Foxes, Frogs & Rice Pudding contains a series of compelling stories and poems initially imagined by children themselves and written to fullness based on their ideas by the author Bill Allerton. The content encompasses a compendu=ium of characters such as Dragons, Magic, Unicorns, Dinosaurs, Giants, Lions, Tigers, Foxes, Frogs, Fish, Girls, Boys, Moths, Rockets, Dentists, Pirates, Vampires, Dogs, School, Trees; Birds, Cats, Witches, Wizards, and Rice Pudding.
The stories contain real people interacting with imaginary, mythical or other animals and introducing a great element of humour and fun into the texts.
The characters and scenes in the book were imagined and invented some years ago between myself and the children of Y2, Sharrow Nursery & Infant School, Sheffield.
Bill Allerton was given the task of completing each of these stories and returning them to the class within one week. On occasion, the list of basic story elements that he was required to include seemed impossible. In the event, none were impossible, some just a little harder to achieve than others. I will let you decide which those were.
The children who had specific involvement are each named within their story, but without the enthusiasm of the whole of the school, affording me inspiration and encouragement, I could not have completed this book.
Bill Allerton lives and works in Sheffield UK. His partner, Bryony Doran, is also a prize-winning author. Bill retired from a successful business to write for a living, but mostly that's become 'living to write', given that so few authors actually make it to the megabucks stage. During his working life Bill has had many occupations, giving him a broad experience from which to draw new lines for his characters, so if you feel that you know them... perhaps you do... perhaps it's you...His influences are: Ray Bradbury, Malcolm Lowry, Herman Melville, Thomas Pynchon, Arthur C. Clarke, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Cormac McCarthy, Keith Waterhouse and Spike Milligan. Prizes: Fish Prize 2001 (Story anthologised and attended West Cork Literary Festival to read his submission 'To Kill a Wish')Chesterfield Pomegranate Theatre: New Playwright Awards'To Kill a Wish', the Fish Prize story, reworked for the stage and performed live.BBC Radio Sheffield: Six pieces of short fiction recorded and broadcast.Past Mentors (at least a week in the company of each)Anne Enright, Colm Toibin, Bernadine Evaristo, Ruth Padel, Peter Sansom, Berlie DohertyNoted writers he has worked with closely in the publishing of an anthology of short fiction ('Watch & Wait', 2014) on behalf of The Lymphoma Association.Ian McMillan, Marina Lewycka, Bryony Doran, Susan Elliott Wright, Berlie Doherty, Angela Robson, Judith Allnatt, Danuta Reah, Lesley Glaister, Caroline Pitcher, Kirstin Zhang, Henry Shukman, David Swann and Jemma Kennedy among others.
