Find Your Passion. Build A Team. Change The World.
A General Election is looming. There’s a buzz and a tension and an exciting thrill in the air…
11-year-old Natalie knows something BIG is happening, especially in her house where people stream in and out with their glossy leaflets and red jackets - The Revolutionaries her Mum calls them. Nat wants to be a part of it, but if she can’t vote what can she do? And so starts her Revolutionary training…
It starts with a quest to the park to smile at 10 strangers and ends with chaos, 50 curious rats and a team of passionate kids inspiring their school to change the world - one small step at a time.
Thrilled to be part of the blogtour for this, and to host a Q and A with author, Lucy Ann Unwin.
What inspired you to write a children’s book focused on the theme of revolution?
Well, the Hamilton soundtrack has been a constant in my house for the past few years, so that could be a subconscious inspiration! But otherwise the inspiration was pretty direct; I sat down and started writing it on the morning after the 2019 General Election in the UK. Basically, I was feeling pretty disheartened and I wanted to feel hopeful again. The idea of the kind of change our wonderful children might make, and a book to celebrate that, really lifted me. Of course, even if you don’t really know what it means, the word “revolution” conjures vague ideas of mysterious politics and big changes, and I think there’s a certain glamour to that for kids, but I also wanted it to refer to the kind of dizziness and disorientation that comes from familiar things around you changing — the spinning kind of revolutions. The main character Natalie’s parents are separating and while she loves the idea of changing the world, she very much wants things to stay exactly as they are at home. Over the course of the story, she learns both how to change the world and how to accept the changes at home.
2. How do you think children can relate to the concept of being a revolutionary?
Kids are often very aware of all the problems in the world and are the first to suggest litter picks or raising money for charity, so I think they can be drawn to the idea of a group teaming up to do good things and take bold action. That’s all the ‘Revolutionaries’ are to Natalie in the book: It’s her mum’s word for her dad’s friends — political campaigners who are using their house as a temporary HQ in an election campaign. Her mum was being sarcastic, but Natalie didn’t pick up on that and thinks they sound wonderful — a team who seem full of purpose and say they want to change the world. It’s just children’s natural instinct, but on a bigger and more exciting scale!
3. Can you share some specific examples from history that influenced your story? Who would you hold up as a good example (past and present?)
The trouble with examples we all know is that kids think they have to be exceptional to make meaningful change: Greta Thunberg or bust! I wanted to focus on the idea that doing something— anything! — is a million times more world-changing than worrying about the big things but being too overwhelmed to know where to start. I was actually very inspired by a group of kids in my daughter’s class at school, though. One of her classmates suggested they try and fundraise and it snowballed: they voted on names, had a logo designing competition, organised sponsorship, made t-shirts. They were called the Nature Rebellion Team, (which I adore) and they raised a ton of money for WWF. I mainly loved how a group that weren’t friends before discovered a common interest, and they all found a way to contribute within their own skill set! It was a real highlight of my daughter’s primary school years. I would love for every kid at that age to have that buzz of working together, making change and seeing the results.
4. How did you balance the serious themes of revolution with a tone suitable for children?
With rats! Natalie’s campaign in the book is to convince her friends how lovely rats are, after they all call her pet rat Captain Furry ‘gross’ when she brings him to school. She decides the answer is to collect a huge rat colony and give them all out at the school Xmas Fayre: she’s convinced if people have their own rat to get to know properly they’ll change their minds! In essence, she’s fighting prejudice with education; in practice, huge numbers of rats in a school is destined for both cuteness and chaos! It might have serious themes, but I don’t think How To Be A Revolutionary is a serious book. It’s very much grounded in family and friends and some lovely early reviews have said it’s funny, which I think helps!
5. What message do you hope young readers take away from your book?
I really hope it’s empowering. I would love young readers to finish reading it realising how simple it can be to make the world a better place and maybe even take that first small step to creating their own passion projects.
6. Were there any challenges you faced while writing about such a complex topic for a young audience?
I think the most complex part of the book to portray was probably the backdrop of the general election. The main characters aren’t really involved in that after the initial inspiration, but it’s there in the background so readers need to understand what’s going on. Of course, the knowledge young readers will have about the mechanics of UK politics will vary greatly for child to child. In this case, my main character Natalie is pretty naive, while other characters like Avinash and Annalise are more knowledgeable, so they just explain it to her, and hopefully also to the reader.
7. Do you have any advice for young readers who may want to become change-makers themselves?
Just like the advice for Natalie in the book!
1. Find your passion: I think it’s important to start with something you really care about, then you’re much more likely to stick with it!
2. Build a team: everything is more fun in a group and if you can convince your peers to join you, and they convince their friends then the ripples reach out and you’ve started a movement. 3. Change the world! If you haven’t got any big ideas just do one small act of kindness. You don’t have to fix climate change or end war, just do one small thing close to home and you’ve already changed the world.
Thanks, Lucy! Great insights to this fab (and timely!) book. Check out other stops on the blogtour for more:
The Author:
Lucy Ann Unwin worked as a music journalist at BBC 6 Music for 10 years, where she was privileged to interview the likes of Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Adele. Brought up in Birmingham, she lived for a year in the Chilean city of Valparaiso and for three years in San Francisco, where she tutored children and young adults in creative writing as part of the 826 Valencia writing programme, set up by Dave Eggers.
Now settled in Sussex, she divides her time between writing, editing and reading as much children’s fiction as she can. Her first Book, The Octopus, Dadu and Me, was shortlisted for multiple awards, including The Brilliant Book Award.
Thanks to Antonia and Uclan Publishing for my copy of the book and organising the blogtour and Q and A.
Find out more here:
Blogtour Post by Rich Simpson (@richreadalot) November 2024
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