The Knife that Killed Me

"I just picked this one up because it got a lot of critical attention and was up for various prizes, though I don’t think it sold particularly well. It seemed like he’d written something quite special this time. It’s just a very urban, gritty book about a kid in quite a grimy school who’s getting bullied and there’s knife crime going on. It all sounds a bit dreary and stereotypical but he’s actually done it in a really nice way and there’s a big twist at the end. I wouldn’t want to spoil the twist, not least because I can’t actually remember what the twist is. It’s square on the CHERUB audience. There’s a bit where the bully punches someone and then pees on him and it made me laugh so much that I put it in a CHERUB book. I definitely think that parents get paranoid because, with books, a child from the age of about eight or nine enters into a world that as a parent you’re not familiar with. Once they get to that age you can’t read every book they read. Whereas if they’re in their room watching a movie you can sort of peek, and anyway you’ve probably bought the DVD or the game yourself. But books are the first things they escape into that you don’t have control over. Sign up here for our newsletter featuring the best children’s and young adult books, as recommended by authors, teachers, librarians and, of course, kids. I think there is some kind of strength in that, but I don’t like the idea that I’m particularly sensationalist. I always say it’s the EastEnders test. Broadly speaking nothing happens in my books that doesn’t happen in EastEnders . It’s not quite true because the sexual content in my books is a bit lower and the violence is a bit more, but that’s more to do with the genre, because you’re comparing a soap opera to a thriller. Partly, you get a bum rap as an author because parents think your books are going to be nice and cosy but that’s not necessarily the case. You have to push boundaries a bit to write books that kids actually find exciting. I’ve got an anecdote! The lady who runs the kids’ section of the Cheltenham books festival has a son who’s 12 and she said: ‘I first found out about your books when my son was sitting in the corner of the living room engrossed in a book and he suddenly looked up and asked me what an orgy was.’ It’s not an orgy scene in the book. It’s a joke someone makes. I remember writing it and wondering if I can put a reference to an orgy in the book. I don’t know if you’ve read Asterix books , but there’s one of those, I think it’s Asterix in Switzerland , where they’re always having orgies, though there’s nothing explicitly sexual in the drawings. I sort of thought that if they can get away with it in Asterix then I can put it in a book. That was my out. I think when you’ve got a reluctant reader you’ve got to tickle something inside them, tell them this is a bit naughty, a bit dangerous, a bit adventurous. I bet whatever movies your son watches, he may guiltily enjoy Disney movies, but it’s probably something like Terminator or Avatar or something that he’s going to watch with his mates. Something a bit violent and in your face."