Strong on humour

Jeremy Strong's Puffin books come with the warning, or guarantee, "Laugh Your Socks off with Jeremy Strong". And indeed, lifting children's life with humour seems to be his mission. It seems to be what connects him with children and their world, and empowers him with the ability to communicate with them.

Mr Strong's experience of teaching at primary level helped him develop his writings for a young readership and served as a constant source of inspiration. Teaching convinced him of his ability to connect with children. "I soon discovered that the children and I shared a similar world," he says. "My sense of humour was one that they instantly understood. Where adults would simply look puzzled or nonplussed, children would burst out laughing.

"Being a teacher, I was also particularly interested in getting the children to read, and more importantly to enjoy reading. In the 1970s and 1980s, there seemed to be few books for young children to read, so I began writing material that I thought would enhance their reading experience, and make it fun. I still have that attitude today, even though I left teaching 20 years ago."

Mr Strong's books tell of children who live in typical environments but whose lives are characterised by slightly bizarre circumstances such as Trevor who owns a "100-mile-an-hour dog", and Nicholas, who lives with his eccentric family. Often, the characters seem quite realistic but are caricatured in a way that seems bizarre to the child protagonists. The author consciously works dynamics of life experience into his books by drawing closely on his own experiences and remembering what these seemed like to him as a young boy. "My childhood memories are hugely important to me and are reflected in everything I write for children. It's not just the fun and exciting stuff I remember: The family arguments and quarrels are very important too, as are my childhood disappointments."

This is part of what makes it possible for him to inhabit a child's world. "I seem to be able to inhabit the young child's world to some degree. It's not total - that would probably be a disaster for my adult life. However, I do have clear memories of my own childhood, in particular my relationships with adults, my two brothers and my sister."

"I can also recall school and home life quite easily, but I guess that most important of all is the emotional awareness I retain of that period in my life. When I'm writing I am not aware of putting myself into a child's frame of mind; it's more like an automatic shift. Of course it could simply be that I'm infantile at heart."

Including real life experiences and emotions allows children to explore these indirectly through the fictional world first. "I write mostly for six- to 10-year-olds and most of my characters are pretty straightforward. Although the stories deal with 'real people', as opposed to fantastical stories, they are considerably exaggerated.

"Maybe this allows the child to identify with some of the characters and to experience inflated feelings; a kind of hyper-reality where strange things can happen and the child can experience through the hero or heroine things that don't happen in their own real world. This makes me wonder how much of the reader's attention is given to the characters as opposed to, say, the action. There is usually a lot of that going on."

Mr Strong's latest book is even more bizarre than an exaggeration of reality and is described on his website as "mega-bonkers". "Invasion Of The Christmas Puddings narrates the story of Father Christmas's evil brother plotting to turn the world's population into zombies through poisoned Christmas pudding," says Mr Strong. "The book is particularly rampant with bizarre ideas and I enjoyed writing it enormously."

Mr Strong has also written two teenage novels. Stuff was his first, and Weird will be coming out next year. "With Stuff, it was lovely to be a bit more grown-up and I felt it was important to try and write about the young teenage boys' emotional side. So much that is written for them appeals to their manliness; spies and adventure, survival and hardship and so on. There is very little humorous material for teenage boys and I wanted to address both those issues.

Teenage boys do actually have an emotional interior. They are also undergoing enormous physical changes and that is something that very rarely gets written about except in non-fiction books with titles such as What's Happening to My Body? and other such exciting titles. There seem to be many books for girls that tackle how they feel and what happens to them, but I haven't found much out there for boys. I hope Stuff goes some way to helping boys come to terms with that side of their lives. I've had an enthusing response from girls too who seem quite appreciative of the insight into a teenage boy's private thoughts!"

Mr Strong was invited to Malta by Merlin Library in occasion of the Malta Book Fair, and spent the past week visiting schools. He confesses to "getting a real kick" from children's reactions when they leave his events enthused to continue reading and even more from those who leave inspired to write too. He is driven by the energy he gets from seeing children's smiles and hearing their laughter, and he hopes that his stories will have this same effect on Maltese children.

Today, Mr Strong will be meeting children at 10 a.m. in the Book Fair at the MCC in Ta' Qali and signing books at the Merlin Library stand.

• Ms Ghirlando enjoys literature and theatre through the perspective of her students. She believes in the developmental potential of literature in children's lives and has co-authored a children's book currently being published.