Win a Class Set of The Night We Got Stuck in a Story

Posted on Monday, May 8, 2023
Category: News

Win a Class Set of The Night We Got Stuck in a Story

We are thrilled to be able to offer an entire class set (30 copies!) of actor and author Ben Miller's most recent book, The Night We Got Stuck in a Story! The paperback of the book is published by Simon & Schuster this month.

Enter the ReadingZone Competition to win a set of 30 copies of The Night We Got Stuck in a Story.


Read a chapter from The Night We Got Stuck in a Story


Review:  'This is an enchanting story - a real feel-good escape into another world.'



Ben is a bestselling children's author and was the 9th biggest bestselling Children’s Fiction Author in 2021. His books include The Day I Fell Into A FairytaleHow I Became a Dog Called Midnight and The Boy Who Made the World Disappear. His latest book, The Night We Got Stuck in a Story (Simon & Schuster Children's Books), is now available in paperback.


Ben Miller answers some questions about The Night We Got Stuck in a Story:


1.   Can you introduce the story of The Night We Got Stuck in a Story?


It's about Harrison and Lana and they go to stay with Nana and Grandad because it's the Easter holidays and at the bottom of Nana and Grandad's garden is a magical hollow tree. And they discover if they climb up inside this hollow tree and out of the top they can go into their bedtime story.


2.    What was your favourite part to write?


I loved writing Yashar the bear which they meet in this magical fairytale world. He's got a really interesting story but at first you're not sure how friendly a bear he is to start with. He's a little offhand with Lana but he ends up being her friend and ally. I like that character of the bear. He takes her to his cave and makes lots of magical potions in his cave and I think that would be a really fun place to go - into a bear's cave!


3.   What research did you do for the book?


Well Lana and Harrison are my own children so I spend all my time with them and like writing adventures about them and for them. And Nana and Grandad are based on their real Nana and Grandad. There is a real hollow tree, not at Nana's house, but near my house where I live in the countryside. I discovered it when I was walking my dog in lockdown. I couldn't believe it! It's an incredible hollow tree - and I love hollow trees anyway I think they're very magical things - but this one was particularly special because it has a face; three holes which make two eyes and a mouth. I thought it would be amazing to write a story about that.


4.   What or who inspires you to write?


I get a lot of inspiration from my children and things they talk about. The story I loved when I was growing up, I loved Enid Byton adventure stories, Alan Garner who used to write fantasy set in Cheshire where I grew up so those give me a lot of inspiration. The countryside gives me a lot of inspiration. My house in the middle of a wood so its quite creepy, when I write in my little shed I'm completely surrounded by woods, I can hear animals moving in there. There are badgers, deer and a tawny owl. There are also kites - that's where I got the idea for the kites in the story from - there are a pair who have nested in a tree in the woods. I feel like I'm right in the middle of lots of animals and it feels very inspiring and magical.