The brilliantly funny fourth book in the SAM WU series, starring the bravest scaredy-cat in the world! Perfect for reluctant readers and fans of Tom Fletcher, Pamela Butchart and Humza Arshad's Badman. Sam Wu is NOT afraid of anything. Well, maybe some things. Like ghosts, sharks . . . the dark's pretty worrying too. And not to mention SPIDERS! But Sam's not going to let anyone know.

Katie and Kevin Tsang are the joint authors of Dragon Mountain, the first book in a trilogy about a mythical Dragon Realm. This first book has just been named as the Waterstone’s Children’s Book of the Month for September 2020, guaranteeing it many readers. Sam Wu speaks to the wimp in each and every one of us! But what makes Sam's adventures so special is that he overcomes all his new challenges to prove to his peers that he is TOTALLY NOT scared. But proving how brave you are is HARD WORK, and none of these challenges are easy for Sam Wu. Charlotte, one of the female characters in their book, is bossy and strong willed. She also likes dresses. It was important to Katie to write Charlotte, on whose development she played the lead role, in a particular way. In children’s fiction young female characters tend to be depicted either as tomboys or as ultra girly girls. Charlotte is neither, she has a more diverse character.Kevin was born in Copenhagen and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. Some of Sam Wu’s experiences are based on Kevin’s childhood (he’s feeling much more confident now). Katie was born and raised in Southern California. She has previously worked at Booktrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, and also writes YA fiction as Katherine Webber. If you're ready for your next reading step, you should also read Katie and Kevin's other two book series: the Dragon Realm books and the Space Blasters books! If you are ready to test you brave bar, join Sam Wu on his journey to become the bravest boy in the entire world! This fantastic series written by Kevin Tsang and Katie Tsang and illustrated by Nathan Reed has been a hit with Toppsta reviewers, who also loved Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and the Baby Aliens series. What will follow in the Dragon Realm series? The authors assure me that there will be twists and turns. Readers of the first book will already know that Katie and Kevin Tsang are skilful operators of the unexpected. They have a particular hope that children who are usually reluctant readers might become attracted to their books. My final question: would they like to see their books on film? Unsurprisingly the answer was resoundingly positive. Watch this space. Katie and Kevin have also worked on a series of books for younger readers called Sam Wu. Sam is eight years old and scared of everything. How would Sam fare in Dragon Realm, I asked? He would of course be scared. He was scared in his own world. But he would survive as long as he had friends to look after him. The need for bravery is a theme shared both by the Sam Wu books and the Dragon Realm books, along with friendship and cooperation. Are there important difference between writing for younger children and writing for older readers? The younger the readers the more formulaic the text may be. There is fear – and Sam overcomes it. He also has a more limited emotional range than the four characters in Dragon Mountain. Working out Billy’s emotional reactions to changing circumstances was sometimes difficult, explains Katie.

Brilliantly funny new young series about the bravest scaredy-cat in the world. Sam Wu is NOT a scaredy-cat (except when he is). And when a shark TOTALLY tries to eat him at the local aquarium, he decides he's not going to take any more chances. So at his friend's birthday party at the beach, Sam refuses to dip even a toe in the water. Nothing could go wrong now, could it? A wonderful belly-laugh of a book, perfect for young fans of Tom Gates and Pamela Butchart. The first book in the series Sam Wu is Not Afraid of Ghosts will be published in February 2018 in the UK and October 2018 in the US.Sam's next adventure, Sam Wu is Not Afraid of Sharks, will be published in July 2018 in the UK and February 2019 in the US. Sam’s best friends, Zoe and Bernard, visit his house to meet Fang. When a fuse blows, plunging them into darkness, they hear eerie noises and then realise Fang has gone missing. Sam concludes that the snake has been kidnapped by the Ghost King, a terrifying character from Sam’s favourite TV space show. Can the three friends banish the ghost, rescue Fang and live to tell the tale?Chatting the Katie and Kevin, we first discussed those elements of Chinese culture they chose to incorporate in the book. Diet played a part. Kevin recalled his love of Chinese cuisine such as pork buns while he was growing up – the children in the book often eat pork buns. In Chinese mythology peaches represent immortality, therefore the trees in the Dragon Realm grow peaches. Both authors have always been fascinated by the Chinese Zodiac, so when the young protagonists of their book reach Camp Dragon, they are divided into teams under the signs of the Chinese Zodiac. Meet the world's bravest scaredy-cat! Sam Wu is Not Afraid is the perfect illustrated funny chapter book series for courageous children in the making ages 6+. Each of the four children – Billy, Charlotte, Dylan and Ling-Fei – is bonded with a dragon in a ceremony known as the Bonding and they discover that they are to be bonded with dragons at the same time as they are entrusted with their mission to save Dragon Realm. Kevin thought it important that when each child was bonded with a dragon, both child and dragon gained extra powers. I asked the authors how they had devised the dragon bonding ceremony. It was a joint idea. Katie and Kevin would like readers young and old to speculate on what kind of dragon each person would acquire. There is an element of wish fulfilment. I would like my dragon to be…

Katie and Kevin met in in 2008 while studying at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Since then they have lived on three different continents and travelled to over 40 countries together. They currently live in London. As well as the brilliant SAM WU series, Katie and Kevin also write magical middle grade fantasy series, DRAGON REALM. The Sam Wu is Not Afraid series follows the bravest scaredy cat in all the world, Sam Wu, as he faces his fears from ghosts to sharks to the dark! This is the third is the Sam Wu adventure series about conquering all sorts of fears in a humorous manner. With chaotic illustrations amplifying the funny situations that Sam and his friends find themselves in, this series is going from strength to strength and is a great accessible read.

Life is also difficult because Ralph Philip Zinkerman the Third, who is also the WORST PERSON IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE, always seems to be testing poor Sam and leading him to Certain Doom.