Fred: Wizarding Wonder

From the prize-winning author of You Must Bring a Hat comes a young fiction series for ages 6+ full of magic and fun, with illustrations from Dave Pigeon’s Sheena Dempsey. The perfect read for young fans of Harry Potter, Ben Miller and Steven Lenton! Fred may look ordinary, but sometimes people who look ordinary turn out to be not very ordinary at all . . . because it just so happens that Fred is a wizard! The only problem is that Fred is totally, absolutely, mind-boggingly terrible at magic. . .  In his third adventure, Fred is invited to stay at the world-famous Magic Camp for Wizards of Astounding Genius, which has to be a mistake, surely? Will being surrounded by incredible magicians make Fred’s rubbish spells look even worse, or will he discover he has more tricks up his sleeve than he realises?

Simon was born in Chichester in 1988 and has lived there ever since, although he occasionally leaves to buy milk. After gaining a 1st class degree in History at Exeter University, he immediately put his skills to good use working as a barman at a local pub. He soon grew tired of the owner calling him Andy, and so, naturally, decided to become a primary school teacher. Teaching rekindled his love of children's literature, particularly picture books, so much so that he had a go at writing his own. Deciding he was better at writing stories for children than he would ever be at teaching them, he made a swift exit from education to live the cliché of the writer who works in a bar. He hopes that one day he'll be able to give up writing stories and become a barman full-time.