Claire Barker

Claire Barker

About Author

Claire Barker grew up reading stories and when she left school, did a degree in English and History (when she read more stories). Since then, she has been a secretary, a poodle groomer, a shop assistant, a puppeteer, an English tutor, a waitress, an illustrator and a primary school teaching assistant, and a mother.

Eventually she decided to write stories of her own and her new story, Knitbone Pepper: Ghost Dog has just been published by Usborne.

These days Claire lives with her family in Devon on a smallholding on the edge of a wood and she lives with an assortment of animals including ducks, dogs and sheep.

Interview

KNITBONE PEPPER: GHOST DOG

PUBLISHED BY USBORNE

AUGUST 2015


Claire Barker's warm, quirky story for readers aged eight years plus, takes us into the world of the Peppers and their rambling, dilapidated family home, Starcross. It begins with the loss of a much-loved family pet, Knitbone Pepper, who finds himself not in heaven but somewhere altogether more familiar - his old home, Starcross. While his owners can't see him, a band of former pets from Starcross can, and together the loyal ghosts set about helping to save Starcross from an unscrupulous council worker who wants to take the estate for herself.

While the story deals with something many children experience, the loss of a much-loved family pet, and sadness this brings, it does so with a light touch and plenty of heart and humour.

We spoke to Claire Barker about Knitbone Pepper: Ghost Dog, as well as what we can expect next in series.


Q: You have had lots of different careers, including working as a teacher's assistant and as a puppeteer. What took you into writing for children?

A: I actually started out as an illustrator rather than a writer although I have always loved books and I studied English and History at university. When my daughter started school, she wouldn't eat her lunch and I would paint a picture to put in her lunch box each day to encourage her. Eventually the school asked me to stop because children would queue to see what was in her box that day! So I started doing some illustration work instead but I felt I needed some words to go with the pictures. I sent an illustrated story to an agent who really liked my writing rather than the illustration and my first story, Magical Mail, was published by Boxer Books.


Q: Was Knitbone Pepper inspired by a real family pet?

A: Yes, we used to have a dog called Finn, who was a really old soul. My daughter in particular used to cuddle him and say, 'he understands my feelings'. He became a huge part of our family and he inspired the character Knitbone and the whole story. Sadly, after the book was written, Finn became ill and died unexpectedly. It's strange but, just as I had written in the book, I feel like Finn is still around on the farm, this is his home.


Q: Where did you find the name, Knitbone?

A: Knitbone is a strange name for a dog and it's actually the old English name for Comfrey which is a plant that used to be grown in a lot of old gardens and was used for medicinal purposes. I first came across it after we asked a medicinal herbalist what we should be planting in our new herb garden and she said we should have some Knitbone. At the time I had this story floating around in my head of a dog and I thought it was such a perfect name for him because there's a sense of old magic in it, and Pepper came next because I just thought the words sounded right together.


Q: How hard was it to start your story with the death of a beloved pet?

A: Although the book begins with Knitbone's death, it's also a very funny book with daft moments and lots of hope, but I wanted to address this issue that a lot of children confront. It's something I have come across a lot both as a parent and as a teaching assistant, when children are grieving over a pet that has passed away. Whether it's a hamster or a dog, the pet has been a big part of their lives but people don't seem to talk about it. Adults can talk and grieve but somehow it doesn't seem to be the same for children. I wanted to acknowledge that special relationship and to address the question of grief although not in a maudlin way - we see Knitbone feeling much better and able to do more after he has died although he can't understand why his owner, Winnie, can't see him.


Q: How did you decide on the ghost companions that Knitbone finds waiting for him?

A: Knitbone was always going to be the central character among the band of animal ghosts at Starcross. There's also a goose who is very bossy and who is based on a goose we had that was hatched by a chicken and lived thinking it was a chicken. Then there's Valentine, a hare, and I wanted to introduce him because we see a lot of them around and I used to paint them, so I'm very familiar with them. There's also Martin, a hamster, as we used to have a hamster who would run around the dog's basket and the dog knew he wasn't allowed to touch him so he had to put up with it. Finally, there's Orlando, a monkey, who is an amalgamation of a lot of other animals.

Knitbone is probably my favourite of the group but Orlando really makes me laugh and he gets dafter as the books progress. I do like Martin because he means to do well but he's always stuffing his face with biscuits! Something I used to do happily, too, although now I'm gluten intolerant. I used to like ginger biscuits, like my ghosts, because I heard that among biscuits, they are probably the least unhealthy for you because they don't have so much fat in them.


Q: What makes your animal ghosts different from human ghosts?

A: In my story, the animals have never gone beyond the gates of their home and in the story, they called themselves 'Beloveds' and that's based on this concept of home being important for animals, this is where they belong. The beloveds are very different from human ghosts, they are friendly and positive influences around people and they don't need to be noticed in the same way as humans do.

I think if I could have any pet haunt me, it would be Finn my dog. He was very naughty but had a wonderful way about him. He only had to sit near you to make you feel better, he was a really old soul and the idea of him still wandering around here is a very nice one.


Q: Did a particular place inspire the Pepper's stately but run-down home, Starcross?

A: I took the name 'Starcross' from a village near to where I lived, I think something really exciting must have happened there once for it to get that name. If you visited our home in Devon, you would definitely think, 'I see where she gets Starcross from'.

I live in an old Devon Longhouse, built in the 1500's. I love old buildings and the idea of being somewhere, knowing that the centuries have passed and the building has seen so much. I've always moved around quite a lot so I'm fascinated by this idea of someone living in one place and I love the idea of living somewhere that you belong and there's no question of leaving it because your family has always been there.

Our home has also inspired certain episodes in Knitbone, like Winnie's mother hunting around the garden for things to eat. My girls are used to us going off and trying this or growing that. It's the sort of household that I would have loved to have grown up in; my children have so much freedom and they don't worry about the outside world or school.

Our home is also a smallholding where we live a version of the 'The Good Life' and we've had various animals at different times including sheep, chicken, geese, as well as cows, pigs and a horse.


Q: What are the best and worst things about life on a smallholding?

A: The worst thing is the mud, there's a lot of it, especially in winter, and it gets very wet here in winter. But you just get on with it, you learn to live in wellies and to light a fire, and there's really nothing else bad about it. You're always so aware of the seasons here. We grow a lot of our own vegetables and the summer is so peaceful; you hear the house martins during the day and the owls at night, and even in the winter it's really cosy - so really it's only the mud that I can complain about! Otherwise being here is like living the kind of adventures I read about as a child, it's a wonderful life!


Q: What next for Starcross and Knitbone?

A: In the first book we learn about Winnie's parents (Lord and Lady Pepper), who are a bit incompetent. They also love hats and I have built a masterful collection of hats that I'll be taking around to schools to show including a Russian officer's hat and a collapsible top hat.

In the next book, their hat obsession gets even bigger. The book will be called Pepper and the Lost Circus Tiger; the circus is coming to Starcross as part of Lord and Lady Pepper's dream to open Starcross to the public. They are also planning an enormous hat exhibition that grows and grows, and the Beloveds will be called on once again. The next book will be out in the spring so there will be three books across a year.


Q: The book looks gorgeous, both in its packaging and its illustrations. What did you think of it when you first saw a printed copy?

A: When I first saw Ross Collins's illustrations, I was surprised how much the characters looked just like those in my head - and they were so much fun!

Children's books get read over and over again so it's lovely to see mine in a hardback format, illustrated by an award-winning illustrator, and it even gets a ribbon! It really is a thing of beauty.


Q: Were there any books that stood out for you when you were this age?

A: Yes! The book I read over and over as a child was Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl. We read it together in primary school and I recently found the same edition and it brought it all back to me. Otherwise you'd have found me reading The Beano, I used to get a comic every week. I also had a copy of Favourite Tales from Shakespeare by Bernard Miles, illustrated by Victor Ambrus - the stories were so exciting and the pictures so vibrant and when I went on to do my GCSE's, I knew all the stories like other children knew Cinderella.

So I grew up on a strange mix of Shakespeare and the Beano and my children, who are now 16 and 18, also love books and have their own library.


Q: Where do you do your writing?

A: I write on a very big old kitchen table, it's huge, two metres long, and generally covered in family stuff. I clear a space, make a coffee and start writing. While I try to focus on my writing, there are distractions all the time, like if I try to shout across to my husband the goose will start honking, although once I'm in my stride I find it hard to stop and I will do long, long stretches of writing.

Author's Titles