The book is about a man called Dougal, who has a pretty boring day job (unlike me). However, he has the most amazing hobby – deep-sea diving. In this book, Dougal keeps a diary of his dives and he discovers the most amazing things (I won’t tell you what he discovers so that you can find out for yourself.) What he discovers is that amazing, that he doesn’t return to his job after his week of deep-sea discovering.

Simon is wonderfully bonkers, and as British as a mini pork pie. he is a unique voice in children's publishing and his books have a refreshingly 'real' heart and natural character. He's one of the best British illustrators in the universe!' I really enjoyed this book for its dry humour, colourful illustrations and the loveable main character Dougal. It’s a fantastic adventure story told from the perspective of an ordinary man through diary entries which makes the story even more fun and exciting. It is extremely funny, mainly at how unaware Dougal is, as on numerous occasions he believes his dives are quite mundane but the illustrations tell us otherwise! He is a loveable character which makes the story enjoyable to read. I’m very excited to be writing my first ever Bernard’s blog. With so many wonderful things to talk about in school, I was unsure where to start. However, this week, as I scampered along the corridor of the school, I noticed that the corridor was brighter and more colourful than last week. I soon discovered that each class had done a display on a book that they were reading in class. There was also a competition to see whose display was the best (this was judged by the children) and the winner was Year 2 who have been reading Dougal’s Deep-Sea Diary. This made me ‘paws’ along the corridor and have a closer look. What have I enjoyed the most about this book? It is the writing the children in year 2 have produced after reading the book. They have pretended to be Dougal and have written a diary or a postcard about their adventures in the deep-sea. They are ‘fury, fury’ good and make me as the reader want to find out more about their adventures under the sea. Next time you walk along the school corridor, ‘paws’ and have a read of the book and the children’s writing. See if you can spot any more alliteration.

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Newcastle with his wife Nicola and their son. Simon’s other books for Templar include: Pumpkin Moon, A Winter’s Tale, Dougal’s Deep-Sea Diary, The Alien Spotters Guide and Watch Out for Sprouts.