{"id":119327,"date":"2025-03-08T05:16:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T05:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/lets-play-rugby-by-paul-howard-the-federation-of-childrens-book-groups\/"},"modified":"2025-03-08T05:16:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T05:16:52","slug":"lets-play-rugby-by-paul-howard-the-federation-of-childrens-book-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=119327","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Play Rugby by Paul Howard \u2013 The Federation of Children’s Book Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s Play Rugby was co-written by Paul Howard and Gordon D\u2019Arcy. In our blog today, Paul shares how co-authoring worked for them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Co-authoring children\u2019s books with Gordon D\u2019Arcy has been one of the happiest twists that my career as a writer has taken. Gordon and I actually knew each other in a previous life, long before we collaborated on Gordon\u2019s Game, our first book together.<\/p>\n

Twenty years ago, I was a sports journalist with the now defunct Sunday Tribune newspaper, while Gordon was well on his way to becoming one of the greatest rugby players of his generation, a two-time Six Nations and three-time European Cup winner, as well as a Lion. The first time I met him, I was standing on the other side of a barrier in the mixed zone area of Dublin\u2019s Aviva Stadium, asking him questions with my Dictaphone pointed in his direction. It\u2019s funny the turns that a writing life can take.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, my mobile phone rang and Gordon\u2019s name popped up on the screen. I occasionally namechecked him in a gently mocking way in a humorous series of books I wrote for grown-ups called the Ross O\u2019Carroll-Kelly series. When I saw his name, I thought I had perhaps overstepped the mark and he was calling because he was annoyed with me. Being a moral and physical coward, I let the call go the voicemail.<\/p>\n

When I listened to his message, it wasn\u2019t about that at all. He wanted to write a book about his career, he explained, and wondered if I was interested in collaborating with him. My next thought was, \u2018How am I going to get out of this?\u2019 So many players of Gordon\u2019s generation had already told their stories and I thought the last thing the world needed was yet another Irish rugby biography.<\/p>\n

But when I called him back, it turned out that he wanted to do something completely different. He wanted to tell the story of his rugby career through a series of children\u2019s books.<\/p>\n

I thought, \u2018Wow! What an amazing idea!\u2019<\/p>\n

So we sat down together and we plotted out the first in what would become a trilogy of Gordon\u2019s Game books. What I enjoyed most about working with Gordon was that he was absolutely brimming with ideas. Obviously, he knew what it was like to play professional rugby at the very highest level. But he also knew how to make his story relatable to young readers.<\/p>\n

The Gordon\u2019s Game series centred on a ten-year-old boy \u2013 Gordon \u2013 who is selected to play rugby for Ireland. It\u2019s a slight twist on Gordon\u2019s real life story. He was still at school when he was first called up to play for his country, although he was actually 17 and not ten years old as he was in the series.<\/p>\n

Gordon approached each book with pages and pages of ideas, providing great insights into what it\u2019s like to be a professional rugby player. We spent months working on the manuscript. And in response to each draft, he supplied me with pages and pages of notes, suggesting ways to make the story more dramatic and the action more exciting. He really was the dream co-author.<\/p>\n

Our latest book \u2013 Let\u2019s Play Rugby! \u2013 is for a younger audience. Gordon\u2019s idea was to produce an interactive book that placed young readers in the boots of a rugby player. Brilliantly illustrated by Ashwin Chacko, with every turn of the page, you can perform each and every one of the key actions of a rugby match, including scrummaging, jumping in the line-out, scoring a try and kicking a conversion \u2013 not to mention lifting the trophy at the end.<\/p>\n

Gordon, of course, did it all in real life. Let\u2019s Play Rugby! will let kids know how it feels to star in a big rugby match. And if you\u2019re a big kid like me, you might even enjoy doing the actions too.<\/p>\n

Paul Howard<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Book credit:<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Play Rugby written by Gordon D\u2019Arcy and Paul Howard, illustrated by Ashwin Chacko ( Little Island) available now.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the federation.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s Play Rugby was co-written by Paul Howard and Gordon D\u2019Arcy. In our blog today, Paul shares how co-authoring worked for them. Co-authoring children\u2019s books with Gordon D\u2019Arcy has been one of the happiest twists that my career as a writer has taken. Gordon and I actually knew each other in a previous life, long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[2268,352,3723,3724,33489,11249,4513,944,3491],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-119327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-book","tag-childrens","tag-federation","tag-groups","tag-howard","tag-lets","tag-paul","tag-play","tag-rugby"],"yoast_head":"\nLet\u2019s Play Rugby by Paul Howard \u2013 The Federation of Children's Book Groups - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=119327\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let\u2019s Play Rugby by Paul Howard \u2013 The Federation of Children's Book Groups - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let\u2019s Play Rugby was co-written by Paul Howard and Gordon D\u2019Arcy. 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