There are also lots more weird and wonderful people living in the village that readers will get to meet!

Maggie is a small but mighty hero and, together with her little sister Lily and next-door neighbour Fred, she uses every means at her disposal to defeat the monstrous sheep, from garlic baguettes to frozen steak (realising too late that she should have used stakes). Nine-year-old Maggie is adamant that she’s not moving from the bustling city of Leicester to Knobbly Bottom, a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, but Mum won’t listen to reason. I really enjoyed the process of working with editors and illustrators to make the finished product as good as it could be! With a fast-paced plot, off-the-wall humour and dynamic black-and-white illustrations, this hilarious chapter book, is the first in a fabulously funny series that is perfect for junior readers. Maggie is outraged, especially as Mum has blatantly lied about the virtues of the countryside: the air is not cleaner, it stinks of poo; it is definitely not peaceful, with cows, birds and combine harvesters making a hullaballoo day and night; and it is absolutely not safer than the city, as Maggie quickly discovers when she encounters a flock of talking vampire sheep, with sharp yellow fangs and glowing red eyes, who are determined to take over the world.I am not sure about Maggie – that is a tough one BUT if I could go back in time and get Karen from Outnumbered to do it – she would be perfect! Unfortunately, in book two, poor old Knobbly Bottom has a zombie pig problem… and they are very, very hungry!

Year later, when I moved to the countryside with my own children it brought all these memories back!Maggie McKay is NOT happy that her mum has decided they’re moving to Knobbly Bottom (the most boring village ever invented). When I was about nine years old my parent FORCED me to move from an estate in town to the countryside because they said it was a safer place to bring up children. When Pippin discovers she possesses magical powers, she uses her newfound skills to investigate the mysterious water shortage in Funsprings. As a debut children’s author, was there anything you learned that surprised you about writing and publishing for children? Hilarious black and white artwork from Jeff Crowther makes this an ideal book even for reluctant readers.