Shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011 and described as “a child’s version of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. Piccadilly Press MD Brenda Gardner says, “We are delighted that Ros is on the shortlist for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. She is one of funniest writers of today, and no-one is better at pinpointing the absurd in everyday life!”
This is the first in a terrific new series for 7+ year olds – both boys and girls. Packed with some hilarious illustrations and the story itself is a real page-turner. It features an alien who comes to spy on earth and in order to meld in disguises himself as a schoolboy. He thinks earthlings are very strange and having to wear clothes is almost the most strange thing of all. The story is told through a series of letters to his best friend and the story is full of humour and pace which is sure to appeal to even the most reluctant of readers.
Flowkwee is on a mission – he has to disguise himself as a schoolboy and spy on young earthlings, in order to help his father with his research.
Here are his letters to his best friend, in which he tells him all about his adventures. He describes the strange earthlings who have only one head, two peepers, and no aerials, lights, whirlers or even winkers! He has to wear things called clothes because the earthlings can’t be bothered to grow fur. And he discovers the fool-proof way to catch earthlings is to tell them to follow a sign saying ‘Free ice cream!’
The first in a hilarious new series for young readers.
Ros Asquith contributes a regular cartoon feature to The Guardian and achieved fame world wide for her Teenage Worrier books (realistic and funny explorations of teen problems and how to solve them) and the Trixie Tempest books aimed at the "tween" market of readers between the ages of nine and twelve. Her book Letters from an Alien Schoolboy was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Book Prize and The Great Big Book of Families, with Mary Hoffman, won the School Libraries Association Prize.
An honours graduate of Camberwell Art School, Asquith worked in graphic design and mural painting before moving into cartooning in the 1980s. She has also served as a theatre critic for several English periodicals. Since 1990 she has been well established as a cartoonist, author, and illustrator.
