Robert Muchamore 
our Guest Editor for February Robert Muchamore was born in 1972 and spent 13 years working as a Private Investigator before deciding to try his hand at writing. The CHERUB series has won numerous awards and been widely reviewed by media and fans alike all over the world. He has gone on to create over 10 Cherub titles and has now started and new series set in WW2 called The Henderson's Boys.

Robert Muchamore...

On Asterix the Legionary by René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo
Asterix books were contentious stuff. In 1980s Britain, the rivalry between Asterix and Tintin amongst schoolboys was up there with Arsenal and Spurs, or Liverpool and Manchester United. Find out more...

On Nicholas Again by Jean-Jacques Sempé & René Goscinny

Nicholas’ world of mad teachers, swimming lessons, chaotic school trips and football matches ruined by bossy adults will seem familiar to anyone who’s ever suffered the indignity of being a schoolboy. Find out more...

On The Knife That Killed Me by Anthony McGowan.
I’ve always answered every fan who e-mails me. But the trickiest question is, ‘I really liked your books, what else can I read?’. Knife tops a list of three (along with Sophie McKenzie’s Girl, Missing and Graham McNamee’s Bonechiller). Find out more...

On Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling 

Before Harry Potter, children’s fiction was in the doldrums. Publishers were convinced that TV spin-offs and novelty items were the only things that would sell. J.K. Rowling proved them wrong and created a market in which a new generation of children’s writers such as me have been able to thrive. Find out more...

On Soldier Bear by Geoffrey Morgan & W.A. Lasocki (unfortunately
Robert's final selection is no longer in print although if you search the internet you may be able to lay your hands on a 2nd hand copy).

My final choice is Soldier Bear, a story based on the true story of Voytek, a drunken, mischievous, brown bear adopted by a Polish company during World War Two. I first heard this story while sitting on my mum’s lap, dressed in pyjamas and waiting for bed. Stories were a nightly ritual, but this book sticks out above all the others that were read to me. I still have my copy, in a plastic bag with its pages separated from the hardened glue along the spine. More than anything I remember shock and tears as I heard Soldier Bear’s ending. It was my first sad ending and a taste of the power that stories can have.