Have a go at drawing the characters of Wed Wabbit or the various Wimbley Woos from their descriptions in the opening chapters. Lissa went on to study medicine at Newcastle University and worked as a junior doctor for four years. However, she then decided to switch over to radio and television (which was much less scary), during which time she won a BAFTA. Lissa has written five books for adults and three books for children, including Wed Wabbit. She now lives in London with her husband and two daughters – and still reads any books she can get her hands on! Being a ten year old can be hard – you’re capable of complex thoughts and emotions, yet others (usually adults) can still insist on infantilising you. Evans pokes fun at that tension in this sublimely funny book by placing a clever, spiky heroine into the very childish Land of the Wimbley Woos. The beginning was so depressing! Fidge was arguing with her little sister Minnie, the father is dead, Minnie gets run over by a car and ends up in a hospital... (And by the way, it's Fidge's fault. At least kind of.) In this story of hope and endurance, we follow a scientist and her team during their search for the elusive 'Giant Arctic Jellyfish'.

David Almond introduces his new picture book, A Way to the Stars, a story about perseverance and finding a way to make dreams come true. She’s been flung into a bizarre world alongside three companions: two are deeply weird and the third is her awful cousin Graham. What is the effect of setting the story in a fantastical setting, where different rules apply? Do you find Wimbley Land believable? How well does the author bring it to life for you? For the most part this is fairly subtly done (at least, I imagine a ten-year-old wouldn’t necessarily twig). There is one moment, I think, where Evans slightly overplays it:

Q&A Asked about Wed Wabbit

The Nottinghill Carnival takes central stage in this story about families, memories and the power of dance and festivals. Author Yaba Badoe tells... And last Minne. The cute 3year-old (now 5) who invented the name of the book and included the humor to rise. Graham, Fidge and some other friends changed a book, a world: WIMBLYLAND!!! The Land Of WimblyWoos that was once controlled by Wed Wabbit

Frank Cottrell Boyce on why reading for pleasure is the most important thing you can pass on to a child Anthony Browne is another great example – the appearance of gorillas throughout the story, popping up in newspapers and on cereal boxes, creates a sense that something more than meets the eye is going on. Hannah’s sadness at being given a gorilla toy instead of fatherly love she craves becomes a magic, surreal night-time journey to the zoo and the cinema, complete with and a moonlit dance on the lawn under the watchful eye of topiary chimps. WESTLE THEM TO THE DUNGEONS AND TOMOWWOW THEY WILL FACE THE TEWWIBLE WEALITY OF THE PUNISHMENTS WOOM!!!Fidge and Graham’s personal quests, though a hook to hang the rest of the book from, are not really the funny bits. Those are mostly to do with the Wimblies, who can only communicate in the singsong rhyme scheme of their book, and whose self-conceptions are entirely based around the assumption that each color Wimbly is only good at one thing. (This is, in fact, key to the strategy that ends up overthrowing Wed Wabbit, but I won’t spoil everything for you.) The rhyming provides almost infinite opportunities for wit, and Evans takes full advantage of them. The Wimbley King’s apathy, for instance, is delightfully articulated by the fact that he frequently can’t be bothered to think of end rhymes: So I really appreciated all of the above: references to other literature, lots of subtext, and the openness to different interpretation. This classic story about a much-loved toy rabbit is now – wait for it – almost a hundred years old. The writing, much like the Velveteen Rabbit itself, is now a bit dusty and moth-eared and worse for wear – I get the impression the only people who buy it now are eager grandparents. But just as you’re wondering why people still go on and on about it, that crucial paragraph appears – “once you are real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand” – and you might as well be chopping onions. If you are planning to read this book, one has to prepare to overlook the quite bizarre plot - I even felt a bit ridiculous explaining it then, let alone reading it - and look instead at the wider subtext and themes.