Ian MacDonald - Interview (August 2025)
Q: What was your best school visit, and why?
The best school visit is always the last one I’ve done. I just love visiting schools and, although I have done some of the workshops for many years now, every visit is different!
Q: When engaging with students during school visits, what was the funniest question?
The funniest comment I remember was while waiting to meet the headteacher at an infant school. A little boy came and sat beside me. He glanced up at my balding head and remarked, ‘Mister, when the sun comes through that window, your head looks like plastic!’
Q: If you were in charge of a school library, which book would you insist is on the shelves, and why (excluding your own 😆)?
I would probably go for Gangster Granny by David Walliams. I heard David’s on the radio explaining that stories about grannies or gangsters might not be the most exciting... but put the two ideas together! ( I have a story called Skateboard Gran and often children say I’ve copied David’s book, but just to put the record straight, my book came out first!)
Q: Where did you grow-up, and did the area impact what you write - either positively or negatively?
All authors collect ideas from things we see or places we’ve been. I remember my walk to school in Watford. On the way I passed a gloomy, old factory and always wondered what went on inside. I never found out, but it became the old factory in Eyeball Soup.
Q: You have done a lot to encourage boys to read, which is as important as ever, can you share a moment when a child who ‘hated reading’ connected deeply with a book?
A headteacher at a Birmingham school wrote to tell me of a boy who hated reading. His parents were at their wits end to know what to do. One day the head called the boy into her office and began to read from Eyeball Soup. In a day or so she did the same, getting him to read the next page. Later that week, the boy’s mum rang to say she’d poked her head round the bedroom door find the boy reading the book for himself!
Q: What’s the first spark you try to ignite in a reluctant reader — is it curiosity, empathy, humour, or something else entirely.
Humour every time! One of my favourite stories is called The Mummy’s Finger; the humour ‘softens down’ the scary bits which is important when writing for children.
Q: You spent a long time working at schools, what advice would you have to children that find being academic very difficult or even impossible?
Although we should all try to do as well as we can in lessons, if you go through school being a kind and considerate person, that’s a success!
Q: Apart from reading and writing, what hobbies do you have?
I love football, cycling and, these days, going to the seaside with my grandchildren!