You have an incredibly popular YouTube channel you use to share your poetry with families and schools. How did this come about?

There just aren’t enough books out there that cast a fly as the hero. Well done Tedd Arnold, from me and all those of the Dipteran kingdom. Thanks to you my swatter is well and truly retired.Many people (and mainstream media) depict digital media as detrimental to children’s literacy. Do you agree with this or is there a role mobile phones and new technology can play in encouraging young people to read/write? This book works from nursery into LKS2. My three year old managed to make a connection from a Viking helmeted Fluff to Cressida Cowell and her How to Train Your Dragon characters, showing some visual literacy from Ross' illustrations. She was keen to remove her eyeball too, copying Jeff the Juggler, enjoying reading for pleasure, and came up with a response of "I wish we had a fish", deriving even more joy from an accidental rhyme.

The nature of your work is so diverse; writing for and performing for children, radio shows on language, teaching at university. Do you see these as separate jobs or different sides of the same coin? There’s a little sequence of stories I’ve written for Andersen Press such as Fluff the Farting Fish and Barking for Bagels that are all based around a child and an animal. They’re in that little bridge area, around the ages of seven to nine, when children are stopping being read to very much and are really taking pride in the fact that they can read by themselves. So, when HWRK offered me the opportunity to talk with Michael about his writing, the importance of books that make you laugh and the ways that teachers can encourage children to read for pleasure, I was naturally all in. I hope you enjoy this half as much as I did. See? What did I tell you? It’s all about Templeton’s journey. 3. Fly Guy from Hi, Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold

Recent reviews

The sale of customised goods or perishable goods, sealed audio or video recordings, or software, which has been opened. They’re important because the foundations of everything that we see on TV, on films and that we read are laid down when we read as a child. For example; Enid Blyton’s books are, to an extent, manuals which teach us how to read whodunnits, detective books, adventures and thrillers. They’re full of the same principles of writing; there’s mysteries you have to unfold, red herrings that send you the wrong way. You’ve done a lot of work into funny writing. Do funny books get the same attention in mainstream media as more serious works? This is not intended to be a full statement of all your rights under the Distance Selling Regulations. Full details of your rights under the Distance Selling Regulations are available in the UK from your local Citizens' Advice Bureau or your Local Authority's Trading Standards Office.

Pig’s hilarious diary documents his time in the yard as he comes to the realisation that he’s being fattened up by the hungry farmer he adores.The two acts seem so unrelated at first because the way you work in performance is so physical and so very different from academic work. However, it must be connected as it’s me doing it all. You write children’s books and poetry but you also have an academic interest as a Professor of Children’s Literature. Why are works written for children so important?

Elvira desidera tantissimo un cucciolo e lancia continuamente messaggi alla mamma che alla fine decide di prenderglielo. Torna dal negozio di animali ma… ha un pesce! Elvira non si perde d’animo e decide di addestrarlo come un cagnolino, ma visto che tutti i tentativi vanno a vuoto, decide di tentare con altro e alla fine Pesce Batuffolo le fa avere un “cenno” che qualcosa l’ha imparata. Mr and Mrs Hurry are always rushing about. They never stop! But that means they forget some rather important things – like eating . . . and shopping . . . and taking their son Harry to school!

Who's reading this?

I have often written about my life and family, but I also write occasional fantasy (usually based in a real place) and non-fiction. If you think about it this way, there’s not that much distance between Matilda and A Monster Calls. In A Monster Calls, the boy is trapped by this terrible thing of his mother dying. Similarly, Matilda is in a tragic situation; she’s totally trapped at home and in school and then she finds a way out of it.