Born:
 1956
Edinburgh, Scotland,

Current Home:
Wimbledon
United Kingdom

P. B. Kerr

Biography

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Quote: “Children are missing out on that very important other world, the imaginative world that you can create for yourself.” 

P. B. Kerr, better known as acclaimed adult thriller writer Philip Kerr, has recently turned his focus to children's books. Children of the Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure is the first title in a wildly inventive new trilogy about a twin boy and girl with magical powers. DreamWorks studio has optioned the film rights for the title.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Kerr was always an avid reader. His favorite authors include Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Joan Aiken. Almost as soon as he could read, he realized he wanted to be a writer. He wrote his first story when he was ten. “There was no color TV, no computers, no Play Stations,” Kerr says, “Our entertainment tended to be home-made. It was easy for me to become keen on books; there was really nothing else to do. I feel sorry for my own children having so much else to compete for their attention.” 

Kerr spent the next twenty-five years trying to become a published author, writing his first novel, Romans, when he was 17, and eventually publishing March Violets in 1989. Ever since, he has been a full-time writer, publishing more than a dozen different books.

“I had always wanted to write a children's book only I could never think of a subject. And then, almost at the same time as I was worrying about my sons not reading very much, I thought of a story.” Kerr says. Children of the Lamp was inspired partly by The Arabian Nights and is an imaginative adventure about a twin boy and girl who discover at age twelve that they are djinn (genies). Kerr has stated that it is liberating to write for children because he can throw out all the rules and let his imagination roam free.

He lives in Wimbledon, London with his wife and three children, in the house once owned by the children's author Joan Aiken.

Visit P.B. Kerr's Website.

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  Children of the Lamp #4: The Day of the Djinn Warriors by P. B. Kerr Djinn twins John and Philippa are off on another whirlwind adventure that takes them around the globe and into unknown worlds. And it's a race against time as they attempt to rescue their mother from her fate as the Blue Djinn of Babylon. An aging curse has been placed on their father, and if the twins are gone too long, he'll rapidly become an old man. Meanwhile, museums all over the world are reporting robberies of valuable jade from their collections, as well as bizarre hauntings. $7.99 books;paperback books;paperbacks | Ages 9-12

  
  Children of the Lamp #4: The Day of the Djinn Warriors
  Ages 9-12 $7.99
  
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  	Children of the Lamp: The Blue Djinn of Babylon by P. B. Kerr The fantastic adventures of twelve-year-old twins John and Philippa Gaunt, descendents of a long line of djinn, with the powers to travel, grant wishes, make things disappear - and much more! $6.99 Hardcover Book | Grades 6-8

  
  Children of the Lamp: The Blue Djinn of Babylon
  Grades 6-8 $6.99