Fiona Lumbers: Celebrating children's imagination in Mo's Stick

About Author

ReadingZone caught up with author and illustrator Fiona Lumbers to find out about her new picture book, Mo's Stick (Little Tiger), celebrating children's imagination.

Fiona Lumbers has drawn on anything and everything as a child and always insisted she would be an artist when she grew up. She studied for an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art, and worked as an artist until the arrival of her first son led her down the path of illustration and she hasn't looked back since.

Fiona illustrates the bestselling Luna Loves... series, by Joseph Coelho, and created the critically-acclaimed Clem and Crab.

Instagram: @fiona_lumbers

Interview

March 2026

Meet Mo, a little mouse with a BIG imagination! Fiona Lumbers introduces Mo's Stick

Little Mo is sad; he has lost his favourite stick, and doesn't think any other stick will be able to help him fly to the stars, or draw and create, like his old stick. But perhaps Mo, with his very big imagination, can find something else to play with?

Author and illustrator Fiona Lumbers tells ReadingZone about her new picture book, Mo's Stick, a simple but powerful story about the power of children's imaginations, to encourage little ones in their own imaginative play.

Review: "Superbly capturing the joys of imaginative play and how simple things can have far more impact than the most expensive toys, Mo's Stick is everything a picture book should be!" More about Mo's Stick

Q&A with Fiona Lumbers: Celebrating children's imagination in Mo's Stick

"I wanted the story to demonstrate that with imaginative play, the possibilities are limitless
and to encourage children to be as imaginative in their own play."

1. Can you tell us how you started working as a writer and illustrator?

Hello! Thanks so much to ReadingZone for having me. I officially started working as a writer and illustrator in 2016, but I've always been very interested in telling stories through my artwork. I studied for a degree in Fine Art at University, followed by an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art. I spent many years working as an artist whilst also working as a visiting lecturer and teaching art in a prison.

It was only after having my two sons that I reignited my passion for picture books. I decided to explore telling stories in a more illustrative way, initially for my boys, but then I also started to share my work online, which is where my agent Jodie Hodges spotted my work. I signed with her in 2016 and have been working full time making picture books ever since.

I've been lucky enough to work on a variety of books with a host of different authors. My Luna Loves series with Joseph Coelho has been a constant throughout and has led to so many brilliant opportunities. I have also really enjoyed the whole process of making Mo's Stick with the team at Little Tiger - it's been a really joyful collaboration where I've been able to explore a whole new way of creating artwork through collage and stenciling, which has been really exciting.

2. What happens in your new picture book, Mo's Stick? What inspired this story about a little mouse, Mo, and his favourite stick?

Mo's Stick is all about a little mouse who loses his favourite stick - no other stick will do! Through the story we discover all the magical things Mo could do with his stick - paint pictures in the sky, travel through space, poke dragons among many other things, so when the stick is gone, Mo is understandably sad - but maybe it wasn't the stick that was magic, but instead, Mo's wild imagination . . .

The story was inspired by memories of both of my sons being obsessed with collecting sticks when they were younger - each one was very special, they had names for them and I could never get rid of them! I thought this would form a great basis for a story.

3. How did you develop Mo's character and decide what he would look like?

I have a host of characters that I develop in my sketchbooks that are just hanging around, waiting for their story. I first came up with a little mouse character a couple of years ago - I have wanted to make a picture book for a younger audience with a cute, animal protagonist for a long time, and I developed a simple little curious mouse with this in mind.

I love the simplicity of him, and how expressive he can be despite his simplicity, so with the help of my lovely art director, Charlie Moyler and my brilliant editor, Lauren Ace, we married the idea of a special stick with my little mouse character, and Mo was born!

4. There's a strong narrative persona in the story, asking Mo questions about his stick. Why did you decide to write Mo's story like this?

I though having a strong narrative persona, asking Mo questions about his stick, would be a nice reassuring voice to engage the reader. I have really fond memories of tv shows from my youth such as The Flumps, Mr.Benn, Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine etc which used a similar device of addressing the audience, and I've wanted to write a picture book in this style for some time.

5. The story is a real celebration of children's imagination. How do you show this in the images and encourage children in their own imaginations? Do you have a favourite spread?

I really wanted Mo's Stick to be a celebration of children's imagination, so I wanted Mo's recollections of what his stick could do to become more and more fantastical. I wanted the story to demonstrate that with imaginative play, the possibilities are limitless and to encourage children to be as imaginative in their own play; in the story, we discover that Mo's stick is a device to travel in space, fly, balance above mountains in the clouds, paint rainbows in the sky, sail upon the ocean etc.

I think my favourite spread in the book is when Mo 'flies really high' through a sky full of planets and stars. I'm also very fond of the spread where Mo encounters a Dragon and is tempted to poke it with his stick!

6. How do you create your images and at what stage of the story do you start to illustrate it?

I created the artwork for Mo's Stick using a combination of paper collage, stencilling, gouache paint and coloured pencils and crayons. I work using traditional media and make the artwork to scale, in one go. It is then handed over to my publisher for scanning, then my brilliant art director gets to work making any tweaks/ colour corrections etc.

Making Mo's Stick was a new challenge for me as the book also contains a lot of die-cuts and shaped pages, which lead the reader through the story and transform the pages. I think very visually, so the process of writing the story always goes hand in hand with making the artwork - they both inform one another symbiotically.

7. Do you have more stories planned for Mo? And for children you really enjoy Mo's Stick - do you have other picture books they might enjoy?

There are more stories planned for Mo, book two is already made, but I'm not sure I can say too much about it at this point! Watch this space! I'm also currently working on the next Luna Loves adventure and I'm developing a board book series for younger readers, so I'm very busy and feeling very lucky!

For children who enjoy Mo's Stick, other picture books of mine that they might enjoy would include Grandpa's Gift - a story all about finding magic in the everyday in the most unexpected places, and also Ghost Orchid, where the reader gets taken on a wonderful adventure in the hunt for the elusive Ghost Orchid flower.

8. What kinds of things do you do to relax and find inspiration for more new stories?

When I'm not making picture books, I love to spend time in nature. I'm very lucky that, even though I live in Hackney in London, I'm actually surrounded by lots of lovely nature. Just up the road from my house is my local wetlands centre, which I visit regularly - I've been lucky enough to spot lots of beautiful birds, including Kingfishers! I also love to travel, visit the cinema, read, go on long walks and hang out with my friends and my two brilliant boys.

I always have a sketchbook with me to note down ideas, usually they're just quick sketches and scribbled notes. Most of my ideas for stories come to me when I'm out and about and if I don't make a note of it, it disappears!

School visits: My school events usually comprise an overview of who I am and how I make picture books, readings of stories and draw-alongs, and character development workshops or craft workshops (if appropriate to class size).

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