In the Reading Corner

L. D. Lapinski is the author of The Strangeworlds Travel Agency trilogy of children's books.
Book 1 Strangeworlds Travel Agency
Book 2 The Edge of the Ocean
Book 3 Forthcoming

She first wrote a book when they were seven; it was made of lined paper and sellotape, and it was about a frog who owned an aeroplane.

In this episode L.D talks to Nikki Gamble about her fantasy world and a cast of extraordinary characters.

About The Strangeworlds Travel Agency
When 12-year-old Flick Hudson accidentally ends up in the Strangeworlds Travel Agency, she uncovers a fantastic secret: there are hundreds of other worlds just steps away from ours. All you have to do to visit them is jump into the right suitcase. Then Flick gets the invitation of a lifetime: join Strangeworlds' magical travel society and explore other worlds.

But, unknown to Flick, the world at the very centre of it all, a city called Five Lights, is in danger. Buildings and even streets are mysteriously disappearing. Once Flick realizes what's happening she must race against time, travelling through unchartered worlds, seeking a way to fix Five Lights before it collapses into nothingness - and takes our world with it.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Sally Gardner and Lydia Corry are the creative partnership behind the fabulous Tindims stories, a series that is reminiscent of The Borrowers but with a new 21st Century awareness.  The Tindims are tiny people who sail the seas on their floating island, repurposing the rubbish that other people leave behind.

Sally and Lydia are mother and daughter, and their beach walks and talks have been a perfect way to observe the flotsam and jetsam washed up on the south coast as well as talk about their creative ideas for the stories.

In this episode, they talk about the joys of working together and their respect for each other's work.

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Pippa Curnick has established herself as a picturebook talent and now added her creative magic to a new illustrated fiction series for newly independent readers.

Indigo Wilde and the Creatures of Jellybean Crescent has a touch of Pippi Longstocking, a hint of Fungus the Bogeyman in a story that is wholly from Pippa's expansive imagination.  The book is beautifully produced with illustrations that will undoubtedly encourage children to draw their own fantasy houses and creatures.

I was excited to talk to PIppa about her creation.

About Indigo Wilde and the Creatures of Jellybean Crescent

.When a highly dangerous new arrival goes missing, the race is on to catch it before disaster strikes ... 

Discovered in the Unknown Wilderness when she was just a baby, Indigo Wilde was adopted by World-Famous Explorers, Philomena and Bertram, who are always off adventuring. Home for Indigo and her little brother, Quigley, is 47 Jellybean Crescent, a crazy and colourful house full of magical creatures that her parents have taken in over the years. There's Fishkins, a purrmaid - half-cat, half-fish, and ALWAYS grumpy; Graham, a llama-corn with a particular taste for tinsel; Olli and Umpf - bright pink and blue yetis who can't blend into the snow, and that's to name just a few of the creatures.

And now Indigo's parents have sent another Monster Mail delivery to Indigo and Quigley. But this time, the box is empty, and the escaped creature is running rampage around the house. The race is on to catch the creature before it's too late ...

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Polly Ho-Yen's debut book, The Boy in The Tower, was an instant success. The middle-grade science fiction story about strange spores that affected concrete and led to the collapse of buildings was full of nail-biting jeopardy but plenty of heart too. Since then Polly has written several middle-grade novels, including where Monsters Lie and Fly me Home. as well as books for education series and a younger chapter book.

How I Saved the World in a Week is another  survivalist science fiction novel, with some similarities in tone and themes to The Boy in the Tower. Poly joined me In The Reading Corner to talk about the ideas behind the story.

About How I Saved the World in a Week.
Rule number one: Always be prepared . . .

Billy's mum isn't like other mums. All she wants is to teach him the Rules of Survival - how to make fire, build shelter and find food. She likes to test Billy on the rules until one day she goes too far, and Billy is sent to live with a dad he barely knows.

Then the world changes forever as people begin to be infected with a mysterious virus that turns their skin grey. As chaos breaks out, Billy has to flee the city. Suddenly he realises that this is what his mum was preparing him for - not just to save his family, but to save the whole world.

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Maise Chan is a British Chinese author, born in Birmingham and now living in Glasgow. She runs the Bubble Tea Writers Network, a support group that she set up to encourage writers of East and South-East Asian descent. She also founded the Glasgow Children's Writers Network and is a mentor for Leila Rasheed's Megaphone Writer Development project.

Tiger Warriors is a new series from Maisie. It is likely to appeal to readers who enjoy action-led page-turning narratives (and is pitched by the publisher as likely to appeal to Beast Quest readers). Maisie has a keen interest in Chinese myth and legend, and has previously written titles on this subject in education series.  She draws on this mythological pool for Tiger Warriors, and especially the animals of the Chinese zodiac.

I caught up with Maise to find out more.

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Acclaimed author, Jamila Gavin talks about an important publishing project set up to give voice to a diverse range of writers and illustrators, both established and new.

About In Her Element
In Her Element's deep-dive into Sophie's world offers a rare opportunity for young readers to see through the eyes of a main character with cerebral palsy. Written by Jamila Gavin, this groundbreaking story is awash with magic realism, beautifully rendered in watercolour by emerging illustrator Jacinta Read. 

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

After talking to Nicola Morgan about strategies and techniques for developing resilience, I decided to try belly breathing. It's great for focus and concentration and deflects from the anxieties that might be taking too much brain space. I picked up lots of other interesting tips too and discovered why Nicola was motivated to write this book.

Nicola is no stranger to writing about the teenage brain. In addition to Be Resilient, she has also written; The Teenage Guide to Friends, The Teenage Guide to Life Online, The Awesome Power of Sleep and Positively Teenage.

About Be Resilient
The essential teenage guide to building resilience for challenging times, from award-winning well-being expert Nicola Morgan, author of the bestselling Blame My Brain and The Teenage Guide to Stress. Some events in life will always be out of our control, whether it's a global crisis or a traumatic event at home - but Be Resilient shows that the power to cope is in our hands. Discover how to develop the skill of mental resilience in this fascinating guide from award-winning author and teenage brain expert Nicola Morgan.

From building a support network to building optimism, find positive, practical advice for preparing for, coping with and bouncing back from the toughest of times. Authoritative and backed by the latest science, this is a reassuring companion for teenagers everywhere.

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Historian, broadcaster and writer, Dominic Sandbrook, talks about his collections of historical stories for children.  How do you make history engaging for action-loving children, what is the difference between writing true stories and historical fiction and why writing for children is so much more demanding than writing for adults.

Adventures in Time
Take a journey to a vanished world with the ADVENTURES IN TIME* series - stories so exciting you won't believe they're all true' The Adventures in Time series brings the past alive for twenty-first-century children. These stories are every bit as exciting as those of Harry Potter or Matilda Wormwood. The only difference is they actually happened...

Six Wives of Henry VIII
Winter has come; and in a far distant land, a warrior queen is expecting a child...' Step through these pages into the Tudor world: a dangerous place, where one miss-step could cost your life. Through the eyes of Henry VIII's six very different queens, from a brave Spanish princess to a wise English widow, historian Dominic Sandbrook takes us on a thrilling journey through the twists and turns of a dramatic age. For no one is safe from the wheel of fortune: it can take you from a golden throne to the Tower of London...

The Second World War
Prepare to enter the most dramatic conflict the world has ever seen, as historian Dominic Sandbrook takes us on a spine-tingling, heart-stopping adventure.

We witness the Second World War first-hand through the eyes of ordinary people living in extraordinary times, from the women who worked all night in factories to the chess players who cracked unbreakable codes. Because in total war, no life is left untouched... 

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

David Ouimet is an American artist, author, and musician.

Early illustration work includes album jackets for his rock group Motherheadbug. He has also illustrated stories notably for Robert D San Souci and Nacy Etchmendy. Since then he has worked as a street artist in New York and internationally.

His debut children's book which he both wrote and illustrated, I Go Quiet was published to great acclaim and selected as a finalist for the Kate Greenaway Award.  A sequel, I Get Loud, follows the story of the protagonist on a journey towards finding her voice and a place where she can be at peace with the world.

About I Get Loud
I Get Loud, the follow-up to the exquisite I Go Quiet, sees the introverted heroine go out into the world as she gains confidence in her voice and makes a friend for the first time. It is a tale of the emboldening nature of the imagination, the redemptive power of friendship and why we should all embrace our own beautiful, singular weirdness.

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

A M Howell is the author of The Garden of Lost Secrets and The House of  One Hundred Clocks, historical mysteries set in and around real places in East Anglia. Her third book The Mystery of the Night Watchers, continues this theme. A story set during the Edwardian period in her home town of Bury St Edmunds during a spectacular appearance of Halley's Comet.

Anne-Marie joined me In The Reading Corner to provide some background to the story and tell us about the research.

About The Mystery of the Night Watchers
From the bestselling author of The Garden of Lost Secrets and The House of One Hundred Clocks, A.M. Howell, comes a gripping new adventure filled with buried secrets and dark lies, set against the evocative backdrop of the Edwardian era. MAY, 1910As the blazing Halley's comet draws close to the earth, Nancy is uprooted to start a new life in Suffolk with a grandfather she has never met.

With every curtain drawn shut, Nancy is forbidden from leaving her grandfather's house: no one must know that her or her mother are there. Yet, when Nancy discovers the house's secret observatory, she watches her mother and grandfather creep out every night... Where are they going? And why mustn't any of them be seen? As the mysteries pile up, Nancy must bring dark secrets from the past to light - even if doing so will put her own life at risk.

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk