The Bubble Wrap Boy (23 page)

Charlie Han didn't always live above a Chinese takeout. In fact, for a long time, Charlie wasn't Charlie at all. He was Bud Cotton, and he looked like this:

I didn't draw this; my pal Boz did, over ten years ago. We worked on Bud Cotton for a long time, many drafts, many sketches, but never managed to get him or us into print.

I do need to thank Boz, though, for being such a great and supportive friend for the last twenty years. Without his support, I wouldn't have tried to write in the first place.

My thanks also to Jodie Hodges, who I love working (and gossiping) with, and to Caff and Mark Ward, whose skating expertise was priceless.

Thanks very much also to the team at Puffin, especially Ben Horslen, who inherited the dubious honor of being my editor (and still managed to smile), Katy Finch for another belting cover, and Sam Mackintosh, the greatest copy editor ever.

Huge thank-yous also to the brilliant Booksellers Crow, the Dublin Davids (O'Callaghan and Maybury), Matthew Williams, Marcus Sedgwick, and especially Phil Carroll, who has given me masses of support this last year—what a pal you are.

Finally, a huge thank-you to my folks up in 'Ull, who support even my craziest ideas; my friends in the Palace, who constantly make me grin; and most of all, Laura, Albie, Elsie, and Stan, for putting up with me and allowing me to dream.

I'm a lucky, lucky lad.

Phil Earle's first job was as a care worker in a children's home, an experience that influenced the ideas behind
The Bubble Wrap Boy.
He then trained as a drama therapist and worked in a therapeutic community in south London, caring for traumatized and abused adolescents. After a couple of years in the care sector, Phil chose the more sedate lifestyle of a bookseller and now works in children's publishing.