Books I could Eat for Breakfast... LOSER

This book is LOSER by American author Jerry Spinelli. It’s lovely in every single way.

The cover is plain blue with a matt finish and the figure depicted in the centre in white (it has a spot UV varnish on the line). Both the title and the author’s name are in a recessive shade of blue. The design is all about the crazy little dude in the middle. And that’s exactly what the book is about: a crazy little dude called Donald Zinkoff.

The thing is, I’m not sure I should really be shouting too much about the design of this HarperCollins edition when all credit should really go to Orchard who published STARGIRL with a similarly bold design and, in fact, did it first (did they? I'm not sure what the US cover was... feel free to correct me on this, if you're in the know). The simplicity of both covers reflects the simplicity of the stories contained within. Both are about outsiders, people (children) who couldn’t conform if they tried and who stand out... like, erm, white figures on a plain background.

Loser is my personal favourite because of Donald, someone ignorant of his own innocence in a way Stargirl isn’t. Donald really is a loser, the kind of child even the weak would pick on. But there’s something comforting in true innocence; you can’t be hurt by others’ cynicism; your love for life is straightforward and unashamed; even taunts can pass you by if you really are innocent through and through because you won’t see the intended slight.

I find something very liberating in thinking about innocence. I’m jaded adult these days, but this book had me yelling “I can spell tintinnabulation!” (and then failing miserably) for days. If you read it, I reckon you’ll be doing the same.

Why I commissioned... THE COURT PAINTER'S APPRENTICE

Twitter-style summary: When court painter, Hugo spots young Johann's talent for painting a true likeness, he doesn't realise the true scope of his protege's power.

Why did I commission this book?

It's perfect.

What? You mean I have to write more than that in order to give people a true sense of how my editorial brain works? Oh. Right, erm...

The thing is, sometimes it's that simple.

Let's set the scene: January 2010, I've returned after a long winter break to an ever-growing slushpile and made the heart-wrenching decision to close my inbox to unsolicited submissions (here's why). I pick one from the top because I find myself inexplicably short of lunch time reading and scan the covering letter - it's short, professional and contains no gimmicks. This is the kind of cover letter I like. I completely by-pass the synopsis and go straight to the real writing. (Read between the lines: spend the time on your book, not the synopsis. We editors and agents all know they're hard to write and suck the heart out of your story like a half-starved zombie. Rarely has a submission been dismissed on the weakness of its synopsis. [NB synopsis is not to be confused with plot. Weak plots may well be rejected. {And never use multiples brackets the way I'm doing right now, either.}])

Anyway, where was I? Right. I was reading: 'Ooh,' says my brain. 'Me likey.' Or something more articulate, because I am an editor and words are my thing. I read the synopsis and think the me likey thoughts again. Sandwich finished, I pick up the phone ask to speak to Richard Knight and ask him to send over the rest of the manuscript. Turns out me likey the rest of the book too. LOTS.

What did I like?

The effortlessness of the narrative. Richard has an incredibly light touch when it comes to conveying historical detail, yet I came away with a very strong sense of time and place. (Please note my grasp of European geography and history is hazy at best, so this is an impressive feat on the writer's behalf.)

The characters. Johann is not my typical fall-for hero, he's both lighter and darker than other characters I've adored. Naive, yet ambitious, insecure but assured: he's what you want him to be - and what you don't. The surrounding cast are carefully drawn, their own hopes and dreams, beliefs and shortcomings are secrets to be shared with the discerning reader but not each other.

The philosophical question at the heart of what could just have been a straight tale of the perils of being talented. This is about how art can change perceptions, just by presenting you with want you what to see, somehow seeing it, believing it, can make what it portrays true. But Richard doesn't just stop with the nature of truth, he's going to push this further so that the metaphysical questions becomes the moral ones...

But this is what I took from the story - the joy of this book is that there's so many ways it can be interpreted, it can spin you off on a thousand different thought tangents, all the while rooted in great storytelling. Had I read this as a child, it would still be on my shelf and in my mind.

Basically, for me, it's perfect on every level.

Why I commissioned… THE DEAD WAYS

Twitter-style summary: A network of paths across the country is all that’s keeping this world from the next but the government plans to eliminate them – and unleash hell on earth.

The Dead Ways is Christopher Edge’s debut and what an explosive one it is! The action centres around Scott Williams, whose government-employed father kills himself leaving behind a very cryptic message for his son. With washed-up detective, Jason, whose career came to a dead end after admitting to seeing ghosts walking a motorway tailback, as his minder, Scott is plunged into a non-stop dangerfest with very little reprieve.

When I say non-stop, I mean it, this is breath-takingly paced and the reader is left with no option but to turn the page. There’s a multi-layered conspiracy to be uncovered, where the police, the government and even the undead are united in preventing Scott from finding out the truth. Action scenes pelt through hospital morgues, abandoned motorways and across the streets of London, providing just enough detail to place you right in the thick of it.

Despite being the first of a trilogy, this book answers the questions it raises, whilst leaving plenty of room for ‘But what if…?’ once you’re done. This is a fantastically escapist read for anyone 10+ where young Scott really rises to the occasion of having the weight of the world land squarely on his shoulders. He’s more charismatic than Jason, who just can’t seem to get anyone to do what he says, bless him, and but it’s when he teams up with slightly gothy Avalon, daughter of an antiquarian bookdealer that Scott really comes into his own. If you want someone to be saving you from being dismembered by the undead, you could do worse than having Scott on your side. He’s no Buffy, he’s not as pun-based, nor has he supernatural powers of his own, but he’s tough and he's sensible in the way I think we'd all like to be if we had to save the world.

So, this book is fantastically pacey, has a sound premise for a trilogy, and is bang on-trend within the industry (zombies are, like, so hot right now... OK, so they're probably cold, sans beating heart, but you get the drift), but that's not all. It's also written by a really lovely bloke. If you’re a debut author and you come to the table full of energy and inspiration for how to promote your book then we publishers tend to sit up and pay attention. Chris is the kind of author we all want on our list, after we had a discussion about twitter, blogging and facebook, Chris took to is so naturally that I actually did an air punch of joy. He’s as lovely in real life as he is online and he’s an author for whom good things will happen.

Hopefully none of these good things will involve the undead…

Why I commissioned… EDWIN SPENCER SHADOW MAGIC

Twitter-style summary: Edwin and Perpetua are summoned to Hysteria to find themselves neck-deep in dangerous conspiracies, dark magic and, erm, orienteering...

This is J. D. Irwin’s second novel, the first being Edwin Spencer Mission Improbable. Like the first novel featuring hapless loser Edwin, this book marries real-world humour and parallel-worldly adventure with aplomb. J. D. who also answers to Julie, is a regular on the schools and events circuit, engaging kids and adults alike with her understanding of how to deliver a believable parallel universe that we all wish existed.

The story, whilst anchored by real-world protagonists, Edwin and Perpetua, is based in Hysteria, a parallel world to ours in which magic and science work hand in hand, where rival kingdoms use White (good) and Shadow (evil) magic to wrestle power from each other. The strength of Julie’s writing lies in the humour derived from the clash between our world and Hysteria. She has a composed command of dialogue which she uses to great effect throughout the story, and her action scenes will leave you breathless.

The combination of humour and fantasy in these novels is spot-on for the target audience. Every reader can appreciate the confusion Edwin feels at being called upon to act the part of Prince Auvlin, his former Hysterian doppelganger: whilst in one breath he wants to help the cause that the first book wedded him too, he is yet again called upon to lay his life on the line for a country that most of his friends, family and teachers don't even know exists.

Delightfully escapist, deliciously funny – and not without its darker moments in the midst of dangerous magicks – this is a book that knows its audience like the back its hand.

Why I commissioned... THE STOLEN SISTER

Twitter-style summary: When Rosalind is kidnapped, her sister, Elfie and Joe must uncover the mystery of her disappearance before the family falls apart.

Joan Lingard is a Writer. She writes a novel a year and she is one of Catnip’s most prestigious authors. Many people know of the Kevin and Sadie books based on love across the barricades of a divided Northern Ireland, but the Elfie novels, which started with The Eleventh Orphan, is the series she writes for Catnip. The first book shortlisted for many awards, including the 2009 Royal Mail Scottish Children’s Book Awards and the second The Chancery Lane Conspiracy was warmly received amongst readers and booksellers alike.

Like the first two books featuring the irrepressible Elfie, The Stolen Sister’s appeal lies in Joan’s instinctive understanding of her audience. Her skill is subtle and hard to pin down and this is exactly why I think these books work so well. The Stolen Sister cleverly weaves together historical truths with vividly imagined characters so that you become immersed in Elfie’s turn-of-the-century Victorian world. Joan doesn’t go straight for the populist Victoriana you might be familiar with – instead she focuses her attention on an unusual family set up. Elfie lives with the Bigsbys and ten other orphans at The Pig and Whistle pub on Green Lanes in Stoke Newington. Only Elfie is not like the others, for she has family too. And so we are lead to Elfie’s (half) sister Rosalind, daughter to Elfie’s once well-to-do father (you’ll have to read the others to find out what happened) – a child given the privileged upbringing that Elfie lacked and whose kidnap is the focus of the novel.

The plot twists and turns but Elfie and her best friend Joe are there at every turn to guide us, navigating the bigger stuff such as racism (Joe is black) and social depravity, and the smaller stuff, such as old feuds with former friends, and villainous rich grandparents...

The longer I spend writing this post the more aware I become of Joan’s skill. She covers an amazing amount in such an accomplished, entirely comfortable manner that it’s hard to even begin to convey the level of her ability as a writer – sorry – Writer.

The skill is in the writing, not my analysis of it. Go read the book(s).

Why I commissioned… MAPHEAD

Twitter-style summary: Young MapHead is a visitor to Earth who can flash images of the world across his skull. Special though he is – can he map the human heart?

The Catnip list features some of Lesley Howarth’s original fiction in the form of Bodyswap: The Boy who was 84 and Swarf as well as re-issued collections of short stories, Tales from the Sick Bed, but it is this former Guardian Prize winner for which she is perhaps best known.

This is quintessential Lesley. Her writing is unlike any I’ve ever encountered; it’s as if she’s sees the world in a different way from everyone else yet, somehow, sees the real truth of it. It is this gap between the easily accessible and the harder-to-reach reality on which Lesley thrives.

MapHead is a young boy like any other, searching for his place in a world that he hasn’t quite come to terms with. In this instance this could be because he is a visitor from another world – the Subtle World – and the fact that his father Powers Boothe has been solely responsible for his upbringing. Powers is a strong and intelligent father who tries to demonstrate the truth of everything, for example a Catshake is a perfectly balanced nutritional meal, (yes, you’ve got it: a milkshake made of cat) and one that MapHead should not be emotional about consuming. Yet as the story evolves, we come to see that Powers’ love of facts does not stop him from shying away from the truth of things when it comes to MapHead’s human mother.

MapHead is a wonderfully sweet and sympathetic main character and it won’t matter to you that his grasp of language is slightly shaky at times, nor that he has the power to flash images of maps across the skin of his head (I imagine it a lot like a projection on silk, but that could just be me…). You will be drawn in to empathising with him as he tries to fit in at school; when he finds his mother and yet can’t convince his father to visit her; and when he must make a heartbreaking choice.

This is not just a novel about a visitor from another world – it is so much more than that. It could be an allegory for any child’s entry into the real world, for anyone whose faith in their parents has been shaken when they discover they have been told half-truths to protect them from the full force of the whole truth.

And so we are led back to my belief in the power Lesley wields as an author – her ability to show us more than we see on the written page. Her command of language is subtle and clever, using it as she does to distance us and drawn us in; to make us cry and to smile; to keep us turning the page. Her work is not always easy to read, but like so many things that one has to work for – when you get there, the reward is that little bit sweeter.

Why I commissioned...Jinny at Finmory series

Editors can't play favourites. It's part of the job to understand that loving a list isn't a linear matter, you can't rank the books in an orderly fashion any more than you can a forest of beautiful trees. You just love each one you commission for what it is; nothing more and nothing less. But the Jinny at Finmory series will always have a special place in my egalitarian editorial heart.

Out this month is Gallop to the Hills, the fifth in the series (of which there are twelve), featuring wild, wilful Jinny and her beautiful Arab mare Shantih. There are many layers to my love of this series:

1) I read these as a child and loved them so much that I never forgot about them.

2) When I started at Catnip this was the first series I suggested we publish - the day before Lauren St John emailed Andrea to recommend we do just that. In the end it was Lauren who did an amazing amount of detective work to make her (and my) dream come true.

3) The story of how we came to publish them makes me happy - Lauren's championing of the series, Patricia's joy and delight at the idea of Jinny and Shantih running free once more, the members of pony forums who contacted me when they heard these were coming out once more...

4) The story of the cover star. You may notice that we feature the same horse on all the covers. Her name is Shantih and she belongs to the photographer, Karen Budkiewicz. Like me, Karen read the books obsessively as a child and fell for the fictional Shantih's charms – so much so that she made it her mission to find her very own fiery chestnut Arab. To have a real-life Shantih pose for the series of books after which she was named just seems too perfect to be true. But it is.

5) The writing. These books are littered with social commentaries that are as relevant today as they were when they were penned – touching upon inner city poverty, animal cruelty and perceptions of traveller community amongst other things – and Jinny is a perfectly flawed heroine who is locked in a perpetual struggle with doing what she knows to be right and what she knows to be easy. You can tell that this isn't a Pony Club romp, nor a series written for commercial value, but one written from the very soul of a woman who not only loves horses but language too. These books contain sentences so perfect that that they make me want to cry with love for the words, here's one of my favourite paragraphs:

“The afterglow of sunset turned sky, sea and wet sands into a glowing sapphire. We must be breathing blue air, Jinny thought. Sue and Marlene were walking the horses at the water’s edge and the spray from their horses’ hooves glittered ice blue, diamond, aquamarine. They were held in a jewelled paperweight of sky and sea.”

These are all the reasons why I love this series, but don't just take my word for it, have a look yourself. Buy a copy and, as Ken, the insightful young drifter who lives with Jinny's family would say, 'Take joy.'

Why I commissioned... LEGACY OF FIRE

Twitter-style summary: Joanna is struggling to come to terms with the responsibilities she's inherited, but it isn't long before she and XL are flying into danger.

Legacy of Fire is the second book in the Dragon Racer series by Margaret Bateson-Hill. Like its predecessor, Legacy of Fire is a speedy read with high-octane (OK, so not octane, that would be dangerous given we're talking about fire-breathing dragons... high-adrenaline?) action sympathetic characters and fantastic finishing touches.

In this book, Joanna ‘Jojo’ Morris, youngest ever world champion dragon racer, is struggling to come to terms with the loss of her mentor, Vincent, and the awesome responsibility of inheriting the Brixton Caves – and the politics that come with it. Feeling lost in a world that she's meant to dominate, Joanna finds herself losing touch with her trainer the wonderfully prickly Spiky Mike, feuding with Isaac, the new egg-turner and competing with her first ever crush, new dragon racer Dominic Peters. Only her beloved Excelsior seems to understand her. But Joanna has bigger things to worry about. Supervillain Marius King might be locked up in jail for the crimes he committed in the last book, but he's plotting a revenge that will bring the dragon racing world to its knees...

Although the story is fast and tight, it's Margaret's grasp of the obsessive nature of a young reader that draws me in. Having spent a lot of time in schools and libraries she knows the details that make a setting come alive: how do you mind blend with a dragon? What would you wear? Who would you meet? The wide cast of characters provides something for everyone whilst simultaneously giving Joanna something to rail against, yet run to for comfort.

Ostensibly this is a series about the excitement of a dream come true, but it also gives gentle insight into the weight of responsibility that comes with excelling at something before you've the maturity to handle the consequences. And it's about friendship, finding it, keeping it and valuing it. Only Joanna also has something we all covet – a gregarious dragon for a best friend. Of course.

Margaret made her own book trailer for this, which you can check out here. And there's a dedocated Dragon Racer website at www.jojodragonflyer.co.uk too.

Why I commissioned... MILICENT'S BOOK

OK, so I want to be particularly clear as regards this title: I had nothing to do with the commissioning of this book. I wish this had been my catch but all credit must go to Andrea Reece who left Catnip at the end of 2009. She fell in love with Charlotte Moore's writing before I was even a glint in Catnip's editorial eye and commissioned her to write this semi-fictional work based on the diaries of Milicent Ludlow.

This book was a while in the making as Charlotte was working on a monumentally consuming non-fiction work for Viking about her family home. Milicent's diaries formed part of her research for Hancox: A House and a Family and as a consequence of the in-depth research into Charlotte's family background, Milicent's Book glows with the depth and intrigue of a BBC period drama and the snippets of gossip and family intrigue put the tabloids to shame.

But it is the language that takes my breath away: “Orphan. What a lonely word. It sounds like ‘forlorn’ turned inside out.” Charlotte's voice, writing as 14-year-old Milicent, has that wonderful juxtaposition of naivety and wisdom reminiscent of every teen girl the world over. The writing is so evocative that I marvelled at how someone could come up with such insightful and beautiful prose whilst maintaining immaculate narrative clarity.

Filled with promise, despair, family tragedy and the most delightful touches of levity, this is a book anyone would be proud to have commissioned. Thank you, Andrea.

Why I commissioned... THE DEEPING SECRETS

Twitter-style summary: A traitor lurking in their midst threatens village life during WW2 casting a dark and deadly shadow over Molly, Abigail and Adam's holidays.

The Deeping Secrets is the second novel set in Victor Watson's (fictional) Cambridgeshire village of Great Deeping; a follow-up to his beautifully written debut, Paradise Barn, which was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award.

I know it marks me out as a grammar geek, but it the thing I love most about this book is Victor's use of sentence structure and punctuation. This technical mastery is what makes the narrative sing for me. It seems simple - and that's exactly the desired effect - but to deliver such simplicity is anything but. As an editor, I can't help but admire such skill.

Contained within such accessible writing are some very complex subjects. Confident in the intelligence of his young audience, Victor presents an insight into a villainous mind right from the outset - juxtaposing the children's innocent desire for an untainted Easter holiday against psychopathic traitor whose "hidden" Nazi sympathies threaten to consume him from within.

As with Paradise Barn, it's the attention to detail in characters' astute and amusing observations, and descriptions of the setting that draw the reader into the world, making Great Deeping a very satisfying place to inhabit. (Albeit a dangerous one...)

Victor is also adept at pace, slowing down to the dawdle of a day spent doing little but achieving a lot and speeding up, weaving together disparate POVs in a tight, fast, frenzy of action. There's a stand-out passage in which multiple viewpoints are cleverly played against the reader's own knowledge, which elicits (in me, at least) philosophical musings on chance and circumstance.

A book that truly respects its audience, which in itself deserves respect.