Jenny Nimmo sideblog

Lou | 29 | she/her | follows from thisisntwaterstones | | header via freepik, icon photo taken by me |

[stjohnstarling]

Hang on, I need to visit my mind palace. *closes my eyes and screws up my face and I begin to turn an increasingly distressing shade of red until I pass out and hit my head on the coffee table*

[asparklethatisblue]

The German book cover industry has been my sworn enemy since I was 11 years old. But just to demonstrate I want you to see this example of Pterry's Snuff, UK edition and German edition

look! a fun book cover and a beautiful illustration on its own merits, by Paul Kidby who did most of the novels and official art in later years.

now. same thing in Germany:

you understand

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I thought I was prepared to scroll down and I wasn't. I wasn't prepared.

[everythingismadeofchaos]

ew

[tollytwelvebells]

just remembered I read something about an adaptation rumour, did I dream that? iirc it mentioned sophie willan...

would she be Amy? Julia? Venetia? Trish?👀

[tollytwelvebells]

lol this is what I was thinking of (not only has it since been removed from Wikipedia due to lack of citations, it was a different actor altogether):

[kazz-brekker]

if the world has to inflict the harry potter tv show on us we should also get a tv show of the charlie bone books as compensation

[children-of-the-red-queen]

I heard that the pilot was tested and flopped, but I don't actually remember my source

Still would've liked to see it adapted though, honestly

[kazz-brekker]

ah, that's a shame, i was fond of the books as a kid and you'd think that it would translate well to a tv show. well, maybe they'll end up reworking the pilot someday or something.

[children-of-the-red-queen]

Well, it hasn't been cancelled officially... There's still hope! :'D

[a-crack-in-the-universe]

The friend of Jenny Nimmo who runs a CB fan Facebook page confirmed that it’s not going ahead. Apparently Nimmo herself told them about it.

[children-of-the-red-queen]

Ah, very good to know, thank you!

Then I DO wonder if there'll ever be another attempt... Hm.

[children-of-the-red-queen]

@tollytwelvebells

[tollytwelvebells]

just remembered I read something about an adaptation rumour, did I dream that? iirc it mentioned sophie willan...

would she be Amy? Julia? Venetia? Trish?👀

[children-of-the-red-queen]

by popular demand

most fuckable adult non-parent character in the CBU

Katya Kettle

Alice Angel

Orvil Onimous

Treasure

Onoria Onimous

Paton Yewbeam

Julia Ingledew

Arthur Saltweather

Christopher Crowquill

Venetia Yewbeam

OP you forgot

see results

Voting ended onOct 1, 2025

[tollytwelvebells]

The parent one was an instant decision for me but this one is so difficult! I am voting for one in the poll but also my honorable mentions go to...🥁

the brave, righteous and talented, the hot and grownup older brothers-of-a-friend, the cool, talented, youthful teachers...🥁 iiiit's: Felix and Samuel!

[children-of-the-red-queen]

Honestly, very good choices, and I did debate putting them in, along with Alvaro. Unfortunately, in my biased opinion, someone else won ;D

[tollytwelvebells]

see, it turns out what jenny managed to do is write a whole catalogue of grade A hotties and I need me a TV serial adaptation dammit

[children-of-the-red-queen]

by popular demand

most fuckable adult non-parent character in the CBU

Katya Kettle

Alice Angel

Orvil Onimous

Treasure

Onoria Onimous

Paton Yewbeam

Julia Ingledew

Arthur Saltweather

Christopher Crowquill

Venetia Yewbeam

OP you forgot

see results

Voting ended onOct 1, 2025

[tollytwelvebells]

The parent one was an instant decision for me but this one is so difficult! I am voting for one in the poll but also my honorable mentions go to...🥁

the brave, righteous and talented, the hot and grownup older brothers-of-a-friend, the cool, talented, youthful teachers...🥁 iiiit's: Felix and Samuel!

[partywithponies]

The older you get, the more upsetting the ages your childhood favourite book characters were when they went through all of that become.

Like what do you mean Katniss Everdeen was 16?? What do you mean Tracy Beaker was 10??? WHAT DO YOU MEAN MATILDA WORMWOOD WAS FIVE YEARS OLD

[moonlitmonocerus]

For the ones that need it today

[cotrk]

What should the name of Mr and Mrs Moon’s son be?

Moon Moon

Silvester Moon

Modred Moon

Apollo Moon

Voting ended onMar 14, 2025

@children-of-the-red-queen @dagbert-endless @mossnrocksnbogwater @taliesin-the-bored

[dagbert-endless]

[cotrk]

WE ARE SAVED

[tollytwelvebells]

just sticking my oar in here to say that Mordred/Modred is the one that makes sense & I can see Jenny choosing -- for the Welshness & literary reference-ness of it all

[cotrk-poll-fun]

Best Paton Yewbeam Quote Bracket

Round 1b - Poll 11

Vote for the better quote!

Quote 49: I don't know how long

Quote 160: Have you and Miss Ingledew...?

Voting ended onMar 16, 2025

Spoilers for Charlie Bone and the Red Knight below the cut!

Quote 49, Charlie Bone and the Blue Boa, chapter 15

I don’t know how long I was there. I lay on the stone floor, blind and never knowing if I was awake or dreaming. My body was either burning or freezing. Sometimes, I would see him but he never looked the same. One minute he’d be a child, then an old man. One day there’d be a great black dog beside me, then a bear. There’d be a raven tearing my head, a wolf gnawing my bones. But every time, as soon as he’d gone, I’d crawl a little closer to the door.

Quote 160, Charlie Bone and the Red Knight, chapter 22

Charlie: Have you and Miss Ingledew...?

Paton: Made up our silly quarrel? Yes, we have. She was very kind. Blames herself, though it was all my fault, no doubt, rushing about the country, poking into family affairs.

[incorrectcharliebone]

Emma: Listen here, pretty boy- Dagbert: Why is “pretty boy” even an insult? Emma: Wha- I don’t know, it just is- Dagbert: Call me pretty boy again! I am the prettiest boy you will ever see! Emma: Tancred: He has a point.

[dagbert-endless]

ohhhh they need a trio name.

what's something that unites them... the drowning, I guess. Drown/Drowning/Drowned Trio? Death Trio?

Emma has Tolly Twelve Bells and Dagbert was twelve when he killed Tancred, if we can get a 12 for Tancred that could be something.

Or we can go with descriptor mashing, like salty stormwing. Tancred/Emma is called ThunderBird sometimes, maybe ThunderSeaBird?

I'd say Cursed Trio itself works but honestly that feels more like Tancred, Dagbert, and Lysander. Suffering Trio, but that could be literally anyone in this series except Fido.

If nothing else, TancrEmBert gets the job done I guess lol

[tollytwelvebells]

oooh see I never think along those lines (i always default to individual descriptors) but the thing that unites them makes so much more sense!

The drowning + 12 idea has me thinking... it's not just Tancred? Dagbert spends his first years living under what seems like a death sentence, Emma is brought back to life when she's woken up.

Yes they're all haunted by the drowning but they also all have the experience of being granted a new lease of life? They're the Lazarus trio! The resurrection three! The second lifers! The new... leaseholders? (Okay maybe not the last two but you get the idea)

[tollytwelvebells]

as much as I'd love a Charlie Bone tv adaptation I'd be worried they'd update it from the early noughties

When the bbc did the snow spider recently they updated it (Gwyn researched Welsh legends on his tablet) but that didn't matter so much because it's still set in an extremely rural part of the country in a farming community, so it hadn't changed their way of life to the detriment of the plot.

Whereas you see more recent (sometimes only slightly more recent) fantasy books have to write reasons into the lore of it for why they don't use smartphones etc because they'd present issues in the plotting -- but cotrk doesn't need that because the tech is only just coming in!

Aside from considering the hell that Charlie's life would become if he could travel into digital pictures, or the potential decision to say 'no he can't travel into something that's not a physical/chemical creation' to get around it.......I want to see an adaptation that is consciously rooted in early 2000s culture.

I need the children to be dressed as though they're from the set of Tracy Beaker. Liv's style icons wear quadruple denim on the red carpet.

Paton's texts need to be a garble of predictive text until Tancred shows him how to switch it off.

These are characters who use phone boxes and 0800 reverse.

Shrek has only just come out when the series starts.

Mr Brightside comes out when they're doing their GCSEs.

Felix Gunn is the fifth member of Busted.

[tollytwelvebells]

we should goncharov Fidelio's musical

[children-of-the-red-queen]

This would be hilarious actually

But where to start...

Wait now this makes me wonder what all other Bloor's plays were about

I think there was an evil stepmother (played by Olivia) once, so maybe it is similar to fairy tales

So what if Fidelio was going to make a musical adaptation of an in-universe legend that just so happened to be related to the Red King in the end? Very many tragic stories in canon too

[tollytwelvebells]

love it!

Yeah I think it sounds likely at least one of them was fairy tale based?

And I remember one of them had the hats and costumes Emma, Lysander and Tancred were making/playing with at Ingledews. And wasn't one of them written by Manfred? (possibly the hat one?)

So there's precedent for a student getting involved in conceiving the idea. After the school changes hands and the children are safe and nurtured, I can see it happening. ("Mr Saltweather you know how I was always one of the most committed pupils in your department? I have written a musical. Please let the school stage it.")

Bringing in the Red King... maybe Fidelio finds inspiration in one of Julia's books?

I may end up writing this........

[incorrectcharliebone]

Emma: Listen here, pretty boy- Dagbert: Why is “pretty boy” even an insult? Emma: Wha- I don’t know, it just is- Dagbert: Call me pretty boy again! I am the prettiest boy you will ever see! Emma: Tancred: He has a point.

[tollytwelvebells]

'charlie-bone.com'

Did anyone else used to go on the CB website?? It was an interactive site with little games in different locations from the city (and there were forums too but I never used them at the time)

sadly it shut down years ago and I've often wished I could see it again. But it just occurred to me to try the wayback machine! and! there's some of it up there!!

I don't think the interactive bits work on there (at least not on my old, slow phone) but it's still so good to see ♥️

(it's also particularly ideal to find again now because I've been thinking about a map of the city recently)

Anyway for any fandom archivists out there it may be of interest to look through the forums!

(and as for me, next time I'm at my mum's house with some time on my hands I'll scan the postcards I got from this site in about 2007(?08? 09?) -- I think the Paton and Olivia illustrations for sure will be new to some people)

[children-of-the-red-queen]

Oh! Someone did bring this up on the Discord somewhat recently and some people had played it before... not me though 😔 do wonder what it was like

Also B found this game which is from there apparently <.<

Man, I wish we were the kind of fandom that had some idiot save enough data from the website to reverse engineer it now - I'd love to play it xd

The map is cool though! Even if Ben's house is wrong on it

[tollytwelvebells]

the ruin game!! man i was always so bad at that hahaha -- I managed to pick up enough points elsewhere (like the piano player) to get a couple of freebies (the 4 postcards and a poster) but i longed to pick up more in the ruin game.

and re: your tags, yes! They're for sure official illustrations, I'd say. They were done by the same artist as the original(?) uk covers! Paton's face isn't very clear (due to fedora and lamplight) but would probably be useable for the fandom wiki anyway -- the other three are Olivia, Billy and Charlie.

unfortunately yet another week has passed where I've not done any scanning -- it's been a busy month

[tollytwelvebells]

'charlie-bone.com'

Did anyone else used to go on the CB website?? It was an interactive site with little games in different locations from the city (and there were forums too but I never used them at the time)

sadly it shut down years ago and I've often wished I could see it again. But it just occurred to me to try the wayback machine! and! there's some of it up there!!

I don't think the interactive bits work on there (at least not on my old, slow phone) but it's still so good to see ♥️

(it's also particularly ideal to find again now because I've been thinking about a map of the city recently)

Anyway for any fandom archivists out there it may be of interest to look through the forums!

(and as for me, next time I'm at my mum's house with some time on my hands I'll scan the postcards I got from this site in about 2007(?08? 09?) -- I think the Paton and Olivia illustrations for sure will be new to some people)