Q&A with Frances Stickley

We have a Q & A with author Frances Stickley about her delightful new book and character, Wanda the Warthog who Worried.

Where did the idea for Wanda the Warthog come from and was the main character always going to be a warthog?

The book was originally actually called, The Peacock Pig And it featured a mud-wallowing pig (not at all dissimilar to our beloved Wanda) who wanted to be as admired as the beautiful peacock. It wasn’t until we knew a little more about Brian the Lion who Learned and his friends in the jungle that we decided we’d like this book to be a part of the same series. Brian has some excellent friends – Wanda among them in you look closely! – and we thought Wanda would be a wonderful part of that world.

Brian has a lot to learn in his story about showing respect for others, but Wanda’s journey is a little more introspective, and we decided that a story all about having respect for yourself would be a really important one for young children today, especially in an age where social media bombardment is always encouraging comparison rather than celebrating the unique qualities we all have.

Why is it so important for children to read books that build their confidence and self-esteem?

From a very young age, children are absorbing messages around them as to what and who they should be. You only have to walk into a supermarket and read the slogans on gendered clothing to realise just how early this all starts. And children are quite black and white thinkers – if they don’t look right – as in, like their dolls or the pictures in their books – then they must look wrong. This is the key tension we wanted for Wanda the Warthog who Worried. There’s a whole world of surreptitious messaging out there that we’re trying to gently counteract. And of course, when children arrive at social media, this message becomes louder than ever. But hopefully, with characters like Wanda in their early reading, they’ll be armed and ready for that day when it comes.

I am always in awe of a rhyming tale! Was it tricky to get the rhymes just right?

Weirdly, I am wired for rhyme. It comes more naturally to me than writing prose – I think it’s because there’s a scaffold there already, with rules, and that keeps me in line. It also gives rise to surprising twists and turns when you’re looking for the right word. And, when my rhymes get a bit too tenuous, I’m pulled back in line by some brilliant editors. The final polished product is always quite different from the original!

There are several messages throughout Wanda’s story that are important to share- was it easy to blend these in to a story for children?

I think Wanda as a character was a gift because she organically gave rise to those messages. And Chris Chatterton bought her to life beautifully – she has such dynamism and unashamed confidence that we all feel the fallout when she starts to question it, not least because it’s a moment most, if not all of us can recall. So moving with her through all of her doubts and then her revelations felt quite natural and she was the star than held it all together.

The illustrations are brilliant- what were your first impressions?

My first impression of Wanda was actually when I met her in Brian the Lion who Learned. We knew that Wanda would feature in her own story so we gave her a little star turn there first. Nevertheless, nothing could’ve prepared me for seeing her all feathered and fancy and of course, I was wowed. Chris’s artwork is just amazing and I feel massively honoured to have created these brilliant characters with him. He created her whole personality on the page and now, I can’t ever envisage her any other way.

Are you working on anything else that you can hint at?

Well I’m delighted to say that we will be back in the jungle before too long. We all feel that there are more stories yet to be uncovered with these characters and I’ve had the most fun developing them with the team at Simon and Schuster. I’ve also been working with the wonderful Alice McKinley and Nikki Dyson over at S&S so you can expect a scarediest bear and a disco-dancing Capybara called Colin very soon.