Title: Dougal Daley I’m Phenomenal

Written by: Jackie Marchant

Illustrated by: Loretta Schauer

Published by: Wacky Bee Books

The Dougal Daley books are funny mid-grade stories about a young boy who always seems to land himself in trouble with his antics. The third in the series is about Dougal’s ingenious enterprise to make money by setting up a website to help people. Obviously he has to keep this a secret from his parents.

The books are fun, exciting and visually engaging. I believe they will encourage even the most reluctant reader to read. I particularly like the inclusion of multi media in the book, with pages from Dougal’s website, email messages, school letters and text messages all included as part of the story. This along with Loretta Schauer’s brilliant character sketches gives the book a really modern up-to-date feel.

I was lucky enough to be invited to Jackie’s book launch where there was wine and cup cakes.

In the March 2018 issue of Writers Forum I interviewed Jackie Marchant about the Dougal Daley series. Jackie told me her inspiring story of how the books were given an incredible face lift by changing the name of the main character and using a new illustrator, after meeting Louise Jordan at the London Book Fair. Louise Jordan runs the publishing company Wacky Bee. She told Louise her story and Louise went away and read the original books. She then contacted Jackie to say she loved them and would like to publish all three titles.

You can find out more about this interview in the #197 March 2018 issue of Writers Forum.

You can find out more about Jackie and her books on her website:  www.jackiemarchant.com and follow her on Twitter at: @JMarchantAuthor 

You can find out more about Loretta Schauer and her illustrations on her website: www.lorettaschauer.com and follow her on Twitter at: @Loretta_Schauer