"It seems like quite a long time ago now that Alex and I met at nasen’s Inclusion Awards and discovered that we had a common interest in ensuring that stories included a more diverse range of characters. Keen to encourage the existence of more books with inclusive characters we hatched a daring (some might say foolhardy) plan.....why not write our own inclusive story to show publishers, writers, artists and the public at large that inclusive characters need not be heavy-headed clichés?
Having found in Frances Lincoln a publisher who believed in our concept we then had to find an artist who could relate to the story. It wasn’t until we saw the initial sketch ideas from Ros Asquith that we felt that Max had come to life. Ros instantly understood what Max was about and was able to add her own particular twist to our ideas. We have all drawn of the experiences of friends, family and work colleagues to ensure that Max the Champion was as inclusive as possible. But this is only the start of the journey. There are still too few inclusive characters in children’s stories and we want to make sure that our story is just the start of a new wave of children’s literature that includes disabled characters in a positive and natural way.
We are sure that you’ll enjoy Max and his adventures; we certainly had a lot of fun bringing him to life!"
Having found in Frances Lincoln a publisher who believed in our concept we then had to find an artist who could relate to the story. It wasn’t until we saw the initial sketch ideas from Ros Asquith that we felt that Max had come to life. Ros instantly understood what Max was about and was able to add her own particular twist to our ideas. We have all drawn of the experiences of friends, family and work colleagues to ensure that Max the Champion was as inclusive as possible. But this is only the start of the journey. There are still too few inclusive characters in children’s stories and we want to make sure that our story is just the start of a new wave of children’s literature that includes disabled characters in a positive and natural way.
We are sure that you’ll enjoy Max and his adventures; we certainly had a lot of fun bringing him to life!"
Sean Stockdale, co-author of Max The Champion
A final check of the proofs of Max the Champion at the Frances Lincoln offices
