Miika is an entirely relatable protagonist, especially for children struggling with feeling a bit different and not wanting to compromise their own integrity in order to please others. The story acknowledges that we can all feel a little bit lost, a little bit torn and a little bit exhausted with the daily challenges life throws at us, but, in the end, the most important step to being happy is to be true to who you are.

“The truth is, not everyone will like us. Not everyone we meet will always want the best for us. And not everyone will know our truth. If people want to hate us, it’s easier to let them. You see, it is better to be disliked for being who you are than to be liked for who you are not. Being who you are not is exhausting.”

- Full of impactful life lessons on the importance of self-acceptance and self-love.
- It is a great book for young independent readers to enjoy themselves.
- The book is filled with beautiful illustrations, making it fairly unique for this particular age group.

All the Christmas books have been great for me. I love being immersed in the cold but cosy environment, the weird and wonderful characters. But, more than anything, I enjoy the fact that when Matt writes he leaves me room to breathe as an illustrator and to be able to visually construct what’s in the narrative. We seem able to do that without treading on each other’s toes and it works well.

Well, we always look at the text together, (that’s myself and Rafi, the art director at Canongate).  And we decide what is the most important moment in a chapter and then decide to create an image for that moment. Sometimes you’re emphasising something from the text, visually, to help make the point, to help clarify it and show how it would actually look. You might also illustrate a moment because it’s funny or especially sad but usually it’s a moment that moves the story along. When you’ve done that you can add other smaller, less significant moments to the chapter to dress it up. It might be small detail, like a warm fireside with an empty chair or a few snowy trees outside to show how cold it is. I always like to add a few character drawings to the chapters too. That way you get to see who everybody is.

As a child I wasn’t a big reader and we didn’t have books in the house. So finding the school library was amazing. And finding stories with little black and white drawings inside was great because you could read a bit and then stop and look at the drawing and then carry on. A bit like when you’re learning to swim and you do a width of the pool and stop at the side, take a breath, and then turn back again. I loved the Narnia stories, I loved The Borrowers, and I loved Old Mrs Pepperpot. Anything where something magical happens. I loved that, it was so much more exciting than the real world.

Matt is always very creative with his worlds. They take you somewhere you haven’t been before and anything can, and usually does, happen. You never know who the next new character will be. It might be a frightening, 50-foot troll or it might be someone so small you don’t even see them at first.

Well it’s been a long time, nearly 30 years now. I think people are just used to seeing me around and they’ve realised I’m not going away. At least not for now.