Book Info
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Paperback320 pages
Publication date
5th April 2007ISBN
9780192792372Children's Author 'Like-for-Like' recommendations
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The Secret History of Tom Trueheart Boy Adventurer
Ian Beck
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Lovereading4kids Price: £5.24
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The Lovereading comment:
This handsome little book with striking silhouette illustrations, contains a wonderful story about young Tom Trueheart, the youngest of seven brothers, who sets out into the Land of Stories to find out what can possibly have gone wrong for his six older brothers. Each has been sent off on a quest and none returns. Things have gone wrong in the Land of Story so Snow White goes on sleeping and Cinderella still waits with only one shoe. Does little Tom have the courage to become the hero who can bring the stories to an end? A celebration of make believe for all lovers of a good story. Check out the latest tale in this series, Tom Trueheart and The Land of Dark Stories. The third in this swashbuckling series featuring brave Tom Trueheart - Tom Trueheart and the Land of Myths and Legends is also now published.
Synopsis
The Secret History of Tom Trueheart Boy Adventurer by Ian BeckTom Trueheart wants to be an adventurer like his six older brothers. They're all employed by the Story Bureau to take the lead in thrilling tales. But something's gone wrong - none of the stories are being finished and none of the Trueheart brothers have returned home. Now, Tom must find out what has happened to his brothers and bring them back.
Reviews
a delightful book, and one with a wide potential audience ... a story with a timeless quality and great charm for bedtime reading upwards. Marcus Sedgwick, the Literary Review This handsome little book with striking silhouette illustrations, contains a wonderful story. Julia Eccleshare, lovereadingforkids.com Tom's quest to discover his own story and his courage, unrolls through an elegantly described magical landscape, in this skilful, highly inventive story about the way stories work. Booktrust looks likely to become one of the hits of 2006 Amanda Craig,The Times
About The Author
Ian Beck was born in Hove on the Sussex coast in 1947. At the age of thirteen, after seeing an exhibition of drawings for the Radio Times, he was fired with enthusiasm about illustration and began attending Saturday painting classes at the nearby Brighton College of Art.
Ian left school at fifteen and went immediately to Brighton to study art full-time. There he was taught by both Raymond Briggs and John Vernon Lord.
Ian has worked in many fields of illustration. He's been involved in the record industry, and painted the cover of one of the most popular records of all time: Elton John's 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'. One of Ian's titles, Lost in Snow, was made into an animated film for TV and his books have now sold a million copies worldwide.
Q & A with Ian Beck
1. When did you first start to write stories or draw?
I drew incessantly as a child, but came late to writing stories.
2. In general, where do your ideas come from?
From life or from other stories.
3. What made you write this book?
The main character of Tom Trueheart popped into my head and refused to go away, he demanded to have his stories told.
4. What have you enjoyed most about working on this book?
The process of trimming changing and cutting the book from the first draft, and working with the editor and designer on the whole book, design, illustrations, layout etc.
5. What is your earliest memory?
Being sent to bed early in summer and looking enviously out of the bedroom window at other children playing happily in the sunlit street.
6. What did you enjoy most at school?
At school I enjoyed Art classes and drama, I managed to appear in two Shakespeare productions at school which gave me a lifelong love of Shakespeare.
7. Of all the places you have lived, where have you felt most at home and why?
Where I live now in the western suburbs of London surrounded by the song of blackbirds and near the Thames.
8. Is there a particular holiday destination that you have visited that you would love to return to?
A little seaside town in France called St Jacut De La Mare.
9. Is there anything you’d like to tell us about your pets, past or present?
We have no pets at the moment, although we have had two very nice Hamsters over the years.
10. What would you say is your greatest talent?
Noticing things in detail and long term patience.
11. What new skill – it can be anything at all – would you love to learn?
Although much too old I would love to surf the beaches of Cornwall.
12. What is the most unusual job you have done?
Singing as part of a cabaret group in restaurants in Soho.
13. What is your most treasured possession?
A beautiful and immaculate copy of Now We Are Six by A A Milne which was given to me for a birthday present many years ago.
14. Is there a particular book, author, or film that had a great impact on you in your childhood?
Book: The Just William stories by Richmal Crompton. Film: Forbidden Planet.
15. What are your hobbies?
Listening to film music and going to the cinema as often as possible.
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