Saturday, June 19, 2010

Slim First

Slim the Ogre
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the children's book I wrote about Floppy the Monster will soon be published. It's actually going to come out under the title Floppy the Monster is Nearly Lost Forever, and I'll keep you posted... however, a different book will get there first!

This one is called Slim the Vegetarian Ogre and it's part of an educational resource designed to help children write their own stories. Here's what I wrote for the back cover blurb:
Slim the vegetarian ogre is the only ogre in all the land of Ogg who would not enjoy his own Gala menu of
Starter: snail soup with shell croutons, or brain gazpacho with crunchy teeth;
Main course: boiled meat (human) with worm spaghetti, or fried fingers in barbecue sauce with cockroach chips, or flame grilled rib steak with marshmallow eyes;
Dessert: Doughnuts fried in human fat, or jelly and full-fat human cream.
Drinks: bilgewater beer and fermented berry wine.

What is to become of such an ogre? Will Slim be forced to knuckle down and stop worrying his parents silly? Dr Roeg comes to Slim's rescue with an ingenious plan to save the ogre from his path of vegetarian destruction. But Slim has his own ideas. Find out how Slim develops his own plan to change the world and get to eat a pizza. 
How does that sound? Appealing? Interesting? Disgusting? Funny? OMG I'd never buy that for my kids/nieces/nephews/grandkids/kid next door/best friend's kid/other?

I wrote the story because I'd been writing material for the software that will be available for schools to help children write their own version. I put in a finished story as an afterthought because I thought it might be fun to have as a storytime story. In fact it's to be published in its own right!

The whole series looks like this:
Slim the Vegetarian Ogre the Book (hardback and paperback)
Slim the Vegetarian Ogre Digital Book Builder for teachers (adds stories from whole class to be printed in a book)
Slim the Vegetarian Ogre Digital Book Builder for Parents and Children (the child's story is printed in a book)

The book builders have help buttons for ideas, and literacy notes to help kids write more interesting stories. There's even an audio file of instructions from the ogre himself.
There'll be a website where kids can submit their stories and pictures and we'll have competitions to find the best ones.

If anyone's a member of Mumsnet and is interested in posting an 'honest and fair' review of the book, or on Amazon, do let me know.

5 comments:

  1. That Gala menu sounds like my daily lunch!

    And very nice it is too!

    If I had children, THAT'S EXACTLY the sort of book I'd buy them - none of this 'Arry Potter nonsense - get them started young with some nutritious recipes!

    P.S. Can I have the recipe for Snail soup or, do I have to buy the book?

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  2. I'm desperately trying to think of anyone with kids, grandkids the right age...but the only ones I can think of are Flemish speakers.

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  3. Keith, I'm glad you like the sound of the story. Sorry I don't have any of the recipes. The ogres are a very secretive bunch, but I would imagine it's along the lines of: grab some snails, bash them up a bit, chuck them in a pot with some pond water and boil for 4 hrs. Good luck...!

    Fly - the age group is 7-10. We don't have a Flemish version yet... :)

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  4. Oh well done you with your Floppy success. As for Slim - I'm loath to comment because of not having kids or knowing kids, but I always thought kids liked uber-disgusting things. Your menu is disgusting (in a good way) but perhaps you could make it even worse - (perhaps snail snot soup, toe nail clipping pie etc).

    Good luck with all the fame and riches that will come you way very soon.

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  5. FF, great suggestions! You don't need kids to appreciate the uber-disgusting :)
    I can see you revel in getting in touch with your inner child :)!!

    It's all about bums on seats really. The more reviews there are, the more buzz is created and the more people buy the book. That's the theory, anyway... fingers crossed!

    I'm not holding my breath for fame and riches however... but in my head I've already bought a Caribbean island. :D

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