Reading For Pleasure

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🌈Your Words!

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Over the last couple of months it’s been such a joy sharing stories from our young writers. A huge thank you to everyone who entered!

This month we didn’t receive any entries and in full honesty, even my own kids wouldn’t have managed it either.
Between school assessments, a round or 5 of lergy (anyone else??) and the usual busyness of family life, it’s been pretty full on here.
And I can imagine the same for others.

This blog exists to make things easier for parents and guardians, not add more to the dreaded and ever growing to-do lists. The blog is still quite new, so thank you for coming along on the journey as it grows and develops.
It’s led to exciting ideas and projects (watch this space!) and people have offered so many kind words of support 🙏

🌈Your Words! will still of course be focused on children’s creativity.
Going forward, we’ll run writing competitions during the school holidays (starting with the Summer Holidays), but children are always welcome to send in their stories just for fun. It honestly makes my heart utterly FILLED TO THE BRIM with joy to see what incredible story telling talent the future holds!

I’ll also continue using this feature’s space for storytelling Top Tips from brilliant authors and illustrators. They have been truly inspirational and something I not only share with my own kids… but keep in my when I’m writing my own stories!

📝Author’s Top Tips!

Uju Asika, Instagram: @babesabouttown

This month, I’m BURSTING WITH EXCITEMENT to introduce this month’s Top Tips guru, Uju Asika.
Uju is a British-Nigerian author, multi-award-nominated Babes About Town🔗 blogger, speaker and creative consultant. And that’s not all! She’s a former journalist and has written for The Guardian, Time Out and Salon.com. Her poetry appears in select literary anthologies and also as a screen writer and script editor.
Uju’s books include adult reads Raising Boys Who Do Better (publisher: DK), Bringing Up Race (publisher: Yellow Kite) and her gorgeous, uplifting debut children’s book A World For Me And You (illustrator: Jennie Poh, Publisher: Wren & Rook).
This should truly be in every home and school. Imagine a world where everyone looks identical, all food tastes the same and we all speak the same language. DULL! This joyful picture book gives children the tools to imagine their world as a vast library with room on the shelves for everybody’s story. Just the thought of this brings happy tears to my eyes as I’m writing this blog. Yes it could be my age & hormones, but I think it’s more than that. In a world that recently seems topsy turvy on so many levels, a book of hope and joy that inspires future generations to be better is EXACTLY what we need.
Uju lives with her husband and two footie-mad boys.

And these are her top story creating tips…

Every writer needs a voice. But how do you find your own?
What is a “writer’s voice”? It’s the words you put on a page that sound like the words in your head (not what anyone thinks you’re “supposed” to have said). It’s how you joke with your friends, what makes you laugh or cry or snort, the way you say potato, whether you speak fast or slow. It’s the books you read and the stories you love and the songs that make you hum and how you sometimes talk just like your mum. In other words, it’s everything that makes you sound like YOU.

Your voice is important.
Don’t let anybody hush you when you have something to say. We all need other stories to make our worlds feel bigger. Your story can make all the difference to someone who reads it. Even the smallest voice can speak loudly on the page. So use your voice and if you have a story in you (everybody has a story in them), don’t forget to WRITE IT DOWN (or record it).

Imagine your story!
Writing stories uses IMAGINATION. Imagination comes from what you see, mostly in your mind’s eye. In fact, writing is like drawing or painting what you see, using letters instead of crayons or brushes. With just 26 letters of the alphabet, you can draw a whole universe. Isn’t that magical? What stories can you draw today?

Stuck for ideas?
Take your brain for a walk. Get outside and see what you can notice. Ask yourself, What If? You see a dog chasing a ball. What if the ball chased it back? Let your imagination run free, like a puppy without a leash. And remember, every good story has a twist in its tail.

A 5 word challenge
Think of a name, a bird, a piece of clothing, a flower, a favourite food. Now see if you can write a story using all 5 words. Try this as a challenge with a friend. See how differently your stories turn out? Even with the same ingredients, nobody can cook your story just like you.

Thank you Uju for your beautiful words and tips!

Next week keep your eyes peeled for our epic ⚔️BATTLE OF THE BOOKS! this time featuring author of The Cruise Ship Kid Emma Swan!

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🏺✨Our Story!

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This is going out a little later than planned. It was the first week back after half term, so of course one of the kids was ill (the eldest) off his food, sleeping past 6.30am for one of the first times in his life, and home for most of the week. To add to the hectic chaos, I somehow convinced myself it was dress-down day and sent them in wearing football kits. My husband took them in and phoned me… cue a frantic scramble to pull together actual uniforms and dash them into school.

Should I be more organised? Probably. But I’m choosing to file this under “character building for the children” and something we’ll laugh about in years to come.

Lessons From a Default Parent by Lou Beckett published by DK Books

This week I’ve been listening to Lou Beckett’s new book Lessons From a Default Parent published by DK Books , and I honestly can’t sing praises highly enough. It’s incredibly relatable, genuinely funny, and perfectly captured every feeling I had during that failed non-non-uniform-day dash this morning.

One parent who truly gets it …and with whom I’ve exchanged many WhatsApp messages about the chaos of parenting (including the occasional request to borrow cups of sugar, except replace “sugar” with tonic or ice for Friday gins!) is my lovely friend Louise Tripp. Huge thanks to her for taking time out of her hectic grown-up life to take part in this month’s Our Story Q&A.

This week, Louise, a family solicitor, and her youngest daughter Helena (10) talk about books, Greek myths and how reading fits into family life.

Other members in the Tripp household include Dad Guy, who is a fan of car and Formula 1 magazines, (which fits in brilliantly with the National Year of Reading 2026, #GoAllIn ethos of reading what you love!) and big Sister Sylvie (13)

Sylvie (13) prefers audiobooks (Editor: reminder to do a separate posts on the brilliance of audiobooks!). Recently, she has been listening to a lot of YA, including The Hunger Games, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and, most recently, the Caraval series. Sylvie is also currently reading Percy Jackson and was interested to hear what it is about the books that has Helena so hooked.

Helena is firmly in her Percy Jackson era (as is my own son!), which makes this a nice example of a families reading for pleasure, together. When Helena’s not reading Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan published by Puffin (UK) she’s usually got a Lottie Brooks book by Katie Kirby published by Puffin (UK) on the go.

Louise, What was your favourite book growing up and have you read it to your own children?

L: This was such a hard question because I kept remembering more and more books that I loved as a child. Some that I loved and have read with them are Meg and Mog when they were really little, then when they were a bit older, The Faraway Tree books, lots of Roald Dahl and The Secret Garden. Some other of my childhood favourites that I’ve now remembered about that I think they’d love are Charlotte’s Web, The Wheel on the School (Editor: will be looking this one up!) and Charlotte Sometimes.  

And if you could relive one story time memory with your children, which would it be?
L: Oh, another hard question! I think the first time I read the first Harry Potter to each of them. Although they’ve both moved on from that series now, they were both totally hooked by the magic and now they both love the fantasy genre. The audiobook read by Stephen Fry is also superb and brought them comfort and helped them go to sleep every night for years

A children’s book character babysits one evening, who would it be and why? (and for all of us nosy inquisitive grown-ups … where would you go?)
L: Hmm, if I’m being mean maybe I’d say Miss Trunchbull from Matilda because she’d keep them in line! 😁

Helena: Could you at least not choose Miss Honey?!

L: Maybe. Anyway, if I’m being nice, other than Miss Honey, I’d say Sally Jackson (Percy’s mum) because Helena would be over the moon with this and I feel like given all the stressful situations she handled with Percy, she’d be able to take care of anything that happened while I was out. 
And where would I go? Guy and I would probably go for dinner and then to the theatre, a concert or a comedy show. (Editor: sounds like the perfect night out!!)

Helena, what’s your favourite book right now and why?
H: My favourite books are the Percy Jackson series, but I couldn’t narrow it down to just one book. These books are about a young demi-God, who is a child of Poseidon (Greek God of the Sea) and a mortal. He goes on quests with his friends and tries to avoid getting killed in very nasty ways (if you know, you know). I enjoy this book series because I love fantasy and adventure narratives, it includes my interest (mum says obsession!) with Greek mythology and it feels like the characters are real people and they actually have a personality, not just generic characters. I also like how it highlights the positive aspects of being neurodivergent. Percy is dyslexic, his brain is hardwired to read Ancient Greek, and he has ADHD because he has strong battle reflexes. 

And which children’s book character comes to life in your world. Who is it and where would you take them for the day?
H: After being heavily debated, I picked Tyson (Percy’s cyclops brother) over Grover (Percy’s satyr mate) – sorry Grover!  I would take Tyson to the beach as he is a child of Poseidon and if we could, we would ride hippocampi, a creature Tyson loves, to a beach café.

Louise: What would you have at the café?

H: Fish and chips!  

What’s your favourite memory of reading with your grown-up? H: it’s really hard because there’s so many but one that comes to mind was when I asked Dad to read and he made one up, which became a classic in our house, called Monkey Goes to the Shop. (Publishers, call us! 😉) I always read at bedtime with Mum or Dad. One day Mum said I should read a book called Percy Jackson. We started reading it together and we’ve never stopped!

Which story best captures something special about your family? H: I think we should choose Peepo by Janet and Allan Ahlberg published by Puffin, because it’s a story we’ve all read together since me and Sylvie were young. We’ve loved it ever since.

L: I agree, it’s such a lovely story and I have such happy memories of us having cuddles before bed while reading this. (Editor: What a beautiful choice! 🥹)

Thank you so much to the Tripp family for sharing their story world with us!
Inspired by their love of Greek Myths, here are a few suggestions that will satisfy any Philhellene (fan of Greek culture & history)

Who Let The Gods Out? By Maz Evans published by Usbourne (I’m OBSESSED with this series and still haven’t finished the last book as don’t want it to be over 😂🫣 and check out the stage production at Polka Theatre🔗 )
Greek Myths Folktales and Legends by Vicki Psarias-Broadbent and illustrated by Paula Zorite, published by Scholastic. Such a beautiful collection of tales. We have a copy at home and have given to schools. And I know that our young Greek Mythology expert Helena has a copy and said she loves it!
Hercules: The Diary of a (Sort of) Hero by Tom Vaughan and illustrations by David O’Connell, published by Scholastic. Great for fans of Diary of A Wimpy Kid and Louie Stowell’s Loki (Loki is another absolute MUST READ!)
Aesop’s Fables by Caroline Lawrence illustrations and illustrations by Robert Ingpen, published by Welbeck Editions. Caroline very kindly gave my son a copy and it’s beautiful. I devoured Aesops Fables as a child and Caroline’s book brought so many memories back – (plus a few stories I didn’t know!)

For YA & adult:



Medusa: The Girl Behind The Myth by Jessie Burton published by Bloomsbury YA. A retelling of the Greek myth that reframes Medusa as a vulnerable teenager exiled to a lonely island. So many people have recommend this to me. I loved Jessie’s The Miniaturist so this is very high up on my To Be Read list!
Circe by Madeline Miller published by Bloomsbury (thanks to Victoria, mum from next month’s Battle of the Books’ family, for the suggestion!) It reimagines the life of the sorceress from Homer’s Odyssey. Again, only heard good things about this so am very excited to be reading it next!

That rounds up this week’s Our Story!

Thanks for reading and please do check out March’s challenge. It closes soon! March’s Your Words! Challenge 🔗 children can be in with a chance of winning £10 book voucher!



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📖Storyteller!

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It’s half term here in UK and writing this from my mobile phone in distracted environments so apologies in advance for any typos/formatting!

It’s been a wet and rainy month but thankfully we have a lot to keep us distracted including suspense who will win Battle of The Books (see below!) and a beautiful Q&A with our Storyteller of the month Sophie Anderson.

And if you want something to keep your own young storytellers busy – check out March’s Your Story! Challenge HERE🔗!

This year is the National Year of Reading, and I decided to set myself a goal: read more non-fiction. (For the grown-ups only: I’m currently reading The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes, published by Orion Publishing Group. It’s utterly gripping. Lots of trigger warnings, but I’d still highly recommend it.)

Yesterday evening, I was midread and my eldest excitedly asked,

“Mum, have you read A Series of Unfortunate Events yet? It’s SO good!”

I admitted I hadn’t.

I told him I’d love to. Just as soon as I finished my current book… and the ever growing to be read pile waiting to be reviewed.🫣

His face fell.

And that’s when it hit me.

We’re always encouraging our children to read what we suggest. We hand them books we loved, books we think they should read, books we think are good for them, books we remember reading ourselves. But how often do we turn that around? How often do we say, “Alright then…what do you recommend?”

So I’ve set myself a new challenge…read their suggestions. No matter what. I’ve agreed with him for every chapter of my own choice, I’ll read a chapter of their choices (admittedly as a one book at a time woman it will take a bit of getting used to!)

Because the truth is, I adore children’s books. I don’t believe they’re only for children. They are for EVERYONE. There’s a kind of freedom in them that you don’t always find in adult fiction. The imagination is boundless, the possibilities feel infinite, and even though they’re written by adults, children’s books aren’t tangled up in the same limits and conformity we gradually wrap around ourselves as we grow older.

Maybe it’s time we let them lead the way for a while.

What children’s books can you recommend?

⚔️📖 Talking of grown ups reading children’s books..at last it’s time for the Battle of the Books reveal!

Mum Shetal with daughters Shreyana and Seraina

Mum and illustrator Shetal and her daughters Shreyana and Seraina went head-to-head-to-head with their favourite reads: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens, and That’s Not My Name by Anoosha Syed.

And the winner is… Murder Most Unladylike! Congratulations, Shreyana! 🎉

Winner: Murder Most Unladylike chosen by Shreyana!

Keep an eye out next month as Cruise Ship Kid author Emma Swan and another family go head-to-head for the chance to see their book choices reign supreme!

Sophie Anderson – Storyteller of The Month!

And now let me introduce Sophie Anderson to our Storyteller of the Month spot! The first time I picked up the first of her stories based on Slavic folktales: The House With Chicken Legs published by Usbourne Publishing I kid you not …a shiver went down my spine. Years later, my boys were hooked on the audible version too. My uni dissertation was based on Russian folklore, so I have a particular interest but even without this, as a mum these books and tales are magical and hold the infinite imagination and wonder of children’s books mentioned earlier in my blog. All of Sophie’s books …The House With Chicken Legs, The Girl Who Speaks Bear, The Castle of Tangled Magic, The Thief Who Sang Storms and The Snow Girl are as enchanting and captivating as their titles suggest.

The collection so far.
published by Usbourne Publishing

Personally I can’t wait for the latest The House With Chicken Legs Runs Away to come out (9th April 2026!🥳)

📝 Fun facts about Sophie:

🐚 Sophie grew up by the seaside, loved collecting shells and fossils, and dreamed of being a mermaid.

🤿 At university she learned how to scuba dive, and dived lots of ancient shipwrecks in Scotland.

🐓 Sophie is the proud owner of three chickens called Henrietta, Chewbacca, and Maracca. (Editors note: LOVE THIS!)

👋 Welcome Sophie! What are some of your earliest story or reading memories that shaped your imagination as a child?

My grandmother used to tell me Slavic fairy tales while sat at her piano, so that she could play a dramatic soundtrack for them.

Winter often brings a special kind of magic to reading. Who were your favourite kid lit winter book characters when you were younger and do you have new favourites now? Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson was a favourite childhood read, which features the most wintry of characters, the Groke. A recent favourite is The Other Father Christmas written by Serena Holly and illustrated by Shahab Shamshirsaz. It’s so much fun!

Who or what encouraged you when you first starting out as a writer? I came to writing quite late and I think what encouraged me most was discovering a much more diverse range of voices in children’s literature than I had experienced as a child. David Almond’s working-class voice in Skellig and Salman Rushdie’s lyrical, whimsical Haroun and the Sea of Stories, although very different, both made me feel that there might be a place for my voice and my kind of writing.

What was the moment that made you realise storytelling wasn’t just something you loved, but a permanent and meaningful part of your life? My writing has always felt meaningful on a personal level, but it grew into something more when The House with Chicken Legs published. I had been writing, on and off, for around ten years in my spare time, but had never considered that I might make a career out of it. The House with Chicken Legs changed that. My writing moved from being something I did occasionally around the edges of the day, to being this huge part of my life, and a full-time job. 

The Snow Girl, (recently re-released in paperback by Usbourne) weaves in beautifully with your Slavic folk-inspired storytelling. What memories from the book do you hope will stay with the readers after they have stepped into Tasha and Alyana’s magical world? I hope readers find something memorable and meaningful to them. I think one of the best things about fiction is that it connects with different people in different…(and often very personal)…ways. If, when a reader finishes the story, they are happy that they read it and feel that Tasha’s and Alyana’s world has brought a little magic into their lives, then I will be thrilled!

Without giving too much of the book away, what was your favourite part of writing The Snow Girl? I’ve always loved writing animal characters, and there are a few in The Snow Girl. I also love writing magic and of course the snow girl herself, Alyana, has some wonderful winter magic to play with. 

February is a month for love, and The Snow Girl is full of it in many different ways. What does love mean to you in her world? Love is definitely a verb in The Snow Girl, shown through the caring actions of friends, family and community.

And just for fun!

If you could take one tiny bit of Alyana’s magic in to your own world, what would it be and why?

There is so much of her magic I would like to play with! If I can only pick one, then making snowflakes dance into pictures that tell a story.

Where in our world would Tasha and Alyana most love to dance in the snow?

Karelia, in NW Russia. It’s such a beautiful place filled with magic! (Editor quickly Googles “Karelia” …and WOW! 😍)

🌟STAR READER QUESTION FROM JAMIE, AGED 8

How long does it usually take you to write a book and what do you do if you run out of ideas for characters? Which character is most like you? (Brilliant questions Jamie!)

From start to finish (including lots of drafts), around 18 months to two years. If I run out of ideas a good walk often helps, or refilling my creative well by immersing myself in other people’s works of art. I am most like Tasha in The Snow Girl I think… at heart I am very shy.

What beautiful answers Sophie! Thank you so much for taking part! And of course to our 🌟Star Reader Jamie for his fab questions.


The House With Chicken Legs Runs Away – Coming April 9, 2026.
Published by Usborne Publishing.

For Sophie’s latest events CLICK HERE 🔗

Next week…Our Story! Family Q&A plus some gorgeous book reviews – Thanks as ever for reading!