Non-millennials may very well be unaware of Tom Fletcher of the pop-rock band McFly, and non-parent millennials may be blissfully unaware of his success as a children’s author. But nonetheless: he’s a big deal in the pre-school world, his career beginning with eye-wateringly scatological picture books like The Dinosaur that Pooped Christmas and The Dinosaur that Pooped a Planet, and progressing to relatively more mature fair.
The Creakers, from 2017, concerns Lucy, a young girl from the town of Whiffington who wakes up one day to discover that all the local parents have disappeared, leaving her and her fellow kids to run wild.
A version with songs was released in 2019, and for 2024 it’s been adapted into a small-scale musical that will run at the Queen Elizabeth Hall over the Christmas holidays. It’s directed by Tom Jackson Greaves, with a book by Miranda Larson. For ages six-plus.