Friday 4 March 2011

BEASTIES ahoy! with Giles Paley-Phillips

Well you'll never guess who just popped by the old dog basket... none other than Giles "Cooler than a penguin with an ice pop" Paley-Phillips.
What a delight I donned my Aviator specs just to make sure I was cool enough for a natter with this top picture book author!

Cool as ice!



Hello Mr Giles "cooler than ice" Paley-Phillips, Thank you for dropping by the old dog basket! (Book Sniffer must look into acquiring a double barreled name - it has so much more gravitas)

As you know I'm partial to sniffing the odd picture book so stumbling upon The Fearsome Beastie was a delight, Is this your first book for children?
No, My first Book was called 'There's a lion in my bathroom' which came out on Rebel Books in 2010, it's a book of nonsense poetry, with subjects including, eating cowpats, girls with springs for feet and a shrimp with low self esteem!but, 'The Fearsome Beastie' will be my first Picture Book (The Book Sniffer can only think of one creature that would be so uncouth as to *gasp* eat a cow pat!...and that would be Mouse!)



Cripes!

Raaaaaaaaaagh!

The Fearsome Beastie is just scary enough for a Book Sniffer like myself although the thought of taking a trip to the vets for "that opperation" scares the be-jeebus out of me,  What were you scared of as a child?
Having my hair washed, I really hated it, I've been told that I would often be found cowering under the dinning table, stark naked at Bath time!
of course I have very clean hair these days, Although I still can't swim
!
(Book Sniffer would like to note that you certainly have a finely coiffered barnet now!)
The cover of your picture book is splendid - Mouse particularly liked all those sharp teeth!Did you get to pick the illustrator for The Fearsome Beastie?
My publisher found a wonderful Illustrator called Gabriele Antonini, to do the illustrations for 'The Fearsome Beastie', Gabriele has a great sensibility for the text and has worked with many high profile publishers, so it was a real honour to work with him on this project.

One assumes being as cool as you is a full time job but are there any other exciting projects in the pipeline at the moment?
I have several picture book projects in the pipeline at the moment, one for Gullane Children's books, working with fantastic Illustrator Liz Pichon, and hopefully later in the year another project with Maverick Books, I am very fortunate to be working with such great publishers, Maverick, Gullane and Rebel Books LLP have been extremely encouraging about my work, for which I am truly grateful.
When I was a pup my most beloved book was Mr Magnolia, you have human pups don't you what are their fave picture books?
I have two boys, and they are particularly partial to anything yucky, so flavour of the month is Morris and Mankiest Monster, which is fantastic.
I have my ear to the ground at all times but is there anything that you know if which may have slipped under the sniffing radar?
There are two books which I have been drawn back to recently, the first is a beautiful picture book called 'The Courage of the Blue Boy' by Robert Neubecker, it's a visual treat and the story is so eloquently told, the other is 'The Invention of Hugo Cabret' by Brian Selznick, it's a real game changer, in that it transcends so many genres, a remarkable book that I feel everyone should read
I have super sniffing powers ideal for hunting down fabulous picture books to tell everyone about - What would your super power be?
Ohhh, tricky one, there are so many to choose from, I'd like to say something really righteous and choose something for the benefit of mankind, but I feel far too compelled to choose something that would allow me to play tricks on people!something like invisibility I guess would be ideal, although I'm starting to feel guilty about not having something nice, perhaps as a subsidiary power I could have the power of no guilt!?
You haven';t touched a single Boney-o? Do you have a favourite biscuit that we can get in for your next visit?
There are these Foxes Viennese ones, which are immense, they never last very long in our house!

Cool as ice! WORD!


Thanks for dropping by Mr Giles Paley-Phillips - Good Luck with your splendid book!!
Fellow sniffers - get out and buy a copy!

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