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You lucky, LUCKY things! What an opportunity!

On Saturday 25th November, I will be in Waterstones Durham from 11am � 2pm signing books and skulking about. So if you’ve finished reading the latest Philip Pullman, you’re done with Potter, had enough of Horowitz, read the celebs, and you’re just plain sick of Walliams, then why not come along and say hello?

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The Coventry Inspiration Book Awards (CIBA17) this week was a fantastic event. Organised by Coventry Schools Library and Resource Service, there were librarians, authors, rugby players (!), booksellers, and (most important of all) lots of fantastic readers from primary and secondary schools across Coventry.

I was proud that Boy X won its category, and loved watching the performances by the two schools that championed the book. Students from St Elizabeth’s Catholic Primary School took to the stage to tell everyone why they enjoyed the story, then students from President Kennedy School acted out scenes from Boy X, and finished off with an excellent � and very dramatic � video made in Minecraft!

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Over the past few months, I’ve been to a few similar events, and I am quickly learning that if you want something organised, ask a school librarian to do it for you! They really are amazing people, and as well as all the other things they do, each one I’ve met works tirelessly to make their library an inviting, vibrant place where they can encourage students to read. And reading is SO important. Reading makes you smart, and it helps you to understand other people. If we want a smarter, more tolerant, more understanding world, we need to encourage more reading.

But I’m not talking about the kind of reading students do in lessons.

For as long as I can remember, we had books at home. My Mum and Dad read, and encouraged me to do the same. I was lucky � they let me read pretty much whatever I wanted. And that, I think, is the key to reading for pleasure; being able to read what you want to read, not what you’re told to read.

We had a small library at my first boarding school. Well, we called it ‘the library� but it was actually Mr Whitney’s English classroom. I wasn’t a Mr Whitney fan. He was a stern, apparently humourless man, and I don’t remember being allowed to borrow books from that library. We didn’t have a librarian, and as far as I remember, Mr Whitney was the gatekeeper of that particular room.

We did have Mr Johnson, though, and once a month, Mr Johnson would set up a little bookstall in the library. He would sit there puffing on his pipe while the students were allowed to browse the new books. What a happy afternoon that always was! I used to love picking up the books and imagining the stories inside. And if there wasn’t anything that interested me, Mr Johnson would dig out a shiny, colourful catalogue of books and flick through the pages, recommending stories I might like.

Mr Johnson was doing what a good school librarian does. He had taken notice of which books I had chosen before, and what I said about them, and he was helping me to find something else that would appeal. You see, he recognised the importance of ‘Reading for Pleasure�. He wanted me to enjoy what I was reading.

‘Reading for Pleasure� is a phrase I hear a lot when I visit schools, and in these times of constant assessments and grades and testing, it feels more important than ever before. I remember when I was at school, sitting in English lessons with a book in front of me, while each person in the class took their turn to read a couple of pages out loud. I remember studying books. I remember analysing every sentence, and often it was boring. It made books boring.

But books are not boring. Books are magic. They take us to new places, show us new things, open us to new ideas.

Reading for Pleasure is when you get three chapters in, decide you don’t like the book, put it down, and read something else. Reading for Pleasure is reading what you want to read. I understand that students have to sometimes read books they don’t want to read � life is full of having to do things we don’t want to do � but outside of the classroom, it’s important to encourage children to read what they want. To relish books. To lose themselves in stories. To let books speak to them.

That’s what school librarians do. They know the books. They treasure stories. They open new worlds to young readers. They organise events like CIBA17 to build excitement and interest in reading. They enthuse young minds.

Every school should have a library. And every library should have a librarian.

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[image error]Last weekÌýI was at Norwood School in Lambeth for the Phoenix Book Awards 2017. The awards have been running for 10 years, with winners including Frank Cottrell-Boyce and David Walliams, so I was honoured to be included in the shortlist which was put together by young readers.

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When I write a book, I write it for myself. After all, how boring would my profession be if I wrote stories that I didn’t enjoy? But I also write for a younger version of myself â€� I think back to the kind of thing I would have wanted to read when I was twelve/thirteen years old and IÌýwrite something that would have entertained and inspired young Dan. And I write for someone else . . . for the young readers who are out there right now. So these kinds of awards are particularly special, because those young readers are the ones who choose the books, write the reviews, and vote for their favourite.

[image error]Katherine Woodfine (also shortlisted for the award) and I were made to feel very welcome at Norwood School and we enjoyed a fantastic morning during whichÌýseveral students took to the stage (some of them on their own) to tellÌýthe audience why they would vote for a particular book. It’s no small thing to do that in frontÌýof a large group of people you don’t know, and every one of them did an amazing job! There was also an interactive quiz, drama, films, and even the mayor of Lambeth came along to inspire the students and hand out prizes.

[image error]Sometimes being an author can be a lonely profession. There are occasions when I feel like I’m shouting into a deep dark hole, my own voice swallowed by all the other voices shouting into it, so I was thrilledÌýwhen Boy X was announced as the winner. As a writer, I can think of nothing better than to know that young readersÌýhave been picking up my book and enjoying the adventure within its pages.

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Thank you to everyone who organised the fantastic day, to all the students who took part, and to everyone who voted for BOY X!!

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That’s all.

So. It looks like I’m going to have to stop saying I never win anything. Y’know . . . until recently it was true. But first there was the Coventry Inspiration Book Award and nowÌýBOY X has won the Essex Book Awards 2017!

Yay!

YesterdayÌýwas a long and brilliant day in Chelmsford, at King Edward VI Grammar School, where students from 18 schools came along to listen to the shortlisted authors say something (brief) about their books. There must have been over 250 students, all of them awesome readers (of course!), and over the past few months they, along with other students from schools acrossÌýEssex, they have been reading the shortlisted books, reviewing them, and voting for their favourite.

It was great to meet the other authors â€� Helen Dennis, Monica Vaughan, Robin Jarvis, and Hayley Long â€� but most of all it was fantastic to meet all the students who have been reading the books, and I even had the chanceÌýto give Olivia her award for the best review of BOY X.

The organisation was excellent, the staff were amazing, and the students were awesome!

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed BOY X and voted for Ash’s jungle adventure. And to the student who apologised for not giving it a good review . . . well, that’s okay. If we all liked the same things, the world would be a very dull place.

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[image error]Over the past few years, World Book Day has grown to become World Book Week. And that’s no bad thing â€� anything that encourages the celebration of books and reading for pleasure is worth while.ÌýFor many young people, their only main contact with books is in the classroom and, even with the best intentions, studying a book can kill it stone dead. I understand the benefits of studying literature, but I also know that writers (me included) want their readers to feel excitement, fear, sadness, elation, and wonderÌýwhen they settle down and open a book. Studying a text, dissecting it in a classroom, reading a couple of sentences and then discussing them, removes the wonder.

[image error]So World Book Week is a time to celebrate. It’s a time for us to revel in the joys of reading and story-telling (although, shouldn’t every week be a book week?), and it’s a time time when a school’s focus can turn on their library (if they have one) and their librarian (if they have one). It’s also a busy time for authors as we are invited into schools to meet and hopefully inspire future generations of readers.

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[image error]Over the course of World Book Week this year I was in schools every day, and so would like to give a big shout out to Bollin Primary, Hockerill School, Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy, Jarrow School, Hepburn Comprehensive, Wirral Grammar School for Boys, and GSMS in West Virginia USA (who asked some great questions via Skype). Thank you to all the awesome young readersÌýwho listened to me, joined in, and asked questions, and to the fantastic librarians, teachers, and staff who looked after me so well. And there was even time for a quick dab.

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And . . . in other news . . .

BOY X was voted by young readers as winner in the ‘Hooked on Books� category at the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards 2017. All of my books for younger readers have been shortlisted for multiple awards (including the Coventry Inspiration Book Award in the past), so it’s very exciting to finally win � especially when the winner is voted for by the readers themselves.

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That’s all.

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Once again, it’s been a long time since I have blogged. I do have an excuse, though. Honest. I’ve been working hard on a new book.ÌýThings don’t always go according to plan and I’ve been doing more deleting recently than I’d like to, but I’ll tell you about that later. I actually came here to tell you about something else.

My most recent book for younger readers, BOY X, has been nominated for a couple of awards!

The Coventry Inspiration Book Award 2017 and The Essex Book Award 2017.

It’s always a huge honour to be nominated forÌýthese kinds of awardsÌýbecause the winnerÌýis

chosen by the readers!! The Coventry Inspiration Book Award runs an on-line voting system; the book with the least votes is knocked out and then voting starts all over again. If you’d like to vote for BOY X, you can find the information right .[image error]

The Essex Book Awards works in a different way. There’s a website where readers from the various schools involved can leave reviews, and the winner is announced onÌýa special day in Chelmsford for all the participating schools.ÌýIf you’d like to see some of the great reviews the children have written, you’ll find them right .

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Keep reading . . . it makes you smart.

That’s all!

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Here’s another date for your diary . . . on 2nd October 2016, I’ll be at the Wigtown Book Festival, talking about books, jungle adventures, and Boy X!!

The festival looks like it’ll be great fun, and it’s an honour to have been asked to take part. Hopefully I’ll see a few of you there!

Click the picture for more details . . .

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Hold the phone! Stop right there! Get out your diary and make a note for Saturday 17th September, because more than 40 YA and MG authors are going to descend upon Newcastle Central Library for an extravaganza of author-y, writer-y stuff.

I will be there among tons of other authors!

Come along and say hi!

Over theÌýpast few weeks aÌýrecurring lower back problem has reared its vicious head and . . . well, imagine if someone were to set fire to your leg, encase it in ice, and electrocute it all at the same time. It hurts. And when it continues for weeks, it becomes difficult to see beyond it. Over this time, I’ve learned that constant pain has an incredible way of focusing your thoughts and invading your sleep. Concentrating on anything becomes almost impossible â€� unless it’s how to make the pain stop.

But, y’know, the pain will go. Eventually it will settle down or some clever doctor will fix it for me, so it’s not all bad.ÌýI’m now taking ALL the painkillers, which give meÌýrare moments when the pain subsides with an awesome relief that’s like floating. I’m also very lucky to have a patient and supportive family to cheer for team Dan; although I can see the concern on their faces with every one of my painful, shuffling steps. They’re keeping me strong.

The worst thing about it is that I’ve had to cancel my appearance at the Staffordshire Young Teen FictionÌýaward today. I’m very proud to say that my novel, Big Game, has been shortlisted, and it sounds like it’s going to be such a fun event, with over 200 eager young readers voting for their favourite books and enacting short performances based on the stories. I was so desperateÌýto go, and hung on until the last moment before cancelling. It was a very difficult decision to make but eight hours on the train would have been too much for me and I couldn’t risk making the painÌýworse.

I feel awful to have let them down, and I want to apologise to them all. I hope the event is a roaring success, and that all those amazing young readers have a fantastic time. Perhaps I will have the chance to meet at least some of them once I have beaten this pain into submission. And I WILL beat it into submission.

In fact, I’m off to get LucilleÌýright now.

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That’s all.