Why we love Charlie and Lola ...

... and by we I don’t just mean Oisín and Rosalie, but me as well. I know, at 32, it is quite sad. But a long time ago, in 2000, I went to an author talk in London and met Lauren Child who was starting to be quite famous then with Clarice Bean, That's Me. She was just so different. Her illustrations were nothing like I had ever seen before and she seemed such a nice person too ( and I loved her clothes too!). I was hooked from then on.

I particularly love Charlie and Lola because of the positive sibling relationship it portrays, especially as I have a boy and a girl! I think Oisín and Rosalie have learnt to love it because I made them watch the tv series!

Anyway, the main reason for all this waffling is that for this year’s Comic Relief, a new Charlie and Lola is focussing on another of my big passions in life: fair-trade chocolate! It is called But I Do Know All About Chocolate and if you buy it (£2.99), £2 will go to Comic Relief.

What a great way to:

-         give money to charity,

-         get a new Charlie and Lola book

-         be able to explain how chocolate is made (until then Oisín looked at me very suspiciously when I would tell him that cocoa grew on trees!)

And if all that is not enough, check out the Red Nose Day website for more Charlie and Lola stuff, including a recipe for cupcakes made with one my favourite fair-trade choc bars: Dubble bars. Yum!