Yours hieroglyphically

I always love to hear from schools who are reading one of my books as a class, and so I was super-excited to receive a huge envelope from Y5 at Shakespeare Primary School in Leeds, who have been reading The Phoenix Code to tie in with their topic on Pharaohs.

The letters are all beautifully written, full of thoughtful comments about the story and interesting questions. The children have also taken the time to add stunning illustrations and themed sign-offs, like Yours in code and Yours hieroglyphically. What a talented bunch they are!


I really appreciate the effort that has gone into all the letters. Thank you also to the Y5 teachers who shared the book with their classes  - and especially Ms Fox, who sent the letters to me. Your enthusiasm for history and reading (and mysteries!) definitely shines through in the children's letters - they are an absolute credit to you!

You can see more of the children's letters in this blog post on my main author website.

Calling Young Mystery Lovers!

Visiting the ancient Maya city of Calakmul when I was researching for The Serpent King was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Climbing to the top of the pyramid temple and looking out over the sea of treetops was simply breathtaking.

So I jumped at the chance to set another book in the same area. This time, it's for a rather younger readership. The Mystery of the Lost Hunter is an early reader for the brilliant Rising Stars reading scheme. It's set in a different ancient Maya city - Tikal this time - and features young twins, Itzel and Little Turtle who make a remarkable dicovery while lost in the forest.

Illustrated by Alan Brown.

News from the Valley of the Kings

Photo: Reuters, from BBC News website

Exciting news from The Valley of the Kings. A new tomb has been uncovered. This sounds like exactly the sort of dig that Cleo and Ryan would love to have been involved in. It's fascinating to know that new discoveries are still being made all the time - we still have so much to learn about our past.
Read all about it.

The First Emperor Comes to Liverpool

Now you don't have to go all the way to China to find out about the setting for The Dragon Path.

A magnificent exhibition about the First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors has just arrived at the World Museum in Liverpool and will be there until October 2018.

I was lucky enough to see the terracotta warriors and the other treasures from the site around the tomb on my research trip to China, but I will definitely be calling in at this exhibition. Luckily I have a few trips to Liverpool coming up when I'll be visiting my amazing Patron of Reading School, Kensington Community Primary School, so I should have chance to pop in soon.

Even if you can't get to Liverpool to see the exhibition in person, do have a look at the museum website - there are some fascinating short videos all about it.

If you go to the exhibition, I'd love to know what you think! I'm pretty sure you will be amazed!

Find out more about the exhibition here.

Research Secrets

I was delighted to be interviewed for the Research Secrets feature of the brilliant magazine Writers' Forum. Look out for next month's issue if you would like to read all about my research for Secrets of the Tombs, including some of my top research tips!

A Thread Running Through

One of the best parts of my job is getting involved with schools and helping to spread the buzz of reading and creative writing.  A Thread Running Through, a fantastic anthology of student's creative writing and illustrations - all related in some way to themes, locations, characters or ideas from Secrets of the Tombs. The work covers all sorts of genres from horror to rom com, and formats from poems to short stories and even play scripts. Ranging from immortality to archaeology, from exploration to discovery, from skeletons to curses, from love to friendship to treachery and back again, there's truly something for everyone in this book -  and you'd be amazed at some of the new adventures Cleo and Ryan find themselves facing!
reading and writing for pleasure. I'm especially proud of having been Author in Residence at Litcham School in Norfolk this year, where we've been working together to produce

A great deal of work over the year culminated in a truly beautiful book (with a cover brilliant designed by one of the students, Fred Foulkes), which we launched with a special assembly and a party in June. It was a wonderful day and really exciting to see the students enjoying that magical feeling of seeing their work in print and holding an actual copy of their actual book in their hands.

Huge congratulations to everyone who contributed, and a big thank you to all the school staff who were so helpful, to Swaffham Rotary Club for supporting the project, and most of all to Cathy Berry, Litcham School librarian, who make the whole thing happen and worked so hard to see it through.

Class Reader?

If you are a Y5/6/7 teacher who would like to read The Phoenix Code with your class, Cornerstones have published a great guided reading pack.

"Cornerstones Love to Read teaching guide for The Phoenix Code*, packed with ideas for classroom activities that encourage children to talk about their reading.
The Phoenix Code is an exotic adventure story told with momentum and full of fun, action and discovery. It features two likeable teenage characters that younger children should have no problem associating with. Some of the plot details could be a little tricky for some children to remember."

If you do read The Phoenix Code together, I'd love to hear how you get on.