Fostering the magic of reading for pleasure is at the heart of everything LoveReading4Kids does. As a result, we’ve been thrilled to follow the fortunes of Noodle Juice, a pretty new kid on the children’s publishing block that’s 100% committed to putting the fun into non-fiction.

Founded by Sarah Walden, a life-long book-lover, English Lit graduate and former industry-leading book buyer, Noodle Juice books are nothing but bold, bright and buzzing with big ideas. Add to that a whole lot of humour and high entertainment value and you have (n)oodles of brilliant books that are sure to satisfy kids with a huge range of interests, from art and drama, to cookery and brain-boggling puzzles.

Read on to find out more about Noodle Juice, and to discover a stack of inspired books that are set to keep kids well and truly entertained through the summer holidays, and beyond.

First up, sum-up Noodle Juice in three words.
Imaginative, inquisitive and irreverent.

We love your mission statement about publishing books that are “irreverent, energetic, fact-packed, laugh-out-loud, eye ball magnets!” Please could you tell us more about your publishing ethos? What led you to found Noodle Juice?
We wanted to create books that made kids laugh or think. We decided early on that we would focus on early learning, activity and non-fiction for kids up to the age of 11. Partly because at the time there was a surge in interest in non-fiction, but also because we would be creating these books ourselves and I wasn’t sure I had it in me to become a fiction author!

We believe that books can compete with screen time, they just have to hook a child’s imagination. We think that humour is a really good way to do that, so many of our books have a humorous element – often associated with our signature animal characters. If not deliberately funny, we hope our books challenge children to think more widely about topics and ideas.

Noodle Juice came about because unfortunately the company I had been working for, the Book People, went into administration and folded. Prior to that, my career had involved buying and selling books through non-traditional channels, so I thought I had a pretty good idea of what a successful book looks like and was keen to be on the creative side of the desk for a change.

What’s in a name? Tell us why you went with the natty Noodle Juice name?
Noodle Juice came about because of our Irish Doodle, Chewie. We had started with Pop Doodle – a name which I’m keeping in the back of my mind for an adult arts and crafts list – but decided that it wasn’t broad enough to cover a children’s list.

Doodle became Noodle which also fitted quite nicely with Noddle for brain and then the juice came about because our books hopefully feed children’s brains and provide the ‘juice’ either electricity or fuel to keep them learning.

We love that it is memorable – and that plus our signature orange – also another nod to Chewie, and our animals, hopefully mean we stand out.

Shifting now to a flashback sequence — please could you share your personal path through the publishing world? What drew to you to work with books in the first place? What professional experiences inform how you run Noodle Juice?
I studied English Literature at university – I’ve always read voraciously, as a child, teenager and even now – I always have a book on the go and get through 4 or 5 books a week. At the time, an English Lit degree meant teaching, librarian or publishing, so publishing it was.

I was lucky enough to get a summer internship at Penguin Books during my first summer holiday at university and from that point on, I was hooked. But not initially with the editorial process. I just loved the buzz of the sales and marketing departments and it was the first time I understood what the world of business might look like.

After university, where I met Mark, my husband, we moved to Oxfordshire and I got my first job in publishing working for Scholastic in their book club and fairs buying department. I just loved buying books – and I got to do it in my day job. This role also exposed me to the acquisitions process and I met many lovely people – some of whom I’m working with today.

Five years later, I moved to Penguin to co-run Puffin Book Club. Working on the Strand was a fabulous experience, although there were also many challenges too. Four years after that, Puffin Book Club moved to the Book People and I went with it. The founders, Ted Smart and Seni Glaister, were hugely influential in the industry and I learnt so much from the pair of them.

I then had two years with Baker & Taylor, a bespoke wholesaler supplying garden centres, the National Trust and Costco, before moving back to the Book People in a more senior role.

But no matter what my remit, I’ve always had responsibility for buying books and love nothing more than selecting titles that you know will do well and seeing the books fly.

Who else is on Team Noodle Juice?
We are a small, but perfectly formed team. Mark and I both work on the creative side of things, and I run the business element. Everyone else is either freelance or on a commission basis.

I work very closely with a talented designer, Annie Childs, who I worked with at the Book People. Emily Cox, who I worked with at Penguin, handles our marketing with support on social by Annabelle Bailey, and Antonia Wilkinson looks after our PR. Imago support us on our printing and production and DigitalJen looks after our website.

Our foreign rights are handled by the Right Solution team and our UK and Export sales by Compass Independent Publishing Services. Our distribution is managed by Combined Book Services in Tonbridge. Other than that, we work really closely with our illustrators and writers.

We also package books for other publishers so are working with Quarto, Farshore and Allsorted currently, with plenty of other satisfied customers too.

After launching at the 2022 Bologna Book Fair, you’re now over a year into the Noodle Juice journey – huge congrats! What have been the biggest challenges and achievements so far?
The biggest achievement has been making it this far with 19 books published. We’re really proud of the books we have created and I love nothing better than seeing kids reading and enjoying them.

We have successfully sold rights in a number of key series, and have signed an exclusive audio contract with The Audio Agency – expect titles to hit the playlists this Autumn.

The biggest challenge has been getting our books onto the high street – and as a small business, cash flow. Both Mark and I have had to go and get ‘proper’ jobs to keep the family going while the business grows.

We have also just lost our lovely Irish Doodle, so that is probably the most personally challenging event this year for us. But he lives on in our catalogue and website and will always be present in the orange!

Tell us about some of the books you’ve published to date.
Our Practically Awesome Animals series — Sheep Can’t Bake, Rhino Can’t Draw, Llama Can’t Cook — are fantastic step-by-step activity titles hilariously accompanied by our fabulous animal characters.

Our Little Book, Big Ideas series asks big questions such as what is philosophy? What is art? What is money and what is music? Stunning illustrations by Katie Rewse really bring the information to life in recognisable settings for 5+.

All The World’s A Stage: A Practical Guide to Performance covers everything you need to know about stage and screen as well as the many different career options there are in the industry.

Just about to publish, our Clever Cogs puzzle book series are packed with challenging puzzles, wordsearches, dot-to-dot, mazes and plenty more to keep 5 – 8-year-olds busy over the holidays.

Fast-forwarding to the future — give us an elevator pitch for some of your upcoming books?
Stories That Built Our World is a sumptuously illustrated collection of 52 retellings of the stories that form the foundation of cultures around the world. From fairytales to Shakespeare, from Greek myths and legends to Indian folk tales, from African creation myths to Norse gods, there’s a story for every week of the year.

Finally, tell us a secret about books…
They’re a lot harder to make than they are to read…

Stay up to date with Noodle Juice news:
Website www.noodle-juice.com
Twitter @noodlejuicebks
Instagram @noodlejuicebooks
Facebook @noodlejuicebook

And, to discover more from the people who bring you all those books you love, read the rest of our Industry Insights series.