The thing about writing novels about a heroine who has a gift for saving wild animals is that I spend half the time wishing I could write myself into my own story and borrow Martine’s powers!

Wouldn’t it be amazing to lay your hands on a wounded leopard or a buffalo with a fever and have them feel whole again and free from pain? Wouldn’t it be the most incredible feeling in the world if you could open the cage door of a lion – one who has never known the African sun or the feel of warm grass beneath her paws, only concrete or snow – and watch her run free in the wild?

For years it’s been my dream to get kids across the world thinking about saving wildlife. That’s the inspiration both the Animals are Not Rubbish conservation challenge and the Last Leopard Fund, launched last month by my publishers Orion, in association with international wildlife charity Born Free and Waterstone’s Bookshop. Whoever you are, and wherever you are in the world, we’d love you to get involved. Actually we’re begging you to get involved! At least I am.

When I was growing up in Zimbabwe, conservation was an integral part of our school curriculum. At Hartley Junior School, we had a fantastic teacher called Mr Mitchley who drummed into us the rules of the Bush: Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. All our school projects revolved around conservation. We did projects on soil erosion, water conservation, and how to save plants and wildlife. My dream is to get kids around the world doing the same thing. I believe that a child who loves animals and nature today becomes an adult who takes action tomorrow.

In 2009, the Animals are Not Rubbish challenge, which aims to get kids across the UK making models of endangered animals out of recycled rubbish, is open to all kids in the UK and Ireland. We’re very honored because the models are going to be judged by a panel of celebrities, including Virginia McKenna, who starred in the movie, Born Free, and has devoted her life to saving animals through the charity she helped found, Born Free. We’re also going to be helped by the much-loved British actor, Martin Clunes, and Ruth Wilson, who reads the audio books of The White Giraffe and Dolphin Song. You can download entry forms, get teaching resources and find out all about the incredibly cool prizes at: www.AnimalsareNotRubbish.co.uk

Whether or not you live in the UK or Ireland, we’d absolutely love you to help us raise money for the Last Leopard Fund, which we’ve launched in association with wildlife charity Born Free, to help Rescue, Protect and Rehabilitate endangered animals. Hold cake sales, have sponsored trampoline jumps, or consider having an Animal Day at your school, where your whole class or everyone in your school dresses as an animal. You can read all about the Last Leopard Fund in the post below this one, or you can simply click here to donate. Get involved!

Click here to donate to: www.lastleopardfund.com

SPREAD THE WORD

Ruth Wilson and friend in Namibia, setting for The Elephant's Tale

Early in 2009, my publishers Orion and I will be launching a Conservation Challenge in schools across the UK. We’ll be asking kids to get creative to increase awareness of critically endangered animals and raise money for a special wildlife project in Africa. Competition forms will be available to download from a brilliant new website, linked to mine, and we’d love you to get involved. There are loads of cool prizes, including an invitation to a pop concert at the Royal Albert Hall in November. Watch this space for details.

Ruth Wilson, the BAFTA and Golden Globe-nominated actress who did such an awesome job of reading the abridged White Giraffe and Dolphin Song audio books and who, coincidentally, has spent most of the year filming a remake of 70s TV cult classic, The Prisoner, in Cape Town and Namibia, setting for my next book, The Elephant’s Tale, will star in the BBC drama of Andrea Levy’s bestselling novel of love, war and prejudice, Small Island. Also in the stellar cast are David Oyelowo, Naomie Harris, Benedict Cumberbatch and Nikki Amuka-Bird. Small Island is scheduled to hit our screens in Autumn 2009.

The Elephant’s Tale, the fourth book in The White Giraffe series, will be out in hardback on 6 August 2009, one month after the publication in paperback of The Last Leopard.

Rainbow’s End, my memoir of growing up in the war in 70s Rhodesia has made the top 50 of Spread the Word’s “Most Talked About Books”. If you enjoyed Rainbow’s End and have a spare minute, please vote for it at: http://www.spread-the-word.org.uk/pages/books-2009/book_results.asp?task=filter&cat=Non_Fiction

The Sunday Times‘ rugby correspondent, Stephen Jones, has listed Shooting at Clouds, my 1990 account of life on the PGA European Tour, as one of his top ten sports books of all time. Jones’ synopsis? “A young and star-crossed fledgling journalist arrives with no money or commissions and follows the European golf tour down its highways and nooks and crannies. Unashamedly used as the inspiration for Endless Winter, the film about skiing.” See the rest of the list at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article5238338.ece?token=null&offset=36&page=4

Incidently, Stephen Jones’ Endless Winter, which wasn’t on the list, is one of the best sports books ever written.

DOLPHIN SONG AUDIO BOOK

Ruth Wilson, the BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated actress who read the abridged audio book of The White Giraffe, has followed it by reading Dolphin Song. Apart from being one of the nicest people on earth, Ruth has a unique ability to inhabit characters and bring a story to life. Her voice is quite wonderful. By coincidence, she is currently on location in both Namibia, setting for The Elephant’s Tale, and Cape Town, not far from Martine’s fictional home town of Storm Crossing in The White Giraffe series, where she is filming a remake of the 70s sci fi television cult classic, The Prisoner, with Sir Ian McKellen and James Caviezel.

Go to the audio section to hear sample clips of The White Giraffe and Dolphin Song, and an interview with Ruth and I conducted by The Sunday Times‘ children’s book reviewer, Nicolette Jones. The unabridged audio books, read by the very gifted Adjoa Andoh, are available from: www.listeninglibrary.com.

LAST LEOPARD REVIEW

Here is a pdf of Amanda Craig’s Times’ lovely feature on The Last Leopard.

times-11

Or simply click on this link: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/children/article4442728.ece