In support of FareShare, the UK’s longest running food redistribution charity, I am offering an auction lot of every single one of my books, signed and dedicated to your prescription with some stickers and postcards thrown in. This charity will help many families eat over Christmas, so why not grab a unique present for one of your children and help others at the same time! https://bookstonourish.wordpress.com/.../lot-52-all-of-m.../
Macmillan announce books 5 & 6 in Adventures on Trains series
We are delighted to announce that Macmillan Children’s Books have commissioned two more adventures with Hal and Uncle Nat. We are so pleased to be continuing this wonderful writing partnership and can’t wait to see these journeys steaming into book shops in 2022!
Here’s what Macmillan said:
“The Adventures on Trains series continues to gather steam! We're thrilled to announce books 5 & 6 in the series will be coming in Spring 22 & Autumn 22! Join Hal & Uncle Nat as they journey across Australia, & Norway & the Arctic Circle”
The Highland Falcon Thief WINS the Books Are My Bag Reader Awards 2020 - Children's Fiction
We are super delighted to announce that The Highland Falcon Thief has won the Children’s Fiction Category of the Books Are My Bag Reader Awards 2020!
Booksellers are the best, and so, a HUGE thanks goes to all the wonderful independent bookshops and the stella booksellers for nominating The Highland Falcon Thief for this award, and to every single person who voted for it to be their winner. Books are nothing without readers. Thank you thank you THANK YOU!
‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ Writer Tom MacRae, Buccaneer Media Join Nevision’s ‘Beetle Boy’ Adaptation
Tom MacRae
I’ve been sitting on secrets for a while. Over the past 12 months the Beetle Boy tv series has been growing in scale, ambition & budget. I'm excited to finally announce Tom MacRae and Framestore have joined Team Beetle and Buccaneer Media have climbed aboard to steer the ship.
Tom is known for the amazing stage play, and the movie of, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, and he’s an experienced writer for tv. Fun fact, he wrote one of my favourite Dr Who episodes.
Framestore are the biggest and best CGI production company in the business. They do all the big movies from Harry Potter to Marvel’s Avengers, and they did the daemons in the current His Dark Materials series. They will be creating the beetles in the show.
This is the official PRESS RELEASE:
Buccaneer and Nevision announce co-production agreement for ‘Beetle Boy’
Tom MacRae to write screenplay for M. G. Leonard book trilogy adaptation
Buccaneer Media, the London-headquartered production company and independent production company Nevision today announced a co-production agreement to develop M. G. Leonard’s ‘Beetle Boy’ book trilogy as a live action/ CGI drama series in partnership with Oscar-winning creative studio Framestore (‘His Dark Materials’, ‘Mulan’, ‘Lovecraft Country’).
‘Beetle Boy’ will be written for the screen by Tom MacRae, playwright and creator of ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’, the award-winning West End musical and forthcoming movie.
Currently in development as a returnable multi-episode series set in the UK, ‘Beetle Boy’ is based on the award-winning book trilogy - Beetle Boy, Beetle Queen and Battle of the Beetles - which were optioned by Nevision. Featuring 15 year old Darkus Cuttle as the main protagonist, the books are published by Chicken House in the UK and Scholastic in the US, Canada and Australia, as well as more than thirty other territories including France, Germany, Italy, China and Russia.
When Darkus’ father disappears from a locked beetle room in the Natural History Museum, Darkus finds himself an orphan, sent to live in an out of the way home for abandoned children. Stripped of everything he ever cared about, he becomes the boy with nothing left to lose.
That is, until Darkus meets Baxter, an incredible, intelligent, superstar beetle. Their quest to find Darkus’ dad brings them claw to claw with globally renowned fashion designer, Lucretia Cutter. A former geneticist, Lucretia is driven by the belief that the human race is no longer capable of caring for our planet, and has created a vast army of super-beetles to become the dominant species on earth. Those humans deemed worthy of survival will be genetically modified, becoming a human-beetle hybrid - a species of which Lucretia herself will be queen.
Darkus, his three friends, and Baxter are all that stand between the human race and oblivion.
Executive Producers are Maya Leonard, Richard Tulk-Hart and Tony Wood for Buccaneer Media and Nigel Pickard and James Cabourne for Nevision.
Writer Tom MacRae said: “Until I read M. G. Leonard’s brilliant books, I thought beetles were scary and a little bit gross, but Darkus’ story has taught me to love them. Now, the rest of the two-legged world will get to fall in love with these incredible creatures too.”
M. G. Leonard, author of the ‘Beetle Boy’ book trilogy added: “I am thrilled that Tom MacRae has fallen for the charms of beetles and will be bringing Darkus and his friends to tv screens, with Framestore’s incredible CGI insects, and the production experience of Bucchaneer and Nevision. The talent, passion and ability in this team, to bring viewers something utterly fresh and unique, is beyond exciting.”
Tony Wood/ Richard Tulk-Hart, joint CEOs of Buccaneer Media said: “We are thrilled to be collaborating with such a talented team to bring Maya’s ‘Beetle Boy’ to life. It’s such a unique trilogy and Tom’s brilliant interpretation together with Framestore’s world leading CGI will make an exciting creative realisation of a rich and engaging family adventure”
Nigel Pickard, Creative Director at Nevision added: “Buccaneer is the perfect partner to help steer the creative development on ‘Beetle Boy’, which has the potential to reach a wide global audience. Tom MacRae’s track record is second-to-none and we are thrilled to have someone of his calibre writing the screenplay bringing his versatility and unique style to the project.”
Michelle Martin, Head of Television at Framestore said: “As episodic projects continue to grow in scope, it's always our aim to partner directly with content producers. That way we're able to provide our expertise and become a key part of bringing stunning visuals to the screen.”
Working with Framestore to build a CGI Baxter; my rhinoceros beetle, was one of the most surreal, delightful and magical moments of my career so far. They are magicians, and yet they are also responsible for Paddington Bear!
YouTube Adventures on Trains event with Hornby
Join me and Sam Sedgman over on the Hornby YouTube channel on Sunday at 3pm for lots of Adventures on Trains activity. If your children have loved the books they will enjoy this online event which features readings, draw alongs and competitions as well as an interview with us authors.
BBC TEACH do a Live Lesson based on The Tale of a Toothbrush
As you may know, I am a big part of the campaigning movement Authors4Oceans, which inspired my picturebook The Tale of a Toothbrush, which is illustrated by Daniel Rieley who campaigns for Surfers Against Sewage.
So I could not be more proud that BBC Teach has chosen to build a live lesson around the picturebook, which is read by Kate Humble.
AWARDS! Short lists and long lists
I’m so delighted that The Highland Falcon Thief has been shortlisted for the Books Are my Bag 2020 Readers Award for Children’s Fiction.
This is the great thing about these awards, is that YOU get a say in who wins.
I’d be ever so grateful if you’d click on the button and vote for us. If you do you may win £100 of book tokens!
The Highland Falcon Thief has been long-listed for the UKLA award, which is judged by teachers.
It’s a fierce list of awesome books and I’m delighted we’re amongst them.
Cover Reveal for Murder on the Safari Star
This is the third book in my Adventures on Trains series with Sam Sedgman, Murder on the Safari Star.
Uncle Nat is taking Hal on the journey of a lifetime - on a Safari Train from Pretoria to Victoria Falls. Drawing Africa's amazing wild animals from on board a spectacular steam train described as a luxury hotel on wheels, should be enough excitement for anyone. But something suspicious is happening on board the Safari Star and when a passenger is found mysteriously killed inside a locked compartment, it's up to Hal, along with his new friend Winston and his pet Mongoose, Chipo, to solve the murder mystery.
Coming February 2020.
Twitch - My first solo fiction in 3 years is coming in summer 2021
Twitch is a twelve-year-old with three pet chickens, four pigeons, swallows nesting in his bedroom and a passion for bird-spotting. On the first day of summer holidays, he arrives at his secret bird-watching hide in the local nature reserve to find police everywhere: a convicted bank-robber and murderer has broken out of prison and is hiding in Aves Wood. Twitch soon finds himself entangled in the hunt for the dangerous prisoner. Can he turn his talents for bird-spotting to detective skills, and find the missing loot?
TWITCH - COMING SUMMER 2021
Kidnap on the California Comet steams into the Children's Bestseller List
It is with great gratitude and delight that I can say that Kidnap on the California Comet is already a bestseller! I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who preordered the book and helped it achieve it’s chart position at number 12 in the Children’s and YA fiction chart, exceeding the sales of The Highland Falcon Thief in week one. I hope you all enjoy reading our thrilling adventure riding the railroads of America.
Hornby partnership for Adventures on Trains
To celebrate the publication of Kidnap on the California Comet, we’ve begun a wonderful partnership with Hornby. You can find out all about it here. There’s a special kid’s zone with activity sheets to download, videos and competitions.
Hornby has given trainsets to ten independent bookshops around the United Kingdom, who are holding competitions enabling readers to win one. So if you spot a trainset in your bookshop window, pop in and find out how you could win it!
Kidnap on the California Comet is here!
The new Adventure on Trains book, Kidnap on the California Comet is in your local bookshop now!
The Daily Mail said it’s: ‘Wildly funny, with hairpin plot bends and inventive characters, this series is firmly on track to become a bestseller.’
If you’re quick, you can get your hands on a special signed copy of the book from Waterstones, but you’ll have to hurry, they only have a limited number.
Find more information about Adventures on Trains.
Title of Book 3 in the Adventures on Trains series
Book three in the Adventures on Trains series will be called Murder on the Safari Star and published in February 2021
The third book sends Hal and Uncle Nat steaming across South Africa, where a luxury safari takes a deadly turn.
M. G. Leonard invites you to come on a Bug Hunt
To celebrate National Insect Week, I made a short film about what a brilliantly fun and educational thing a bug hunt can be. If you’re planning on going on a Bug Hunt of your own you might enjoy this video.