Yesterday I was delighted to discover that Amazing has been nominated on the international list of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities. When creating Amazing I was fully aware that no other UK trade picture books existed that featured an incidentally disabled human child so boldly and blatantly on the front cover. Picture books featuring characters with disabilities are hard to come by. They are ESPECIALLY hard to come by because you never see the disability depicted on the front cover. In other words, you have to look real hard to find such books. This is why I made Amazing. This is also why I intentionally made Amazing as bright, colourful and commercial as possible, unlike most of my other books which usually have limited colour palettes due to my own disability, my colour-blindness. I also wanted to prove wrong the publishers that said this wouldn’t sell because apparently “it’s too niche”. And I did just that, with the full support of my publisher: Hachette Children’s. The first print run of Amazing sold out, which in this competitive and fast-paced industry is quite an achievement! It was also shortlisted for Book Trust’s Story Time Prize, and the book has given me the platform and opportunity to talk and write quite extensively about the importance of such picture books.

I am so happy that IBBY UK chose Amazing! Thanks, IBBY UK!

You can read the full article on the IBBY nominations at The Bookseller, here: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/uk-nominations-ibbys-outstanding-books-young-people-disabilities-1216633