I’m very excited to welcome debut author, Sally Poyton, to Story Snug to tell us more about her newly published middle grade, Mammoth Rider. I love the way that Sally has woven information about climate change, mammoths and neurodiversity into a fast paced story with a mystery element and an unexpectedly evil antagonist. I couldn’t put the book down!
The Story: Ash Grimes wants to be a mammoth rider – just like her dad. She lives with him at The Mammoth Arctic Conservation Trust Headquarters in Greenland where he is in charge of a mammoth cloning programme and ensuring the welfare of the mammoth herd which is being brought back to help combat climate change.
On a visit to the herd Ash is introduced to a pure white baby mammoth, Nayala. Her existence is being kept a secret but somehow poachers have found her. Security at the compound is put on high alert but at a reception to watch the mammoth migration, important guests and staff are put in danger by intruders. Ash and her friends, Ruby and Jack, must find Nayala, protect her and her mother and stop the mammoth herd migrating towards town. It’s a chilly race against time and Ash is both surprised and sad when she learns who is behind the plot to kidnap Nayala.
Thank you for visiting Story Snug, Sally, and congratulations on the publication of Mammoth Rider. Can you tell us about your writing journey so far?
Thank you – I am super happy! My writing journey had been a long one. I started writing when my children were small, the youngest coming up to his first birthday – when the book is published he’ll be just shy of twenty. So my journey to publication has been the same as rearing an infant to an independent adult!
In that time, I’ve written many novels, chapter books, picture books, and hundreds of reviews and articles. I’ve had some lovely competition successes and some real low points. But getting to publication is a testament to not giving up, and much of that is down to having such support from friends, family and the writing community. Dr Seuss once said, ‘There are all kinds of writers. The best writers write children’s books.’ I totally agree – the kid literature community really support each other.
Definitely! The writing journey can be a real rollercoaster but having support from other writers is so important through all the highs and lows.
What are the main themes of Mammoth Rider? Are there any particular messages you want to convey to readers through the story?
The themes are conservation. Using STEM to help climate change. Friendship. Believing in yourself and not being defined or limited by any challenges you have. I wanted to write an exciting story that gives children hope about the issues regarding climate change and inspire them to look to STEM solutions. I also wanted to express the importance of friendship, and being kind and having faith in yourself.
The friendship between Ash, Ruby and Jack is such a core part of the story and despite their very different characters the three work really well together.
The information about mammoths and cloning at the end of the book is really fascinating to read. Why did you choose to write a story about mammoths? How and where did you do your research?
Well mammoths are amazing. I’ve never met a child who doesn’t get excited about mammoths! I’m really a big kid and I do get very excited about mammoths.
Research – gosh I did MAMMOTH LOADS! You can’t just go to a zoo and observe mammoths as they are extinct. So I read and watched everything I could find about mammoths and their cousins, Asian elephants. I also wrote to world experts for advice. Most excitingly I attended some palaeontology digs and unearthed mammoth remains – which was great for learning how they lived, and getting a feel for how big they were.
Wow! A palaeontology dig sounds really interesting!
Main character, Ash, is feisty, fearless and has a strong sense of right and wrong. She is also neurodiverse and struggles with schoolwork. How have your experiences as a neurodiverse author helped you create her character?
Ash is very much like me – with her neurodiverse challenges and moral code. This meant I could draw on my own experiences to make Ash’s character as authentic as possible. She differs in many ways though – she’s much braver than me!
You mention global warming and its effect on the Arctic. Do you believe that cloning extinct animals could help slow down climate change?
Well this is a theory – but there is potential that it could work, in fact Pleistocene Park is a project in Siberia where they have begun reintroducing extant (existing animals) like bison, camels and other grazing species back to the tundra. This is having a positive impact in clearing the snow blanket.
Bigger animals like mammoth and woolly rhino would do this but more efficiently – and therefore stopping permafrost from thawing and releasing methane gas into the atmosphere – and slowing global warming.
How different is the final version of Mammoth Rider to the first draft?
Quite different. The core story is the same. The original was a bit more Doctor Dolittle!
How has being a member of SCBWI (The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) helped with your journey to publication?
SCBWI like all my other support networks has been a huge help with opening opportunities, honing my craft, and finding my tribe. The first time I submitted anything it was the opening of my first novel to the Undiscovered Voices competition back in 2011 and the piece was given an honorary mention – this really gave me the confidence to carry on trying.
Do you have a favorite location or environment to write in?
I like coffee shops and libraries – as I do not have all my jobs like ironing and stuff looking at me! But I also write at home, at the kitchen table, and in my office (which is also the boot room).
Which authors have influenced your writing? Authors that you may have read as a child as well as current authors.
So many – I guess the biggest especially for Mammoth Rider would be – Jurassic Park ‘by Michael Crichton, as it is about cloning extinct animals. Then the amazing ‘Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh’ by Robert C. O’Brien as it is a fantastic middle grade book, but also because it is about genetically altered rats.
More recent books like, Tom Moorhouse’s ‘Riversingers’ about water voles and ‘The Child’s Elephant’ by Rachel Campbell-Johnston both really inspired the tone and the way I write the mammoths.
A lot of readers have compared my book to Hannah Gold’s ‘The Last Bear’ which is very flattering – and I love her books but I’d written the first few drafts of Mammoth Rider a full two years before her first book was published. Although it was a bit late for book one, I did find her work inspiring book two.
Are you able to tell us about any future titles or projects that you’re currently working on? Are there plans for another story about Ash and her friends?
Mammoth Rider book two!
That’s brilliant news!
Thank you so much for answering our questions, Sally. I really enjoyed reading the book and look forward to seeing it in bookshops and libraries.
Thank you so much – I am very pleased you enjoyed Mammoth Rider and thank you for featuring me on Story Snug!
You’re very welcome, Sally! We hope you have lots of celebrations planned for publication day!
S.J. Poyton is a neurodiverse writer, who struggles with dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia, she also has POTS, Hyper Flexibility, and mobility issues, which means her spelling is wobbly and so is she!
Sally has worked as a bookseller in museums, independent, and secondhand bookshops, hand selling books, hosting author events, and set up and running a thriving children’s department.
Passionate about animals, Sally once smuggled a parrot into school for a debate about rainforest deforestation. She has always been fascinated by pre-history and has had the privilege of attending palaeontology digs at the site made famous by the BBC documentary Attenborough and The Mammoth Graveyard.
She lives in the rolling Chiltern’s with her family and menagerie with everything from geckos to giant snails, and a pair of very naughty terriers – sadly no mammoths… yet!
Sally’s website / Instagram / Bluesky
Thank you to Simon and Schuster for sending a review copy of Mammoth Rider which is published on March 12th.
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