July 3rd
Secret’s at St Jude’s, the book I’ve written for teenage readers is out today! I have to admit that I had a ball writing this book. At first, I didn’t think I wanted to write about teenagers at all. I mean those seven years are tricky, just about everyone who’s been through them mainly tries to blank them out, horrible haircuts, terrible outfits and all.
(And I have just looked out a photo of me aged 14 and my nose is definitely much, much bigger than it is now. All those hormones must 
inflate your nasal passages or something. Teenagers should really be told this. It would give them some hope to cling onto as they stare in the mirror in horror.)
But the strange thing was, once I got going with the writing and started to channel my inner teen, I could suddenly remember all sorts of adventures and feelings, anxieties and arguments I hadn’t thought about for years. Probably very therapeutic really.
I really do believe that being a teenager today in 2008 is much the same as being one in 1988, 1938 even 1638. Yes the world around us is changing all the time but the awkward transition from child to adult, with all its incredibly powerful emotions, probably still feels very much the same.