Jane Finch
Biography of a Children's Books Reviewer

Meet Jane Finch, children's book reviewer

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After a career of 25 years in English Family Law I thought I was pretty hardened to all life had to offer after spending my days in Family Law Court. Then after 20 years of marriage I had the miracle that was my son, Ryan. He defied the medics and was determined to be a part of my life.

I began to write my first children’s novel when he was young. I used to take him to a local hilltop to watch the squirrels play, and I made up stories for him about their antics. The idea was born, and Squirrel Island was published in the UK in 1998. It is now being agented in the USA.

I used to write short stories for Ryan based around things that interested him. When he had a sudden desire to go into every carwash we could find, I wrote Colin the Carwash, and so on. So I accumulated a mass of short stories for children as the years went by.

When he was 9 he was severely bullied at school, so I made the decision to take him out of school and to homeschool. It was the best decision I ever made. We had a wonderful few years together, learning new things and discovering different ways of learning. When he was fourteen he took his GCSE’s and obtained 3 B’s and 2 A’s, so I felt I had done a good job and he had really bloomed with home education.

Now he has started at College and I suddenly find I have time on my hands. When I came across Best Children’s Books I was really enthusiastic to get involved. I love books that are wholesome and informative as well as fun, especially those that can tell children about the natural world about them.

As can be seen by many of my reviews, I am a fan of anthropomorphism and the type of books I write reflect this. I also like to incorporate some kind of moralistic aspect to my writing and my books often reflect allegoric references between animals and humans. My latest book is Harry The Hip Hop Hippo. Harry loves to dance, but is afraid that the other hippos might laugh at him, so he keeps his dancing a secret..This is a book about not being afraid to be different. Brilliant illustrations by Anastacia Tohill - a featured illustrator on best-childrens-books - really bring this story to life.

Again, with Crooked Rooks, this is a story that deals with bullying. How do the smaller and weaker animals stand up to the dominant rooks who try to take over the animal kingdom.

I am looking forward to reviewing for Best Children’s Books. I also write travel articles for Suite101 and write community news for two regional newspapers in Norfolk, England, where I live. I am currently working on my second anthropomorphic book about birds, and through my site, A Gift of a Poem, I craft customized poems.

-- Jane Finch

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