Tag Archives: Tracy Joy Holroyd

Mandy Annual 2007

Mandy, , , , , ,

This Christmas I’m looking at the last Mandy annual published. While it’s common to call these books annuals, they didn’t actually say that on the cover majority of time, instead it would be some variation on “Title for girls” or “Title Stories for Girls”, a trend that stayed with Bunty up to its last annual in 2009. Mandy however did start adding in “Annual” on the cover in 1999, calling it Mandy Annual 1999 for Girls, then it this last book it drops the for girls, though it those have the splash of  “For girls Like You!” so you could argue that is part of the title.

Inside the book itself there are there is traditional multi part story that would appear in Mandy annuals. There are 3 photo stories, reprinted stories and lots of features. (For just a list of contents go to the next page)

 

Picture Stories

Rowan Lodge [4 parts] (Pages: 7-12, 52-57, 91-96, 110-115)

Art: Peter Wilkes

Alice “Allie” Raymond is spending her school holidays with her grandmother while her parents are abroad. While at her grandmother’s another older relative, Auntie Mac, takes a fall. Nan and Allie go to stay with her at Rowan Grange. Auntie Mac, is nearly 100 year old and her first name is also Alice. She tells Allie stories of her brother, Cyril who was killed in World War I. Allie is quite bored in the isolated house and unhappy staying in the old nursery with its old hard furnishings and barred windows.

Exploring the gardens she finds a walled off part with a locked door, she climbs a tree and sees a  a small lodge but Mrs Green, the housekeeper, stops her from investigating further. Later back in her room, she finds a photo of Auntie Mac and her brother from when they were young.  Then she hears some noises in the locked cupboard, that startle her, but she reasons it must be the old heating system. On a trip to village, she meets a girl, Kelly, who tells her there is a legend that there is treasure hidden in the house and that Lady Jane Grey once stayed there. This story makes Allie think it will be more interesting to stay at Rowan Grange after all.

At the house, Allie explores the attic, she doesn’t find treasure, but she finds out more about Auntie Mac as she finds a painting of her dressed up for her birthday and Cyril’s old war uniform and a page from diary. Mrs Green again interrupts her. Allie’s not giving up yet though, down town she looks at old war monument and finds out Cyril was killed on Auntie Mac’s birthday. She meets Kelly again and tells her about noises she heard and some funny things going on, Kelly tells her she has heard there is supposed to be ghost in a secret room near the nursery and she should stay away from it.  Allie does not take the advice and asks Auntie Mac if there is a key to the room, but when they go to get key it is missing but Auntie Mac tells her about another way to enter.

Allie gets in and finds a map addressed to Lally from Rilly. Hearing someone coming she hides and is surprised to see Mrs Green enter with Kelly. It turns out she is Mrs Green daughter and had no where to spend the holidays and had been hiding out in the house. Allie says they can talk to Auntie Mac and she is sure Kelly could come and hang out with her. Allie keeps the map secret, she realises the map refers to Rowan Lodge rather than Grange and must be the place in the garden. Allie dreams of Cyril who warns her not to trust the Greens, when she wakes up the map is gone. She tells Nan and Auntie Mac everything, they find the Greens at the Lodge,they are trying to figure out a riddle on the map but they run off when confronted.Auntie Mac then tells Allie where to look, the map referred to an old game she used to play with her brother. They find a doll that Cyril had bought his sister before going off to war. Unknown to them Cyril is watching over events. Mrs Green is reported to police and Auntie Mac gives the doll to Allie, to keep it in the family, rather than selling it off. Allie senses Cyril and promises to look after the doll.

Staying Over (Pages: 30-37)

Reprint of Living with Lucy from Mandy Annual 1996

Jane and Lucy are best friends and want to spend all their time together, so when Lucy’s parents go away on holiday, they are excited that Lucy will stay at Jane’s for 2 weeks, but of course it doesn’t go as planned. Sharing homework lands them in trouble, Lucy annoys Jane with her untidiness, Lucy is upset when Jane borrows her new skirt without asking and then accidentally rips it and Jane has to turn down  date because her mother insists she can’t go out while she has a guest. At the end of the stay the girls are no longer talking to each other but when they unknowingly end up on a double date together they make up.

Long Distance (Pages: 60-64)

Reprinted from Judy Annual 1989

Art: John Armstrong

Jen uses her great grandmothers old fashioned phone as a prop for a play.One of the set people, Brian, says he will set up a ring for it, then during rehearsals when it rings Jen answers it and a girl talks about Bleriot flying over the English Channel. Jen thinks Brian has set up a fake message but he says that would be impossible on the old phone and that he hasn’t even set up the ringer. When leaving rehearsals, Jen hears phone ring again, she answers it and the same young girl asks for help, that she is trapped in a fire. Jen runs to the address given and finds herself transported to the past. SHe rescues the beridden girl before passing out from the smoke fumes. She wakes up her own bed, she tells her mom about the fire in her dream, her mom tells her its a funny coincidence that her great grandmother was rescued from a fire when she was bedridden as a young girl, and the girl who saved her disappeared. Jen believes she knows what happened, on the night of the play when the phone rings, she wonders what will happen.

Sadie’s Summer (Pages: 69-74)

Art: “B Jackson”

Reprinted from Bunty Annual 1998

Sadie works for a family in Victorian times, she is excited when the family plan to go to seaside and bring the servants with them, but the master cancels all time off, so they are expected to work and there will be no opportunity for Sadie to see the beach.  A chance encounter with a dog, she meets a young girl, who insists on rewarding her for catching her dog. She comes from an influential family and is able to get Sadie a day off so she can fulfill her wish to enjoy the seaside. Even better the family offer a Sadie a job so she gets a job with a nicer family and to live by the seaside permanently.

Lucky! (Pages: 81-87)

Art: Juan Velasco

Reprint of Lucky and Lisa from Mandy Annual 1996

This is another reprinted story, it’s also the only story in the annual that was a weekly serial originally appearing as Lucky and Lisa in M&J comic issues #211 to #231. In this story Lisa and her horse Lucky win a place at a European ‘Rural Riders’ Camp, which big-headed Maxwell is also going to. Maxwell is sure he will win the trophy for best rider at the end of the week. He goes to practice the cross country route, but his horse, Midnight, slips and gets stuck, Lucky and Lisa find them and help them out. Maxwell is even happy for Lisa when she wins the trophy at end of camp for a good showing at all events and being most helpful member.

Timeout! (Pages: 98-102)

Art: John Armstrong

Reprint of Wishing Your Life Away from Judy Annual 1989

A second John Armstrong story and both have a label of “it’s spooky”. In this story Sandy buys a second hand clock and finds she can use it to skip forward in time. She uses it to skip boring stuff like homework and tests and skip forward to when her favourite TV show is on and to the weekend, but she doesn’t think of the consequences disappearing for large chunks of time. As time still happens normally for everyone else, her parents call the police, when she doesn’t return from school. Sadie goes to shed to try and fix things winding the clock backwards, but it is slower process. She borrows her dads hand drill to help but then accidentally winds it forward 10 years! Eventually she manages to wind it back, injuring her hand but she is home and decides to give the clock back to shop.

 

Text Stories

The Kidnap (Pages: 26-27)

Writer: Susan Elizabeth Issacs

Art: Susannah Fishbourne

Clara has a lucky toy rabbit mascot named Carlos. Another girl Andrea teases her about it, so when Carlos goes missing with a note demanding money for his return, she accuses Andrea of stealing it and says she will tell her mom. Andrea breaks down crying that her mom left a few months ago. They come to an understanding, that Andrea has been teasing Clara because se was jealous of her home life, but they will be friends now. It turns out Carlos was stolen by some boys as April fools joke, and her friend Sasha was in on it.  One of the boys uses the opportunity to ask her to an upcoming dance, which she is happy about.

Considering how upset she was when Carlos was missing and how angry she was when she thought it was Andrea, Clara takes it surprisingly well, when it turns out to be a “joke” by her friend!

It’s Magic! (Pages: 66-67)

Writer: Tracy Joy Holroyd

Art: Susannah Fishbourne

Amy likes a boy John who cycles by her house every weekend, she finds excuses to work in the garden but he never notices her. She talks about her troubles to her cat, Wush. She then has the idea to try out a magic spell, from a book her mom got her for the birthday. The next time she sees John, it seems he is going to ride straight by again, until Wush suddenly runs across him causing him to crash. Amy helps him and insists he come into house to recover. It turns out he likes Amy too but was too shy to say anything before. So Wush has helped Amy out, almost like he knew what he was doing!

Photo Stories

Only a Name! (Pages: 17-22)

Daisy is annoyed with her older sister, Poppy, who keeps calling her Daze and Dopey Daze. After talk with mom, Poppy promises to try and call her by her actual name. When Poppy’s boyfriend breaks up with her because a girl tells him Poppy has been cheating on him and Poppy can’t remember were she was, Daisy saves the day with her diary. She doesn’t mind sharing it with Poppy as it is only full of day to day activities rather than any secrets, though Poppy does notice, after all her complaining about her name, that Daisy has her own nickname, “Pops” for her sister.

The One For Me! (Pages: 41-47)

Reprint of “The Boy For Me!” from Bunty Annual 1998

Louise is excited when Paul asks her out but he does not get along with the dog her family are currently fostering.  The dog, Ben, is a bit troublesome, but Louise is hoping she can convince her parents to let her keep him, when Ben warns family about leak in the bathroom, they come around and agree he can stay. Paul isn’t happy to hear this news and gives her an ultimatum, him or the dog. It’s an easy choice for Louise and she chooses Ben.

Secret Admirer! (Pages: 120-125)

Dawn finds a note in her book from a secret admirer and with the help of her friend Steve is trying to track down who wrote it. She narrows it down to boys in her English class and can eliminate some as they already have girlfriends or are interested in in someone else. She eventually finds out it was Steve who wrote the note but was nervous if she would see him as more than a friend. Dawn is happy at the revelation, as she likes him too but also didn’t think he fancied her.

Features

There’s a whole variety of features, with puzzles, quizzes and factual features, plenty to keep reader occupied.

Puzzles

  • Spring: picture and wordsearch (Pages: 2-3)
  • Summer: picture and wordsearch (Pages: 28-29)
  • A B C (Pages: 38-39)
  • Criss-Cross! (Pages: 65)
  • Autumn: picture and wordsearch (Pages: 78-79)
  • Spot the Differences! (Pages: 90)
  • True or False? (Pages: 103)
  • Puzzles! Puzzles! Puzzles! (Pages: 106-107)
  • Winter: picture and wordsearch (Pages: 126-127)

Quizzes

  • How Superstitious Are You? (Pages: 16)
  • Dodgy or Divine? (Pages: 48-49)
  • Ready, Steady, Go! (Pages: 80)
  • Are You Psychic or Sceptic? (Pages: 108)
  • Best Friends! (Pages: 118-119)

Posters

  • Poster: Fearne Cotton (Pages: 6)
  • Poster: Girls Aloud (Pages: 40)
  • Poster: Konnie Huq (Pages: 75)
  • Poster: Hilary Duff (Pages: 97)

Reader Features

These articles focused on girls, around the readers age and different aspects of their life like what their bedroom is like, what their favourite hobby is and favourite things.

  • Girls! Girls! Girls! : Room to Talk! (Pages: 13-15)
  • Girls! Girls! Girls! : It’s Fun! (Pages: 50)
  • Girls! Girls! Girls! : Meet Me! [Sarah] (Pages: 76-77)
  • Girls! Girls! Girls! : Meet Me! [Caroline] (Pages: 104-105)

Factual Features

Different articles, from animals, celebrities, dolls houses and writing tips from Tracy Joy Holroyd, who wrote the text story “It’s Magic” for the annual.

  • We Love Dolphins! (Pages: 23-25)
  • Focus on… Jennifer1  [Aniston] (Pages: 51)
  • House Proud! (Pages: 58-59)
  • The Write Way! (Pages: 68)
  • Mystic Maggies! (Pages: 88-89)
  • Focus on… Jennifer2  [Lopez] (Pages: 109)
  • Sleep Tight! (Pages: 116-117)

Final Thoughts

This is a good annual, although it has a lot of reprints, most readers wouldn’t have seen them before. Obviously the weekly M&J issues had long finished at this stage, and there is no big presence of regular characters here, only Lucky and Lisa appeared in M&J before. This is change from the previous years’ Mandy annual which had a lot of recognisable characters; Pennys Place, Angel, Wee Slavey and Cinderella Jones. I enjoyed the long story Rowan Lodge, with its mystery and supernatural elements, I think it’s not as strong as some previous long stories we’ve seen, but decent enough. Timeout! is my favourite story here, some memorable imagery with Sandy in the future.  While we get drama, mystery, spooky, I think we are missing some humour stories in this annual, the photo stories are fine, pretty standard, the text stories are fine, out of the two, I liked It’s Magic! best.

With this being the last Mandy annual,  I noted it has the same number of pages as previous annuals, while Bunty would go on to have 2 more annuals after this, there was a reduction in pages, likely due to decline in readership not able to justify the production costs. Mandy had a good run, 37 annuals, and ended its run decently.

Pages: 1 2

Tracy J Holroyd – DCT Writer

Creator,

Tracy Joy Holroyd wrote short stories and articles for many DC Thomson publications,  including Shout magazine and the later Bunty and Mandy annuals. Tracy’s uncles Bill Holroyd, Albert Holroyd, George Holroyd and Ken Reid had previously worked as cartoonists at DC Thomson too. She has kindly answered some questions about her writing experiences.

Quick Link: Publication list

How did you get your start writing  for DC Thomson?

I’d been writing for years, though not having much luck getting published. Then, inspiredbunty 2009 by a book about writing for children (can’t recall who wrote it), I decided to try my hand at a kids’ story. I researched the children’s market, then telephoned Maria Welch, who was then editor of D C Thomson’s Shout magazine. Maria encouraged me to submit my first story, which I did, and she bought it immediately!

Did your families history in comics encourage your interest in pursuing such a career?

I’d always wanted to be a writer – simply because I loved reading so much. Four of my uncles had worked for D C Thomson as cartoonists, Bill Holroyd and Ken Reid becoming particularly well-known. However, all had retired some years before I approached Thomson. Prior to writing my first story for Thomson, I’d visited my Uncle Bill in Scotland, and we got along so well that he actually invited me to move in with him and my Auntie Betty so that he could teach me cartooning – an invitation I didn’t accept, because I didn’t want to leave home. However, we spoke regularly by telephone,so he was able to give me lots of advice and encouragement. I recall his delight on hearing that I’d sold my first story – A Watery Grave – which I set in his home village of Ferryden, Scotland.

What was your typical process for writing stories?

I only wrote text stories. My stories were strongly plot-driven and panned out between 600 and 1200 words – so the first thing I had to do was come up with a plot. The hardest part! I liked spooky stories best, so tried to stick to that genre. I always opened with a hook – an action scene – then wrote a flashback to explain how my characters had reached the opening situation. The story had to move quickly. because of the limited word count, and the vocabulary had to be kept simple.  With practice, I could turn out a complete story in under two hours.

You said you wrote short stories, articles and puzzles, had you a preference for one thing?

Short stories. I’ve always loved spooky stories, and seeing my own published and illustrated makes me very proud.

Have you any favorite or memorable stories/articles that you wrote?

My first proper sale, of course – A Watery Grave. But I was particularly pleased with my later work, such as Scaredy Cat,The Werewolf and The Fortune-Teller.

Did you know anyone else who worked on these comics and were you able to work in collaboration with any other creators?

Only my commissioning editors, Maria Welch (Shout), Ayshea Scharf (Animals and You) and Anne Kemp (Cool Girl, The Bunty Annual and The Mandy Annual). I became particularly friendly with Anne. Of course, any story I submitted was subject to editing or re-writing as per an editor’s specific requirements. Some were even rejected as ‘too scary’!  I didn’t mind the editing too much – I was only really unhappy on one occasion, when my story’ s ending was changed beyond recognition!

Only once did I collaborate on a story – when I failed to come up with a plot for a Bunty commission. (I was going through a hard time personally and simply dried up.) Finally, Anne gave me a plot, and I produced the text. That was one of my very few non-spooky efforts – The Christmas Box.

Interesting that you succeeded in getting your work credited in Bunty Annual, what was that like and did you have support from others?

No, I just requested the credit. I’d always been credited for my magazine stories – and wasn’t bothered about my articles and puzzles so long as I got paid. However, when I realised that my name wasn’t appearing on my stories in the annuals, I contacted Anne and asked for future bylines on the grounds of Moral Rights. Anne not only secured this on my behalf, she also sent me copies of past stories with my name added, although they hadn’t appeared that way in many of the annuals. D C Thomson was notorious for not crediting their writers and artists even during my uncles’ day. It also demanded copyright on the stories. It was a case of either accepting the terms or not getting published.

Suzy Plays a trick

You’ve gone on to write books, do you find the process quite different?

My first book was the Children’s History of Manchester, commissioned by Hometown World. It was written to strict guidelines to fit in with a series, and went into second print within weeks of release. I was quickly commissioned to follow with the Children’s History of Lancashire. However, I ran into problems: I’d done the research, but dried up with the actual writing. My brother, David C Holroyd, jumped in to help me, and we wrote the rest of the book together – although he wouldn’t steal my thunder by letting me add his name to the cover.

David then approached me to help with his project – a series of books entitled The perfect pairPerfect Pair Dolphin Trilogy, the factional story of Europe’s top performing dolphins and their psychic trainer, set in the 1970s. I literally typed the manuscript (which David had written in longhand) and helped him to edit and polish. However, despite winning a couple of awards and being used to teaching English and Creative Writing in a UK university, the books have proven very controversial because of their strong anti-captivity message.

So, yes, I found the process different. Heavy research for the history books, and limitations on content, language and style. As for The Perfect Pair Dolphin Trilogy, I didn’t have the stress of turning out a gripping text, because David had already done that. However, the writing, typing and editing took six years in all, during which time we were attempting to look after our poorly dad, whilst also dealing with hostility from those who were trying to block the story.

Unfortunately, I have a short attention span, so have trouble writing substantial amounts of text. I like the fast reward and feedback that comes with writing short stories. 

What stories/articles did you work on and any other comments?

I’m still trying to track a lot of it down – I know for sure that I published many more articles, puzzles and quizzes. Thomson tends to change titles, so some of these stories may have been printed with different titles. I actually didn’t know that Suzy Plays a Trick appeared in The Bunty Annual 2009. I notice that you mention an article entitled We Love Elephants! That’s probably mine, too, because I wrote an article about elephants for Anne, but didn’t know where it featured.

Just as a point of interest, as a little girl, I read Twinkle, then moved on to The Bunty,The Mandy and Tammy. The first thing I ever had published was a letter to The Mandy, telling readers how I got my dog. I was about 13, and the letter was called Tracy’s Trixie.

For a list of publications go to the next page.

Pages: 1 2

Bunty 2009

Bunty, , , , , , ,

bunty 2009This is the last Bunty annual, not including any ‘best of Bunty’ books that came out after it.  At a mere 80 pages including covers already it’s at a disadvantage for being 48 pages less than the older annuals. The cover shows a clear change in how they market the book. A cover girl appears but is mostly overwhelmed by flashy banners advertising whats inside and celebrity pictures.  Of course when this annual came out, the weekly issues had stopped for many years, so it may be understandable they are trying different methods to entice readers in with. Inside the annual, there is a table of contents, there are only 8 stories altogether; 4 picture stories, 2 text stories and 2 photo stories, the book is more feature heavy with 22 features. Some of the features  are factual articles, quizzes, posters and puzzle pages. The whole annual is full colour. (For just a list of contents click here)

Picture Stories

The Comp       (Pages: 19-25)

Art: Peter Wilkes

There are a lot of reprints in this annual, but this story I can’t confirm is a reprint,  it has some more up to date (for the time) references, like mention of the  X-Factor tv show, but it may have just updated the dialogue. At Redvale Comp there is going to be a concert for an end of term fund raiser. Laura, Roz,  Hayley and Becca are trying to think of an act for the concert and decide they will perform as  a tribute band – the Spice Girls, as they were when they started. They need a fifth person, they ask Nikki but she says her and Claire are more comfortable handling backstage stuff. Freddy volunteers to be Scary Spice. Stancee, Roz’s stepsister directs the group. They plan to mime and dance, but then the auditions take place and don’t allow any props. They try their best and luckily their routine and explanation means they barely make it, despite the bad singing. On the night of the concert in their costumes they are the hit of the concert, even if Jayne the Payne and Margaret aren’t impressed. The story is fine, nice to see the Comp gang again, although it may seem familiar to me because I think it was quite common for The Comp annual stories to revolve around some sort of concert!

Bunty_2009_comp

Strictly Dancing!      (Pages: 33-38)

Art: Andy Tew

This was first printed in the 1995 annual under a different name – The Perfect Partner. The story has also had a colour update. now in full-colour rather than the orange/black/white it was before. There are some other changes-  like the lettering is different, there are some alterations to the dialogue (mainly to reiterate the title strictly dancing) and the main characters names are changed. Danielle has her name shortened to Danni and Mark  becomes Nat.

The story itself has Nat and Danni as friends and dance partners. It isn’t until someone points out that they would make a great couple that Danni realises her feelings for Nat aren’t platonic. Unfortunately at the same time Nat gets a girlfriend, Zoe. When Zoe comes to watch their dance practices, Danni can’t concentrate and decides to dance solo for a while. Nat misses Danni though and he realizes he also has feelings for her so the resume their partnership and start dating. The colour update is fine, it doesn’t overwhelm the original drawing, so it works well. The forced extra dialogue can be a bit much though “We’re strictly dancing partners”  “It’s strictly dancing to him. Nothing more”.  Still the story holds up well enough and clearly isn’t outdated that it still works 14 years later.

Bunty_2009_strictly

perfectpartners_B95

The Four Marys      (Pages: 45-49)

Art: Jim Eldridge

This first appeared in the 1999 annual. The story is set at Christmas with the opening splash page of the girls and their class caroling around a Christmas tree. Later at a shop the other Marys tell Cotty that she is going to need to brush up on her French when she wins the Chrismas Card Art Competition, the prize of which is a trip to Disneyland Paris. Cotty modest as ever says others could win including Carol, a kind girl whose parents have fallen on hard times. Cotty notices that  Carol gives a little boy some extra money so he can afford to buy a present and get the bus home. Later at school the paintings for the competition are hanging. Everyone is agreeing Cotty’s is the best, but she no longer wants to win and would rather Carol did. Cotty looks at Carol’s knows how it could be improved. That night she makes some changes to both pictures adding a little extra to Carol’s picture and making hers a little duller. The next day Carol wins the competition.

Bunty_2009_4 marys

It is a nice gesture by Cotty but it does seem to diminish Carol’s abilities a bit.  Because of course no one could actually be better than Cotty! Not only does she have to make her own picture look less good she also has to improve Carol’s picture. Also while Cotty’s painting of the school is nice, it’s not very Christmassy compared to Carols.

Carly’s Cats!        (Pages: 57 – 63)

Art: John Armstrong

Another reprint taken from the 1995 annual. The lettering and the title style have changed, probably to fit in better with the rest of the book. There are some slight changes to the dialogue and little changes like the closing statement in the last panel was initially just a thought rather than spoken out loud. Also the main cat’s name changes from Griselda to Maisie.

The story is about  a girl Carly that works in a cat sanctuary but the cats home lease is up, so they have to try to find homes for each of the cats or the cats will be put down. She finds homes for a few, though she does run into a few problems like a fashion designer, who just wants an exotic cat, Tang, as a background ornament. Carly takes Tang back explaining cats are pets not ornaments, luckily on the way home  Tang escapes and runs into a man’s home who would love a new cat after his old one died. One of the cats Maisie keeps getting into trouble by exploring a neighbour’s property. This turns out to be a lucky thing when a fire starts and Maisie wakes up the owner. In gratitude, she offers the cat sanctuary to set up in her old outbuildings.

Bunty_2009_Carlys cats

This was one of my favourite stories when I read it first time around in the older annual, and it still as good now, this is in large part due to John Armstrong’s great artwork.

Text Stories

The New Girl      (Pages: 40-41)

Writer: Susan Elizabeth Issacs
Illustrations: Susannah Fishbourne

The text stories and their spot art are actually credited in this book! It is strange that sometimes text stories would be credited but they still didn’t like to print who was responsible for picture stories. Anyway this story is about a girl Lexi that moves to a new town. On her first day she makes friends with the next door neighbour Petra and her cousin, Dawn, that lives close by. Petra is going away on holidays, but Lexi is excited to make plans with Dawn. But then Dawn doesn’t call all week. When she sees her in town she ignores her. Then she literally bumps into her spilling drink on her, Dawn calls her an idiot and walks away. Lexi is upset but surprised when Petra returns and she still wants to be friends. It turns out Dawn’s been in hospital with appendicitis and it was actually Dawn’s sister Claire that Lexi ran into.

Suzy Plays a Trick      (Pages: 68-69)

Writer: Tracy Joy Holroyd
Illustrations: Susannah Fishbourne

I wonder is this the same Tracy J Holroyd that wrote Children’s History of Lancashire and Children’s History of Manchester? Suzy and her friend Amy decide to play a trick on the cast of the play their in. There is a ghost story about a twisted grey ghost appearing on the balcony of the old theatre. During rehearsal Suzy plans to dress up as the ghost, and then Amy will point out the ghost to everyone.  The trick starts off as planned, and at first Suzy is impressed at Amy’s acting skills, but then everyone starts panicking so she rushes down, to calm them. She meets the boys on the stairs they tell her they knew it was her playing a trick what everyone was scared of was the appearance of a ghastly twisted grey figure behind her! Nice little scary story and the spot art shows that Suzy is a person of colour, which is nice to see some bit of diversity as all the other protagonists in the annuals are white.

bunty 2009_suzy trick

Photo Stories

Two’s Company…      (Pages: 7-12)

Bunty 2009 twos companySally has some trouble in her school as she is being teased because her mum is temporary head. One girl, Lori, is the leader of all this and gets some boys to ask Sally about an upcoming dance, getting her hopes up and then walking away. Luckily Sally has her friend Jo to support her, so when she sees Lori’s brother, Al, waiting near her house she tells him she knows about jokes and cuts him off before he can say anything. Jo talks to him though and convinces Sally to listen to him, he’s not like his sister and really likes Sally and wants to go to the dance with him. I’m not a fan of photo stories but i will give it some recognition for making a more interesting, eye catching layout than normal.

Choices!      (Pages: 72-77)

This is the better of the two photo stories. Andrea is training to be top athlete, unfortunately it means she hasn’t a lot of time for her friends. She is excited when she is entered into county trials and wants to tell her best friend Jackie. It turns out Jackie has news too some friends have been challenged to an inter school bowling match, they want Andrea to play but she can’t because its the night before the trials. She is upset when Jackie doesn’t understand. During training her coach can tell somethings wrong, and Jackie tells her, she is torn between friends and athletics. The coach listen but tells her that Andrea has to come to her own decision about whats most important. She decides she wants to see how good an athlete she can be. But while athletics is the dream she wants to pursue she is also more conscious of neglecting her friends and realizes she can do more. Her and Jackie make up and Andrea says she’ll come to the bowling game to cheer them on for a little bit.

Bunty_2009_choices

Features

This annual is more feature heavy then previous annuals and there is also more focus on celebrities, but there is still room for quizzes, puzzles and crafts. While some of the articles have photos, the features with illustrations are actually credited.

A to Z of Things We Like!      (Pages: 2-3, 78-79)

Illustrations: Susannah Fishbourne

Inside the covers is a bright list of things that the readers may like such as Friends, Kittens, Reading, X-Mas.

Bunty_2009 AtoZ

Starscope      (Page: 4)

A short horoscope – as a Gemini mine was: A text or email might bring big news. Lucky Month: March, Lucky Number: 7 Star Birthday: Johnyy Depp (9th June)

Posters      (Pages: 6, 18, 39, 70)

A poster for every season of the year. These are photos of animals. Spring – Chickens, Summer- kitten, Autumn – Westie and Winter – Penguin. Each animal also has a funny thought or speech bubble.

10 Funky Facts About…      (Pages: 13, 28, 44, 51, 56)

The more celebrity based feature telling us about; Miley Cyrus, the ‘High School’ Guys (Zac Efron, Corbin Bleu, Lucas Grabeel), Ashley Tisdale, Emma Roberts, Dylan and Cole Sprouse

Quizzes:

There are several quizzes throughout the annual, 2 involve answering questions and seeing is full under the mostly a, b, c or d category. Those two quizzes are checking how good a friend you are and what starsign your personality matches up with. There is a also a flowchart quiz to determine what type of holidays do you like

  • How Do You Rate as a Mate?      (Pages: 14-15) [Illustrations: Wayne Thompson]
  • Home or Away?      (Page: 50)
  • Are You Really Like Your Star Sign?  (Pages: 54-55) [Illustrations: Wayne Thompson]Bunty_2009_Mate

 

Puzzles:

There are a variety of puzzles, including Take Five! which has word searches on topics like animals, British places, collectibles.  Other puzzles are crosswords, ladder puzzles and spot the difference.

  • Take Five!      (Pages: 16-17, 52-53)
  • Puzzled!      (Pages: 42-43)
  • Snakes ‘n’ Ladders      (Pages: 66-67)

All About….     (Pages: 26-27, 64-65)

Readers share a part of their life, first up is Alex  who likes reading, baking and helps her dad look after bees. The second is about Amelia, who likes acting, swimming and fortune telling.

We Love Elephants!      (Pages: 29-31)

Three pages dedicated to Elephants, which leads into the next feature…

Create Your Very Own Ele-Friend      (Page: 32)

Some arts and crafts with instructions to make paper mache elephant.

Chill Out!      (Page: 71)

Another factual article about animals, in this case – penguins.

Final Thoughts

The content of this annual is actually fine, there is quite a nice variety, but it does suffer in comparison to other annuals by having less pages. It’s funny that The Best of Bunty Annual that came out last year had a few less pages but seems more substantial (of course has to be noted that the target audience is different for that book). For me at least that is probably because it had more space dedicated to stories, 60 pages compared to the 42 pages in this annual. Another thing that I don’t like in this annual is the lettering, it’s most prominent in comparing it to the older stories that were reprinted. It’s less subtle, bigger and bolder and doesn’t always suit the story.  There is a consistency throughout the annual, which can be nice, I was also happy to see some people credited with their work.

Pages: 1 2