Peter Pan as you’ve never read it before!

Back in 2014, publishers Nosy Crow got in touch to ask if I would be interested in writing a rhyming version of Peter Pan, which would be published as one of a new range of classic tales retellings. Of course I said yes!

Little did I know how challenging this project would be! I spent almost three months sitting in a local cafe creating the first draft of what was to become a double-length fully-illustrated picture book.

With such a huge story to tell, it felt like quite a responsibility - I wanted to do the original story justice whilst condensing it significantly, making the language more appropriate for a younger audience and ensuring the sentiments fitted in with today’s expectations of gender equality, diversity of characters and all the other socio-political issues that come into play when we are creating stories for children.

There were many, many rounds of editing, which is not at all easy when writing in rhyme, especially as we were retelling a story that was already known and loved by millions of people all over the world.

Creating the text was a HUGE labour of love and I can’t begin to imagine how challenging it was for Sarah Warburton to create the illustrations. I know there were many sleepless nights in several households as author, illustrator, editor, designer, sales and rights teams plotted and planned how to make this book a success.

|I really do feel that, together, we have created is an incredibly beautiful book. It’s a superbly produced gilded hardback, with dust cover and beautiful glossy pages. I really do feel that it captures the magic and excitement of the original story, while bringing it up to date for our contemporary readers. This is largely down to Sarah Warburton’s incredible illustrations, but I hope also that my text reads well - I’ve had some lovely feedback from readers telling me they like it so it must read reasonably well!

It’s so easy to underestimate the amount of work, thought and care that goes into producing picture books. But I can guarantee that every single word and brush stroke in this book has been chosen with great consideration, and I would love for you to read it!

Also, as the giving-season is looming, I couldn’t write this blog post without a little nudge. . .

. . . available to buy in all good bookshops, or get a personally-signed copy direct from me here.