Mousehole to the Centre of the Earth

The seventh Adventuremice title is available from British and Irish bookshops now! In Mousehole to the Centre of the Earth the team board an ill-advised tunelling machine and travel into the depths of the earth, where they find a whole lost world inhabited by cavemice, ptiny pterosaurs, and the terrifying* Hamstersaurus rex. (It's inspired by Jules Verne, of course, and by shabby old sci-fi films like At The Earth's Core.)

My excellent co-author Sarah McIntyre's watercolour illustrations are going from strength to strength, and her pictures for this new book are wonderful. You can check them out in her online shop, and even buy some originals if you fancy. (Adventuremice Christmas cards are also available.)

I like to think the books are going from strength to strength too. It can be a little frustrating writing a series, because after the first book you're almost never eligible for awards, and seldom get noticed by reviewers. I'm told that The Bookseller, the magazine of the UK book trade, won't even feature series titles in its list of forthcoming books once they get past number four. But children love a series – they like the familiarity of the characters and settings, and the challenge of collecting the whole set.

And they're fun to write, too. In the first few Adventuremice books, Sarah and I were finding our way, establishing the characters, and working out the rules of the mouse-sized world we were creating. Now all that work is done, and the characters are free to go their own way. Pedro and Fledermaus have developed such a funny little relationship that they've ended up as the leads in most books, rather than the focus switching to each mouse in turn, as we'd originally expected. But we make sure the others get a look in too - kids particularly seem to love the stern but reliable Skipper, and also Ivy, with her talent for Fixing Things.

We were On Tour in the north this week, and met lots of young readers who love these books and are eager for more. We were happy to reassure them that we have enough ideas stacked up to keep the Adventuremice busy for years to come. So if you know someone aged about 4 – 7 who likes not-too-serious adventure stories, or if you just enjoy excellent illustrations, please buy Mousehole to the Centre of the Earth. We want to keep making these books for EVER.

*He's not really terrifying - the world of the Adventuremice is a very cosy one - but our heroes are a Understandably Alarmed when he first lumbers into view.

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