James Foley on his brilliant colour graphic novels for kids, Brobot, Gastronauts and Stellarphant

Good Reading Podcast

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to James Foley about where his ideas come from, the great characters he has created – Sally Tinker (the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve), Joe Tinker (full-time baby) and Charli Stevenson (foremost biologist under the age of eleven). We explore the hilarious and often quite smelly adventures they get up to, along with Sally's amazing range of inventions. There's also a few Dad jokes along the way. In 'Brobot' Sally Tinker knows she can build a better brother than the messy, smelly version she has. Sally’s invention – Brobot – is fantastic … until the remote breaks and Brobot careens out of control. In 'Gastronauts', the brain-enhancing nanobots Sally is testing have been accidentally swallowed by her baby brother, Joe. The only way to stop Joe from turning into a superbaby and wreaking super havoc is to shrink herself and travel inside Joe’s body on a mission to tackle the problem head-on. In 'Stellarphant' Stella wants to be an astronaut. There is only one problem: Stella is an elephant. Every time she applies to Space Command, they come up with a new reason she can’t join. But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and Stella is determined to reach for the stars. Sound effects by zapsplat.com