Up first, the person who first called me the ‘Story Godmother’ and set the idea for this website rolling:

Kate Thompson

I entered the Writing Magazine Picture Book Prize in late September 2018 and came second with Samuel Sebastian Smith, The Socked Super Sleuth.

My prize included a fantastic critique from Amy Sparkes, and I decided that the best way to develop my writing skills would be to sign up to Writing Magazine’s Writing for Children course under Amy’s tuition. Working with Amy was such fun, with the added bonus that my writing became much stronger and I even managed to master that elusive skill – writing in rhyme! While on the course, I wrote a new rhyming picture book called Superheroes Don’t Get Scared.

Superheroes Don’t Get Scared is illustrated by the brilliant Clare Elsom and was published in September 2020 by Ups!de Down Books, the new children’s imprint of mental health and wellbeing publisher, Trigger Publishing.

The book is about Maisie Brown who dreams of being a fearless superhero, because they never get frightened, right? But when her parents explain that even the bravest hero can sometimes feel afraid, and that’s perfectly fine, Maisie realises there’s a superhero in all of us.

I wanted to help children celebrate how brave they are every day in trying new things or doing things that scare them. I think that as adults, we sometimes put on a brave face even when we feel scared. However, I think it’s important for children to know that everyone gets scared sometimes, and that rather than being something to be ashamed of, fear is an essential ingredient in being brave; bravery is feeling scared, but carrying on anyway.

Click here to buy Superheroes Don’t Get Scared

Twitter: @writes_kate

Instagram: @katethompsonwrites

Facebook: @KThompsonAuthor

website: www.katethompsonwrites.com