TAMARA MACFARLANE
As a child, Tamara Macfarlane practically lived in Blackwells Children's Bookshop in Oxford. Later in Cambridge she read lots more children's books whilst studying English and Education, specialising in Children's Literature.
After a number of years spent as a literacy co ordinator finding ways to encourage children to open up the amazing world inside children's books Tamara had her first child and decided she would like to move back into a children's bookshop. As she couldn't find one that she liked, she founded Tales on Moon Lane in Herne Hill, South London which went on to win Children's Bookshop of the Year in 2008. Tales on Moon Lane then led into the setting up and organisation of a number of children's literature festivals.
After having her second child, she noticed a small gap on the shelves of the
5-8 section and not being able to find anything she really loved to put in it she decided to start writing herself. Amazing Esme will be published by Hodder in 2011 with the second and third books in the series following in 2012 and 2012.
LATEST BOOK: AMAZING ESME
Follow the wildly imaginative adventures of Esme as she leaves behind her circus home for the first time to spend the summer with her cousins Magnus, Cosmo and Gus at Maclinkey Castle where it's easy to get lost and where you can discover all sorts of weird and wonderful animals in unlikely places - there are porcupines in beds, lizards in drawers and giraffes on the loo. It's all a little wonderful and a lot overwhelming and when her pet donkey, Donk, turns up in a parcel sent from her parents, the fun really begins.
When hundreds of baby penguins hatch in Esme's top floor bedroom, the children have to figure out how to get them outside. Esme and her cousin have the ingenious idea of building a helter skelter around the castle turret, but this is just the start - soon Maclinkey Castle is turned into a full-on Fairground Circus with a big wheel, Bumper Bears, and the show stopping Flying Tigers starring Esme herself!
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Amazing Esme, Hodder Children's, 2011.
