What’s in a name, asks this new series of madcap adventures for young readers. John Smith is fed up with being teased for having the most boring name in the world, until his granddad lets him into an amazing secret: there’s a magical John Smith society, offering travel to faraway lands and crazy adventures. These begin in an old box of dressing up clothes he finds under his bed so when he puts on a pirate hat and coat, John is transformed into Captain John the Fierce, famed for single-handedly eating a whole Portugese Man-of-War jellyfish with custard and chocolate sprinkles, and finds himself up against the equally reckless Captain Black. As a knight in armour in the Middle Ages, he makes friends with Oswald Periwinkle, who also suffers from having an incredibly boring name, and together they take on Ivan the Horrible. Author Johnny Smith (see what he’s done there?) is a Hollywood screenwriter, and these pacey, funny stories are bursting with original ideas. Great fun, whatever your name is! ~Andrea Reece
My name is JOHN SMITH. Dad says with a name like John Smith no one will EVER make fun of you. Mum says I''m ''one in a MILLION''. But just because I got what my sister calls ''the most BORING name in the history of names..,.'' do not judge a book by its cover. My life is ANYTHING but boring! But here''s this thing you should know: I have this massive, massive, MASSIVE secret. I can travel into other worlds and go on amazing adventures. Granddad was an adventurer too. It''s this big thing we share. Granddad says we''re members of something called the John Smith''s are NOT boring Club. He says you don''t have to have a fancy name to have a big adventure - just because you sound like a NOBODY you might be a SOMEBODY. Granddad says if you meet somebody called John Smith, he might have this BIG secret too. I joined the John Smith''s are NOT boring Club on my last birthday, and since then I''ve been on all kinds of incredible escapades. So now you know. Book 1: I''m a Knight Book 2: I''m a Pirate Book 3: I''m a Cowboy Book 4: I''m a Spy Possible future books: I''m a Viking, I''m a Caveman, I''m an Astronaut, I''m an Alien, I''m a Monster, I''m a Zombie, I''m a Superhero
Johnny Smith is a live action and animation screenwriter. With his writing partner, Rob Sprackling, he created the Disney movie Gnomeo & Juliet and the British hit comedy Mike Bassett: England Manager. He has written lots of shows for TV including Dennis and Gnasher and Muddle Earth for CBBC. He makes his debut as a children’s author with the ‘John Smith is Not Boring’ series, published by Scholastic. Johnny lives in London with his wife and children.
