Nicola Davies

Nicola Davies - As a child

Nicola says: I don't remember a time when I wasn't utterly besotted with animals. I spent all my time before I went to school, in the garden with my lovely Grandpa (who was small and round and had all sorts of things in his cardigan pockets) looking at flowers, and ants and bird's nests. My parents moved around quite a lot so I was always the new girl in school, which meant I spent a lot of time on my own reading and thinking... still my two favourite recreational activities. What finally saved me at school was that I learnt to make people laugh. But I was still mostly by myself, alone, out in the fields in Suffolk where my parents then lived, walking my dog and listening to the skylarks.

As an adult

I did a zoology degree and went on to study various animals in the wild; bats, geese, whales... Then I went to work at the BBC Natural History Unit, first as a researcher and later a presenter on 'The Really Wild Show'. TV was fun for a while, but I really hated the pressure. The good thing about it was that it allowed me to earn money, and still have time for my kids when they were little. I've loved being a mum, absolutely adored it. Some of my happiest memories are of reading my kids books I loved as a child - books like the Lord of the Rings. I can still make my daughter squeal by doing my 'Gollum' voice!

As an artist

I wanted to write from about the age of twenty, and I wrote scenes and characters in my head all the time. But never put anything on paper. I would go into bookshops and see all those books and think, there's just too many and I'm not clever enough to do yet another one. So I didn't start writing until my thirties, when I began to write scripts for kids' programmes. I gradually got more confidence and started to write for Walker Books, then for newspapers and magazines and then adult novels. I've just started to write poetry for children too. I'm terribly disciplined about my writing. I just sit down at my desk and get on with it every day I have, and get really cross about being distracted. I also teach writing at a university now and sometimes I get really cross with that too, because it keeps me from getting as much writing done as I would like. I love children's films and cartoons... Lilo and Stitch is my favourite at the moment. I cry every time in Babe when the pig says to the sheepdog, 'Can I call you Mum?' 

Things you didn't know about Nicola Davies 

1. If I were rich, I would fill my whole house with flowers all the time.

2. I have a sister who looks and sounds just like me.

3. I love singing and I know lots of folk songs (some with rather rude words!)

4. My children are always telling me off for saying sorry all the time.

5. I used to study whales in Newfoundland, dressed in nothing but wellies (only on hot days)

6. I used to keep Shetland sheep which I sheared using a pair of kitchen scissors.

7. I'm expert at wringing chickens necks (but I suppose you didn't really want to know that!)

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Featured Books, with extracts by Nicola Davies

A First Book of Nature
Nicola Davies
A beautiful book which brings nature to life in words and pictures. Nicola Davies interweaves fact and fiction as she brings each season into focus. She celebrates new growth and the rich harvests of autumn. Stunning, richly textured illustrations encourage...
Featured in: 3+ readers | Out and About
Format: Hardback - Released: 03/05/2012
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A Girl Called Dog
Nicola Davies
Dog wasn't really a dog, she was a human girl. But she was called Dog because that is what Uncle had always called her. Dog has never been outside of nasty Uncle's pet shop. She sleeps in a box on...
Featured in: 11+ readers | 9+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/04/2011
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All Aboard at Silver Street Farm
Nicola Davies
Silver Street Farm is facing big problems in the long hot summer. Animals are very thirsty and the water bill is very large…What can the children do to make sure the animals have enough to drink and keep cool? Their...
Featured in: 7+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/02/2011
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Escape from Silver Street Farm
Nicola Davies
Setting up Silver Street  Farm is one thing, keeping all the animals under control all of the time is another! When Kenny the Ram decides that outside the fence is nicer than inside it there seems to be no way...
Featured in: 5+ readers | 7+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/02/2011
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Spring Fever at Silver Street Farm
Nicola Davies
There’s loads of new life on Silver Street Farm as the pig, the goats and the sheep are all pregnant! Can the children manage the pressure! The results are exciting and the all the new babies are perfectly sweet –...
Featured in: 5+ readers | 7+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/02/2011
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Welcome to Silver Street Farm
Nicola Davies
Humorously told and full of facts about animals, the ups and downs of the new city farm make a great story. Three children and an unusual selection of animals for a farm – including poodle puppies who have some very...
Featured in: 5+ readers | 7+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/02/2011
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Gaia Warriors
Nicola Davies
This is a book about climate change like no other - a collaboration between the inventor of Gaia Theory and an award-winning non-fiction writer for children - that explains the science and answers the commonly-asked questions about global warming. The...
Featured in: 11+ readers | 9+ readers | Books of the Month
Format: Paperback - Released: 02/11/2009
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Home
Nicola Davies
Shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2006. Set in a far off future, Home is a powerful science fiction story which asks readers to take a fresh look at Earth and to consider what belonging somewhere means and why it...
Featured in: 7+ readers | 9+ readers | Book Awards
Format: Paperback - Released: 05/09/2005
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Poo
Nicola Davies
Some parents may be appalled that a title such as this has been shortlisted for a prestigious award but the award in question is the Blue Peter award, which, not surprisingly is chosen by children. Talk about taking a subject...
Featured in: 5+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/08/2005
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