CHOCOLATE FAIRIES: THE INSIDE STORY!

Gracie and Aimear, who were chocolate fairies for me on one of my February tour events, spill the beans on what it's like to help out at a Cathy Cassidy signing…

Gracie & Aimear say:
We were chocolate fairies at Cathy Cassidy's recent event in Milton Keynes and we really enjoyed it! We had not met each other before the event - we had both applied to be chocolate fairies and Cathy thought we might get along, so she gave us both a chance. We had a great day and we have developed a really good friendship and chat often! We love all of Cathy's books and safe to say, she is our favourite author!

At a signing, you can talk to the author about their books and get your copies signed. Chatting about your favourite character to the person who created them can be truly amazing! Asking questions is key and a great way to find out more about your favourite book… it must also give the author lots of ideas! As chocolate fairies, our job was to chat to people in the queue and hand out chocolates. There were bookmarks and samplers too! It was fun and we soon settled into it, and even though we had not met each other before the day we soon began to work as a team. There was no time to be shy! It was good to see the readers meeting Cathy and getting their books signed, and we felt like an important part of the day, helping everything to run smoothly and making sure the readers were happy!

By the end of the signing the two of us were so friendly we decided to exchange phone numbers and now we text all the time and talk about Cathy's books (amongst other things!). Signings are cool, and if you get a chance to be a chocolate fairy, take it! If you want to know where Cathy will be on her June tour, check out the EVENTS link over on her main website, www.cathycassidy.com for more details… new dates are added all the time. Gracie and Aimear signing off… until next time!

Cathy says:
Gracie and Aimear were excellent chocolate fairies and I love that they made a firm friendship that day, too! Have YOU ever been a chocolate fairy or been to a CC book signing? Or ANY book signing? COMMENT BELOW to have your say!

LOOKING GLASS GIRL: WHAT YOU THINK...

The first reader reviews for LOOKING GLASS GIRL are flooding in… read on to see what the verdict is!

Megan says:
A modern-day retelling of a classic story? Yes please! Looking Glass Girl is such a quirky yet heartfelt story which touches upon the issues of bullying and friendship as well as carrying the theme of Alice in Wonderland throughout the story in such a clever and interesting way. My favourite part of the story was the narrative perspectives; it reminded me of an episode of CSI or Criminal Minds the way that it switched from past to present. The scenes from before Alice's fall were almost like clues to the crime… Although this story is sweet it is actually a lot darker than most CC books, with twists and turns that made me gasp. I definitely recommend picking up a copy - you'll find yourself falling down the rabbit hole with Cathy Cassidy's amazing writing style. You will also fall in love with the gorgeous book cover - I certainly did!

Blue says:
I finished LOOKING GLASS GIRL at 4am… like I could go to sleep without finishing it! When you pick this book up, make sure you have a lot of spare time because you will not be able to put it down once you start reading. From the very start, intrigue grips you; this book contains mystery, shocks, thrills, disbelief and just a dash of romance. Forget the twist ending, this book twists and turns the whole way through! Every time you think you have a character or situation pinned down, there's a twist, however small, and the story veers off in a way you'd never expect. It's so exciting to read. Although it's billed as a 're-imagining' of Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' & 'Alice Through the Looking Glass', this is very much its own story. This book is more surreal than Cathy's previous books. Her writing style switches between first person and third person narrative and also between the past and the present, which gives the book a Wonderland type feel. I love Cathy's descriptions… when she describes a location, you feel like, if you can drag your eyes away from the book, you would find yourself transported there. When she describes a person, you feel as if they are standing right in front of you and you know them well. I'd give LOOKING GLASS GIRL 4.5 jam tarts out of 5… yup, jam tarts are the measurement of choice now. Appropriate, not to mention delicious…

Jess says:
I was drawn in right away… the story really captured me. I know how it feels to drift apart from a best friend, just as Alice does with Lainey and Yaz. Luckily for me, I made new friends, but Alice's situation helped me to see just how serious drifting apart from friends can be; when you end up on the outside looking in and become isolated. I love how LOOKING GLASS GIRL drifts between everyday narrative and Alice's dreams… it creates a sense of unreality, and you start to share Alice's thoughts and feelings too. The element of surprise at the end was a great twist too… I cried at that bit, it is so powerful!

Cathy says:
Awww! The reviews so far are looking good… what will YOU think? Grab a copy of LOOKING GLASS GIRL and find your own Wonderland! COMMENT BELOW to share your own reviews of the new book...

LOOKING GLASS GIRL IS HERE!

Finally… my new book is out, and the reviews flooding in tell me that you are loving it! Find out why I wrote LOOKING GLASS GIRL… and why I think YOU will love it, too!

Cathy says:
I first read the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland aged about eight or nine, from my local library. I thought it was a weird, wonderful and fantastical read, and I remember loving the pictures of Alice with her sticky-out dress and wavy hair. I read the book again as a teen and found it was a much darker, spookier read… a little bit scary, even. As an adult, I've collected old vintage copies of my favourite childhood books, and I have several copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. When my editor asked if I'd like to write a modern-day story with a link to the original Alice, I jumped at the chance.

This year is the 150th anniversary since the publication of the original Lewis Carroll book, and it was the perfect time to release LOOKING GLASS GIRL. We had a big launch party in Coventry Central Library, one of the libraries I loved as a child; no less than seventeen Coventry libraries are now threatened with closure, so holding the launch there was a little bit of library love. There was a Mad Hatter vintage DJ, a Mad Hatter cake and lots of amazing readers and their families… a few rabbit ears, too! The book was launched in style… and already readers are telling me it's their favourite CC book yet.

What can you expect from LOOKING GLASS GIRL? A dark, gripping story full of twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last moment. Alice is being bullied at school, so when she is invited to a Wonderland themed party by one of the most popular girls in her year, it feels like a second chance… but can she trust Savvy? Can she trust her old friends, Lainey and Yaz, or even the boy she knew from primary school who stuck by her side when nobody else did? When the party goes badly wrong, Alice finds herself trapped in a surreal world where nothing is as it seems… Who is to blame, and can Alice find her way back? I think you'll like LOOKING GLASS GIRL… grab yourself a copy and get ready to fall down the rabbit hole too!

Have YOU read LOOKING GLASS GIRL yet? COMMENT BELOW to share your views!

BEV: I BOUGHT A RED LEATHER BIKER JACKET...

Another in our fab series all about growing up in a different decade… we talk to Bev, who was a teen in the 70s/80s.

Bev says:
My thirteenth birthday was in 1978. I'd like to say that my main priorities in life back then were school work, my future and my family, but I'd be bending the truth somewhat. In actuality, my life was pretty much taken up with music, mates and boys! I had three close friends and we went everywhere together, travelling by bus or train as only one set of parents had a car. If you made arrangements to meet someone after school you had no way of letting them know if you couldn't make it - no mobile phones - so you had to make sure you turned up! We loved the cinema and there were two films I saw multiple times, Grease and Saturday Night Fever. We were all in love with John Travolta! If we didn't have money for the 'flicks' we'd hang out at each others' houses playing records and chatting. At home, I spent lots of time being a typical moody teenager in my room, only venturing downstairs if there was something I wanted to watch on TV. We certainly didn't have TVs in our rooms!

I did a lot of reading, always have, and my genre of choice was horror - I loved Stephen King and James Herbert. Later I went through a serious phase and read Herman Hesse and DH Lawrence, but still had a weakness for books that scared me silly. I was reading Stephen King's The Shining one night when we had a power cut and all the lights went out, plunging me into darkness; I sat glued to the armchair, petrified, until Mum came home from work! Music wise I loved Abba and then moved on to rock - I went to see Kiss at Wembley Arena, one of the last gigs they did in full face make-up.

At sixteen I started my A levels but decided I wanted to go out into the big wide world… Dad said I could only leave school if I got a job first and two days later I landed an office job at London Bridge. That was it for school. With my first wage packet I bought myself a red leather biker jacket from Carnaby Street - I loved that jacket and still have it now. I didn't have a boyfriend until I was fifteen - I went to an all-girls school and fraternising with the boys from the neighbouring school was strictly forbidden. Still, there was an awful lot of giggling whenever we had visiting sixth formers around!

Cathy says:
Awesome! These days, Bev is a Literacy and Technology Consultant, so that love of reading certainly stood her in good stead! Would YOU have liked growing up in the 70s/80s? COMMENT BELOW to tell us why - or why not!

EBONY: THE FRIENDS I LEFT BEHIND...

Reader Ebony thought her friendship was forever… until Jeanette came on the scene…

Ebony says:
I met Harriet at the start of Year Three. We were inseparable - we had so much in common and our personalities just matched really well. She understood me like nobody else ever had - it felt amazing to finally have a friend I could trust with anything. We were best friends right up until Year Six, and that as when everything changed. Just after Christmas, Harriet made friends with a girl called Jeanette. Everyone knows girls like Jeanette… popular, mysterious, a bit of a troublemaker. She had a reputation of coming between friends, of getting in the middle of a friendship and stirring up trouble, then walking away to leave a big mess and a shattered friendship. And that is exactly what happened with Harriet and I.

It began gradually. Jeanette started to influence Harriet's style… and then my best friend changed the way she talked, the way she acted towards people, her attitude towards work and school. Things got more major. They started to have private chats that didn't include me, they'd go places without inviting me, have inside jokes, leave me out, block me out. Eventually it seemed like every time I opened my mouth to speak they looked right through me as if I wasn't even there. I felt alone, boxed out, angry.
The girls in my class picked up that something was wrong and tried to help, but nothing worked. In the end, I walked away from the friendship - I had no choice. They didn't take it well. I got glares, giggles, whispers… but I didn't care. I had let go, moved on - I was free.

Fast forward three years and I am now in Year Nine, and life is good. I text Jeanette occasionally. She has apologised for what she did and I forgave her, but I still don't trust her. I haven't seen or spoken to Harriet since the last day of Year Six, but I have to say I don't miss her at all. I've moved on. Her friendship wasn't worth the hurt. I am happy, healthy and I have friends and family who love me… what more could a girl want? I sometimes wonder what might have happened if Harriet had stood up to Jeanette, showed some loyalty - but she didn't, and that showed me that the friendship I'd valued meant very little to her. Sometimes I think of the friends I left behind... but I have no regrets.

All names have been changed; picture posed by model Jacqueline. Thank you!

Cathy says:
Ebony's story is not unusual… sadly, friendship isn't always forever. Would you have done the same as Ebony? COMMENT BELOW to have your say.

LISA: I WAS BULLIED WHEN I WAS THIRTEEN...

Awesome new YA author Lisa Williamson writes about a subject close to her heart…

Lisa says:
Hands up if you've ever been bullied. For the record, mine is waving madly in the air right now and I have a sneaking suspicion yours might be too. I think we've all been the victim at some point, or the bully, or even both.

Being bullied is horrible. It's lonely, confusing, exhausting. If I were King of the World, my first decree would be to eradicate bullying entirely. I was bullied when I was thirteen; my bully was a friend who turned against me, branding me a 'baby'. Embarrassed at being seen as the 'victim', I didn't tell anyone… instead I pretended to be ill day after day, so I didn't have to go to school. My bully's campaign gathered momentum, attracting other girls who joined in with the taunts; then someone alerted a teacher and within days it was all over. It took me years to realise that if I'd spoken up earlier, it's likely the bullying would never have escalated to the level it did.

Having blocked things out at the time, my memories are very hazy, but what I do remember definitely influenced certain scenes in my new book, THE ART OF BEING NORMAL. The characters David and Leo both suffer at the hands of bullies. Although I didn't experience anything like the level of pain and humiliation they go through, that sensation of being singled out as a target is universal, one that all of us can relate to. There will always be bullies, but there's never a good reason to suffer in silence. If you're being bullied, speak up and ask for help no matter how scary it may seem.

When I'm sad or upset, the first thing I do is open a book. Sometimes we read to escape to a different world for a bit; other times we read to make sense of what's going on in our lives right now. The first book I ever read that made me think about how bullying works was Blubber by Judy Blume. It's told from the viewpoint of eleven-year-old Jill who joins her classmates in bullying an overweight girl they nickname 'Blubber'. As Jill's allegiances shift, she suddenly finds herself in the role of victim. It's a brilliant book, dark and real, and perfectly captures the loneliness and confusion of being bullied.

Here are a few more favourites that tackle the subject of bullying sensitively and truthfully, reminding us we are never alone:
Seven Days by Eve Ainsworth
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Wonder by RJ Palacio
Feather Boy by Nicky Singer
Bad Girls by Jacqueline Wilson

Cathy says:
Older teens should check out Lisa Williamson's debut YA novel, The Art of Being Normal… it's a compelling, thought-provoking read. Which books about bullying have stayed with YOU? COMMENT  BELOW to have your say...

KAREN: SELFIES? WE HAD FRIENDIES!

Another in our series all about growing up in a different decade… we talk to Karen, who was a teenager in the 70s/80s!

Karen says:
Selfies? We had Friendies… and Photoboothies! Yep, this might have been back in 1979 (when I was fifteen or sixteen) but me and my friend Jan (pictured with me here) and my other buddies were just as thrilled with a new top, hairstyle or amazing nail polish colour as my thirteen year old daughter and her friends are now!

OK, so Selfies weren't the thing, but that's because we handed our cameras over to our friends and THEN posed like crazy (saved having achey arms, I can assure you.) And photobooths were a ton of fun, too, on a Saturday afternoon in town. We'd go to a cafe afterwards and snigger over the bad ones, usually drawing moustaches and cross eyes on them before scrunching them up and chucking them in the bin. Kind of wish we'd kept them too…

Cathy says:
LOVE this! I'm not far off being the same age as Karen, so lots of this is very familiar… including the whole photobooth thing, and the fab gothic style in the pics! These days, Karen McCombie is a super-successful author… try her ANGELS NEXT DOOR series from Puffin, you'll love it! Would YOU have liked being a teen in the 70s/80s? COMMENT BELOW to have your say!

POETRY IN MOTION...

Readers who write poetry tell us why they love words… and why poetry is so important to them…

Maya says:
I remember the first poetry lesson we had at primary school… it was back in Year Three and we had to describe a box. I did as I was told, and I remember a lot of the teachers reading my work and telling me I would be a great poet one day. I've been writing poetry ever since. At the moment, I write mostly about nature or, sometimes, sadder themes such as heartbreak. I came second in a national poetry competition and my ambitions would be to go on participating in competitions and sharing my work! Poetry for me is a kind of release, where I can put my thoughts and feelings into a piece of art. Rhyming just comes naturally to me so I really enjoy doing it and seeing the results!

Anna says:
For me, poetry wasn't to do with school at all. I first started to write as a coping mechanism, a way to express myself truly, with nobody to listen. I let my words speak and let my words write themselves on paper. Poetry has always been something to fall back on and a way of saying things in ways that others may never understand; it can be almost like a confession, or talking in a foreign language that others may analyse but can never truly understand the thoughts behind each carefully chosen word. For me, I use poetry as a medium. It helps me cope with depression and anxiety, issues with sexuality and all kinds of other things that I as a human must face. Whether it be through observation or true experiences, poetry means a lot to me. It is the way I can be myself, an art form and a thing of beauty. Poetry has no limits. It keeps me grounded and helped me to find my voice.

Sophie says:
My inspiration for writing poetry began when I was eleven. I was in high school and a production team came into our school to teach songwriting… I wrote my first song, called Can I Talk To You? which was later used in the production. Afterwards, I began to write in my spare time but the more I looked at those songs the more I realised they were actually poems! I have always loved poetry, and living in Scotland we learned a lot about the famous poet Robert Burns and joined in with Burns events and competitions. The more I wrote, the more I fell in love with poetry. I am twenty-one now and have never stopped writing. Poetry to me is a way to express imagination and emotion. There is a never ending supply of things to write about and poetry can also help you to express feelings you perhaps couldn't talk about in everyday life. For me, a life without poetry would be like a life without chocolate… I couldn't live without it!

Daisy says:
Poetry is a very expressive form of writing. It is a better way of saying what you want - for me, anyway - because it can be written any way you like. It can be full sentences or just phrases, rhyming or freeform, it depends on the poet's feelings. This is why poetry means so much to me - it's my way of expressing myself and it makes me happy. I love reading the work of other poets and wondering what went into creating that poem. We learnt about poetry at school and wrote our own poems, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed myself - I knew I wanted to go on writing. I would love others to read my poems and be inspired to write their own. Maybe someone reading this will have a try… you'll be surprised at how much fun it can be!

Cathy says:
I am a huge poetry fan - poetry seems to cut through the unimportant stuff and get right to the heart of a subject. Are YOU a secret poet? COMMENT BELOW to have your say!

EDIE & RUBY GET CRAFTY!

Want to get crafty this Easter break? My clever, creative friend Ruth has a great project to share with you!

Ruth says:
I've been wanting to try this project for ages… yarn chandeliers are kind of egg-shaped, so Easter seemed as good a time as any to have a go at making them! I roped in two brilliant helpers, Edie and Ruby, and this is what we did. Kitchen towels at the ready, folks!

First gather your ingredients…
Yarn - wool or embroidery thread, something thicker than sewing thread
50ml school glue (ie, white PVA glue)

1/2 cup of corn starch (we used cornflour)
1/4 cup warm water
coat hangers
scissors
balloons
vaseline

1. Blow up the balloons. You can go as big as you like, but we wanted smaller, egg-shaped ones (and of course they are less work!)

2. Tie the balloons onto coat hangers and hang them somewhere they are easy to reach and won't knock against anything (the curtain rail in the window was perfect - make sure the curtains are at a safe distance!) Put newspaper down underneath them to catch the drips - there will be lots!

3. Cover the balloons with a thin layer of vaseline so the yarn doesn't stick to the balloon once it has popped.

4. Mix the cornflour or starch, water and glue in a plastic container. (We used an old butter container!) Dip in a length of yarn. As you pull it out, try to slide your fingers down it to get rid of the excess paste - this bit is sooo very messy, but everyone's fave bit! Ruby and Edie (and Boo the dog!) stored the undipped string on their heads. (No, don't ask why…)

5. Begin to wrap the balloon with the dipped yarn, starting vertically, then switching to horizontal so the lines go all over. Don't try to be neat - it's joyfully random!  Cover about 3/4 of the balloon.

6. Go and clean up before anyone discovers the mess!

7. Allow to dry for 24 hours. They must be left for at LEAST this amount of time, no matter how hard and dry they may seem, so don't be tempted to rush things!

8. Pop the balloons and pull the bits of scrap balloon out through the gaps. Fiddly but fun! There will be dried crystals on the yarn, but these knock off easily. Ta-da!!! Now you have your finished chandelier - hang lots of little ones on some twigs in a vase to make an Easter tree, or place larger ones around the house as cool decorations!

Cathy says: 
Wow… I love these! So simple and so, so cool! I will definitely be having a go… how about YOU? Email me your fab crafty ideas and don't forget to COMMENT BELOW if you liked what Edie, Ruby, Ruth and Boo have made (or if you want to admire Boo's string-y Easter Bonnet!)

AMELIE: CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE!

Reader Amelie shares her fave recipe for a truly wicked chocolate fudge cake… sigh!!!

Amelie  says:
This recipe is super-yummy… I make it all the time and it tastes like heaven! You don't have to include the icing, but it tastes a whole lot better if you do!

You will need:
175g softened butter
175g caster sugar
3 free range eggs, beaten
3 tbsp golden syrup
40g ground almonds
175g self raising flour
pinch salt
40g cocoa powder

For the icing:
225g plain chocolate, broken up
55g muscovado sugar
225g butter, diced
5tbsp evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line bases of two 20cm sandwich cake tins.
2. Make icing… place ingredients for icing in a heavy-based saucepan and heat gently, stirring constantly until melted. Pour into bowl and leave to cool, then chill in fridge for an hour.
3. For cake, place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and stir in golden syrup and ground almonds.

4. Sift flour, salt and cocoa powder into separate bowl, then fold into mixture. Add a little water if needed to make a dropping consistency.
5. Spoon mixture into prepared tins and bake for 30-35 ins until springy to the touch, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Leave cakes to cool for 5 mins the turn out onto wire rack to cool completely. When cold, sandwich the cakes together with half the icing, and spread the remainder over the top of the cake, swirling for a frosted appearance. Eat and enjoy!

Cathy says:
Chocolate fudge cake… swoons!  This sounds just gorgeous… and it could be a perfect Easter bake too, perhaps with a few mini eggs arranged on top! Do YOU have a fave recipe? COMMENT BELOW to tell me more!

DENISE: THEY'RE WORRIED ABOUT ME...

Another in our regular series of reader problems… this time, Summer Tanberry advises a reader who isn't sure she needs help…

Denise says:
My mum says I have changed since starting high school. She thinks I am more moody and stressed, that I'm not seeing my old friends and that I am not eating properly. I don't think I've changed - well, not much - and OK, I may be eating a bit less but I am just trying to cut down a little and I don't think it's a problem. I just want to make her see I'm fine. Can you help?

Summer says:
I think I can help, but I am not sure you are ready to listen or to take my help. I think your mum may have picked up on a real problem… and that you should listen and talk to her about whatever it is that's worrying you. If my mum had been around when I got ill, I may not have spent the last couple of years attending an Eating Disorders clinic. I know that when I started to get ill, I was in denial… I didn't want to admit there was anything wrong, but looking back I was moody and stressed. I pushed my friends away and I became very fussy about my food… and yet if anyone had challenged me I would have argued that they were inventing problems where none existed. I think you've written to me because you are secretly worried about your feelings and your anxiety around food. Take my advice and see your doctor… he/she can help by referring you to a specialist counsellor who will help you to tackle the scary feelings I suspect you are feeling. Please listen - and reach out and accept the help your mum is offering.

Cathy says:
Do YOU agree with Summer's advice? COMMENT BELOW to add your own suggestions for Denise.