Jack Jackman delivers another thrilling Maisie adventures!
About Author
Jack Jackman shares Maisie vs the Pyramids, the latest action-packed adventure following Maisie vs Antarctica and Maisie vs the Himalayas!
Author Jack Jackman is a father of three who works as a teacher in Scotland. Before settling in Scotland, he travelled the world, including as an English teacher in Argentina and as a waiter in Antarctica (penguins do not tip well!) While there, he visited the Halley Research Station (one of very few members of the public to ever do so). As well as writing for children, Jack writes plays which have been performed in Buenos Aires, London and Edinburgh.
Find Jack Jackman on X @jackjackman
Interview
June 2026
Hidden tombs, robbers and a kidnapping: Jack Jackman's Maisie vs The Pyramids
Teacher turned author Jack Jackman introduces his young adventurer Maisie and tells ReadingZone about her adventures in Antarctica and the Himalayas - and her latest challenge in Maisie vs The Pyramids (Nosy Crow)!
After her icy challenges in Maisie vs Antarctica, Maisie is now off with her and her writer father to the Himalayas, where adventure - and hidden treasure - await! But first they must discover who is really behind this quest to find the treasure, and what links they hold to Maisie's family. Read a Chapter.
Review of Maisie vs The Pyramids: "This story is full of pacy adventure, humour, supernatural powers, and action!"
Find out more: Maisie vs The Pyramids Maisie vs The Himalayas Maisie vs Antarctica
Q&A with Jack Jackman, introducing his Maisie adventures
"I've always loved adventure stories, especially with ruined castles, buried treasure and people
who aren't quite what they seem."
1. You're a teacher, so what inspired you to become an author? What kinds of children's books inspire you as a writer?
I've always loved reading and writing stories. I used to teach on an island at the end of the world and I had to write all my own materials. It's a lot easier to be creative when you have no choice! I got carried away with a story I made up for my class which ended up lasting a whole year. That became my first novel and I've been writing books ever since.
I've always loved adventure stories, especially with ruined castles, buried treasure and people who aren't quite what they seem. I love travelling; reading adventure books is a fantastic way to see the world.
2. Maisie vs the Pyramids is your third Maisie adventure, following Maisie vs the Himalayas and Maisie vs Antarctica. What kinds of adventures does Maisie and her dad have?
Maisie's dad only takes her places where there are no people. Which also means no technology, so they can't just call for help when they get in trouble. Her adventures also mirror my own, because it's easier to write about things I've actually done, like bounce across Antarctica in a trailer, abseil down a cliff or find secret messages in hidden passages deep under a pyramid.
Speaking of which, in her latest adventure Maisie and her dad are on their way to the pyramids but end up crashing in the desert instead, along with a man who might possibly have kidnapped them. Stabby the scorpion has quite a big role. There's also a fennec fox, winner of the Cutest Fox Award every year since I made it up.
3. Do you do a lot of research for your settings when you're writing these books? What are your tips for bringing your settings to life for the reader?
I do so much research. Sometimes that means reading a whole book just to write one sentence (which later gets deleted). I become an expert on all sorts of things like scorpions and snake bites, but only while I write that bit. Then I forget it all.
Of course the most important research was to actually visit the places I wanted to write about, to get toasted by the Egyptian sun, to smell all the smells and to run my fingers over 4,000-year-old hieroglyphs. I visited nine different pyramids while I was in Egypt, and a whole load of tombs. I also walked out into the Sahara desert (but not too far - I've been lost in a desert before and it's no fun at all).
The best bit of advice I was given for writing settings was to try and include all your senses (except taste. Please don't lick the pyramids). Smell is such an important one that often gets forgotten. I still remember the smell of the bakery I lived next to in Italy 30 years ago.
4. Can you suggest any discussions or follow-up activities for Maisie vs the Pyramids for those studying Ancient Egypt?
Post-reading discussion questions:
1. Maisie sometimes has to break a promise. Is it ever OK to break a promise, and why?
2. Maisie thinks she might have to defeat a giant robot man and tries to discover his weaknesses. What might his weaknesses be, and how might she defeat him?
3. If you could command people to do what you told them, would you? And what would you use it for?
4. Did Jozef and Rania find Sneferu's tomb? How will they get it open? What will they find inside? (Follow up activities in the Creative Challenge section below.
5. Can you talk about Maisie and her dad, and how you developed their characters? What keeps drawing you back to write new adventures about them?
I wrote the first book when my daughter was Maisie's age, and I started by asking her to write a few pages in Maisie's voice. After that I knew what Maisie should sound like. And yes, my daughter is just as snarky as Maisie. I also get ideas from the children I teach and other people in my life.
Characters in books are based on chunks of the author's psyche but also on the people around them, so whenever you meet an author, remember that one of the characters in their next book could well have a little bit of you in them!
6. Spoiler alert - Maisie and her dad can stop time. As the writer, have you found this is an easy way to get your characters out of scrapes, or does it bring its own problems?
Actually it can make things very tricky. For example, I've had to think long and hard about what happens if you jump into water when time is stopped. And what would it be like in a sandstorm that's on pause? Also, stopping time can't be the answer to all your problems because otherwise there's no tension.
Immortal superheroes are not interesting because they're never in danger. So Maisie might be able to stop time to save herself, but she's going to have to use her brain if she wants to get rescued.
7. If you could stop time, what would you use it for?
I'd like to say I'd use it to fight crime but to be honest I'd mostly use it to get an extra hour of sleep in the mornings. Fighting crime sounds like a lot of hard work, even with a special power. Criminals stay up way too late.
8. What else do you have planned for Maisie and her dad?
Maisie vs the Amazon. It's got piranhas, poison dart frogs, a ruined city, and quite a lot of trees, some of which explode. I've already said too much.
9. Maisie has some wonderful adventures, from flying in a balloon in Egypt to visiting treasure hunting in the Himalayas! But what kinds of adventures do you enjoy in real life?
I've been lucky enough to visit places very few people have been to: not just emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica but also lost villages in the Andes, coral reefs in the Caribbean, smugglers' caves in the Shetlands and even deep inside a volcano in Iceland. I love doing anything new. And the world is such a big place and so full of wonders I know I'll never run out.
10. How do you get your own class excited about books and reading?
Being funny makes a book really appealing. Who doesn't want a few laughs at the end of the school day? But also being fun. Tricky words and worthy messages have their place but just enjoying a book is more important than all of that.
Also, I say to my class - and don't ever tell anyone I said this - that if the book you're reading doesn't bring you joy, it's OK to leave it and find another one. Especially if it's a dictionary. I've never managed to read past B.
Creative Challenge: Here are Jack Jackman's suggestions for writing or reading activities following a reading of Maisie vs the Pyramids:
1. The Egyptians' hieroglyphs were based on things that were important for them. Create your own alphabet of pictograms based on things that are important in your life (eg F might be a picture of a football).
2. Emojis are a form of pictograms. Can you write your name or a sentence using only emojis? (Like hieroglyphs, each emoji might also represent a letter.)
3. Maisie finds an underground labyrinth designed to confuse tomb robbers. Can you design your own labyrinth that would be nearly impossible to solve?
4. The Egyptians designed their tombs to protect against tomb robbers, without much success. Write your own story about a tomb robber searching for buried treasure. You'll need to research how the Egyptians really protected their tombs (no poisoned darts or shooting spears!).
5. Draw a diagram or make a model of the Red Pyramid showing all its secrets.
6. Maisie loves maps! Draw a map of the field of pyramids, with Jozef's and Rania's camps labelled. Don't forget the hot air balloon.
7. And if you want an especially hard challenge, fly to Egypt and find Sneferu's tomb. Let me know how that goes!
School Visits: I love travelling round to visit schools. For Maisie vs The Pyramids, I've created my own hieroglyph alphabet for children to decipher. I've also created a game that's half-quiz half-pyramid building challenge. I'm excited to start playing!
My favourite part of events is the book signing because people come up and tell me their ideas for where else Maisie should travel. And the Q&A, because I never know what questions to expect. No, I can't take your class to Antarctica.
Within Scotland, school visits can be arranged through the Scottish Book Trust's Live Literature programme. Otherwise my publicist [email protected] is the person to speak to.
August 2025
Jack Jackman reads from Maisie's second adventure, Maisie vs the Himalayas (Nosy Crow)
More about Maisie vs The Himalayas Read a Chapter from Maisie vs The Himalayas
Creative Challenges themed around the Himalayas
1) Make your own treasure chest. Decorate a shoe box and fill it with your own personal treasure. Photos? Mementos? A favourite book? Your parents' life savings? (I don't recommend burying it in your back garden.)
2) Plan a trip to Bhutan. How would you get there? How long would it take to get there? Can you get there using different types of transport?
3) Measure happiness! Bhutan measures its success in terms of how happy the people are, not how much money they have. How would you measure people's happiness without just asking them how happy they are? Make a survey and find out how highly the people in your life score!
4) Paint your own mountain range using only shades of brown or green. Use lots of layers to give it depth. Then you might try putting in some Himalayan creatures like snow leopards and eagles. Or, if you're like Maisie, thunder dragons battling cloud giants.
5) Draw a map. All of Maisie's books involve maps. Draw a map of your own cave system. You could even add squares to turn it into a board game and play to see who can escape the caves.
6) Make a model of the Himalayas out of cardboard. Egg boxes are really good for this - I like to use the pointy bits between the eggs to make my peaks.
October 2024
Watch Jack Jackman introduce his first Maisie adventure, Maisie vs Antarctica (Nosy Crow)
More about Maisie vs Antarctica Read a chapter from Maisie Vs Antarctica.
Creative Challenges themed around Antarctica
1) Plot Maisie's journey on a map and compare it to Shackleton's journey on the Endurance in 1914.
2) Create a landscape or wall display using only different shades of blue. You could populate it with origami penguins.
3) Create a 'survival box' of all the things you'd need to survive in Antarctica. Bring in items to create the actual box or just make drawings of the items. The class can vote on which things to include, especially if you restrict it to just six items. Maths bonus: write the weight on each item, and calculate what you can put in if there's a weight limit.
4) Build igloos in class using ice cubes. (I did this with a class once, so much fun!) Calculate how many ice cubes you'll need before you start. Write instructions for the stages of building an igloo.
5) Make graphs to show how the temperature changes over the year in Antarctica and how the hours of sunlight change over the year. Work out the mean, median and mode.
6) Write the beginning of a story that starts with the main character realising they're lost.
Maisie vs the Pyramids
Maisie vs the Himalayas
Maisie vs Antarctica
