People often ask me, what is the question you're most frequently asked when you visit schools? Sometimes I'm tempted to tell them it's that one, but it's not.

Neither is it any of the ones I anticipated when I first went out with my signing pen as a young author. Questions like, where do you get your ideas from, and who was your favourite author when you were a kid, and why is your head such a strange shape?

Sure, I get asked all those a lot, but the question I get asked by far the most is ...

What is the correct pronunciation of Gleitzman?

The answer I usually give is, if you're reading one of my books you're allowed to pronouce it any way you like. But that doesn't help you if you want to say it right in your local library, bookshop or police station. So here for the record is the correct and official way we say it at my place.

GLEITZ rhymes with LIGHTS and BITES.

To help you remember, just think of the things you need to read with (apart from eyes and a book) and what a pet sometimes does to us if we get so engrossed in a book we forget its meal time, grooming needs and name.

Next time, an answer for the much smaller number of people who ask me about the correct pronunciation of Morris.

Until then, oo-roo and happy reading,

(though I have been thinking of changing it to J.K.)

20 October 2004