Wednesday 27 August 2014

Childhood Daze with Judi Curtin

Today I am pleased to welcome children’s author, Judi Curtin onto the blog.
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I had a very happy childhood, (some may consider this a disaster for a writer.) My family moved around a lot, and I had to change schools a number of times, but I never struggled terribly with settling into new places. Even the move from England to Ireland when I was eight, didn’t bother me unduly.
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As soon as I learned to figure out the letters and words, reading became my favourite thing. I loved the classics, and the Narnia series, but Enid Blyton was a particular favourite - especially the Malory Towers books. I wanted to be Darrell Rivers and I begged my parents to send me to boarding school. (Luckily they were impervious to my impassioned pleas.)
The biggest problem in my uneventful life was that I never had enough books to read. It didn’t take me long to read every children’s book in the house, and as none of my many childhood homes was close to a library, I ended up reading the same books over and over again. 
Even though I was a quiet child, I loved being invited to visit other children’s houses, especially for birthday parties. While the other guests were distracted by games of pass the parcel, I would retreat to the hostess’s bedroom, where I’d pass happy hours reading her books. When I smelled sausages, I’d show my face in the kitchen for a few minutes, and then I’d return to my reading until it was time to go home.
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My biggest childhood dream was to become a writer, but life got in the way, and I didn’t do any serious writing until I was in my thirties. Better late than never is clichéd, but definitely true for me. When I see my books lined up on a shelf next to Enid Blyton’s, I know for sure that my dream has come true.
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Viva Alice, the eighth Alice and Megan book, has just been published by O’Brien Press.
Book Summary
Alice and Megan are back together again! When they are together, they can handle anything!
Grace invites Alice and Megan to spend Easter in her house in Lanzarote. The girls are accidentally left home-alone for two days in the house. It’s fun at first, until they become trapped on an upstairs balcony and spend a long cold night and day waiting to be rescued!
Meanwhile Melissa is still unhappy at boarding school. Alice wants to help her to get back to their school, but Megan sees this as a betrayal. Tension mounts between the two girls, until Megan gives in and agrees to help. In the end, Melissa comes back, and Megan realises that she is confident enough to stand up to her.
To find out more about Judi Curtin:



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