Andrew "Andy" is an author of Australian children's books and comedy writer. He is most notable for his Just series, which was converted into an animated television series called What's with Andy? Originally a vocalist with an 80s alternative rock band called Gothic Farmyard, Griffiths grew up in Melbourne, Australia.

After meeting and speaking to The Pyjama Foundation founder and director, the ‘Big Cheese’ herself, Bronwyn Sheehan at a professional event recently, I was moved to contribute in some way to the Pyjamas’ plight.

Andy's Ten Questions 

1. What is your favorite childhood book and why?
   I LOVED the short stories of Roald Dahl and Ray Bradbury – not necessarily funny, but incredibly involving and exciting. Mad Magazine, horror comics, Dr Seuss books, Fairy tales and anything by Enid Blyton

2. Who read books aloud to you as a child, i.e. Mum, Dad, school teacher?
   I remember Mum reading Alice in Wonderland to me on a sunny afternoon on a rug in a park when I was about four years old. A perfect introduction to both that book and the pleasures of being read aloud to.

3. What are you reading now?
   In Cold Blood by Truman Capote: I’ve always wanted to read it and it’s every bit as good—and chilling—as its reputation suggests.

4. Favorite place to read a book?
   At my desk when I’m supposed to be working.

5. Why do you think it is important to read books aloud to kids?
   The most pure form of story telling is oral: people telling each other stories. Books are really just written down versions of these. The more a child can connect a book with the primal pleasure of verbal story-telling the more they can understand that a book is really just another form—or an extension—of what they do naturally all the time

6. What is your favorite food, as a kid?
   Whipped cream and strawberries. One of the earliest uses of my reading-fed imagination was to imagine that I could fill up a whole room full of whipped cream and strawberries, strip off, dive in and spend the rest of my life just swimming around in there with my mouth open.

7. What is your favorite sport?
   Running: both sprinting and long distance.

8. What do you think are the long term benefits of reading?
   You get to experience life from other points of view than your own. You can better understand why other people do the things they do, and also, perhaps more importantly, why you do the things that you do. But that’s really just a secondary effect: the most important benefit is the immediate one.

9. Name a book you secretly like, but never admitted you’ve read?
   The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown. Great investigative journalism combined with great story-telling!

10. Do you still have books from your childhood and what books to you like to read to your children?
    I have every single book from my childhood including all three volumes of the Cole’s Funny Picture Books. I read my children Dr Seuss books: the more rollicking and silly the better! 

Visit Andy's website at www.andygriffiths.com.au