Party Animals

Michelle Pauli goes down to the Grimwood with author Nadia Shireen.

 ‘It’s basically Winnie the Pooh meets Monty Python put through a dishwasher,’ says Nadia Shireen, perfectly summing up the hilarious, bonkers world of Grimwood, a series she first conjured up to make herself laugh in the depths of the pandemic and that is now celebrating its fourth outing, Party Animals.

The illustrated middle grade series by the picture book author known for Good Little Wolf, The Bumblebear and Barbara Throws a Wobbler follows the adventures of a tightknit community of animals who live in a forest. The stories are centred on Ted and Nancy, parent-less sibling foxes who are forced to flee the Big City but are welcomed into Grimwood and made to feel at home. So far, so bucolic, you might think. Think again. Grimwood features a large, buzzing electricity pylon, shopping trolleys in the ‘lake’, a smelly swamp, piles of old tyres and an anarchic old eagle called Pamela, who beheads and eats the smaller members of the community at any opportunity.

For Shireen, it’s an antidote to the perfect pastoral picture of the countryside depicted in children’s books over the years.

We’ve got so many classic stories set in the beautiful English countryside, like the Wind in the Willows and the House at Pooh Corner,’ says Shireen. ‘And I am a huge fan of the countryside – I grew up near the countryside. But growing up near the countryside also means you see the flip side to it. There are the drunken student farmers driving their tractors into hedges. There is a dark side to the countryside and it’s bird eat bird. I always thought it was funny that in these classic stories you don’t get that. And there’s also a slightly patronising thing that’s sometimes fed to children in cities and towns, which is that city equals bad, countryside equals good. I know that that’s not true and, slightly under the radar, I wanted to challenge the idea that children who live in cities can’t appreciate beauty in the natural world.’

Grimwood is also ridiculously, relentlessly hilarious. But it is also, despite the extremely funny casual violence in the stories (mostly perpetrated by Pamela – her massacre of squirrels Romeo and Juliet on their wedding day in the third book is a particular highlight), a series of pure warmth, from its tales of new friendships and the integrating of Ted and Nancy into Grimwood to the unconditional acceptance of all the animals – yes, even Pamela. These are stories with a heart.

With the fourth book in the bestselling series, Party Animals, the focus shifts from the two foxes. While Ted and his best friend, the adorable bunny Willow, have a falling out, it is Sharon, the eponymous party animal, who takes centre stage. The crow who seems to be on a permanent hen do, with her trademark party hat and cry of ‘AWOOGA!’ is, Shireen says, a ‘fan favourite’, with many children choosing to dress up as her for World Book Day.

However, in Party Animals, the party animal has lost her mojo. The animals of Grimwood come together to help and, in a Wickerman-esque finale, they conjure up the spirit of the original party crow – Raving Raven, Wyld Hilda. Crucially, though, it’s not before they have recognised that simply checking in and being with Sharon matters as much as trying to cheer her up. It was important for Shireen to convey this different approach to the situation Sharon finds herself in.

‘We’ve got Sharon lying listless in bed and I had to tread a careful line there. But kids will see other people around them being sad and, as parents, we are very scared of sitting with sadness with our children. You want to chivvy it along: ‘come on, everything’s fine, cheer up. It’s not that bad’. But the reality is, you’ve got to sit with it, when it happens, which is what the Grimwood animals do brilliantly. They sit with her while she’s lost her mojo, so she’s not alone. And eventually Sharon, through a chaotic sequence of events, finds her way out of it.’

If that’s all starting to sound a little dark, rest assured that Party Animals is also possibly the funniest Grimwood yet. Yet, like so many funny books and despite being acclaimed by children and parents alike, Grimwood is always the bridesmaid and never the bride when it comes to awards.

‘Funny books do matter but funny books don’t win prizes,’ says Shireen. ‘It’s very rare that you’ll see a funny book win a Carnegie, for example. Grimwood has been nominated for a lot of prizes but hasn’t won anything. I’m not saying that because I think I must win awards – I would genuinely much rather have lots of readers. But I wish I knew why funny books are so devalued because there is skill writing a funny book. You still have to write a good story and there’s a skill in writing a good joke. Or even just sprinkling genuine humour throughout your writing. Not everyone can do that.’

At a time when the numbers of children reading for pleasure are worryingly low, it is frustrating that funny books are seen as lesser by gatekeepers in this way. However, Shireen points to an encouraging trend in that comics, which tend to be viewed with the same patronising attitude by some, have seen a resurgence with Bunny vs Monkey and Dog Man.

‘Let’s open up some people’s minds that, actually, if my kid’s reading, who cares what they’re reading,’ she suggests. ‘And I get away with loads by making my books funny. I think if I was going to do a book that wasn’t funny, I’d be more scared about treading those lines between what’s acceptable. I don’t think I could do a beheading in another book, but when you do it in a funny way, you can get away with literally murder in every book and no one seems to mind. I’m going to carry on until they notice. But if you’re going to write funny books, you have to accept you’re not going to get trinkets and baubles. But I don’t care. I want readers and I want readers who are laughing and I’m just so happy that seems to be happening.’

It’s likely to be happening a lot more over the next year as Shireen has some great things lined up for her many fans. Principal among them is the Monster Funfair installation at the Discovery Children’s Story Centre in Stratford, London, where Shireen is creating an immersive world based on her books, including a Barbara stand where visitors can throw a wobbler, and a Grimwood area with a DJ booth for Sharon, Mayor Titus’s caravan and Pamela’s Magic Tower. There are also more picture books in the pipeline. She’s illustrating The Tour by Katie Clapham, and has an exciting collaboration with ‘a very well-known author’. Plus, fans can look forward to a fifth Grimwood in due course – and more parties, complete with treebonking, in the meantime.

‘I get such a boost from meeting children and hearing their reactions to Grimwood and they just get it completely. They get the jokes and they have suggestions for me about what I should be doing in the next book and all that kind of thing. I love it. It’s like a friendly, slightly anarchic cult. And I don’t feel like the leader, which is good. I just feel like one of the members,’ Shireen concludes, laughing.

Michelle Pauli is a freelance writer and editor specialising in books and education. She created and edited the Guardian children’s books site.

Grimwood: Party Animals by Nadia Shireen is published by Simon and Schuster, ‎ 978-1398530027, £12.99 hbk.