Nicola Killen, Not Me
Heart of Hawick Children's Book Award Ceremony
I'm sorry that I can't make it to your award ceremony today - I would love to be in Hawick with you but I'm on holiday with friends this week. Depending on the weather we may currently be
a) building sandcastles and playing football on the beach or
b) huddling together in a bus shelter trying to avoid the pouring rain!
Most of the ideas for my stories come from life experiences and Not Me! is no exception. A group of us were at the fair and my friend, Laura, bought a toffee apple. She was struggling to eat it so tried to throw it in the bin.....the apple flew off in the wrong direction and hit a man on the leg! (I should point out at this stage that the man wasn't hurt at all). Anyway, he turned round to see Laura still holding the toffee apple stick and looking very guilty. "It wasn't me!" she blurted out. This got me thinking about the antics a group of children could get up to while denying any involvement....and Not Me! was born.
I was so happy when I heard that my story had been shortlisted for your picturebook award - I hope you've all had as much fun reading it as I had writing it! And I'm sure, like the children at the end of the book, you always clean and tidy up your own mess!
Nicola Killen
