RHYS: Hi everyone! Welcome to Book Club. Now, you might think that after the fun we had with World Book Day last month that we could not possibly top the awesomeness. And normally, you'd be right. But friends, today I've got just two words for you: Jacqueline Wilson.That's right, the creator of all things Hettie Feather and Tracy Beaker will be joining us in Book Club. And we'll be putting your questions to her. As well as that, we'll be looking at your emoji challenges and your five word book reviews. And we've got another amazing author to speak to who had a very famous father. But more on that later.'Cause first though, she's written more than one hundred books, sold more than forty million copies. She was a former children's laureate. Has been responsible for some of the greatest shows C鶹 has ever seen. And was made a Dame for her services to Children's literature. So please.Be upstanding for the queen of children's books, it is Dame Jacqueline Wilson!
JACQUELINE WILSON: What an introduction, thank you so much.
RHYS: Y-, the pleasure is all mine. M-may I sit down, your grace? Is that ok?
JACQUELINE WILSON: Certainly, certainly.
RHYS: Thank you, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. It's so exciting to have you on. Now let's, I mean, let's talk about why you're here. You've got a new book. Tell us about it. What is it called? What can we expect from it?
JACQUELINE WILSON: Well, it's called "The Magic Faraway Tree: A New Adventure". Because the "The Magic Faraway Tree" books have been loved by many generations. When I was a little girl, way, way back, I adored these books.And I was asked if I would like to do a kind of followup version for the three major books. And I said yes, please. And it's been such fun.
RHYS: And this book is said to come out in May. This is very rare that you are wri-, that y-, like you said, you are kind of doing a followup of a, of a well established series that you didn't create. Why do you think you were asked to, to write this book? Do-, why do you think it needs updating?
JACQUELINE WILSON: I don't think they need updating. They-, the first three by Enid Blyton herself are staying exactly as they are now. They've never gone out of print. Now one or two tiny bits have changed, like food that the children eat.Because when they were published long ago, pink blancmange was a great favourite. And modern children now haven't got a clue what pink blancmange is.
RHYS: Uh, speak for yourself, Jacqueline, I-I'm a, I'm a big fan.
JACQUELINE WILSON: Oh, sorry. Is that your favourite? It's as if my children were staying in a holiday cottage at the edge of the Enchanted Wood, they actually jump over the ditch and go into the Enchanted Wood, discover the Faraway Tree for themselves.And then I'm in both Enid Blyton land, but it's also my land too.
RHYS: Do you find it easier when you're writing, writing books of a series that's already established by someone else than starting a completely new story on its own? Or, uh, w-what do you find?
JACQUELINE WILSON: I worry a little bit more if I am doing a follow-on book, because for many people, um, these books are precious to them. And they might think, "how dare she take on this book and, and try and change it?"But I would never do that. I just do my own version. And, um, if it means that, um, people go back to the original books, I think that's all to the better.And if in eighty years' time, um, a children's writer says, mm, I'm going to do a new version of the story of Tracy Beaker, I wouldn't mind it in the slightest.
RHYS: Well that's great, good to know. I will just jot that down. That's when I'll start writing my next series of Tracy Beaker. It'll be in space and it'll be an opera. But that's for the later time.
JACQUELINE WILSON: [laughs]
RHYS: Um, actually Jacqueline, I've go-, I've got quite a fun game to play now. And uh, [WILSON: Ok.] so because you've taken a classic series, you've added your twist to it, I've done the same. I've taken some classic stories and updated them, given them more of a modern feel. And I want you to try and guess what the original books are that I've been inspired by.So I'll read them out and I want you to shout out the answer. Is that ok?
JACQUELINE WILSON: Yeah, I'll give it a go.
RHYS: Right, here's the first one. [cough] Barry, a young boy, finds a golden ticket in a dairy factory. It's very ethical. One hundred percent fair trade, cocoa artisan, chocolate bar stuff. Ok? And he's invited to a pop-up shipping container kitchen at a very trendy market.Where a mysterious man makes sustainable chocolate bars out of broccoli. What book do you think inspired that one?
JACQUELINE WILSON: I think it might be "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".
RHYS: I think you might be correct! [ding] Ok, there we go, yeah. I'm going to call it "Charlie and the Broccoli Chocolate Factory". It's, it's a work in progress. Alright, here's the next one. A wizard called Grand Alf turns up at the door of a man with massive smelly toes and challenges him to play epic computer games online.Along with thirteen dwarves, to defeat a giant dragon and win loads of cryptocurrency.
JACQUELINE WILSON: Uh, could that be "The Hobbit"?
RHYS: That is correct! It is "The Hobbit".
JACQUELINE WILSON: Yay!
RHYS: By J.R.R. Tolkein. Um, what can I call that one? The Hobcryptoe… currence… again, working title. Working title. We can, we'll, we'll workshop that. Alright, here's the next one. Four siblings are sent to a city for a holiday and discover a magic toilet which sends them to space when they use it.They all end up deep in the solar system where they battle an evil white toilet brush.
JACQUELINE WILSON: [laughs] I think that might be a really wacky version of Narnia. And "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe".
RHYS: Yes, you have got it! It is Narnia. The Toilet, the brush… no. The lion, the, the lion, the brush, and the toilet. I think is probably how I, I-I'd do it. Uh, can't wait to see the cover of that book. Jacqueline, you got three out of three. Smashed it. I mean, there's nothing else that I can, that I-, no other stories.So well done to that. Now it's time for our Book Clubbers to take over. They've been sending in their questions for you. I'm gonna read them out. Let's see how many we can get through. First one is from Cosmic Turquoise Owl who asks, "Where do you get your inspiration from?"
JACQUELINE WILSON: That's the sixty-four thousand dollar question. Um, I think it's a bit like saying "where do you get your dreams from?" Sometimes it's vaguely something that's happened to me or I've heard about. Sometimes an idea comes just out of the blue. And I go with it.
RHYS: From Jammie, firstly, they wanna say that you write great books, but "How old were you when you started writing them?"
JACQUELINE WILSON: Well, in, in some, some of my books, where they have a piece about the author, it says I wrote my book when I was nine. It wasn't a real book. It was only a school exercise book and there were only about twelve pages. I think I had my first book published when I was about twenty three.And it meant the world to me.
RHYS: From Sportygirl2011, "What has been your favourite book to write so far?"" This is like picking your favourite child, but go for it.
JACQUELINE WILSON: Well, definitely and honestly, "The Magic Faraway Tree: A New Adventure." Because it was a new adventure for me. And I was revisiting my childhood favourite characters. I wanted to be Silky the fairy when I was six or seven years old.
RHYS: The way you talk about it, Jacqueline, maybe this could be the next C鶹 hit show. You know? We could pick this up.
JACQUELINE WILSON: Well, [laughs] fingers crossed.
RHYS: Hey, hey, I can play, I can play the fairy. I don't mind that. Like, we can, we can really modernise this up. Alright?
JACQUELINE WILSON: I can see you in wings. I think you'd look very cute.
RHYS: I'll send you, I'll send you my showreell and a picture of me with wings and we'll see what's up.
JACQUELINE WILSON: Ok.
RHYS: Speaking though of your books that've been adapted, from Roberta, "I love your books. My favourite is probably "The Story of Tracy Beaker". My question is, what is your favourite book? Who is your favourite author and why?"
JACQUELINE WILSON: When my daughter was, um, little, our joint favourite book was "Where The Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. And we'd acted out roaring those terrible roars and showing our terrible claws. So that is a fantastic book too.
RHYS: Amazing. Uh, and this one asks, "What inspired you to become an author?" So what inspired nine-year-old Jacqueline to start writing stories?
JACQUELINE WILSON: I know when I was in hospital having my tonsils out, the doctor asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. And I said, I wanted to be a writer. Which surprised my mum. But I had just realised that on the spine of a book, you get the, the name of the book.And then you get a name, it's actually the author's name. And I realised that these magic books that I'd just started to look at and read and enjoy were actually written by all different people. And I thought, I want to be like them.I want to write one of these books.
RHYS: Well, those were our questions from our Book Clubbers. Thank you for sending them in. Uh, thanks for answering them, Jacqueline. Do you mind, though, if we do, if we do one more challenge with you? Just, just one more.
JACQUELINE WILSON: Ok.
RHYS: Ok, right, well, this is one that we love here in Book Club. It's called The Emoji Challenge. So what happens is every month, I give our viewers three emojis and their task is to come up with an incredible story using those three emojis.So my emojis this month, and the ones that you'll be using, are planet Earth, a book, and a happy face. So I'm gonna give you twenty seconds, Jacqueline, to tell me a story using planet Earth, a book, and a happy face. Are you happy to do this?
JACQUELINE WILSON: Yeah.
RHYS: Three, two, one, go.
JACQUELINE WILSON: Girl decided that she liked looking at the stars. She liked finding out about space. And she also liked writing. Um, didn't know what to do. But then she wrote a book about the planet Earth and all the other planets that revolved around.
RHYS: I love that. Is there a name you could give to this story? Just a quick name?
JACQUELINE WILSON: "Double Choice."
RHYS: "Double Choice." I like it. Uh, coming to all the bookstores very very soon. Jacqueline, thank you so much for being such a good sport. Will you come and join us again in Book Club soon?
JACQUELINE WILSON: I would love to. It's been great fun talking to you.
RHYS: it's been awesome having you on as well. Thank you so much, Jacqueline.
JACQUELINE WILSON: Thank you.
RHYS: What a lovely interview. Gotta love Jackie W. A true Book Club legend. Now, we just saw Jacqueline there take on the emoji challenge. But we're also keen to see how you lot have gotten on. So here are a few of your stories. Once upon a time, there lived a happy face emoji.So one day he read a book about how to protect the Earth. And the book said recycle more. So that's what the happy face emoji did. Now the Earth is a bit better. That's a lovely story. I li-, I love a happy ending.Um, this one from Dino Cat Dude, a happy person wrote a book. It was the best book ever written. Suddenly, the Earth exploded. The end. [record scratch] I guess that's what we call a tragedy. Um, very Shakespeare, that.RedPanda123456, you're reading a book about Earth. A far off place. And you wonder if you can ever visit. You wait many years. Then one day, a smiley face comes and gives you a lift to the moon. I mean, yes, a smiley face giving you a lift to the moon for free? I'm taking it.Thank you so much for your amazing emoji stories. But now it's time for a new set of emojis for the new month. And this month in honour of Jacqueline Wilson, the emojis are: A beaker cup, 'cause of Tracy Beaker, a tree, 'cause of the Magic Faraway Tree, and a magic wand, because she's such a magician with words.So, there are your emojis. Get inspired, get writing, and we can be reading your stories next time on Book Club. And to send in your emoji stories, simply click here on the C鶹 website. Now our next guest has written many children's books about science, which comes as no surprise as her father was one of the most famous scientists in the world, Stephen Hawking.LUCY HAWKING:, welcome to C鶹 Book Club! How are you?
LUCY HAWKING:: Hello, good morning! It's really great to be with you. Um, thank you so much for having me here.
RHYS: No, the pleasure is all ours. Um, now why don't you start by telling us all about your new book. What is it called and what can we expect from it?
LUCY HAWKING:: Ok, so this is, uh, my new book here. It's called "Princess Olivia Investigates The Wrong Weather". And what it is, it's, um, storytelling about climate change. But it's also about a young girl and her challenges and adventures as she tries to fit into a completely new world.But then, the world isn't as she expected it. And she starts to realise that something is very, very wrong in this environment. She starts looking around herself and thinking, what has happened to the weather? And of course, that leads us into talking about climate change.Through the eyes of a young girl experiencing the world and asking really deep questions and trying to find the answers.
RHYS: It's no surprise that you're writing amazing books about science, Lucy, given that your father, Stephen Hawking was an incredible scientist that was world-renowned. But was, was he the main reason you got into science?
LUCY HAWKING:: So I grew up with science all around me. My father's a scientist. My mother's very interested in science. My dad had loads of friends who were all scientists and they'd all come round in the evening. And they'd talk about their work. but they'd talk about it in ways that were really fun and interesting and engaging for a kid.And so, in telling stories about science, I'm trying to recreate that feeling. LIke this is an adventure. This is really cool. We can do this together. We can go on these journeys and we can understand it.
RHYS: Can you tell us a bit about, um, "George's Secret Key to the Universe"? Now you wrote this one with your dad. What was this book about?
LUCY HAWKING:: That was a really cool and fun book to write. And it all started when a young boy asked my father what would happen to him if he fell in a black hole. And my father said to him, oh, you'd be turned into spaghetti. And I thought well, that's kind of hilarious. And it's brilliant. And it's true.And I also thought this is a story. We need to tell a story. We need to take kids out there into the universe. And allow them to experience it. And that will help them to understand. So "George's Secret Key to the Universe" was the first of what turned into a series of seven books.
RHYS: What was it like writing with your dad? Was he, was he quite, was he good at kind of sharing the ideas? Would you sometimes clash over maybe scientific ideas? You'd think, actually, I don't think that would work. He'd g-, and he'd go, I'm the scientist. What, what are you talking about? How, how was it like writing with him?
LUCY HAWKING:: Well, it was really hilarious, because, um, he'd actually never written fiction before. So at first he was a bit questioning. He was like, well, he'd done a lot in public engagement with science. but he'd never actually written a plotline.Um, and so I had to go away and write the first three chapters of the book to convince him. And I put a pig in the first three chapters, 'cause he really just liked pigs. His, uh, grandparents were pig farmers and so he just had this lifelong fondness for pigs.So I put a pig in to try and, um, grab his interest. And then he got really into it and he started coming up with plotlines. And, um, and coming up with characters. And then saying oh no, I don't think George would say that. Um, but there was one point that we clashed on.Which is that he wouldn't allow me to include anything that hadn't actually happened. Therefore, the kids were never allowed to meet an alien. And I was very sad about that. 'Cause I really-
RHYS: Oh, what?
LUCY HAWKING:: I know, right?
RHYS: But that's what science fiction is! It's science fiction! Aliens are science fic-
LUCY HAWKING:: I know, but he said this is science "faction". We're taking elements of science fiction and we're combining them with fact. So no, you may not have an alien.
RHYS: I wanna complain, but his wordplay is excellent and I can't, I can't fault that. So "science faction", ok, sir, we will honour that. Now Lucy, on C鶹 Book Club, we ask our viewers to send in five-word reviews of books that they've read. So my challenge to you is can you review your book in five words?
LUCY HAWKING:: Science princess explores climate change.
RHYS: Amazing. Done. Wow. I mean, expertly done. Lucy, thank you so much for joining us. You've been an amazing guest. Please join us again soon.
LUCY HAWKING:: That was really fun, thank you so much!
RHYS: Great to catch up with Lucy there and hear her five-word book review. Now you've also been sending in your five-word book reviews. And you have not disappointed. I'm very excited to read them, so here they are.From Cloudhorse, who reviews Harry Potter, Cool boy on cool adventure. It's almost like he's going to the arctic, but I'm down with that. From Elvira the Heir for the Night fan who reviews "Arsenic For Tea", by Robin Stevens, which is the sequel to "Murder Most Unladylike".Two girl detectives solve poisoning. Sorted. Se-, like, on the tin, that. I love that. SparklePony reviews "Raven's Gate" by Anthony Horowitz. Magic boy closes evil gate. Again, does that it says on the tin. I like that. It's simple, it's easy, it's effective.Uh, now I want more of these reviews. In fact, I want more of everything for Book Club. So here's how you can get involved. Get your phone or tablet and search C鶹 Book Club and it should take you to this page. And from here, you can scroll down and see all the great ways and get involved.And the next time on Book Club, we'd be asking your questions, showing your selfies, or even reading out your five-word book reviews. But right now, that is it for Book Club. But you can find way more fun stuff to do with books over on the Book Club website. But until then, see ya.
Dame Jacqueline Wilson answers viewers' questions, plays the Emoji challenge, and tells us all about her awesome new book, which is a modern version of the 'The Magic Faraway Tree' by Enid Blyton.
Rhys also meets Lucy Hawking, daughter of legendary theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who tells us all about her new book, 'Princess Olivia Investigates: The Wrong Weather'. Lucy also tells us what it was like to write children’s books with her dad, why a pig featured in their books, and why she was banned from writing about aliens!
C鶹 Book Club is all about celebrating books and getting children excited about reading! Each month Rhys Stephenson is joined by authors, illustrators and celebrities to talk about their latest books, stories they loved reading when they were young, the creative ways in which they write/illustrate and most importantly, getting children involved with games, challenges and book reviews.
Teacher notes
The interview with Jacqueline Wilson can be used in English lessons to explore vocabulary, creative thinking and the generation of new ideas when composing stories. It could also link to history with a study of Enid Blyton.
The interview with Lucy Hawking can be used alongside physics topics such as light, forces, changes of state, sound, earth and space and materials. The children could study the life of her father, Stephen Hawkins, as a famous scientist.
Together, the interviews could be used to inspire an investigation into how important trees are for our planet.
Suggested follow-up activities
Read a chapter of Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree books (first published between 1939 and 1946) and a chapter from Jacqueline Wilson’s version. Explore how the language has changed. How do the children speak? What type of vocabulary did Enid Blyton use that isn’t used today? This clip features extracts from Enid Blyton's original book.
Encourage the children to imagine a different world at the top of the Magic Faraway tree and ask: Can you describe it? Can you draw or paint it? Can you design and build your imaginary world? Can you make up your own tree characters? Can you write a new chapter for a class book? Ask the children to think of their favourite book. Could they write a follow-up story?
Challenge the children to make up their own quiz question like Rhys does in the clip: take a classic story and give it a modern twist. Can anybody guess the book?
Talk about keeping safe: would it be safe to go off on adventures alone, like children in fiction books do?
Make a class tally chart of favourite Jacqueline Wilson books, or books by another favourite author in the class.
Ask the children to write about what they would like to be when they are older, and what has inspired them.
See if the children can find out more about Jacqueline Wilson: When did she write her first book? When did she become the Children’s Laureate, and what does this mean?
Emoji challenge: challenge the children to create a story from three emojis or objects. Perhaps these could be associated with Jacqueline Wilson - a beaker, a tree and a wand, for example. They could also design a book cover for their story.
Lucy Hawking writes scientific books based on facts. Ask the children to think of a scientific question about a recent physics topic they have studied. Challenge them to write a ‘science faction’ story for a younger audience containing scientific facts but with made up characters.
Discuss important issues facing the world, such as pollution, climate change, or global warming. Ask children to write about a topic and present it to the class.
Give the children a selection of emojis and challenge them to write a futuristic story containing them.
Send the children on a fact-finding mission. Split them into two groups and ask them to research specific facts about both Jacqueline Wilson and Lucy Hawking. The facts can be compared in a class presentation.
Ask the children to think about the last book they have read and review it in just five words.
Curriculum Notes
This programme is suitable for use with pupils aged 7-12. It is designed primarily for use in English lessons with KS2 pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and with 2nd Level pupils in Scotland.
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