Michel Deverall
Children's Author
Hi, and welcome
I'm a children's author based on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
There's so much I genuinely enjoy about writing for children—everything from deciding on a plot to progressively developing it into a finished manuscript.
My preferred style of writing is fast-paced, humorous junior fiction with lots of unpredictability and suspense, which is exactly how I'd descrbe my Captain Chaos series below
Junior Fiction
Captain Chaos
The Series
You don't earn the nickname, Captain Chaos by being the most awesome kid on the planet. Just ask Billy Bradshaw.
Ten-year-old, Billy has a talent for creating more than his fair share of trouble. He doesn't mean for things to go wrong. The problem is, the harder he tries to fix the situation, the worse it usually becomes. As he flounders his way from one chaotic disaster to another, there's guaranteed to be more mix-ups and mayhem along the way
Introducing,
Billy Bradshaw
"Have you ever messed up so badly your parents have grounded you for an entire year? Well, maybe not a year, exactly. It just feels that long. One time I was grounded for six whole weeks for riding my bike into my mum's brand-new car. Six weeks! Talk about unfair. It was an accident. It's not as if I meant to put a massive dent in the car door and smash the side mirror on purpose. That's the last thing I'd want to do. I even tried doing extra chores around the house, like polishing all the door handles, and stuff, so Mum would take it easy on me. I shouldn't have bothered. That just made her think of even more stuff for me to do."
The Mobile Phone Fiasco
When Billy accidentally drops his dad's new, mobile phone in the toilet, he is grounded until further notice. Or, until he can finally prove to his parents once and for all, he can behave more responsibly.
Follow Billy's journey as he secretly masterminds a plan to try and raise enough money to buy his dad a new phone. Not only to prove how responsible he can be, but so he's not grounded until he's old enough to shave.
Flood
Warning
When Billy accidentally leaves the bath running upstairs, nothing could prepare him for the chaos that follows. To make matters worse, the family has left the house for the day to attend various sporting activities.
It's not until a half-time break at Billy's footy game that he suddenly realises the bath is still running at home.
With his parents at his sister's netball grand-final, Billy has no choice but to take some random kid's bike from the footy ground so he can ride home and start bucketing out the water before his parents get there first.
Excerpt
Captain Chaos ~ Flood Warning
The goal is mine. All I have to do now is boot it through. With only seconds left to play, a free kick has been awarded to me. Two metres in from the sideline, it's not an easy goal, but I think I can do it. This means the Ninja Turdles will win the Under 10's footy final. I'll be a legend. Time is running out. I need to kick the ball before the umpire blows the whistle. Wait! What if I miss? My team will totally hate me. They'll probably never speak to me again. Okay, that's not helping.
"What are you waiting for, Christmas?!" shouts some random kid waving a banner in the crowd.
What a loser. Can't he see I'm rehearsing the winning goal in my head first? All good AFL players know how important it is to picture yourself scoring the winning goal before you kick the ball. Clearly banner-boy over there has no idea.
Guest Speaker
Over the last few years, I've had the pleasure of speaking at various literary events in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast. Some of which include, "Romancing The Stars" 2016—an annual event organised by Book Links Queensland, which gives
people the opportunity to "speed date" both authors and illustrators who currently have either children's or YA books published.
I've also spoken at various, workshops, including "Share Your Story"—founded in 2016 by Director and children's author, Michelle Worthington. Michelle's workshops and events are aided by children's industry professionals, such as, editors, writers, agents, illustrators, art directors, publishers and academics who are committed to helping people raise their creative potential and reach their goals
The Cookie Thief ~ Picture Book
Little do Gran and Kate know, one by one, their freshly baked cookies are suddenly disappearing. It seems a mysterious cookie thief is on the loose. One thing is certain, with every cookie that is stolen, the thief's antics are becoming increasingly more outrageous.
With the use of speculative illustrations, including a clue leading to the thief's whereabouts, The Cookie Thief is designed to keep children guessing, whilst also incorporating a fun learning element as well.
The Cookie Thief is a humorous story with rhyming text that will delight children in the 3+ age group.
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