Charlie Higson and Nadia Shireen: Making children laugh with What's That Noise?
About Author
Charlie Higson and Nadia Shireen introduce their hilarious picture book, What's That Noise, and explore why we need stories that make children laugh.
Charlie Higson is an author, actor, comedian and writer for television and radio. He co-created and starred in The Fast Show and wrote the bestselling Young Bond and The Enemy series. He lives in London.
Nadia Shireen's debut picture book Good Little Wolf won the UKLA Book Award and she went on to create books like The Bumblebear and Barbara Throws a Wobbler. She's been shortlisted for the Laugh Out Loud Book Awards and the Waterstones Children's Book Prize.
Interview
May 2025
Charlie Higson and Nadia Shireen: Making children laugh with What's That Noise! (Simon and Schuster Children's Books)
What's That Noise - a funny story about a boy, a box and lots of noise - is the first picture book collaboration between two stars in children's books, Charlie Higson and Nadia Shireen. We spoke with the author and illustrator to find out more about their new picture book, and why they feel it's so important to have stories that make children laugh.
Review: "What's That Noise was shared with six- and seven-year-olds, who laughed and joined in with the lovely repetitive text! Five stars!" Maria for ReadingZone
Q&A: Charlie and Nadia introduce What's That Noise - and tell us why they love funny stories
"I think any book that can get a kid laughing, get them engaged in the world around them, get them making some noise,
having FUN, getting to know funny and interesting characters… all of that nourishes their souls." Charlie Higson
1. Can you tell us what first got you into writing children's books, and the kinds of books you like to create? What's been your favourite moment in your writing career to date?
Charlie: I've been writing since I was about 10 years old. I just love making things up and telling stories. Before I had children of my own I wrote books for adults and made TV shows, but then I had three boys and wanted to write something for them. What's that Noise was one of a number of stories I made up to tell them at bedtime (most of which I didn't write down and have long forgotten…). The stories would be different every time.
When my oldest was about 10 years old I started thinking about writing an action adventure story for him, and out of the blue I was offered the Young Bond gig. Which was nice. I'm very pleased that the books are still popular with kids. I like to take my readers on an adventure. I may make them laugh, I may make them cry, I may make them excited and I really love to scare them, but I hope they remember my books when they've finished reading them.
I don't think I have a favourite moment, except maybe seeing my very first book King Of The Ants in the bookshops back in 1991. But really, each time a new book comes out, it's as exciting as my last.
2. How did you start to talk about creating a picture book together, especially as Charlie is better known for action adventure stories for older readers?
Nadia: Charlie and I have been friends for ages, and one day he just casually mentioned that he'd written a picture book years ago. I pestered him to get it out of the drawer and hand it over! Luckily for me, he did.
Charlie: It was only really when Nadia said she'd like to illustrate my story that it became a thing. Before then I had never thought of it as being a proper picture book that other children might enjoy.
3. What happens in What's That Noise? Any tips for how to share it with young children?
Nadia: It's about a boy called Bob who finds a box. He starts putting noisy things in there. Every now and then someone walks buy and everything goes quiet. It's a great book to read aloud together and even better if everyone becomes very noisy indeed at the right bits.
4. Why did you want to write a funny story? Do you think the power and value of making children laugh is overlooked?
Charlie: The power and value of making anyone laugh is important, not just children, and it's something I've been trying to do nearly all my life. Comedy books don't always get the respect and attention they deserve. The books that win prizes tend to be ones that have 'messages' or are seen as being 'improving', or about 'the power of love'... The sort of books that I would run screaming from when I was a child.
I think any book that can get a kid laughing, get them engaged in the world around them, get them making some noise, having FUN, getting to know funny and interesting characters… all of that nourishes their souls. There's a lot of talk about the flora and fauna inside our guts that need to be fed and encouraged. Kids' brains need a rich diet, which should include comedy.
5. What's the most absurd idea you've introduced to the story? And what still makes you laugh the most when you read it?
Charlie: When Nadia came on board we started knocking ideas backwards and forwards, talking about things that it would be fun for Nadia to draw. I put in the flying fox because it fitted well with the rhythm of the book and Nadia suggested that rather than being an animal flying fox like you'd see in a David Attenborough documentary, it could be an ordinary fox that's learnt to pilot a plane (and it's a nice nod to her Grimwood series). It was also her idea to make the painter one of my characters from The Fast Show which is a nice little detail that some adults will pick up on.
In terms of what I still laugh at - well, I love the illustrations, Nadia brings such life and fun to them - but I do also like the last line - the punch line, if you like. The original story had a number of possible different endings. I hope that people readers will think, Oh this is building up to something really special, some big lesson to be learned, some important pay off. But it's simply a practical solution to a problem. It's like the last line of a shaggy dog story.
6. How did the story develop? Did you work on the ideas and text together?
Nadia: The text was pretty fully formed once we started to talk about it, but we had chats about the layouts and characters. Charlie was pretty happy to let me get on with it though.
7. The cumulative text is great fun, why did you want to introduce this and how did you arrive at the mix of rhyming and non-rhyming text all those years ago?
Charlie: When I used to read to my own kids I really loved books that had clever and interesting rhymes. Most rhyming picture books are pretty awful and the rhymes are trite and forced, or the rhythm is all wrong. But there are some people children's writers who can work wonders with words - Doctor Seuss, obviously - I've always loved the Cat In The Hat books. I also love Janet and Alan Ahlberg, and Maurice Sendak's books are wonderful - Where The Wild Things Are, naturally, but I particularly like In The Night Kitchen because it's good to read out loud and chant lines like 'milk milk milk for the morning cake'. Kids like to chant them as well.
Maurice Sendak doesn't use a strong and strict rhyming structure, his stories are more about rhythm and mixes rhymes with half rhymes, which is what I was going for in What's That Noise. Really, the rhythm is the most important part. Using rhymes is fun, and when you break out of it, it acts like punctuation - you can stop and start and make things stand out by not fitting in. Mainly I just wanted to make it fun for someone reading to get into the musicality of the narration. It helps soothe and lull kids.
8. Was it a challenging story to illustrate, given how much takes place inside a small'sh box? Do you have a favourite spread or moment in the story?
Nadia: Once I got my head around how we were going to show the inside and outside of the box, it was quite straightforward. I like the spread of chaos at the end!
9. Are you planning more picture books together, perhaps more adventures for Bob?
Nadia: We will have to find out! Which is another way of saying, I don't really know.
10. And finally.... what makes you laugh the most in real life?
Nadia: My son, my cats and Charlie being silly.
What's That Noise?
