I have decided I'd like to branch out and add to my skills as an author/presenter! I am now available for baking/storytelling/arts and craft workshops in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. I am prepared to travel a bit further and this would be reflected in the price.
The idea is to combine my skills as a writer, Mum and Early Years Educator to bring classroom themes to life through the medium of baking, rhymes, songs and arts and craft activities. By blending my passion for storytelling, literature, education and food I believe I can bring a unique and dynamic spin to classroom learning.
For more details please follow the link at the bottom of the picture. Thanks!
Love and sticky fingers,
Hazel X
"Bree traced the lines of his face with her finger and turned the photograph over to read the faded blue ink on the back -
7th July
Dearest Agora,
Having a wonderful time on holiday, but miss you terribly. I'll be back next Thursday.
All my love,
Richard xx
The first thing that struck Bree was the date. July the seventh was her birthday, although this letter would have been written long before she was born."
Excerpt from chapter 7 of Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket by Hazel Allan
Happy Birthday, Bree X
"
Bree McCready and the Realm of the Lost", the third book in the Bree series is coming your way on October 31st 2012. Yippee!
Another wonderful cover by Lawrence Mann, I'm sure you'll agree.
Who would have guessed it? A shy swat, a psycho rebel and a lanky nerd try to save the world…for a third time!
Strange things start to happen at the Halloween funfair, and fourteen-year-old Bree McCready immediately suspects they have something to do with the half-heart locket.
Sensing trouble, Bree, and her friends, Sandy and Honey, seek out the magical book, despite knowing it will take them on yet another terrifying adventure. They embark on an epic journey, which takes them to The Realm of the Lost – a place where normal rules do not apply.
Armed only with The Book and a map, the trio negotiates unknown territory, discovering strange creatures, deadly traps and new friends…only to end up in the darkest place imaginable.
Friendships and loyalties are tested to the extreme as Bree, Sandy and Honey try to fulfill their promise to keep The Book safe from the clutches of evil. Will they finally be able to put their demons to rest?
The third book in the Bree McCready series is another action-packed page-turner, full of surprises, and the darkest revelations.
"A violent crack of lightning lit the sky and they caught sight of a dark, soaring structure up ahead. In the brief flash Bree saw that it was a castle on a jagged rock surrounded by a dense forest. It rose up like a twisted deadly weed connecting heaven and earth. The rain blurred its ghostly outline but she saw its towers and turrets silhouetted a shade darker than even the night sky, casting a terrible and imposing shadow"
Taken from Chapter 11 of Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket (2009)
Picture by Junior, July 2011 - aged 7 and a half (can you see the wee ghosts popping out of the windows?)
The 7th of July is Bree McCready's birthday!
My new website is up and running!
Check it out!
~H~
The lovely Graham Watson from Strident Publishing interviewed me about my latest novel, Bree McCready and the Flame of Irenus.
Thanks Graham, it was great fun!
~H~
Watch me read a (very) short excerpt from "Bree
McCready and the Flame of
Irenus" on YouTube.
I had previously read for about 10 minutes without realising I hadn't pressed the record button so the second time round was much quicker!
By the way, the reading is from Chapter
3 and not Chapter 10 like I say in the video.
It's been a long day....
X
Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket has just been awarded the Bizziebaby Gold Award!
Read the reviews here.
: )
Wishing you a very merry Christmas. May 2011 be filled with laughter, fun and friendship... (and another Bree McCready adventure!)
Thanks for all your support over the last year.
Hazel x
Mrs
Matlow's Christmas Cookies can be found in Chapter One of
Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket by Hazel Allan
"Mrs Matlow had to shout into the microphone to be heard.
'There will now be a break for cookies and egg nog!'
She indicated a rickety old table disguised with a festive tablecloth, piled high with homemade Christmas cookies and mince pies..."
COOKIE DOUGH1lb/450g plain flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
Pinch of salt
8oz/225g butter or margarine
7oz/200g caster sugar
2 large eggs
A few drops of vanilla essence
Pre-heat oven to 350F/180C (Gas Mark 4)
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in the caster sugar.
Beat the eggs together with the vanilla essence and mix them into the flour mixture to form a firm dough (
Go on! Get your hands messy!)
Roll out the dough (around a quarter of an inch thick) on a lightly floured surface.
Using Christmas cutters make shapes out of the dough and place them onto a well greased baking tin
*Bake for 12 minutes until they’re golden and the kitchen smells yummy.
Cool the cookies on a wire rack (
if you can resist their lure!) and prepare the icing.
ICING6oz/175g icing sugar (sifted)
Half an ounce/15g softened butter
20ml/4 teaspoons of boiling water
Be patient! The icing will only slide off if the cookies
aren’t completely cool.
Mix together the icing ingredients and coat each biscuit smoothly. You can add food colouring if you like and use things like chocolate buttons, dolly mixtures, glace cherries and vermicelli to decorate. Enjoy!
* Note: If you fancy making decorations for your Christmas tree this is the stage where you should use a tiny cutter or a clean pencil to make a hole in the dough. It might look huge at the moment but during the baking process the hole will shrink. When the cookie is complete you can thread Christmas ribbon through the hole and loop it over a branch. Santa won't be
Side by side...
A stack of Bree McCready and the Flame of Irenus...For details on where to buy the Bree McCready books - local stockists etc - please contact Keith Charters at
[email protected]
The wonderful Primary 7's at
Linlithgow Bridge Primary School in West
Lothian painted this amazing door poster of "
Bree McCready and the Flame of Irenus" to celebrate the launch of the newest book in the series. I think it is fab!
Thanks guys x
Listen to my recent interview on Mearns FM - without the music sadly, but you'll get the gist ; )
“A boy doesn’t have to go to war to be a hero. He can say he doesn’t like pie when he sees there isn’t enough to go around”
Edgar Watson Howe
I heard an interesting conversation on the radio this morning about whether there are enough strong role models in children’s literature. I always knew I was going to have a strong female protagonist in my novel “Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket” and I feel proud that young girls find Bree and Honey characters they can look up to and aspire to be like.
But what about Sandy?
If I had taken the obvious route and written Sandy Greenfield as a macho, testosterone packed lad he would not only have been a stereotype but he may also have damaged the fragile ego of the average 10 year old boy who is looking for someone to identify with.
Sandy is anxious, cynical and a bit of a Mr Grumble but there is so much more to him than first meets the eye and he is very courageous… in his own way.
Didn’t Arthur Ash once say that “true heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic”? Throughout the Bree books Sandy shows a quiet, humble heroism and he saves the day on more than one occasion. Sandy is my hero in as much as he is an ordinary young man who finds the strength to endure and face his fears despite some overwhelming obstacles. He may be flawed and he may fail sometimes but he wins out in the end
I'll be on the radio tomorrow (Sunday 17th October from 2-3pm) talking to Elaine May Smith about Bree McCready and my life as a writer. Exciting! Listen live
here : )
...have chosen Bree McCready and the Flame of Irenus as their Book of the Month! Thanks guys : )
The sequel to Half Heart Locket:
Bree McCready and the Flame of Irenus (Strident 2010)
Eight months after her death-defying escape from Castle Zarcalat, Bree McCready thinks she’s seen the last of the half-heart locket and the dangerous magical book that goes with it... until Honey’s kid sister Mimi disappears.
Suddenly, the locket and the book plunge Bree, Sandy and Honey into a world divided by the mysterious Flame of Irenus. Burning in a secret part of the castle, some think the Flame is the source of peace and light. Others say it brings bloodshed and must be extinguished.
Faced with a bone-crunching race against time to rescue Mimi and find the hidden chamber, Bree must rely on her friends more than ever. But a new boy at school has caught her eye and brought unexpected jealousy... She saved the world once before. Saving her friendships might not be as easy.
The explosive sequel to Bree McCready and the Half-Heart Locket is packed with action, secrets and heartbreak.
Bree McCready and the Flame of Irenus now has an official
Facebook page!
And for those of you who are not already a member of the "
Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket by Hazel Allan"
Facebook page come along and join us
here for updates and reviews and more!
: )
...coming next!
Watch this space : )
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