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Cathy Cassidy

                 
                            We are very excited to welcome teen novelist Cathy Cassidy onto the ChildLine website this month, during Anti-Bullying Week!

About Cathy Cassidy

Cathy Cassidy is a brilliant author and writes story books about love, life, friendship and secret crushes.

Cathy has sold thousands of books across the country - her latest being, 'The Chocolate Box Girls: Marshmallow Skye' (published by Puffin Books) about the lives of two identical twin sisters.

One of her stories, 'Ginger Snaps' is about a girl called Ginger who is teased about the way she looks by her so-called friends. For
Anti-Bullying Week, Cathy has kindly shared the first chapter with us!
Read the first chapter of Ginger Snaps (published by Puffin Books).
You can find out more about Cathy on the Cathy Cassidy website.

Being bullied? Ask Sam

Not only does Cathy write amazing books, she was also an agony aunt for a teen magazine, and has helped a lot of young people with their problems. This week, Cathy joined Sam in answering some of your Ask Sam letters about bullying. Visit the Ask Sam page to read Cathy's advice, send a letter to Sam or see what other young people have written in about.

Want to know what it's like
to be a writer?

Perhaps you love to write and want some hints and tips, or are you interested in where Cathy gets her inspiration from?

Cathy Cassidy has been answering your questions on the Get involved message board during Anti-Bullying Week!

Thank you to everyone who posted in, we received lots of fantastic questions!

Take a look at Cathy's replies on the
Cathy Cassidy message board thread.

Anti-bullying poetry competition

We recently asked young people on the message boards to write a poem that would help and encourage a friend who was being bullied. A simple poem can mean so much to somebody - and can help them feel better about things.

Winner announced

A huge thank you to everyone who entered the competition, there are some brilliant writers amongst you. Unfortunatley, we could only pick one winner.

We are pleased to announce the winner of the Anti-bullying poetry competition is: InvisiblePain with their poem: Not ALone

"The poems are amazing... I read all of the entries and was so,
so impressed. My favourite is Not Alone... it's really powerful and moving,
and a worthy winner xxx"
Cathy Cassidy's signature

The winning poem can be seen on the Winning entry page.

All of the poems entered into the competition can also be seen on the
Poetry competition message board.

Read the first chapter of, ‘Ginger Snaps’ (published by Puffin Books)

Is Ginger’s best friend really her biggest rival?

Gone are the days when Ginger was an outsider, always on the fringes of friendship. She’s swapped puppy fat and pigtails for make-up and hair straighteners and never looked back – until now.

Ginger and Shannon are best mates, but when they befriend lonely Emily, everything changes. Even the saxophone-playing boy in the trilby hat can’t help – he’s
part of the problem. Are Ginger and Shannon drifting apart or can they stay best friends forever? Read the first chapter of Ginger Snaps (published by Puffin Books)

Love writing? Want some hints and tips?

Lots of you posted questions to Cathy on the message boards. Her replies are now in! Take a look at what she had to say!

Message boards: Cathy Cassidy answers your questions

Poetry competition

Thank you to everyone who entered! We've received lots of wonderful poems. All entries can be seen on the poetry message board.

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