Introducing a brand new picture book from the wonderful Lu Fraser, with humorous, lively illustrations by Kate Hindley. Make sure to read Lu’s exclusive piece about the inspirations behind ‘The Busiest Beaver.’

“Nora is not like the other beavers. She thinks new thoughts. She asks lots of questions. She invents inventions and gives things a try. She’s differentand – as her grandad tells her – that’s okay!

So, when the rain pours and the river rises at the beaver lodge, it’s Nora’s know-how that could save the day – if only she could get all the other beavers to believe her!”

---

Inspiration for The Busiest Beaver

By Lu Fraser

If I’m being honest, at no point have I ever woken up thinking ‘I must write a book about a beaver today!’, so I’m not entirely sure where Nora came from. I was supposed to be writing about a bush baby but… ta-da! Nora arrived instead, complete with her tape measure and drill, and that was that! No matter what I promise my agent or editor, there’s a good chance that a large chunk of my plans will go out the window once I open my notebook!

As for the actual details of Nora’s story, well… it’s back to the bush baby manuscript again! I had promised to write about a log raft and a gentle adventure down a river but then I thought, ‘WOAH! Let’s upgrade the raft to a full-size boat!And let’s make the escape a high-speed rescue instead! There should definitely be some peril, too! And I wonderhow many animals Kate could squash onto this boat, if she draws really, really hard???’. You can see where this is going, can’t you?! Yes, one idea led to another… and then an avalanche of ideas… and then (a bit like Nora) I got well and truly swept away!

I suppose, when it comes to creating a book, there are two very distinct parts to the process for me – the ‘how’ and the ‘why’. ‘How’ I write can be as slippery as an eel sometimes (I think that’s apparent, don’t you?!) but the ‘why’ has always been the easy bit. Every book I write is a distillation of something that matters enormously to me, shaped by something personal (and each book is usually written with someone very specific in mind, too). In the case of Nora, it was heavily influenced by my daughter, whose way of looking at the world is unexpected, joyous and, yes, so very brilliantly ‘different’.

But, ultimately, the driving force behind my writing will always be the simplest thing of all – I just want to write a good story. One that that will be pulled off shelves again and again, pored over, laughed at, talked about, loved.

I hope that The Busiest Beaver will be all that, and more, for you…

---

I always love a behind-the-scenes peek at people’s creative processes and find that fact that other people also tend to go off on a tangent very reassuring!

Lu has certainly created a book which will get readers laughing and talking, but before we go any further, could we just take a moment to marvel at how perfect a name ‘Nora’ is for a beaver!

Any book which champions being yourself and thinking outside the box is always going to be a hit with me. The dogged determination of Nora, bouncy rhyme, and brilliant problem solving will keep younger readers gripped too.

Click HERE for an activity pack to keep even the busiest beavers entertained! It also features a completion for schools to win copies of the book for their classrooms or library.

Jo.

*Many thanks to Simon & Schuster Kids for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour*