Well, writers are always working on something and last year was an especially busy one for me with no fewer than three children's books published. But I was also working on the sequel to my first children's novel Prankenstein and I'm very excited to have a copy of the new book in my hands, fresh from the printers!
The original story, Prankenstein, was the tale of a prank-mad boy called Soapy and his two friends (twins from Estonia) who set themselves up as detectives to try and discover the mystery of a strange and crazy creature who is driving the town round the bend with outrageous, funny pranks. When the trio track down Prankenstein they come in for a mighty shock.
The new book features the same characters and is called PRANKENSTEIN VS YANKENSTEIN!
In this story Soapy's American cousin, a tanned and mega-sassy girl called Topazz, comes to stay with the family and all is going well until Soapy finds himself chained to a loo seat one morning when he wakes up. Soapy is convinced it must be prank-fan Topazz but she strongly denies it. The two fall out and it's not long before things get really hairy when another horrible prank-playing monster comes on the scene. Soapy's friends, the Twince, try to help him but Soapy is thinking the unthinkable: to unleash Prankenstein. Can the planet survive a clash between these two hoaxy beasts?
Like Book 1, the story has lots of laughs, twists, mysteries, chases, fun and astonishing pranks. Here's what some newspaper reviewers had to say:
There are more brilliant illustrations from Richard Morgan too:
Prankenstein vs Yankenstein will appeal to any boy or girl or 8-11 who loves to laugh and likes an exciting adventure with crazy goings-on. As well as pranks it features cheese, chickens, a bike-bath combo, Harrods, eggs, missiles, custard, and yellow-bellied sapsuckers - what more could you possibly want?
The book is published on 14th April and you can pre-order it now from your local bookshop. Or you can buy it online from the usual places such as Waterstones and Amazon (have a look at Hive too).
