Having moved from the city to a remote island with her mum and dad, Amy has settled down to life there with her special power of being able to talk to animals. Amy has lots of furry and feathery friends. Hilton the pooch, Einstein the cat, Plato the squawking parrot and now a musical mouse, who on Amy’s first day at school is causing a few problems - the headmaster wants to catch it and be rid of it! Amy must step in and find a new home for the musical mouse before it’s too late.
Amy Wild, Animal Talker: The Musical Mouse Synopsis
Welcome to the world of Amy Wild, where dogs tell their secrets, cats perform rescue missions, and an entire island is squeaking and squawking with animal magic! Amy Wild's first day at her new school is disrupted by the appearance of an uninvited guest, when Mozart the music-loving mouse joins in the children's singing lesson. The head master is not impressed and threatens to get rid of Amy's friend, Einstein the school cat, if Einstein does not get rid of the mouse. As the newest and only human member of the Clan - a group of animals that make sure the island of Clamerkin is a happy place to live - Amy is determined to come up with a plan to save both Mozart and Einstein from the chop. Ever wondered what your pet is really thinking? Animal lovers everywhere will be instantly enchanted by this Dr. Doolittle for a new generation.
Diana Kimpton has written more than forty books for children, including her Pony-Mad Princess series, other novels, picture books and non-fiction. She has always loved horses and finds that writing about them gives her the perfect excuse to spend time at the stables when she should be working. Diana says " I've always made up stories. When I was a child, I did it in my head using characters from my favourite TV programmes or the horses I dreamed of owning. But I never saw writing as a possible career, especially as I didn't like English at secondary school. Perhaps I was already too much a writer at heart to enjoy dissecting other people's books. So I left school and became a maths teacher which I didn't like. Then I left teaching and became a mother which I loved. Finally, in the time left over from parenting, I became a writer which is such fun that I don't ever want to stop."
Here's Diana talking about her writing...
A Q&A with Diana about her new novel, There Must Be Horses
What led you to write There Must Be Horses? I wanted to write a longer book for readers who had grown out of my Pony-Mad Princess books. But I was keen not to write a story about winning red rosettes, so I started investigating horse whispering and horse behaviour. While I was doing that I became fascinated with the similarity in the way both horses and humans lose trust in people if they have bad experiences and that became the trigger for the plot.
Did you do much research for the book? Masses. I even bought a horse of my own to try out all the methods I had read about. That was my excuse anyway. I'd always wanted a pony, and Kubus is far more than just a research project - he's a friend. He's also triggered an idea for another book that's just starting to brew in my head.
How long did it take you to write the book? Ages - I've never spent so long on any book. I wrote the first chapter five years ago, just to see if Sasha worked as a character. Then I stopped writing while I worked on the Amy Wild - Animal Talker books, but I kept on with the research and let the story grow on my head. Once I settled down to work on the book again, I spent about a year finalising the plot and actually writing it down.
