the story shows her at various ages). Finally as Bell becomes old and frail, the moon realises that soon their journeys together will be at an end. As he sings one last lyrical lullaby to her, and rests her gently down for her final long sleep, the moon is grief-stricken but must say goodbye.

But...

Ah, you see, here's the bit where we rather meanly tell you we're not going to give away what happens next. For in darkness and despair, there's always hope and so we'll leave it up to you to discover Giles and Iris' fabulous touching and heartfelt story for yourselves. It's truly something rather special.

This is dreamy stuff, absolutely perfect as a lyrical story lullaby before you tuck your own kids into bed for the night. Giles' rhymes are nicely written, Iris' artwork is utterly delectable and it's a story that will work wonderfully for the very tiniest of tinies, right up to older children who might be too cool to sit on your lap for story time but will still love hearing this one read out loud.

Stay tuned here on the blog for a Q & A session with Giles himself!

"Little Bell and the Moon" by Giles Paley-Phillips and Iris Deppe is now available from Fat Fox Books.

Charlotte's best bit: The "aging" sequence in the story as we learn that Bell and the Moon have been travelling together for years

Daddy's Favourite bit: A delicate multi-layered story that is dreamy, melancholy and joyful. A perfect bed-time read!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Fat Fox Books)