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 is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

and a PGDE from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. After graduating, Butchart became a philosophy teacher at

Harris Academy Harris Academy is a co-educational comprehensive school in the affluent residential area of West End, Dundee, West End of Dundee, Scotland. Harris Academy was founded in 1885 and is the oldest state school in Dundee. Previously academically-se ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. 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 and 2000. The awards were managed by reading charity ...

for Best story for her book, ''The Spy Who Loved School Dinners'' which was illustrated by Thomas Flintham. In 2016, Butchart's book, ''My Teacher is a Vampire Rat'' won the

Red House Children's Book Award The Children's Book Award is a British literary award for children's books, run by the Federation of Children's Book Groups and previously known as the Red House Children's Book Award. Books published in the U.K. during the preceding calendar yea ...

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 controver ...

'' 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 been tra ...

. 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 (; ; ) is a suburb of Dundee, in Scotland. It is situated four miles east of the City Centre, Dundee, city centre on the north bank of the Firth of Tay. The area was a separate burgh from 1864 until 1913, when it was incorporated ...

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

Bibliography

Pugly Series *''Pugly Bakes a Cake'' illustrated by

Gemma Correll Gemma Correll (born 3 February 1984) is a British cartoonist and illustrator who is known for her comics depicting personal, relatable anxieties and pugs. Early life and education Correll was born in Ipswich and attended the Norwich School of Art ...

(2016) *''Pugly Solves a Crime'' (2016) *''Pugly On Ice'' (2016) School detectives Series *''Baby Aliens Got My Teacher!'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (2014) *''The Spy who loved School Dinners'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (2014) *''My Head Teacher is a Vampire Rat'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (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!'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (2018) *''Icarus Was Ridiculous'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (2019) *''The Broken Leg of Doom'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (2021) *''A Monster Ate My Packed Lunch!'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (2021) *''There's a Beast in the Basement!'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (2023) *''The Great Crisp Robbery'' illustrated by Thomas Flintham (2024) 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 who played lawyer Ted Buckland on the comedy-drama series '' Scrubs'' and the sitcom '' Cougar Town''. Early life Lloyd was born in Springfield, Vermont, ...

(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 se ...

(2016) *'' Charlie and the Christmas Factory'' (2024)

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