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It seems fitting that my interview with Jenny Pearson should begin with me wandering around with a Zoom record button and a chat about returning home after a childless wedding in Somerset. Pearson tells many funny stories about starting early in the morning and returning to her husband and children, and the author is as warm and cheerful as her books.
Her next middle grade novel, Operation Nativity, due out in October, is a Christmas story about two children named Oscar and Molly, who travel to their grandparents’ big house on December 22 to perform in their grandmother’s annual play. They haven’t been in a while because their mother isn’t a fan of Lady Lucifer and her holiday amateur dramas, but when it’s revealed that Grandpa isn’t very well, they reluctantly decide to travel to Barlington Hall. Soon after they arrive, things take a dramatic turn when Archangel Gabriel accidentally crashes into the neighbors’ barn and the children must help him find the rest of the Nativity that are scattered across Hampshire. If they fail, Gabriel will not be able to send everyone back in time to Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus will not happen, which will have serious consequences for Christmas and Oscar and Molly’s very existence.
I always think it’s best to write something celebratory when you’re feeling bitter and angry
The book is full of funny slapstick moments and funny scenes, such as when the angel Gabriel is sent to wait in the toilet with a cup of tea on his head, and funny family dynamics, mocking the Gruffalo comics and indestructible Christmas cookies. There are many amusing main and supporting characters, from the children’s posh cousins to Mrs. Tadworth, Lady Cuthbert-Anderson’s nemesis and head of the Women’s Institute. But as in all of Pearson’s books, there is also real heart. It would be a spoiler to say why the ending brings tears as well as laughter, but everyone in the Cuthbert-Anderson clan comes to truly appreciate Christmas and each other by the time Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, Balthazar and Steve the Shepherd are helped along their way. .
It wasn’t actually a particularly easy book to put together, Pearson says. “In many ways, it was the hardest thing I had to write. I was doing another Christmas project that didn’t work out. I thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to write a Christmas book,’ and I always think it’s best to write something festive when you’re feeling bitter and angry,” she laughs. “I think I called it ‘this damn Christmas’ in my head.”
Finding inspiration
As in all her books, the characters are based on real people. Molly looks a bit like her niece, and the grandfather, Lord Cuthbert-Anderson, was inspired by one of her grandparents. Grandpa was also one of the main characters in Pearson’s last published novel, Grandpa Frank’s Great Big Bucket Listand that grandparent/grandchild relationship is special, she says.
“My grandparents are still alive. They are 92 and 93 years old, still living independently at home. My grandfather still walks the allotment and my grandmother is a force of nature. I’m so happy I still have them.”
And everyone in her family is funny, which is where her humor comes from. “I always like observational humor, like when people tell stories. I have friends who make “bits” [based on] the little little details they notice so i really realize it. I always think about what makes me laugh and who makes me laugh.
Having a sense of humor gets you so far in life, in your personal relationships and your professional life…
And why is it written about the Nativity of Christ? “I just love this Christmas message,” she says. “At its core, it’s better than all materialistic things, and it’s important for so many people to know where Christmas comes from.” Do I fully believe that this all happened? I don’t, but I love stories and good ones.’
Pearson decided to try her hand at writing children’s books a few years ago when her husband’s job took the family to Durham and she was temporarily out of a teaching job. She signed up for a course with Curtis Brown and her first novel, The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates, was a commercial and critical success when it was published in 2020. It came out when the country was in lockdown, but it was saved, she says, by being shortlisted for a dozen different prizes, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Costa Children’s Book Prize . In early 2022, he triumphed at the Lollies (Laugh Out Loud Awards).
Her second book, The incredible record breakerscame out last year and Operation Nativity is being published as part of a ‘major’ six-figure deal with Usborne which includes three more novels in 2023 and 2024. One is about two brothers who see a monster in a lake after their parents die, another is about a group of children stranded on deserted island, and the final story is based on a supercar race around Europe. She also wrote the Tuchus & Topps series with her “brilliant” agent Sam Copeland, which was “the funnest” thing to do.
Teachers have class
Despite her success, she has no intention of giving up teaching full-time. She knew as soon as she started working at an elementary school that this was where she “was supposed to be” and her favorite part of the day is sharing stories with the students.
“Partly it’s because there’s no marking and no planning, but when you go on a journey with a group of kids and you’re reading to them and you’re all laughing or crying, it’s so bonding. I think at some point I must have made up my mind that this is something I would like to try and do.”
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