5 Books I’ve Written for My Nieces
How scrimping on Christmas presents inspired a book
Back when I had more time and less money, I hit upon the idea of writing a book for my nieces instead of buying them a Christmas present. This was 2014, a year when I had hours and hours of spare time trapped in my office at a university job in Mexico.
My nieces, Isabelle (3 and a half) and Orla (2), lived with their parents in Hong Kong. I was in Mexico, and the rest of our family was back in the UK. The last time I had seen them, Isabelle had asked who the mysterious figure on my jujitsu hoodie was.
Instead of explaining that I neither practiced jiujitsu nor knew the guy, I simply replied, ‘Why it’s Pop Pop Chicken Man.’
Soon, ‘Chicken Man’ became the focus of intense questions and developed into a sort of alter ego for me (a thin-legged uncle in a far-off land). Then, his ingenious catchphrase emerged (it’s just him saying “Oi!” a lot).
Summers were pretty slow at the university, so I started to work on a picture book for Christmas. I knew who the main character would be and had an idea for the story, but I faced a couple of problems: I couldn’t draw, and I didn’t know how to make a book.
Despite the threat of a copyright lawsuit, I decided to use Foghorn Leghorn to…
