Win a Copy of the Book the Big Day

We have five copies of The Big Day by Rachel Plummer and Forrest Burdett to give away. Just answer the question below for your chance to win. Entries close at 11.59pm on Sunday 30 June and winners will be chosen at random.

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'Big groom one and big groom two invite you to a giant GIANT wedding! This beautifully illustrated new picture book is a delightfully whimsical celebration of love. In addition to the rhyming main story, there are lots of fun details to explore using flaps, which allow you to fling open the doors of the church, and discover the details of the invitation and the menu – gold-buttered honeybread with cactus-flower jam anyone?'

Q&A with Rachel Plummer

What inspired you to write this story?

When my daughter was little I used to tell her stories all the time. Wherever we went, whatever we were doing, she wanted a story about it! I used a lot of folklore characters and creatures in the stories, from kelpies to witches, unicorns to finfolk, but one of her very favourites was always giants. It was great fun to think about what giants might eat or drink, what kind of clothes they’d wear, what jobs they’d have. Imagine being invited to a giants’ wedding!

At the same time, as a queer parent I was often gender swapping characters in stories I told her in order to better represent our family and friends, the real world we live in. These two ideas came together to make The Big Day – a story that’s about giants and magic, but also about love and acceptance and equality.

What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you always know you wanted to write?

Actually, I wanted to be a writer! I had a great teacher when I was eight years old who introduced me to poetry. He showed me the poem Lochinvar by Sir Walter Scott, and I loved it so much I memorised the whole thing and returned to school the next day and recited it. He saw how much the poem had fired my imagination, and gave me a different poem to memorise every week from then on. When I started to write my own poems not long after, he encouraged me and even had my poems bound in a “book” for me to keep.

When my first book was published I wrote to him to say thank you for inspiring me all those years ago. I think teachers and librarians can make a huge difference in children’s lives.

If you could be invited to the wedding of any mythical creature, what would it be?

I would love to go to a mermaid, or finfolk, wedding! Assuming that there would be some kind of mermaid magic that would allow non-mermaid guests to be able to breathe, it would be amazing to visit their home under the sea. And I bet they would have fantastic wedding outfits made out of kelp and seashells, and a lacy fishing-net veil! Perhaps they would get married in a sunken pirate ship? And give every guest a gold piece of eight to take home as a wedding favour. The food would probably be fish and chips, and the cake would look like a sandcastle! Mermaids know how to party, I’m sure of it.

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Which mythical creatures are getting married in this beautiful picture book?

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