We've only gone and snagged the fantastic, prolific, and very wonderful Helen Peters for the podcast - and it's her turn in the hotseat today! We were charmed to take a stroll through the Storyshaped life of an author described as 'one of our finest modern children's storytellers' by Waterstones (who, to be fair, know their stuff), and we learned all about how Helen's childhood was shaped as much by the farm she grew up on as it was by the stories she surrounded herself with. These stories not only shaped her, but they shaped her brilliant creative output, too. Come on - pull yer wellies on and let's get going.
Books mentioned on this week's episode include Helen's own:
Friends and Traitors
Anna at War
Evie's Ghost
The Jasmine Green series
The Secret Henhouse Theatre trilogy
Find Helen at: helenpetersbooks.com
And the stories that shaped her include:
Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne, illustrations by E.H. Shepard
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
Tarka the Otter, by Henry Williamson
The picturebooks of Molly Brett
Brambly Hedge, by Jill Barklem
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
What Katy Did, by Susan Coolidge
Heidi, by Johanna Spyri
Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild
Curtains Up, by Noel Streatfeild
The Growing Summer, by Noel Streafeild
The Famous Five series, by Enid Blyton
The Secret Seven series, by Enid Blyton
The St Clare's series, by Enid Blyton
Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm, by Enid Blyton
The Railway Children, by E. Nesbit
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Casson Family series, by Hilary McKay
The Exiles, by Hilary McKay
Millions, by Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Framed, by Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Holes, by Louis Sachar
Liar & Spy, by Rebecca Stead
The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
Cue for Treason, by Geoffrey Trease
King of Shadows, by Susan Cooper
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In the UK, check out our storefront on: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyshaped. Disclaimer: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.