Children's author sees name in lights in New York

A FORMER Rotherham school teacher who has taken the world of children’s books by storm saw his name up in lights at a glitzy New York book launch.

Peter J. Murray, from Bramley, was mobbed by young fans when he paid a visit to the Big Apple to launch the latest book in his Mokee Joe series.

He said: “They say that truth is stranger than fiction. It is in my case. I keep wondering what will happen next.”

The 60-year-old former Aston Comprehensive School teacher retired from teaching in 2005 to become a full-time touring children’s author with his stories about his creepy star character Mokee Joe.

Since then he has sold more than 500,000 books and is a huge hit with young audiences on the other side of the Atlantic.

Fresh from the launch of his new book Mokee Joe: Mutant Resurrection at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York, he said: “When I started out I said that I’d be satisfied if I sold 2,000 books. I never expected things to develop as they have.

“It’s amazing how I have been received by the children in America.

“I think the key to my success is my presentations. I go into schools and get into costume as Mokee Joe to read and deliver my presentation.

“When I’m in America, I think the effect is magnified because of my English accent.”

More than 1,500 pupils from around 40 schools were represented at Peter’s book launch last month.

Peter was even serenaded by a schools choir that incorporated Mokee Joe themes into the words for New York, New York.

The Mokee Joe books gained recognition in the United States after the New York-based Carmel Hill Fund, a trust set up to benefit deprived school children, invited him to speak to pupils about his books four years ago.

Since his initial tour of New York schools, Peter’s success with American audiences has seen him invited to schools elsewhere in the United States.

It was this success that prompted him to write his new Mokee Joe book. He revealed: “I never intended to write another Mokee Joe book but the success really forced me to change my mind.

“I decided to base half of the action in the UK and half in the USA as a sort of thank you to everyone who had embraced the books out there.”

This week, Peter was once again touring schools in his native Rotherham, giving youngsters their first taste of the new instalment to the Mokee Joe series.

Broom Valley, Roughwood and Badsley Moor Lane primary schools are among his first appointments.

He said: “It’s always great to be back on home turf. I always get a great reaction. Kids are kids wherever you go.”