We’ve seen unlikely heroes before… misshapen Beasts, Bogeymen, Little Wolves (hem hem)… But who could imagine readers warming to a centipede? A poisonous centipede at that!
It takes a writer as remarkable and original as Lynne Reid Banks to get you to do it. She’s always been a great defender of what others might think of as hopeless cases. That’s why she has the power to make us rejoice when the venomous Hxzltl (sorry… Harry) escapes death by drowning, smothering, slapping and foot-squishing. We’re delighted for the poor starving thing when he gets to chew on a mole-cricket that’s as big to him as a raging bull. We root for this teeny bug in shining armour as he takes on flying-swoopers, belly-crawlers, furry-biters – even when he attacks one of our own kind – a Hoo-min!
As for the bit where he finally gets to explore all the tickly bits of some slumbering Meat-Mountain… What a nailbiting yuck-fest! What a squirmingly magnificent treat!
Ian Whybrow has written over 100 books for children, known for their humour and childfriendliness (including quite a few Harry books of his own!). He takes pride in the fact that his work reads aloud very well. “I loved being read to as a child,” he says. “And I loved the sense that my parents were enjoying it too. For me, that’s the acid test for any book – that there’s something in it for everyone to enjoy.”