I know I’m slow to the Grumpfort praise party (It’s already been a Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month) but it’s such a joyful book that I couldn’t resist shouting about it too. Out of all the children’s books I’ve read in the last couple of years, I think this is the book fans of Small! would enjoy most.
Harvey and Mo would make great friends
While my main character Harvey struggles to master the basics of being a giant, poor old Mo is an equally hopeless Warden (a monster hunter who is expected to step up and protect the village of Bogfoss). Both start their stories with low self esteem and an equally low ability to swing axes, maces or bashing clubs. I was rooting for poor old Mo the moment I met him.
It’s got monsters galore
If you had fun meeting the giants, swamp goblins and skelephant in Small!, you’ll have a great time getting to know the monsters living in the forest around Bogfoss. But don’t believe everything you read in A Beginner’s Guide to Monsterology. Just as my giants had the wrong idea about (some) humans, the humans in Bogfoss have got monsters all wrong, too!
The Grumpfort cast of characters are utterly loveable (especially the sausage-roll-loving Snotwoggle, Bork whose keeness to make Mo his best friend gives me the same fuzzy feeling I get from writing about Harvey’s friendship with Walloping Toenail). And the book’s message about not believing everything you read, or judging every monster by the size of its teeth is deftly done all the way through.
Jamie’s illustrations are fabulous
Jamie’s writing is so immersive that everything is easy to picture. But his illustrations inject even more life into each page. In fact, they capture the action so well (especially the graphic novel-style panels and full-page spreads) that you can feel how exciting the story’s going to be before you’ve read a single page.
I sweated buckets over my thank you speech (complete with life advice from the world of Small). So, in what might be my most self-indulgent post ever, I thought I’d share it.
Here I am holding my award next to fellow winners Liz Flanagan and Jenny McLachlan
Thank you SO much. This might just be the most exciting thing to happen to me as an author in the history of the world, ever!
It’s partly really exciting because Small is my first book, and this is the first time it’s won an award, which makes it extra special.
It’s also really exciting because YOU voted for it. I write for lots of reasons. And I admit, I enjoy making myself laugh writing about kids who set fire to their headteachers’ trousers and giants that take up ballet dancing. But I’ve always thought that stories are better shared. So knowing that you’ve read Small and talked about it and hopefully laughed and finished it feeling excited to start your next book is just brilliant.
You’ve also made me feel like my main character Harvey in the best possible way.
If you haven’t read Small yet, it’s about a boy who’s had quite a bit of bad luck. He’s been kicked out of a few different schools. Now the only place willing to give him a chance is Madame Bogbrush’s School for Gifted Giants. There’s just one problem. Harvey’s not a giant. And giants don’t like humans. So he has to wear a daft giant disguise of stilts, fake rubber feet, extra long trousers and a top hat.
Harvey looks like a giant. But he doesn’t feel like one.
Well, I’ve always called myself a writer. I’ve been writing since I was big enough to hold a pen. When I was little, I mostly wrote rhymes and looked for ever more creative ways to tell my brother he smells. As I got older, I found jobs where I could write. But I was always writing very serious things, like the messages your grown ups might get from the bank saying they owe someone money. The problem with writing very serious things for grown ups is that they almost never let you include stories about swamp flapper birds pooing on your shoes … or giants who wear tutus.
So I called myself a writer of serious things, but never a children’s author. Becoming a children’s author was my dream. It was also scary because there were already so many brilliant books and children’s authors already out there. Could I really do it?
Even when I found a publisher and even when my book was on the shelves in shops and libraries I still didn’t completely feel like an author.
Putting stories out into the world feels a lot like being a kid on stilts, pretending to be a giant and hoping no one will see through the disguise.
Putting stories out into the world feels a lot like being a kid on stilts, pretending to be a giant and hoping no one will see through the disguise.
Being shortlisted for the Lancashire School Libraries Fantastic Book Award and waiting nervously for the results felt a lot like being Harvey, leaping from his stilts to escape a deadly swamp sink pit and not knowing if his best giant friend would catch him … or if he’d be eaten by swamp goblins.
Thank you so so much for reading Small, for voting for it, and for catching me. I’ve never felt more like a real children’s author.
I’ll finish on one thought. Think for a moment about a big dream you have. Things you want to do, whether that’s a school club or team you’re thinking of joining or something you want to do when you’re grown up. When you think about that dream, it might make you a bit scared. Perhaps it feels too hard or you think you won’t fit in or someone will laugh at you. Well, I have a secret. Most of us (especially grown-ups) feel like we’re walking around on stilts most of the time. We’re all just hoping no one will spot our disguise.
So if you have a big dream, even if it seems scary, my best advice, is to be brave like Harvey and leap!
Thank you so much again. Keep reading. Keep sharing stories. This really is the most exciting day in the history of the world ever. Thank you.
SMALL’s been out in the world an entire year. And the whole ‘being an author*‘ thing is finally sinking in … helped by introducing myself to an editor at a party earlier this week who said ‘Ohh, you’re Hannah Moffatt, the author!’ (I’m now secretly wondering if I can make everyone address me like that. Perhaps I’ll start wearing a name badge…)
To celebrate SMALL’s big day, here are three of the best bits about being an author so far.
1. Seeing children’s faces light up when I show them Rory’s illustrations.
I always knew Rory was amazing, but it’s such a joy to see children discovering his work for the first time. Here’s one of my favourite illustrations from SMALL! I love showing it to young readers and getting them to imagine what it would be like if a giant visited their house!
Mr Ogg squeezing into Harvey Small’s house. Illustration by Rory Walker.
2. Being shortlisted for the Waterstones children’s book prize.
Dream-come-true moments don’t come much bigger. I’ll be forever grateful to the wonderful Waterstones booksellers who voted for SMALL! Suddenly seeing my little book in window displays and on tables – and getting messages from shocked friends and family who spotted copies in their local shops too – was utterly wonderful.
Montage capturing a few of my best Waterstones moments
3. SMALL! having a sibling … SMALL BITES BACK!
Given it took about a million years to write the first book, I honestly never expected SMALL’s sequel to follow within the year. But I’m so happy I was able to take Harvey and Walloping to a new part of the swamp for a second adventure. Getting to tell classes all about it was magical, too. Highlights include the unanimous cry of “YES!” when someone asked in a class Q&A if a sequel was coming; and visiting a class of SMALL! fans on World Book Week who spent the whole time asking me about the sequel and guessing what might happen in vampire school!
Me in Waterstones Piccadilly waving my TWO books!
*It’s a fun and funny business this authoring lark. I’ve certainly noticed the difference between ‘being someoone who writes children’s books’ and ‘being a children’s author’. Ironically, being the latter often makes being the former much harder. Right now, for example, I’m supposed to be on a writing sprint with my other debut pals. Am I crafting my next story? Nope. I’m writing this. Because surely SMALL!’s first birthday will make great content! (Before becoming published I don’t think I ever viewed something as content – now I think about it far too much, and still struggle to get it right.)
Fancy celebrating Small!’s birthday? Why not order a copy,get the sequel or give the best present of all – by leaving a (hopefully good!) review š
Hannah Moffatt, word wrangler 