Full of adventure, ingenuous inventions, new friends, and some scary encounters, The Catventures of Sparky and George is a brilliant tale that’s certain to entertain all young readers. Here we asked Alan Windram to tell us what inspired his latest tale.

The Catventures of Sparky and George
By Alan Windram, illustrated by Giulia Cregut
Published by Little Door Books

I’m going on a Catventure! 

Many year’s ago, in one of my primary school report cards, a teacher wrote a comment that I have always thought was a negative one, but which has, in fact, turned out to be one of the more positive things about my character, and has helped shape who I am as a writer. 

‘Alan is very easily distracted’ was the comment in question. I wasn’t great at much in school. I DID get easily distracted, staring out of the window, letting my imagination run riot. I was terrible at maths and arithmetic, not great at team games, and a bit of an introvert, although I was good at the more creative things, such as art, drama, and making up stories. 

For some reason, in those days, being more creative wasn’t as highly prized or encouraged as it is now. Which is a great shame. I often wonder (as I still stare out of the window), whether there might be a lost generation of amazing creatives who are now accountants, bankers, lawyers, and teachers, who, with a little diversion to the more arty side of life, might be different people from who they have become. 

I am so glad that as part of my day job I am allowed to stare out the window, make up stories that become books, and most of all, I get to see the joy on children’s faces as I share these stories in schools, libraries, and book festivals all around the country. 

Up until recently, I had only written picture books for children aged three to six years. I was lucky enough to have had one of my picture books, One Button Benny, win the biggest picture book prize in Scotland (The Bookbug Picture Book Prize 2019). 

The character of Benny is well known in many households and schools around the country, and I had always thought that it would be great to try my hand at writing a chapter book for children aged six to nine years… ‘Hey, this will be great,’ I thought. ‘I can take Benny and his robot pals into a bigger, exciting adventure. I know the characters and the world, what could be easier?’ 

It turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. 

Having spent the last 10 years building our children’s publishing business, Little Door Books, working with amazingly talented authors and illustrators to publish their books, I realised that I had less and less time to write myself. So, over a year ago, I decided that I needed to carve out some regular writing time to continue my own creative journey, and designated every Wednesday as ‘The Write Day’. 

But the Benny chapter book – which  I thought would be an easy way for me to start writing more words, and create a bigger adventure around a character I had lived with for almost 10 years – just didn’t seem to come together. 

I had never written for that age range, and going from 800 words (in a picture book) to 10,000 words was a huge leap. 

My first few ‘write days’ turned into ‘can’t get this right’ days, and I decided that I needed to change tack and try something different. 

The real Sparky and George!

Sparky and George, our two cats, were always up to mischief. Both tabbies, they had very different personalities. One was a little tubby with a bowel problem, the other excitable and aptly named Sparky. 

As anyone with cats knows, you don’t own cats, they put up with you as long as the treats, tummy tickles, and attention is totally focused on them. 

I would always chat away to them and make up stories about what they got up to in their day, imagining the wild adventures and fantastic friends they met on their wanderings. So when I became stuck with my chapter book, I thought, write what you know, and having lived under the control of our two moggies for almost 14 years, I thought, let’s give it a go.  

So The Catventures of Sparky and George began to take shape on a windswept winter’s day at the back of Oban library, where I found a small table and chair right next to a heater and started to write. 

The story just flowed out of me. I didn’t have any real direction for it at the start; I just wanted to write something entertaining that, hopefully, children and parents would enjoy reading. 

I had so much fun. With no real pressure or deadline, I was just trying to create a story that made me laugh, capturing what I thought Sparky and George got up to when they weren’t nagging us for food. 

As the weeks went on, I started to really look forward to my Write Day, when I would drive the 30 minutes into Oban, to the heater in the library, to see where the adventure would take me – and all the characters that had now started to appear on the pages.  

Along with Sparky and George, who had started their journey out of the cat-flap and into the big bad world, they met Beryl the nervous chicken, Raymond, a brave little hedgehog, and Cyril, a cheeky squirrel. 

It was such fun creating this unlikely bunch of friends and taking them on an adventure together. 

But I didn’t want to create a story that was all sunshine and roses.  

Having spent so much time over the years working in schools doing children’s events, I know how they love fun, poo, and anything that sounds slightly rude, like bottoms!  But they also like to be a bit scared and thrilled, so an adventure wouldn’t be an adventure if it didn’t have a bit of danger and risk in there, too. 

Enter the black fox – now the woodland friend’s frolic in the forest turns into a fight for survival, where bravery and ingenuity play a huge part, and George’s problem with poo becomes a crucial factor in saving the day. 

Some stunningly illustrated sample pages featuring our furry and woodland friends–but what’s that on the hill? Could it be the black fox?

As the months went by, the word count got larger, and I was really enjoying writing a longer story, but was it right for the six-to-nine-year-olds I was targeting? That was the crucial test. 

Thankfully one of our friends had a nine-year-old daughter called Naomi, who loved animals and reading. The perfect person to see if all my time had been wasted, or if this story hit the mark. 

After many rough drafts and rounds of editing, I printed out my finished copy and gave it to Naomi and waited with baited breath… 

During the next week, a flurry of messages came in from her dad, saying they were reading a chapter a night and were absolutely loving it.  

What a relief. I had certainly enjoyed the process myself, and still laugh at certain passages in the book when I read it. 

The original plan wasn’t to write something to publish, but just to see if I could write for that older age group and capture the mayhem, mischief and wonderful madness, that Sparky and George have brought into our lives. 

With a glowing review from Naomi, and thumbs up from her mum and dad, we set things in motion to publish The Catventures of Sparky and George, working with amazing Italian illustrator, Giula Cregut, to create the wonderful cover, and black and white chapter illustrations throughout. Her images really bring the characters to life. 

We added one of Naomi’s quotes on the back cover – ‘I loved that this book was so hilarious and I couldn’t stop laughing.’ 

So on 6 April this year, Little Door Books published my first foray into the fantastic chapter book world. 

Weirdly it felt like I now had a ‘real’ book out there. I love writing picture books, but there is something extra special about writing something longer, not knowing quite where it is going to end up, but enjoying the journey along the way. 

Sadly, this story has a bitter sweet ending. Sparky and George didn’t get to see their book out in the world. We lost George just before Christmas, and Sparky at the end of January this year. I still miss them so much – their annoying habits, the constant demands for Dreamies, cuddles, and feeling of joy that their purrs gave me as they slept on my knee. 

The book is dedicated to them both, and to cats all over the world, that give us so much joy, love, fun and take us on brand new adventures every day. 

I hope you enjoy their journey, out of the cat flap and into the big wide world. And, as the back cover blurb ends:  Cat’s, snacks, pants, and a little poo … Let the Catventures begin! 

The Catventures of Sparky and George by Alan Windram, and illustrated by Giulia Cregut, is published by Little Door Books priced £6.99.