Children’s author Allen Hall may be 57 years old, and to some this is an age where most people forgot what it was like to be a child, but not Allen Hall, the author of The Wizard Master; he has shown with his exciting and fun writing that he is still a child at heart.

The author, who declined to go down the normal route of looking for a mainstream publisher decided to take full control of his masterpiece and went down the brave road of self-publishing; a road that I believe today is one that more authors should take. “It may have taken five years to write and edit the book,” the author replied, “but it has been well worth it with the huge response I have had from children and adults alike. “You think back at all the hard times you had, editing the book with days not believing that one day those words on the paper in front of you will turn into a book, all the memories of the pain and the tiredness disappear when you see the delight on a child’s face who tells you how much they enjoyed the book.”

In this day and age when we think about children’s books we think of Harry Potter and J.K Rowling, which no one can disagree has encouraged more children to read. But is there any room for another children’s authors to excite our children?  Well, besides the underrated Jacqueline Wilson, who I personally believe is our leading British children’s author, apparently there is room according to the rave reviews on The Wizard Master. And who are these reviews from: the media, book reviewers? NO!, the reviews come from the most important section of the writing community, the reader, the children, the children who want to be taken down the road of fun, excitement and magical dreams.

“I think this book is better than Harry Potter,” one child remarked,

“I grab my book as soon as I get home from school and go on a magical experience,” said another enthusiastic reader.

The Wizard Master is set in the future and tells the story of Izward and his virtual reality adventure through time and space, tearing children away from the mundane television screens and instead into a book that is filled with more fun, excitement and magical adventures that any television programme can offer.  

It is not just children readers who are excited by the author's helping; adults are reading The Wizard Master as well, trying to go back to their childhood in that safe, innocent world of where books can take you down a road that life cannot, a road of dreams, excitement and adventure.

When people ask me what is a good children’s novel, I say it is when a parent likes to read it to their child in bed and then once asleep read it themselves.