Pamela Butchart is a Scottish children's author and high school philosophy teacher. Butchart is best known for her books, ''The Spy Who Loved School Dinners'' and ''My Head Teacher is a Vampire Rat'', both of which won book awards.

Education and career

Butchart has an MA in philosophy from the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee; . Abbreviated as ''Dund.'' for post-nominals. is a public university, public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a University college#United Kingdom, university college in 1881 with a donation ...

and a PGDE from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. After graduating, Butchart became a philosophy teacher at

Harris Academy Harris Academy is a co-educational comprehensive school in the West End of Dundee, Scotland. Harris Academy was founded in 1885 and is the oldest state school in Dundee. Harris Academy is also one of the largest state run schools in Dundee in ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. She began writing children's books after her fiancé gave her a book on how to write for children. Butchart has said that

Judith Kerr Anna Judith Gertrud Helene Kerr (surname pronounced ; 14 June 1923 – 22 May 2019) was a German-born British writer and illustrator whose books sold more than 10 million copies around the world.

is one of her influences. Butchart won the 2015

Blue Peter Book Award The Blue Peter Book Awards were a set of literary awards for children's books conferred by the BBC television programme '' Blue Peter''. They were inaugurated in 2000 for books published in 1999. The Awards have been managed by reading charity, ...

for Best story for her book, ''The Spy Who Loved School Dinners'' which was illustrated by

Thomas Flintham Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

. In 2016, Butchart's book, ''My Teacher is a Vampire Rat'' won the

Red House Children's Book Award The Federation of Children's Book Groups Children's Book Award is a set of annual literary prizes for children's books published in the U.K. during the preceding calendar year. It recognises one "Overall" winner and one book in each of three cat ...

in the Young Readers Category and for overall winner. In 2017, it was announced that Butchart would write the sixteenth and seventeenth ''

Secret Seven Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

'' novels, the first additions to the series since 1963. The original series was written by

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have be ...

. The first book, called ''Mystery of the Skull'', was published in July 2018 and the second, ''Mystery of the Theatre Ghost'', was published in February 2019.

Personal life

Butchart lives in

Broughty Ferry Broughty Ferry (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach Tatha''; Scots: ''Brochtie'') is a suburb of Dundee, Scotland. It is situated four miles east of the city centre on the north bank of the Firth of Tay. The area was a separate burgh from 1864 until ...

, Dundee with her husband, Andy Cunningham, whom she married in July 2014.

Bibliography

Pugly Series *''Pugly Bakes a Cake'' illustrated by Gemma Correll (2016) *''Pugly Solves a Crime'' (2016) *''Pugly On Ice'' (2016) Baby Aliens Series *''Baby Aliens Got My Teacher!'' (2014) *''The Spy who loved School Dinners'' (2014) *''My Head Teacher is a Vampire Rat'' illustrated by

(2015) ASIN B00S46UFHU *''Attack of the Demon Dinner Ladies'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (2016) *''To Wee or Not to Wee'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (2016) ASIN B01EYGLXNI *''There's a Werewolf in My Tent!'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (2017) *''The Phantom Lollipop Man!'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (2018) ASIN B077T32TZK *''There's a Yeti in the Playground!'' (2018) Wigglesbottom Primary Series *''Wigglesbottom Primary:The Toilet Ghost'' illustrated by Becka Moor (2014) *''Wigglesbottom Primary: The Shark in the Pool'' illustrated by Becka Moor (2015) *''Wigglesbottom Primary: The Magic Hamster'' illustrated by Becka Moor (2016) *''Wigglesbottom Primary: Super Dog!'' illustrated by Becka Moor (2017) Yikes Series *''Yikes, Stinkysaurus!'' (2014) *''Yikes, Santasaurus!'' (2014) *''Yikes, Ticklysaurus!'' illustrated by

Sam Lloyd Sam Lloyd (November 12, 1963 – April 30, 2020) was an American actor and singer, best known for his portrayal of lawyer Ted Buckland on the comedy-drama series '' Scrubs'' and the sitcom ''Cougar Town''. Early life Lloyd was born in Sp ...

(2015) ASIN B00XN8UG5U *''Yikes, Santa-CLAWS!'' illustrated by Sam Lloyd (2015) Stand-alone books *''Petunia Perry and the Curse of the Ugly Pigeon'' (2015) *''Never Tickle a Tiger'' illustrated by

Marc Boutavant Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system of ...

(2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butchart, Pamela Living people Scottish women writers Scottish children's writers People from Broughty Ferry Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Dundee Year of birth missing (living people) Writers from Dundee