Detective work, mysteries and friendship almost always feature in my stories. But The Cooking Club Detectives has an important inspiration that I wanted to share with you.

Even before Marcus Rashford made food poverty among school children the headline news it sadly is, I’d written The Cooking Club Detectives to help raise awareness of this problem and of the work of Magic Breakfast, a charity which provides healthy breakfasts for children at risk of hunger in the UK.

I first came across them when I was a governor at a school in North London. The teachers there spoke of the huge difference that the breakfasts made to the children. They were able to concentrate much better in class, they were more eager to share their ideas in lessons, and they had far more energy.

Later I had the honour of interviewing Magic Breakfast’s former CEO, Alex Cunnigham for a school podcast and found out a great deal more about the charity’s work and its impact. You can listen to it here.

The pandemic has had a huge impact on food insecurity, with as many as 2.3 million children now affected. So through my book, as well as telling a story, I wanted to highlight the importance of community and to show all readers that they shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help if they need it.

More about Magic Breakfast:

Magic Breakfast works with over 1,000 Primary, Secondary and ASL/Special Educational Needs schools, plus Pupil Referral Units, offering breakfasts to around 170,000 children each school day.

In addition to its core business, it currently co-delivers the National School Breakfast Programme in England with Family Action, which is funded by the Department for Education until July 2021.

To learn more about what Magic Breakfast does, and for ideas on how you can help fundraise or campaign for this wonderful charity, check out their website: www.magicbreakfast.com

Magic Breakfast’s website also has a special section on nutrition, where you can find healthy, nutritious recipes to add to the ones in this book and information on how the food we eat helps power and protect our bodies.