Andy Seed is an author and humorist who writes books for children and adults (but not animals or aliens). He love funny things and most of his books are a bit giggly, as you’ll find out if you read them. He writes fiction, non-fiction and poetry!  Andy is a keen sportsman, loves the countryside and lives in North Yorkshire.  One of the things Andy most cares about is getting people reading more, especially children.

Name three things on your Christmas list this year! A new hat (you can never have too many hats), a big pile of books to read (and I mean BIG) and unfeasible amounts of cheese. I usually end up with brown socks.

Christmas is a time of family traditions – what are your best (or worst!) family traditions? Right, well, for a start we have a kind of German Christmas (my wife’s mum is from Germany) and that means pressies are given out on Christmas Eve. We always have a real Christmas tree with real CANDLES on it (fire hazard warning!) and that looks magical when all the lights are turned off. After Christmas dinner we also like to play noisy games including a brilliant silly one called Up Jenkins which is described in my new book. The worst Christmas tradition is that I usually end up doing a mountain of washing up…

There are wonderful stories shared at Christmas time. What is your favourite story to read at Christmas? My very favourite (and one of the most magical stories of all time) is The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde. If that doesn’t bring a tear to your eye you’re probably a robot. Or an alien. Or an alien robot.

(A wonderful story! No we’re not robots thankfully!)

If you could have Christmas dinner with anyone (alive today or person from history) who would it be? This is tricky, I mean there are 50 billion to choose from… Maybe the Queen (imagine how big her turkey is!), perhaps William Shakespeare (I could get a few writing tips) or Elvis (think how many times that selfie would be retweeted). But I’ll settle for my mum because she makes the best Christmas dinner in the solar system.

(Ahhhh, that’s nice!)

The Anti-boredom Christmas Book is full of facts (as well as silliness!). How did you go about finding out all the fabulous facts in the book? I read a lot. I mean I read loads and loads and LOADS! I use my local library all the time and I also buy lots of books on the subject I’m researching. I do use the internet as well but it’s full of things which look like facts but turn out to be wrong when you check them.

If you were bored at Christmas and had to choose ONE of the activities you suggest in the book, which would it be? OK, well the game Hummit on page 28 is a good giggle but it would have to be the joke quiz on page 121. I’d choose this because it’s fun but it’s also good to try and work out the answers: for example; which film is about telling the time in Narnia? (Answer: The Lion, the Watch and the Wardrobe).

Reader’s question from students at Warden Park Academy: you write lots of funny books! What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you? Right, well, you might not believe this but when I was a student (a long time ago) I actually slipped on a banana skin in a busy street in York. It’s true! To be slippery, the skin has to have the inside facing upwards. Very, very embarrassing…

Turkey or goose? Turkey. The family next door keep geese and mostly I try not to eat my neighbours.

Real or fake tree? Real!

Mince pies or Christmas pudding? Can I have them both? OK then, the pudding.

Stockings – end of the bed or over the fireplace? Bed – quicker to find them!

Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve? Christmas Eve every time. On New Year’s Eve I’m usually in the loo and miss the fireworks.

Thank for you joining in our festive fun! Merry Christmas! 

Find out more about Andy Seed at www.andyseed.com and follow him on Twitter @andyseedauthor.