A Q&A Interview with Adam Baron

Adam Baron’s children’s books are witty, poignant and perfectly capture the experiences and voice of his central character the wonderfully named Cymbeline Igloo. The fourth book in the series, Some Sunny Day, covers Cym’s experience of the pandemic and is typically funny, moving and insightful. Adam Baron answers our questions about the book.

This is your fourth book about Cymbeline Igloo, what inspires you to keep returning to this character (and set of characters)?

I think it’s just that Cymbeline is going through what all young people are going through. He and his friends allow me to write about the lives of young people today. I didn’t necessarily think I’d write another book about him but when lockdown happened I just kept imagining what he’d be doing, and the book was born.

What are the particular satisfactions for writers to tell new stories featuring a favourite character?

I just know Cymbeline so very well that I totally trust the way he sees the world. He leads me through the story and shows me which way it should go. I love Cymbeline particularly because he’s not the cleverest kid or the best at any sport. He’s average in many ways – with a very big heart.

Does Cym still do things that surprise you?

Always. Writing through his eyes, I am constantly surprised at the way he thinks about a particular topic. This is because he is getting a bit older and young people change so very quickly. He is reacting to new things and in his own particular way.

This story is unusual in that it is set during lockdown. What appealed to you about writing about that specific period – was there an element of helping children process and understand what they’d been through?

I definitely hope that Some Sunny Day will help people process what we all went through and that it will prompt memories and realisations. When I thought about lockdown, I saw a period full of so much drama and humour that I had to write about it. I kept seeing Cym in different lockdown-related scenarios and knew I had to write about them.

You don’t shy away from exploring the effects of lockdown on grown-ups – Cym’s mother’s mental health suffers, one of the adults he knows dies. How important was that?

I didn’t want to write about a ‘children’s’ version of lockdown and the pandemic. I know people who lost relatives and who found it very challenging on a mental health level. I wanted to be honest, but I hope the reader will trust me, as a writer, to get them through to the end with positivity and hope.

How did you cope with lockdown? Do you see any positives for children coming out of it, now or in the future?

I was very lucky. I live near a park and have a garden to go out into. I missed the busy world of course, but all of the people I love survived. I can’t complain. The positive for me are that we all realised how much we value our friends and our communities. We all now realise who the really important people in our society are. I hope that the children who went through lockdown will be much closer to their friends and family as they grow up.

There’s also a plot line in the book involving refugees. Why was it important to you to tell that story, and did you plan it from the beginning?

My grandparents were refugees to the UK from eastern and central Europe. They contributed a lot to this country and I wouldn’t be here if this country hadn’t welcomed them. The refugees in Some Sunny Day are Yazidi girls from Syria. Some years ago I was asked to do a little work for a project called A Mile In Their Shoes, which shed light on the plight of Yazidi women suffering in Syria. It was a real privilege. It felt right to include those refugees here. My belief is that a society needs to embrace change and growth, and to support vulnerable people from other parts of the world.

Adult readers will understand more than Cym and in some cases, young readers might too. How do you approach maintaining the balance between those different appreciations?

I love the fact that my books are unique reading experiences for each reader. I like to think of my readers picking my books up again in future years and finding new strands and threads. I also know that my books are read by parents to children. I want them to exist for all the family. I like the idea of kids having to explain some references to adults, and vice versa. I also love the fact that Cym doesn’t necessarily understand all the things that he sees. He really makes me laugh when he comments on the adult world without quite knowing what is going on.

I hope every loves Some Sunny Day as much as I loved writing it!

Some Sunny Day is published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, £7.99pbk