I was delighted when I was asked to illustrate  ‘I Don’t Believe it, Archie!’ by Andrew Norriss. I always love to illustrate funny and bizarre scenarios and the wackier the illustration request, the better.

I’ve had a few strange things happen to me but this one is one I remember from when I was little…

I grew up in the countryside without a TV and sometimes my imagination would run away with me. I like to think of it as a good thing as it has probably helped me become who I am today.

My dad loved to play April Fools jokes and he somewhat exploited the fact that both my sister and I were completely gullible and believed almost everything he said. His usual trick was to shout that he’d seen something amazing in the garden (e.g. an escaped tiger from the zoo, a yeti, that sort of thing). He would yell “WHAT is THAT outside?! Come and look girls!” and we’d rush excitedly to the window.

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At DFB, we love stories – and who better to tell them than our award-winning writers and illustrators?  That’s right, our new storyblog is going to be jam-packed full of writing, photos and exclusive artwork posted by over 30 DFB storytellers.  We’re really excited about this new project, where you can follow posts by your very favourite writers and artists, as well as meeting new DFB debutants!

Our group of DFB bloggers will take it in turns to post on a different question or topic, brought to mind by our new DFB titles.  For this first wave of storyblogs, they’re thinking about I DON’T BELIEVE IT ARCHIE!, and the unlikely situations and rib-tickling predicaments that Archie ends up in. You see, due to his incredible luck – and a fair few misunderstandings and bizarre coincidences! – Archie never quite ends up where he plans to..  Our bloggers will be sharing their silliest, funniest and most embarrassing stories with us – so you can expect a new post every couple of days, direct from the DFB authors themselves. So, enough from me - look below for the first post from author Candy Gourlay!

‘I Don’t Believe it Archie!’ is written by Andrew Norriss and illustrated by Hannah Shaw.