Pandora’s granny in my Hubble Bubble series is unequivocally different.
From her “alternative” car (a jet-powered broomstick), to her burping bat pets and cauldron handbag, Granny is the new black; quite the chicest granny on the block!
But having a granny who’s so “different” does have its embarrassing moments. And so – just the once – Pandora suggests that Granny tries on-trend “normalish” instead.
Granny goes along with Pip’s suggestions; it might be quite fun after all! But Granny's quickly BORED by the norm and Pandora quickly sees her mistake. Granny doesn’t look, or act, like her granny anymore.
Naturally, a happy resolution is reached when everything returns to different. That’s how Granny’s meant to be after all.
When I was a little girl, growing up in Wales, I was scared – no terrified – by a very old lady who lived next door to my granny in a block of flats just down our road.
Mrs Jones had a great big wart on her chin, a rocking chair, and hair like candle smoke. What other evidence did I need? She was totally – thoroughly – absolutely (excuse me while I whisper this next bit!) a witch.
Mrs Jones and my granny were the duo who inspired my first Hubble Bubble book. It was written at a fairly rapid pace one summer’s afternoon. Almost like I needed to get the worry I felt as a child out of my system, and invent a wonderfully friendly witch who is lovely, and warm, and kind – if at times, totally batty and chaotic!
I tell the children that I meet on events all about my granny and Mrs Jones. I tell them how silly I was to think Mrs Jones was a scary witch. My “big self” knows now, I say, that she was probably just a lovely old lady. I say that I got her completely wrong and was worried for absolutely nothing!
People react in a similar way to Granny until they get to know her. Until they see how daringly fun she is. In fact, so keen is she “to help” that she often just goes that little bit too far. But everyone loves a crazy adventure, right? At the end of the day, Pandora loves her Granny “just like that.”
So dare to be different. Dare to be fun. And most of all, dare to be yourself!
The latest young fiction book in the "Hubble Bubble" series is published today!