Hello Dubray readers!
I hope you are all well and cosying up next to your fires and reading your books now that it’s autumn. Listen I have no clue what the weather will be like when you read this; it could be 34 degrees as you and you are just trying your best to cope in togs such is the uncertainty of it all right now. Just don’t throw your books on the fire. We know heating costs are going up but… Well actually just don’t throw MY book on the fire. Thank you so much.
Thank you firstly to Dubray for supporting my first ever children’s book. I have been so excited and so nervous. Seeing it in the bookshop windows has been such a thrill and I am very, very grateful. And thank you to you too for buying the book and supporting also. I’d mention you all personally but it would be a GDPR nightmare. Just know I’m very thankful.
This book has been such a thrilling journey up to now and I am really excited for the next part; the book being read by eyeballs! I have written books before and have also written my own TV comedy series Finding Joy, but I have never written a children’s book before now. I have loved every minute. What started out as a tiny nugget of an idea has grown into the book that is out now on Dubray book shelves, and it was such a fabulous project to focus on and disappear into when the whole world was stuck indoors during lockdown!
Myself and the wonderful team at Scholastic would like to introduce you to Frankie and Fred and the mysterious world of Thoughtopolis; hopefully a world that you will enjoy disappearing into too! This is a book about figuring out all the big feelings in life, discovering how different people navigate them, coping mechanisms for difficult journeys, the things people do when they are not ready to let go. It is about friendship, finding yourself, it’s about love and loss. It is about having a little brother as the very best friend in the world. And it is about hope.
Frankie, at 11 years and one month old has discovered that she is magic! It has become one of her most top secret secrets; the adults can NEVER find out about it. For the most part, because The Adults are an unfortunate breed of people who do not believe in magic anymore. But Frankie, her little brother Fred and their dog Blue can escape to a whole entire mystical, fantastical, magical world inside Frankie’s own head. They go there to have fun, to laugh and explore, to get away from their annoying baby sister, to play for hours in the playgrounds, the funfairs, go on adventures through the forests and sweet factories and toy shops.
They love it in there! And it is the perfect escape from the Boring Old Real World (which unfortunately contains a lot of adults. And annoying baby sisters). However, somewhere along the way, Frankie finds out that her parents think her spark has gone missing. Her spark? They are the ones who are always tired and distracted and doing all the boring things that adults need to do! (Honestly she would start a charity for the adults she feels that sorry for them. However she doesn’t have the time, being an 11 year old is practically a full time job).
Where on earth has her spark gone? Fred, Frankie and Blue seek the help of their Thoughtopolis mentor Bundlenugg and his teeny tiny dog the size of a snail; Pickle. Apparently Frankie needs to find it soon or there will be some unfortunate ramifications! She feels that being almost-sort-of-but-kind-of-actually-really a secret detective will help her on her mission.
Frankie, Fred and Blue embark on a journey to find Frankie’s spark, knowing that wherever it is in Thoughtopolis, the secret buried with it will change the course of her world and the whole world of Thoughtopolis entirely. Will she find it on time? And what will she uncover and learn along the way?
I hope this book makes you laugh. And feel all the big emotions that all humans go through in their lives. This one is for all the siblings out there that were our very first best friends. I have, in part, dedicated this book to my brothers, who inspired this idea because I have been lucky enough to know a very special sibling bond too.
Happy reading and see you soon.
Love,
Amy Huberman xxx
Her first children’s book is out now, in all our stores and online.
