Hilary McKay

Hilary McKay (born Boston, Lincolnshire) is a British children's author.

Hilary McKay was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, the eldest of four daughters. She studied English, Zoology and Botany at St Andrew's University. She then became a public protection scientist. Her first novel was "The Exiles", written in 1991. McKay now lives in Derbyshire.

The Casson Family Books

McKay's books include the Whitbread award winning"Saffy's Angel", which has four sequals: "Indigo's Star", "Permanent Rose", "Caddy Ever After" and "Forever Rose". The books focus on an English family of artists, the Cassons. The children are called Saffron, Rose, Cadmium and Indigo, and are named after colours chosen from a paint chart on the kitchen wall. The parents' names are Eve and Bill. The first three books are written in the third person, but focus on the point of view of the character in the title, while "Caddy Ever After" is written in the first person and narrated by each of the siblings in turn, and "Forever Rose" is written in the first person and is narrated by Rose. Other characters featured in the books include Tom (an American boy who makes friends with Indigo and Rose whilst on a short stay in England), David (a thick skinned and well meaning reformed bully) and Sarah (or "wheelchair girl", as she was known to the Cassons before she met Saffron).

Cadmium is the dreamer of the family, who loves animals and has an incredible amount of guinea-pigs and hamsters. She falls in love with her driving instructor, Michael, and it is she, initially, who looks after the other children. She loves her family, and often returns home to visit whilst studying Zoology in London. Saffy is the realist, scornful and sarcastic, and fiercely intelligent, but really she only wants to be loved, and often leans on her best friend Sarah for support. Indigo is the only boy, music loving and sensitive and he befriends Tom and David in the books. Rose is the true artist of the family, who loves her family and art. Eve is their ditzy mother who spends her time in the shed painting, when she isn't "hanging young offenders" [McKay, Hilary, Saffy's Angel, Hodder Children's Books, 2001] (she teaches them art on saturday mornings) or painting murals in the local hospital. She hardly ever cooks a proper meal, so the children live on tinned food and Indigo's adventurous cooking. Their father Bill is almost always at his swanky studio in London and is never home.

The order of the Casson Family series is as follows:

#"Saffys Angel"
#"Indigos Star"
#"Permanent Rose"
#"Caddy Ever After"
#"Forever Rose"

McKay has also written many other books, including two other series, "The Exiles" and "Porridge Hall"

The order of the Exiles series is as follows:

#"The Exiles"
#"The Exiles At Home"
#"The Exiles In Love"

The Porridge Hall books

The Porridge Hall books focus on Robin Brogan and his mother, who live in Porridge Hall on the Yorkshire coast. Once, Porridge Hall was Mrs Brogan's family home, now it has been split into two houses, and she and Robin live in one half, from which Mrs Brogan also runs a Bed and Breakfast. The Robinson family live in the other half, and the two families are firm friends.

The Robinson children are the twins, Peregrine and Antoniette, who have abbrieviated their names to Perry and Ant, their brother Sundance, and their sister Beany. Sundance got his nickname because Perry and Ant used to play Butch Cassidy, and Sundance was always the Sundance Kid. Beany, whose real name is Elizabeth, got her name because she declared, at a young age, that she wanted to be a bean when she grew up.

Other characters include Dan, a former enemy of Robin's, and later his best friend, and a mysterious girl called Harriet, who appears in the second book, The Amber Cat. Storytelling is a key theme in the second and third books, whilst beach combing and life by the sea feature large in all three books. The order of the Porridge Hall series is as follows:

#"Dog Friday"
#"The Amber Cat"
#"Dolphin Luck"

Awards

*The Exiles won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1992 [http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth03A14I311112634820#prizes]

* The Exiles At Home won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Gold Award)(9-11 years category and overall winner) in 1994 [http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth03A14I311112634820#prizes]

*Saffy's Angel won the 2002 Whitbread Award [http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth03A14I311112634820#prizes]

*Permanent Rose was shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Award [http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth03A14I311112634820#prizes]

Books For Younger Readers

"The Story of Bear"

"Happy and Glorious"

"Practically Perfect"

The Paradise House books

#"The Treasure in the Garden"
#"The Echo in the Chimney"
#"The Zoo in the Attic"
#"The Magic in the Mirror"
#"The Surprise Party"
#"Keeping Cottontail"

The Pudding Bag School books

#"A Birthday Wish"
#"Cold Enough for Snow"
#"A Strong Smell of Magic"

References

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/uk/newsid_2636000/2636411.stm Hilary McKay wins top kids' books prize] , BBC, January 8, 2003.
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/uk/newsid_2637000/2637033.stm CBBC Newsround chats to Hilary McKay] , BBC, January 8, 2003.

External links

* [http://www.hilarymckay.co.uk Hilary McKay's website]