Cathy Cassidy

Love, Peace & Chocolate

Want to get your hands on a free Cathy Cassidy mini-book?

All you have to do is reserve a copy of April 19th issue of Mizz magazine at your local newsagents! The April 19th issue of Mizz will have a copy of an exclusive new mini-book, Love, Peace & Chocolate, for free – plus news of a fantastic new competition!

So what is Love, Peace & Chocolate? It’s a story of friendship – and what can happen when a boy gets in the way. It’s got a rock-band theme, plus lashings of love, peace and chocolate, of course! What more could you want?

Copies of April 19th Mizz mag will be disappearing fast, so ask your newsagent to reserve you a copy – this book won’t be on sale in the shops, so don’t miss out!

So… where do the names come from when I’m writing a story? Well, often, they come from you! If I see or hear a cool name, I write in my notebook… and sometimes, it becomes a name in a story.

In Love, Peace & Chocolate, the two main characters are called Jess and Kady. I’ve met/emailed lots of Jess’s, so I knew that was a popular name, but Kady is very unusual, and I remembered exactly where it came from!

Here’s the real Kady’s story…

Kady, age 14
When I learnt that the author Cathy Cassidy would be at the Young Librarian Awards in Hartlepool a couple of years ago, I thought I would contact her. I emailed her she emailed me back.

When I got to the awards and went on stage to shake her hand, she remembered me! I went to get her autograph at the end – she was lovely and said she liked my name because it was unusual. She was interested in using it for a book, and I was very flattered! I never thought it would really happen, though!

The Two Ellies…

In Love, Peace & Chocolate, Jess loses her best friend Kady and has to rely on a new friend. The name of this new friend is Ellie Bennetts – and Ellie is a real girl, who won the prize of being a character in my book in a Children in Need competition run by reader Ellie Galloway. This is how it happened…

Ellie Galloway, Age 10
I first met Cathy at school, when she came to do a talk about being an author. Soon after, we were raising money for Children in Need. The theme that year was “Be Who You Want To Be” so I asked the teachers what they wanted to be when they were little, then asked the children to guess what the teachers wanted to be.

I decided to get Cathy involved because when she came in she seemed really interesting. She said if you really wanted to be something then never give up and follow your dreams, and this fitted in nicely with the theme of children in need. I asked if she would use the winners name in her new book – being a character in her story was going to be the prize.
Cathy said she would be glad to help. We started e-mailing each other and when Ellie Bennets won I sent Cathy her details so she could include Ellie in the book.

It surpised me to see how long the book took to be printed, but now I am really excited to be able to read it! I’m proud that Ellie’s name is in the book because of my competition!

Ellie Bennetts
I entered Ellie’s competition because it was fun.
When I won, I felt excited, amazed and pleased!
It feels really cool to be a character in Cathy Cassidy’s new book Love, Peace & Chocolate!! It will be fun to read a book about a character like me!

Here are photos of the 2 Ellies and Kady, click to see a bigger version!

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Welcome to my fab new website!

Wow… hope you’re liking the fab new-look website! I just can’t wait for April 5th, when Sundae Girl will be in the shops… yay!!! Not long now. If you can’t wait, you can always take a sneak peek at the first chapter by clicking here!
I’ve been really busy with school visits and events lately, so hi to all the cool kids I met at Aye Write in Glasgow, Borders at Glasgow Fort, Langholm Academy, Stranraer Academy, Loudoun Academy, St Josephs’s, Doon Academy, Lochmaben, St Ninian’s & St Andrews…. phew!!!!
Next week I’m off up north for more school visits, and putting the very last finishing touches to my 6th book, Lucky Star. Things are kind of hectic!!! Better get back to work…
Cathy Cassidy xxx
(Apologies this time to Kez, Emma & Kayley – tried to reply to your emails, but the replies bounced back.)

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My inspiration...

Hello!

Laura Jane sent an email asking…

“I would like to ask you what inspired you to write and publish books?”

Well….I guess just love daydreaming, and writing down the daydreams was the natural next step. I’m just very lucky that Puffin want to publish them, and kids like you are reading them!

CCx

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Older readers

Hi everybody,

I can’t believe I have fans as far away as New Zealand, but Sinead wrote to asking me this…

“I was wondering if you could write a book based on an older character, 14 or 15, so that your older readers will be able to relate more. I think you are a fantastic author and have read all of your books except for Sundae Girl, which is not yet out in New Zealand. Your books are the perfect excuse to daydream!”

Well, good news Sinead! The book after Sundae Girl is called Lucky Star, and is all about Mouse from Dizzy when he is 14. So I think older readers will like it lots – and younger ones too! Lucky Star will be out in August!

CCx

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