Authorgraph 268: Jenny Pearson
Jenny Pearson interviewed by Tanja Jennings.
Jenny Pearson has always loved stories. She confides in me that her mum marked her down as a literary genius at the age of four when she wrote about, ‘a mischievous egg hatching out of a saucepan with little legs and running away to have adventures.’ Some of her favourite early memories are of her father reading Gerald Durrell stories to her, a tradition which has carried on with her own children, and which has provided inspiration with her most recent novel, of which more later.
With a real skill for balancing hilarity with big emotions, Jenny believes that her chosen profession pf primary school teacher has had an enormous influence on her writing.
‘I wouldn’t be a writer if I wasn’t a teacher’ she states. ‘Sharing brilliant stories with my classes is amazing. You go on a journey together, all of you on the edge of the seat or laughing or crying. When I’m writing I’m always keeping in mind my classes and my kids while exaggerating my characters. I’m really lucky to get to listen to how children speak, see what they’re into and how they behave, and generally just be constantly reminded how brilliant they are.’
Inspired by everything from fascinating facts, funny family anecdotes and conversations with friends, Jenny has created a succession of warm hearted and hilarious adventures for young readers. Her writing is joyful, entertaining and empathetic too: starting with her 2020 debut, The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates, which won the 2022 Laugh Out Loud Book Awards in the Middle Grade category and was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award, her books feature children dealing with bereavement, difficult family dynamics and even mental health issues.
She sends her characters on physical and emotional trips, giving them quests and challenging their 
expectations. Her first two books are full of fun factoids, madcap mayhem, firm friendships and realisations while Grandpa Frank’s Great Big Bucket List is a rollercoaster of hysterical octogenarian hijinks balanced with heartfelt emotion. Inspired by her friend’s grandfather’s list of ‘90 Things to Do When You’re 90’, it features state of the art gadgetry in a home for the elderly, parkour and monster truck driving. Conversely, The Boy Who Made Monsters explores the metaphor of grief as a monster.
Among her influences are the gentle, authentic humour of Frank Cottrell Boyce, with Carnegie Medal winner Millions being one of her favourite books, and the contemporary, funny style of Sam Copeland, now her co-author on the Tuchus and Topps spy detectives series. Describing her creative process she says, ‘Sometimes jokes and scenes come really easily and they just flow but other times they take a lot of effort, writing and rewriting to get them to land. It is important to find a balance. When you’re dealing with difficult stuff you inject humour to balance emotion.’
Her latest venture, Shipwrecked, is an anti-Lord of the Flies, set on a desert island with a lively cast of characters and a menagerie of alliterative creatures. Imagined during lockdown and inspired by a true story of six lost Tongan boys stranded on the South Pacific Island of Ata in 1965, who built a peaceful self-sufficient existence before being rescued, it addresses climate change and turtle trafficking while also challenging Golding’s idea that children will become feral without adult supervision.
Lord of the Flies, now reaching its 70th anniversary, traumatised Jenny when she first read it in Year 9, although she recognised its power. Golding based it on a dark view of human nature in the aftermath of the Nazi invasion, yet Jenny thinks shipwrecked children would be inventive, kind and helpful, like the Tongan boys who splinted their friend’s leg and took time outs to avoid disagreements.
In Shipwrecked troubled Sebastian and his friends, resourceful Lina who uses a copy of Lord of the Flies as a guide of what not to do, and Etienne, who is the Dr Dolittle of the group, experience rivalry, friendship, humorous mishaps, hazardous fruit and home sickness when they become castaways. They have to rely on scarce supplies and surprises ensue as they encounter more obstacles during their bid to survive.
Asked about her desert island skillset (and discs), Jenny lists Bear Grylls’ Survival Skills box set as a go-to, plus My Family and Other Animals of course, and Durrell’s Beasts in My Belfry. For her playlist, she enthuses, ‘I would like the beautiful Seabird by the Alessi Brothers because it makes you feel like you’re outside, the joyous My Lighthouse which we sung at school all the time and did all the actions to and The Pirates of the Caribbean theme tune which reminds me of when my kids were young when I’d crank that tune up in our Bongo Mazda Campervan and we’d pretend that we were pirates. It’s very stirring and might actually make me feel like I could build a raft and sail off to save myself if I had that music going.’
As for other considerations, her advice to the shipwrecked is to avoid panicking, consider risk vs reward, to remain calm, to not make hasty decisions and be aware of dangers when foraging.
Another factor for Jenny when writing Shipwrecked was her desire to raise awareness of the terrible trade in turtles in Southeast Asia where the Green Sea Turtle and the Hawksbill Turtle make up 93% of the turtles trafficked. She shares shocking statistics, citing the latest research in Oceanographic Magazine which has revealed that in the last thirty years 1.1 million turtles have been killed in the pursuit of food, medicine and cultural status. ‘It’s a difficult problem to tackle because it is about changing a culture. Obviously, climate change is affecting the turtles too so these majestic creatures are really up against it.’
When educating children about environmental activism, Jenny observes that there’s a fine balance between enlightening them and frightening them with the enormity of the problem. Making a difference is the key. Choosing to walk, recycling, food choices, fundraising for nature charities, turning lights off and helping with beach clean ups all count.
As Jenny sails off from Sunrise Island, new horizons beckon in her story landscape. February will see the release of Speed Wheels 3000, a high-octane father daughter epic road trip fuelled by a mash up of the 1960’s heist movie The Italian Job and The Gumball Celebrity Motor Rally. Following this, her next middle grade project will be a major departure. Set in Deptford, it will coincide with the 80th anniversary of VE Day and will recount the lives of boys who viewed bomb sites as playgrounds.
Jenny has always been fascinated by historical narratives and is inspired too by the emotive writing of Michael Morpurgo, Phil Earle and Lesley Parr. She praises When the Sky Falls for its deft use of shadowing, cried at Private Peaceful, and enjoyed Serraillier’s The Silver Sword. Leaving hilarity behind, Shrapnel Boys will focus upon the plight of vulnerable boys with absent fathers who fall prey to the machinations of the underground fascist movement led by Oswald Mosley. Jenny explains, ‘I was reading something about how kids used to collect ‘hard rain’ shrapnel, and I had an idea about these boys who stayed in London during World War Two. Focusing on the gang element, I brought in the Black Shirts and the simmering fascism that was bubbling away at that time. As I wrote, I felt attached to these three boys and what they were going through. While I included some conversational humour, I mostly concentrated on the emotional impact of their journey and the dynamics of their group, making one of them a conscientious objector. It was a stimulating challenge which involved poring over bomb maps of London, learning the locations of shelters and lots of fact checking.’
Drawing on stories from her dad about how he found a bomb as a child, personal accounts from the BBC Voices project and old newspapers, she enjoyed time travelling. Warm, funny and modest about her extensive body of work, Jenny feels energised by a new genre. She is already planning a second wartime tale, one motivated by interviews about life in occupied Jersey.
Tanja Jennings is a judge of the Cilip Carnegie Medals, a dedicated school librarian, children’s book reviewer and creative book blogger from Northern Ireland.
Books mentioned (by Jenny Pearson, all published by Usborne):
Shipwrecked, illustrated by Nick East, 978-1474999908, £7.99 pbk
The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates, illustrated by Rob Biddulph, 978-1474974042, £6.99 pbk
Grandpa Frank’s Great Big Bucket List, illustrated by David O’Connell, 978-1474974066, £7.99 pbk
The Boy Who Made Monsters, illustrated by Katie Kear, 978-1474999892, £7.99 pbk
