Jenny Pearson talks about the message of Christmas and humour in her upcoming festive novel

It seems fitting that my interview with Jenny Pearson starts with faffing about with a record button on Zoom and a chat about returning home after a child-free wedding in Somerset. Pearson tells very funny stories about early morning starts and going back to her husband and children, and the author is as warm and hilarious as her books.

Her next middle-grade novel, Operation Nativity, which is due to be published in October, is a Christmas story about two children called Oscar and Molly, who travel to their grandparents’ grand house on 22nd December to take part in their grandmother’s annual nativity play. They haven’t been for some time because their mother isn’t a fan of “Lady Lucifer” and her festive amateur dramatics, but when it is revealed that the grandfather isn’t very well, they reluctantly decide to travel to Barlington Hall. Soon after they arrive, things take a dramatic turn when the Archangel Gabriel accidentally crashlands in a neighbour’s barn, and the children must help him find the rest of the Nativity party, who are scattered across Hampshire. If they fail, Gabriel won’t be able to take everyone back in time to Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus will not come to pass, which will have serious consequences for Christmas and Oscar and Molly’s very existence.

I always think it’s best to write something festive when you are feeling bitter and angry

The book is full of hilarious slapstick moments and funny scenes, like when the Angel Gabriel is sent to wait in the loo with a tea cosy on his head, and amusing family dynamics, with jibes over Gruffalo onesies and indestructible Christmas cakes. 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 like with all of Pearson’s books there is real heart, too. It would be a spoiler to say why the ending elicits 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 have been helped along their way.

It wasn’t actually a particularly easy book to put together, says Pearson. “In many ways it was the hardest one I had to write. I was doing another Christmas project that didn’t come off. I thought, ‘Right, I’m going to write a Christmas book’, and I always think it’s best to write something festive when you are feeling bitter and angry,” she laughs. “I think I called it ‘this bloody Christmas thing’ in my head.”

Finding inspiration

As in all of her books, the characters are based on real people. Molly is somewhat like her niece, and the grandfather, Lord Cuthbert-Anderson, was inspired by one of her grandparents. A grandfather was also one of the main characters in Pearson’s last published novel, Grandpa Frank’s Great Big Bucket List, and that grandparent/grandchild relationship is special, she says.

“My grandparents are still alive. They are 92 and 93, still live at home independently. ​​My grandfather still goes to the allotment and my nan is a force of nature. I’m so lucky to still have them.”

And everyone in her family is hilarious, which is where her humour comes from. “I always like observational humour, like when people tell stories. I’ve got friends who do ‘bits’ [based on] the tiny little details they notice, so I’m really aware of it. I always think about what makes me laugh and who makes me laugh.”

Having a sense of humour gets you so far in life, in your personal relationships and your professional lives…

And why write about the Nativity? “I just love that Christmas message,” she says. “At the root it’s better than all of the materialistic things and it’s important for so many people to know where Christmas comes from. Do I fully believe that all of that happened? I don’t, but I love stories, and it’s a good one.”

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 without 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 as the country went into lockdown but was saved, she says, by being shortlisted for a dozen different awards, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Costa Children’s Book Award. Early in 2022 it was triumphant at the Lollies (the Laugh Out Loud Awards).

Her second book, The Incredible Record Smashers, came out last year and Operation Nativity is being published as part of a “major” six-figure deal with Usborne that includes three more novels in 2023 and 2024. One is about two brothers who see a monster in a loch after the death of their parents, another is about a group of kids stranded on a desert island, and the final story is based on a supercar race across Europe. She has also written the Tuchus & Topps series with her “brilliant” agent Sam Copeland, which was “the most fun” thing to do.

Teachers have class

Despite her success, she has no plans to give up teaching to write full-time. She realised as soon as she began working in a primary school that this was the place she was “meant to be” and the favourite part of her day is sharing stories with the pupils. 
“Partly that’s because there’s no marking and planning but when you go on a journey with a group of kids and you read to them you all laugh or you cry, it’s so bonding. I think at some point I must have got it into my head that that’s something that I would like to try and do.”