Alex Foulkes

About Author

Discover a world of mischievous imps in Alex Foulkes's new children's book, Ministry of Mischief!

Alex is from Stoke-on-Trent in the Midlands of England, and lives with her boyfriend and their dog, Mac, who is just small enough to sit on the back of a broomstick (very convenient!). She has worked as a teaching assistant and a school librarian. When she's not reading and reading and reading, she's writing her very own stories with chills, thrills, and maybe even a talking spider!

Interview

Ministry of Mischief (Simon & Schuster Children's Books)

September 2024

Ministry of Mischief is packed with mischief, mishaps and misdeeds, and the mischievous Impworld - a secret world, just of of sight, inhabited imps who visit the human world every now and again to bring a bit of bad luck - a painful papercut, a missing toy or an undone shoelace.... Unfortunately for Joey and Harry, though, things have got a lot worse than this; they are being taken to Impworld as a snack for their king! Read the first chapter.

Review of Ministry of Mischief: "A brilliantly funny story with some very clever word play used by the author."

ReadingZone spoke with author Alex Foulkes to find out more about Ministry of Mischief.

Q&A with Alex Foulkes

"We all have things about us that can make the world a better place. When we have the confidence
to be brave, champion ourselves, hold our heads up high, this is where our magic really happens."

1. Hello Alex, thank you for joining us on ReadingZone. We'd love to know more about your new book, Ministry of Mischief, and what inspired this story about a secret world of imps?

Hello and thank you so much for having me! I'm so excited to share Ministry of Mischief with readers - it's the start of a new series packed with adventure, friendship and what it means to be yourself and be brave.

Joey and Harry are two kids who really do NOT get along. They run into each other on a school trip to the local museum... and immediately clash. In the meantime, young bad luck agents Stubbz, Szlice and Warezit are imps: creatures from another world. They have the fright of their lives when they realise two human children (that's Joey and Harry) can see them.

But don't worry, because these imps are clever; they decide to take Joey and Harry back to Impworld, so they can feed them to the Imp King and solve this whole mess. This is where our adventure begins.

2. We love the idea of an 'Impworld'. How did you create your Impworld setting for this story?

Impworld is the land of bad luck - the imps are all working together to create misfortune for humans. Some imps (like our anti-heroes, Stubbz, Szlice and Warezit) are bad luck agents with specific jobs.

I am quite accident-prone. I stubbed my toe one day on the edge of the bed and thought... what if there was a little monster somewhere who had made that happen? What if every papercut, every missed bus, every time you are pooed on by a bird... what if an imp did that? It was a fun thought!

The land of Impworld is very inspired by Victorian Britain, so it echoes the beginning of the story at the museum, which is where we first meet our unlikely heroes.

3. How did you come up with your imps' names?

I love putting in silly rules for myself to follow: I decided early on that every imp would have a letter Z in their name. So for example, Stubbz (the imp in charge of stubbed toes) or Szlice (the imp in charge of paper cuts).

Their names also echo their jobs and personalities. Warezit is a interesting case as he has a long job title: 'the imp in charge of when you're looking for something for ages and you can't find it, then it turns out it was in your hand the whole time.

4. Why did you put Joey and Harry, who bullies her, at the heart of this story? What kinds of difficulties do they face at school?

Joey and Harry think they are nothing alike. Joey uses a teaching assistant - Mr Sims - in order to access lessons at school and has anxieties about her academic ability (a particular worry, when we meet her at the museum, is her handwriting). It doesn't help that her best friends - Sam and Marcie-Lynn - are high-flyers who are good at most subjects in school.

Harry is unkind to Joey about this. As we get to know him throughout Ministry of Mischief, however, we see sides to Harry that help us to understand him more - and that help him to understand himself too. Bullying is always wrong.

I wanted two create two characters who find common ground in a fantastical setting, but it's actually their unusual friendship (a human friendship) that's at the heart of the story.

5. We love the illustrations of your imps and Impworld by Nikolas Ilic. Any favourite imps or drawings?

Argh I LOVE THEM TOO! They are amazing - Nik has done such a fantastic job. I really love the playfulness and sense of fun that's in every little detail (watch out for the eyeball dividers and little news tickers that run across the pages!).

My favourite illustration would be a) anything involving Szlice, my favourite imp, OR b) the illustration when the gang is flying over Impworld. When I look at Nik's illustration of this scene, I feel like I'm flying too.

6. How would you suggest children go about creating their own imp character?

The imp gang are kids just like Joey and Harry. They're on their own school trip, led by their teacher Mizz Forchoon, when they encounter the humans. I hope readers will absolutely create their own imp friend to help the gang on their travels through Impworld! Next time you spill your hot chocolate or bump your head or your shoelace comes untied, perhaps you might imagine the kind of creature that secretly made it happen.

7. Other than a great adventure, what would you like your readers to take from Joey and Harry's journey through Impworld?

I really hope that every reader knows how special they are, how unique they are, and that no matter what everyone else is doing - there's only one you. We all have things about us that can make the world a better place. When we have the confidence to be brave, champion ourselves, hold our heads up high, this is where our magic really happens. Joey discovers this part of herself throughout Ministry of Mischief and I hope readers will join her.

8. There's an opening for more Ministry of Mischief stories at the end of this book - and some questions left behind. What else do you have planned for Joey and her friends?

I'm so excited to be taking everyone on a BRAND NEW ADVENTURE in September 2025 - we're going to be rejoining an Impworld that... looks a little bit different from before! I have been asking myself: if the imps create the bad luck... who is creating good luck? And what would life be like, if all we had was good fortune?

9. Which imps do you feel might be making visits to your home?

I think I am constantly followed by imps. I love to take them with me on school visits in particular - especially if I have to catch a train! As an author (and someone who loves playing Dungeons and Dragons, plus I have my journal that I'm always writing in) I use a lot of paper and therefore Szlice visits me very regularly. I'm quite glad I can't see or hear her though, as she has quite the temper!

10. When you're not fighting imps and having adventures in your stories, what do you enjoy in your everyday life? What has been your favourite life adventure to date?

I am a big nerd. When I'm not writing... I love reading, playing cosy video games like the Animal Crossing series, playing Dungeons and Dragons, making little creatures out of crochet... I have lots of hobbies that I'm not the best at, but they are part of what makes me who I am!

I do a lot of travelling to visit super schools up and down the country. I always have such an amazing time and I have met some really inspirational young writers (and those young-at-heart, too!) My favourite adventure though, is always coming home and hanging out with my dog, Mac. He's a scruffy rescue Jack Russell terrier. Imagine a cross between a dog and a toilet brush; he has all this crazy hair like a little lion. I always say he's my co-pawthor, as he's full of personality.

Watch author Alex Foulkes introduce her earlier novel, Rules for Vampires! Or read her Q&A about Rules for Vampires.

As the nights draw in and with Halloween just around the corner, Rules for Vampires is the perfect book to get your teeth into... Being a vampire comes with amazing gifts but there are also things that you just don't want to get mixed up with, like angry ghosts. Unfortunately for young vampire Leo, that's exactly what she has just created...

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