So what do kids think about Alice-Miranda?

Recently I met a group of children who were very familiar with my friend Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones.  It was great hearing their thoughts about this little character with whom I spend so much of my time.  At this particular school, some Year 4 students, having had the first few chapters of Alice-Miranda at School read aloud to them brainstormed ideas about her.  They said things like, ‘she’s very happy, she’s smart, she’s clever, she’s a good friend, she’s brave, she always looks on the bright side and she’s very determined’.

There was one response though that got me thinking – ‘she’s not quite normal’.  When asked to expand on this, the young boy replied that ‘she’s always happy and she always sees the good in everything and that’s just not normal’.  I would have to agree with him that these particular traits do tend to set her apart from other characters.  Her ability to see the good in everyone no matter how flawed their character or abhorrent their behaviour is definitely unusual.  So I asked the boy, ‘Would you like to be friends with her?’

The resounding response was yes, not just from that boy but from the whole class.  I suppose that’s how I have come to think of her too – as someone I would definitely want to have as my friend – and in many ways that’s exactly what she has become.

Once I started writing her first adventure – with the unlikely plot that she takes herself off to boarding school aged seven and a quarter only to find that the Headmistress hasn’t been out of her study in over ten years, Alice-Miranda very quickly took on a life of her own.

I adore Alice-Miranda – I love writing her and I love sharing her with children.  I’m not exactly sure how many adventures await Alice-Miranda and her increasing group of friends – maybe ten – maybe more.  I think I’ll just have to wait and see where she wants to go next!