Growing Pains

I really like writing for older children and young people.

They're the perfect readers. All the wee motors in their brains are spinning happily. Emotions are often in turmoil, so they're happy to read about other people's mixed feelings. And, because they've not yet had time to develop that inclination to ignore uncomfortable things that gradually eats into so many adults, they come at every topic a writer puts before them with fresh and open minds.

I've tackled all sorts of subjects in books for this age group. (And, to cheer parents, as well as teenagers, through the toils of early adolescence, I cherry-picked some of our own family's most turbulent moments in order to write the comedy, The Book of the Banshee.)