We sat down for a chat...with Emily Murdoch

Today's guest post is a multifarious delight! Emily Murdoch, author of the poetic If You Find Me, spills the beans  on rescuing equine friends, Winnie the Pooh, and being lefthanded. Plus, there's a chance to win a paperback copy of her novel. And there are cute photos galore -especially at the end!

*****

Emily Murdoch: It's a genuine pleasure to be here with both of you. Thank you for inviting me to your lovely blog!

WSD: You're welcome! We’d love to hear more about the sanctuary that you offer to horses on your Arizona ranch.

Emily Murdoch: I've always loved horses. I didn't grow up with horses, but I always hoped I'd own a few of my own one day. When I was writing one of my earlier manuscripts, I decided to make my protagonist a horse rescuer, having no idea what that entailed. As I did my research, I uncovered a history of such inhumanity, brutality, and injustice toward these animals, I couldn’t NOT help.

Once you know, you know. And once you know, you can do something.

That's when I first learned how America’s wild mustangs and burros (burros being the western word for donkeys) were being rounded up by our government from their federally protected lands and, all too often, sold to “kill buyers” who truck them to slaughterhouses.

Every day, amazing people fight to keep these equines wild and free in their herd management areas (hma’s) on the land preserved for them under United States law – of which 22.2 million acres have already been “lost” in favor of cattlemen grazing their beef cattle at “welfare” prices. Right now, cattle outnumber wild horses 50:1.

Seeing how many horses were being slaughtered, I decided to put our land to good use and adopt, instead of buy. And in my own small way, I provide sanctuary for a lucky few -- we have three slaughter-saved horses (one a once-wild Nevada estray mustang) and a donkey – and I do what I can to raise awareness.

As they say in the animal world, saving an animal may not change the world, but it'll change that animal's world ... and maybe your own.

The following link contains up-to-date information for anyone interested in the plight of America’s wild horses and burros and how you can help, regardless of country of origin. I remain constantly surprised at the power of petitions and signatures. These equines are not only national treasures, but treasured by the thousands of tourists worldwide who visit the U.S. each year with hopes of catching their own glimpse of these magnificent beings. http://wildhorsepreservation.org/

(ps. see end of post for more equine pics....)

WSD: From horses to bears.....
Winnie the Pooh features prominently in your novel, If You Find Me. What were some of your favourite childhood reads - or favourite literary characters?

Emily Murdoch: Oooooo, I love this question.My husband teases that I must've been British in a past life because many of my favorite authors are British.

Like Frances Hodgson Burnett. Both A Little Princess and The Secret Garden remain all-time favorites I read to tatters. Anne of Green Gables. Anne Shirley is one of my favorite heroines, alongside Jo March from Little Women. A.A. Milne, of course, and Winnie the Pooh. Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. Madeleine L'Engle andA Wrinkle In Time's Meg.

I love strong heroes/heroines, especially those who've fought the good fight. Who doesn’t want to feel braver, stronger, and wiser by the turn of the last page?

WSD: And to the physical act of writing....
You're left handed and say that you smear ink. Does that mean you write by hand a lot? Or draw? And are there other things that you think would be easier (or more challenging!) if you were right-handed?

Emily Murdoch: In my idea notebook, I do write out in longhand items such as notes, story ideas, ideas for titles, even dialogue that comes to me out of the blue. It was a Christmas gift from a dear girlfriend, and rather like Pooh and his honey, I’m quite attached to it.

As for smearing ink ... Ah, the bane of a lefty's existence. Many of us old-school lefties write in such a way that the heel of our hand pushes across the page, smudging the lines beneath.

*in the photo of me signing my book contract for If You Find Me, my leftyness is evident!

Back when I was learning to write, no one knew what to do with lefties; today, more lefty children are taught to position their hand in such a way that it doesn’t drag across the page; in essence, mirroring how a right-handed person writes.

I've always felt a sort of despair writing out thank-you cards, Christmas cards and letters, since I've very nearly smudged every one in existence. So, fast forward to publishing If You Find Me; I was very concerned about smudges when signing books for readers. After some research, I was ecstatic to find special pens for lefties which help with hand and finger placement, but most importantly, that come with smudge-proof ink!

I'm ultra-proud to say that I haven’t smudged one signed book.

For any lefties out there, here’s a great site for everything lefty. Their newsletter is a delight, packed with interesting left-hander information, and they hail from the UK! http://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/

I love being a lefty. I can’t snap my fingers, curl my tongue or whistle. But I’m one of 4 to 10% of the population to go against evolution and write with my left hand. (Right-handedness is believed to have developed from human beings’ need for cooperation in groups, a.k.a. commonality for preservation’s sake.)

Thank you so much for highlighting myself and If You Find Me, today. I love that you’re a mother-daughter reading duo, and I wish you many more wonderful books together!

Thank you Emily for sharing your thoughts and pictures with us!

Win a copy of If You Find Me

Leave a comment, e-mail or tweet us (@wesatdown) about the comp by Sunday, 2 Feb 2014, 6pm. 

One winner selected at random by our yellow-furred random-eater. Open to UK postal addresses. Under 13s should get parental permission to enter.

Prize is a UK paperback edition of If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch, published by Indigo, 30 January 2014.

As promised, more horsey pics from Emily!

Go sign some signatures....

And tweet, comment or e-mail us to win.

Race the Wind - Little M's review

Race the Wind by Lauren St John

Reviewed by Little M (13)

 

Race the Wind is the second novel in Lauren St. John's horse trilogy. Casey Blue and her horse, Storm Warning, have won Badminton horse trials and have been offered a place at the Kentucky three day event in America. Her father has been accused of a crime which he says he hasn't done. The evidence that show he has not committed the crime is missing. A blackmailer approaches Casey and says she and Storm must win Kentucky or her father will not be released.

I loved the plot and I think the little romance between Casey and Peter was really sweet. Lauren shows how a horse and a girl connect and trust each other. She also shows that when you ride horses there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. I didn't have a favourite character in this book but I found that they all were mostly believable but some were a tiny bit cheesy.

I preferred The One Dollar Horse which is the first novel in the series. This novel seemed to be aimed at a much younger audience than The One Dollar Horse, which is strange because it is the same series. I would recommend Race the Wind to 11/12 year olds, maybe a bit older because of some of the events which take place in the novel. But the style of writing seems to be aimed at a younger audience.

I would like to read the next book even though this one wasn't my favourite. I do love good horsey books.

Publication details: 2013, Orion Children’s Books, London, hardback

This copy: received for review from the publisher

Horsing around with the Classics

This is our first Classics Club review post and it’s five reads from Little M. Spot the theme! For both of us, this is also our first foray into exploring what the ‘classic’ in Classic Books actually means – for us.

Here's a link to our 'master' Classics Club list.

 5 Titles read and reviewed by Little M 

(in order of first publication date)

1. The Red Pony by John Steinbeck

2. My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara

3. Kit Hunter Show Jumper in South American Mission by Peter Grey

4. The Secret of Shadow Ranch (Nancy Drew #1) by Carolyn Keene

5. The Magic Pony (Jinny at Finmory #7) by Patricia Leitch

L to R: My Friend Flicka, The Red Pony, The Secret of Shadow Ranch, The Magic Pony, South American Mission + dustjacket

 

 

 

Spoiler alert: because this is a discussion post, there are a few big spoilers in some of the reviews. We don't think this will spoil the read too much though. But, please be warned.

  

1. The Red Pony

by John Steinbeck,1970, Corgi, London.

First published 1937/1938.

The Red Pony is about a boy named Jody who wants a pony. He gets a little red pony and names him Gabilan. Unfortunately, Gabilan dies and poor Jody is heartbroken.

I thought this was an okay book. It’s probably not at the top of my favourites list but I would definitely recommend it for future generations because it’s sad and happy at the same time. I didn’t notice that the language was old-fashioned in this book. I think there are some bits I didn’t understand in this novel. The storyline/plot is not as interesting as the one in The Magic Pony but I really enjoyed it.

Verdict: Little M would recommend it to next generations.

 

2. My Friend Flicka

by Mary O’Hara, 1972, Eyre & Spottiswoode, London.

First published 1943. This edition: secondhand hardback passed down three generations.

My Friend Flicka is absolutely one of my favourite pony books ever. Or maybe even my favourite pony book because of the plot. Spoiler: I loved the way one little boy wanted a foal so much that when he got her he didn’t want to leave her alone. Then when his filly is close to death, he sits with her all night in the river almost killing himself. I cried in parts when I thought the horse was dead but I also giggled at some points.

Verdict: I would definitely recommend this to current and future generations. I read this book because my M recommended it to me.

M: I read this when I was about 11 and loved it. Mary O’Hara’s whole Wyoming ranch trilogy was one of my favourites ever.

 

3. South American Mission

by Peter Grey, World Distributors, Manchester. Publishing date around 1959-1961.

Kit Hunter Show Jumper in South American Mission is the second book in the Kit Hunter series. It is about Kit Hunter and her friends. Her uncle hurts himself while riding. This has put his plans of going to America and getting some horses way out of the window. One day, a man named Mr Gregg comes by and offers to help them with the horses in America. He and Kit decide that Kit and her friend will go to America and take part in the show jumping and wait until her uncle can come out and help her with deciding which horses to bring back.

I thought this book was one of the best pony books I have ever read because it’s exciting and I couldn’t guess what was going to happen next.

Verdict: I would definitely recommend this to future generations. I bought this book in a secondhand bookshop in South Africa.

M: I read one of the Kit Hunter novels, The Wild One, when I was a girl and enjoyed it.

 

4. The Secret of Shadow Ranch (Nancy Drew #1)

by Carolyn Keene, 1979, Armada, London; first published 1971.

The Secret of Shadow Ranch is the first Nancy Drew Mystery. Nancy is visiting her aunt and uncle (I think) with her cousins. There is a mystery at the ranch. Sometimes a ghost white horse gallops through the yard and breaks the fences. One of the workers is a bit mysterious. He might be part of the mystery. Will Nancy be able to solve it?

I loved this book. It is in my top pony books because I love mysteries and I love horses so it’s a perfect book for me.

 

Verdict: I would definitely recommend this to the next generation. I think it will be a good book for them to read because it will be an old mystery type of book rather than the newer ones.

M: I read many of the Nancy Drew mysteries when I was a girl. I loved them. I recently discovered that Carolyn Keene is a pseudonym and that the novels were ghostwritten and used a formula. This partly explains why one of the titles that I had two different edition of, The Clue of the Broken Locket, were also completely different stories! Because of this, I’m not sure the novels would count as classics in literature, but as a series, I’d say it was some kind of classic.

 

5. The Magic Pony (Jinny at Finmory #7)
by Patricia Leitch, 2012, Catnip. London. First published in 1977.

This book is about a girl, Jinny, who owns a pony. The pony becomes lame and the vet can’t see what’s wrong but whilst at a fair, Jinny meets a girl who tells her about a woman at a riding stable who might be able to help. The story moves on to Jinny trying to save Easter, an old dying pony.

 

I quite liked this book but it’s not my favourite pony book because the writing annoys me. I think this is because it uses old fashioned slang (maybe?).

I think a classic is a book that generations might read.

M: I read Rebel Pony by Patricia Leitch when I was 12 and I thought it was OK, which was quite a low rating from me.

Verdict: we wouldn’t recommend it to next generations, so for us, it is probably not a classic.

 

******

M: Overall, we noticed in the discussion that some of the older publications hadn’t dated in the same way that some of the newer ones had. We think ‘not dating’ and ‘recommending to future generations’ might be a sign of a classic.


All book copies were our own.

 

Kentucky Thriller - Little M's Review

Kentucky Thriller by Lauren St John

 

Kentucky Thriller is the third book in the Laura Marlin mystery series. This book is about the horse racing in Kentucky, America. When Laura and Tariq find an abandoned race horse in a trailer their detective minds start to think. The owner of the horse, Golden Rush, is very pleased to have him back and says that they can come and stay at his farm in America.

Kentucky Thriller by Lauren St John

One night at the farm Laura wakes up in the middle of the night. She saw Golden Rush be unloaded. And then a few hours later another truck comes with a horse that looks just like Golden Rush. Then she suspects there has been a swap. Is anyone going to believe her?

Whilst in America, Laura suspects Golden Rush is going to be stolen again, but how?  And is Noble Warrior going to win the Kentucky race? Are the Straight A’s, a criminal gang, going to be involved? (The Straight A’s have been in the other two books.)

I absolutely loved this book because I love Lauren St John’s books, I love horses and I love detective books. So this book was pretty much perfect for me.

I have read all the Laura Marlin Mysteries and I really enjoyed them all. But I still think the first book and the second are the best. There are only 3 so far in the series but I think Lauren is up to something (writing a 4^th one).

I would recommend this book to anyone who has read any of Lauren St John’s Laura Marlin Mysteries or any of The White Giraffe series. I think most people who liked Enid Blyton's The Famous Five and Secret Seven when they were younger will enjoy this book.

This book is a mystery, horsey and 100% Lauren St John.

Publication details:

Orion, 2012, London, hardback

This copy: received for review from the publishers

Victoria Eveleigh interview & book giveaway!

If you’ve read Little M’s review of A Stallion Called Midnight, you’ll know that it’s a story about much more than horses and ponies.  You’ll also know that she loved it! But did you know that Midnight was based on a real Lundy island pony?

We’re delighted to welcome author Victoria Eveleigh to our blog where she answers some of Little M’s burning questions.  And at the end of the interview, we’re excited to host our first book giveaway!!

Author Victoria Eveleigh and a lovely friend!

Little M: What made you start liking horses?

Victoria: Some of my earliest memories are of horses and ponies. I was brought up in London, so the first horses I ever saw were police horses and the horses from the local army barracks who passed by the end of our road when they were being exercised. Also, there was a rag and bone man who used to come down our street with a pony and cart (that shows how old I am!) and I loved his pony.

I couldn’t wait to start riding, but I wasn’t allowed to have lessons until I was six years old. My first riding lessons were around Hyde Park in London on a pony called Jenny. I was fond of all animals, but horses were always extra special – and still are.

I can’t really pin down why I like horses so much, but here are some of the reasons: riding is great fun, horses are beautiful, I like their company, I love the smell of them and the sounds they make, they fascinate me and there’s always something new to learn from them.

Little M: Why is Midnight called Midnight when he is not a black horse?

Victoria: Phew! That’s an easy one: Midnight was called Midnight because he had midnight-blue eyes.

Little M: Did the real Midnight ever get properly tamed?

Victoria: No, the real Midnight was always pretty wild, and nobody managed to ride him. However, Peggy Garvey (the lady who gave him a home on the mainland for several years before he died) trained him to accept a head collar so she could lead him. She told me he was never easy to handle, though.

Little M: Did you or any of your children ever go to boarding school?

Victoria: I went to a boarding school in Kent when I was a teenager. I was very lucky because I made some good friends and enjoyed my time there. However, it can’t have been much fun for people who were homesick or found it difficult to make friends. Our children went to a local school every day. We live on an isolated farm miles away from the nearest secondary school. They had to spend two hours on the school bus every day, so sometimes they wished they were boarding!

Little M: Will there be a sequel to A Stallion Called Midnight?

Victoria: I’m not planning to write one at the moment, but you never know...

Little M:  When did you first start writing?

Victoria: I always enjoyed writing letters at boarding school, partly because if you wrote letters you were more likely to get some sent to you. (As in A Stallion Called Midnight, the letter rack was a very important thing at boarding school.)

However, I studied sciences for A levels and at university, so I wrote essays rather than stories for a long time. Essays are like stories to a certain extent, though, because they have a similar structure (introduction, main part and conclusion) so in some ways writing essays taught me how to write stories. I think my scientific training made me keen on facts and being precise, which is why I always try to get my facts right in my stories and make them realistic. I wouldn’t be comfortable writing fantasies, but I admire people who do.

I wrote my first story, about a girl and an Exmoor pony, during the foot and mouth crisis in 2001. It was a terrible time for livestock farmers. Our sheep and cattle didn’t get foot and mouth on our farm, but we were so anxious not to get it that we kept our children at home for a whole term, didn’t have any visitors to the farm and only went out when we really had to. The result was that I had the time to write the story which had been forming in my head for several years.  I published it myself.

*****

Thank you very much Victoria!

Victoria is in the middle of writing a brand new trilogy for Orion.  Horses and ponies will still be a central theme but they will have a boy as the main character.  She also has a lovely horsey website.

Book Giveaway!!!!

Orion Children’s Books are sponsoring our first ever book giveaway! 

There are 3 copies of Victoria Eveleigh’s A Stallion Called Midnight up for grabs. So that means, 3 winners!!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post.
Or you can send an e-mail with A Stallion Called Midnight Competition in the subject line: wesatdown2 [at] gmail [dot] com.

The competition closes on Friday 6 July 2012 @ 17h00.

Winners will be announced on this blog, our Facebook page and on Twitter on Saturday 7 July 2012.

If you haven't left a way for us to contact you, please do check back to see if you have won.

This giveaway is UK only and is open to readers 13 and older.  If you are younger, please get your parent’s permission to enter (or ask them to enter for you). Winners are picked at random.

Good luck!!

PS. If you want to find out if you think you'll like this book, you can read Little M's review.

Little M's Review - A Stallion Called Midnight

A Stallion Called Midnight by Victoria Eveleigh



A Stallion Called Midnight - Victoria Eveleigh



Jenny is going to learn how to ride, but to do that she must leave the wild stallion Midnight on the island and go to the mainland. But there is a catch; her Father has always said she should get a good education and that cannot be achieved on the island. So Jenny is going to go to boarding school and she is leaving the island and Midnight.

Jennie’s dream is to be able to ride Midnight, but because he is a wild stallion she has no idea how she will. But when people come to take Midnight to the main land to be tamed and sold, Jennie’s heart breaks. How is she going to live without him!!! Poor Midnight is on a boat to the mainland and Jenny can’t do anything to save him.

Once in boarding school she meets a girl called Fran; Fran becomes Jennie’s best friend. Then when the half term holidays come her boat is cancelled because of the bad weather, so she must stay at the boarding school. Everything is so miserable for Jenny till Albert comes and takes her back to where he lives on the mainland. Albert is one of the light house guards on the island but he and his family mainly live on the mainland. Albert has a son called Ben who is a few years older than Jenny, but when they met on the island they instantly started talking.

Jenny and Ben had been trying to tame Midnight with a halter that had been hand made by Ben. But before they could finish Midnight had been taken to the mainland. Now on the mainland they are both going to try and get Midnight back....

I adore the little foal Gale. She sounds so nosey and all she wants is attention. I can’t believe Gale managed to survive the storm; she must have been so weak.

I loved this book because it was not 100% pony mad, but had other aspects to it like when Jenny has to make friends and make a decision whether to stay with Fran in London or stay at the boarding school. It also had the most important thing in the world in it which is love. You could see how much Jenny loved her Mother but also let Sheila in.   

This book made me think about the way people treat animals with respect. Like in the book, Jenny thinks it is not right to own a horse; it is like someone owning you.

I even think my Mum would like this book. 

Publication details:

Orion, June 2012, London, paperback

This copy: review copy from the publishers

*****

Exciting!!! Tomorrow, Tues 26 June, we'll be giving having our first book giveaway!!!! And Victoria Eveleigh tells us some very interesting things too. 

See you tomorrow!

  

Gill Lewis chat

We Sat Down for a chat....with Gill Lewis

We are so delighted to welcome Leeds Book Award winner, Gill Lewis, to our blog. Gill is the author of Sky Hawk and White Dolphin. 

Today, we've asked her a bit about writing White Dolphin, being a vet, writing in treehouses and accidents on the Zambezi!  Her answers are a real treat for everyone! 



Gill Lewis as a vet



Little M: What made you want to write White Dolphin?

Gill: It's difficult to pin-point the reason I wanted to write White Dolphin. I think much of the inspiration came from childhood holidays on the Gower where my father grew up and kept a small boat for many years. I have many fond memories of going out on the Lougher Estuary and listening to the calls of the wild marsh birds and sleeping under the stars in that boat.

White Dolphin is dedicated to my parents and to our boat. I also spent some years working as a vet in Cornwall and was inspired by the landscape, the wildlife and the people.

In fact, White Dolphin was initially going to be a story for much younger readers about a girl who could 'talk' with dolphins. But the more I researched, I realised that a more powerful story could be told by keeping the dolphin true to its own nature.

My research also revealed the fragility of our endangered ecosystems beneath the waves. I was shocked to discover that less than 1 percent of the oceans has some form of protection. Overfishing and pollution pose huge threats to marine environments. For many years our sea beds have been 'out of sight and out of mind'. However we are beginning to realise just how much damage has been done and that by taking measures now, we can restore the balance before it is too late. Just recently, Sir David Attenborough has issued a plea to then government to secure 127 marine protected areas around our coasts. So, I suppose, in the end, I wanted to write a story about the threats facing our marine environment, and to use a dolphin to tell that story.

 
Little M: Why did you pick a white dolphin?

Gill: I chose a white dolphin for a few reasons. Partly, I needed the dolphin to be recognisable. I did consider giving the dolphin a distinctive notch in the dorsal fin, but as I wrote the story, I liked the idea of Kara looking for signs she thinks are connected with her mother. Hence the white dove feather, then cowrie shell and then ultimately the white dolphin. Albino animals are quite rare in the wild, but they do exist. An albino orca, thought to be about sixteen years of age has recently been sighted off the coast of Russia.

Little M: How did you come up with the characters’ names?

Gill: The character's names…sometimes names just pop into my head and feel 'right' from the very beginning. Sometimes I have to work hard at finding a name. Kara's name was quite easy, as it is the Cornish meaning for 'Love', and it is love that threads through the story. The boat is named Moana, from the Maori name for 'ocean'. Aunt Bev's name came from a friend's mother whose character is very similar! I'm not saying who, though!

Gill Lewis and her writing treehouse

M: You write in a treehouse!  That’s amazing.  How did this come about?

Gill: I do write in the tree house…in the summer! It's too cold in winter. I have had some unwelcome visitors…firstly the squirrels' nest and more recently an overwintering hornet. There is only one way out from the treehouse and my exit was blocked by a massive angry hornet! I like writing in the treehouse because it has no internet, so I can't get distracted by Twitter/ Facebook etc.

M: Have you ever swum with dolphins?

Gill: I have never swum with dolphins although I would love to swim with them in the wild. I have been very close to them in boats and the thrill of seeing them leaping alongside never leaves me. I have swum with seals around the Scilly Isles. It was a magical feeling as they twisted and turned around me, pulling at my flippers with their teeth.

M: Do you still work as a vet?

Gill: I don't work as a vet the moment. :0(  I wouldn't have time with writing and also being a mum too, although I do miss it. Luckily my husband is a vet too, so I help him out from time to time, so I feel I still keep in contact with veterinary work. I do miss meeting the owners and their animals, but I don't miss being woken up for calls at 2am though!

Gill Lewis and rescue pony Murray

M: What was one of your most memorable vet experiences?

Gill: There are so many memorable vet experiences, from scary to sad to heartwarming, life affirming moments. But there is one moment that particularly stays with me, because it was at a time of change and I felt I was a witness to some of it. Cornwall is a rural county with many dairy farms, some suckler herds of cattle and sheep farms. Once, there were many small family run farms with small herds, but as profitability in the farming industry decreased, farming  intensified; big farms became bigger and many of the small farms were pushed out of business.

I remember visiting a farm high on Bodmin Moor to inspect every cow in the farmer's herd for a particular disease. I couldn't drive up to the farm, as there was only a very rough track. After walking half a long muddy mile, I found the farmer sitting on a milking stool, milking a cow by hand into a bucket. I really felt I had stepped back in time. The farmer had no holding facility for his cows, except for an old cowshed where his cows were fed.

When I arrived, the twenty cows of his herd were all out in the field next to the barn, and I remember feeling exasperated thinking I'd have to go and help bring them in, and I had other calls that day too. So I asked him how would we get his cows into the barn, and he asked which cow I wanted first.

Then he proceeded to call each cow by name. When he called out 'Daisy!', one cow put her head up and ambled in. This happened for each cow. Each knew her own name. After examining all his cows I was invited into the farmhouse to have a cup of tea, and there, standing in the middle of the kitchen was one of the cows, eating cabbage peelings out of the sink as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

At the time, it seemed I was witnessing a piece of passing history, a farmer in tune with his environment and his animals set against a world of increased intensive farming. However, in recent years there seems of have been a slight shift, towards organic farming,  less intensive land use and increased welfare for animals. It's something I hope will continue.

M: Have you got any tips for readers who would like to become vets?

Gill: For readers who want to be vets…firstly, it's a great job. You come into contact with so many interesting animals and people and have the opportunity to travel to some amazing places. I would say, however, to keep your options open. If you want to be a vet, the chances are that you love animals, and so it’s worth considering other jobs where you work with animals, such as RSPCA inspector, wildlife photographer, ecologist, marine biologist, veterinary nurse, working with horses etc.

There is a lot of competition for places at vet school, so you have to be dedicated and usually have to achieve high grades in three sciences at A level. This shouldn't put you off if you are very determined. I didn't get the grades I needed at first and had to re-take my A- levels. It seemed a huge slog at the time, but was definitely worth it. Also, if you have work experience days, ask about visiting a local veterinary surgery. You usually have to be in year 10 plus to do this. Work experience can give you a useful insight into the job.

M: What did you do when your canoe split in two on the Zambezi?

Gill: Ah ha…when my canoe split in two in the Zambezi! I didn't actually learn of the canoe's fate until a little later in the day. I was paddling the same canoe as my husband. Unbeknown to us, our canoe party approached some rapids, and we were in a situation where we were in the middle of a wide stretch of river and had no choice but to head straight down the rapids. Everything was going to plan, except for the fact that the canoe had no spray decks (to keep water out of the canoe) and no buoyancy within.

So water filled up in the canoe and the canoe sank, leaving us swirling down the rapids. We were then stuck on a small rock in the middle of the Zambezi for several hours awaiting rescue. Luckily there were no crocodiles or hippos around to keep us company!

Rescue came in the form of a fisherman whose own boat then broke down and we were drifting toward the Victoria Falls. We managed to paddle to the Zimbabwean side of the river, but then had problems getting back to the Zambian side as we didn't have our passports! The worst thing was losing my camera to the Zambezi as I had taken some lovely shots of elephants crossing the river and a huge monitor lizard and beautiful bee-eater. 

M: And in case you're wondering what Gill is reading right now? 

Gill: I'm reading Gangsta Granny with my youngest and the illustrated Life of Pi with my eldest at the moment!

****

Gill, thank you so much for these answers and photos. They were really interesting!

You can find out more about Gill Lewis on her website - it's in the treehouse! 

You can read Little M's reviews of Sky Hawk and White Dolphin. 

And, for younger readers or teachers, you can find activities linked to both books on the Reading Agency's Chatterbooks site.