Welcome to our first interview of 2026! I’m very excited to welcome picture book author Clare Helen Welsh into The Reading Realm to talk about her brand-new book, THE SPACE BETWEEN!
Clare is a former primary school teacher, now award-winning and internationally published children’s author and writing mentor. She is known for heartfelt storytelling, creative non-fiction and laugh out loud funny books. She lives in South West England with her husband and two children. Clare does her best writing by the sea (or on the sofa with a dog on her lap!), which is lucky because she lives close to many beautiful beaches (and has a dog called Hope!)
When Clare isn’t writing stories, she is inspiring children and adults to write their own. She loves running workshops and visiting schools, libraries, bookshops and festivals in her authormobile, giving her an outlet for her BIG ideas. Once she helped a class make a giant rice crispy cake that was so wide it wouldn’t fit through the door!
But her best idea yet has been putting pen to paper. Clare writes everything from funny to informative, lyrical to rhyming, but is especially passionate about stories that help children deal with big feelings and difficult issues. She is the founder of Books That Help – an initiative that aims to celebrate picture books and how they can be used to navigate life’s up and downs.
Before we settle down in The Reading Realm to talk about your new book, what’s your drink and snack of choice?
Since it’s a cold January morning as I write this, I’ll take a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows please – drink and snack combined! Although, if you pushed me, I’d have a cinnamon bun with cream cheese icing!
Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about The Space Between, which is illustrated by Fiona Lumbers?
When her granddaughter is missing her old home, Granny teaches her a secret; buds before flowers, tadpoles before frogs, batter before cake… changes aren’t so scary when we understand that the space between is a time for growth. Just like the flowers will soon bloom, in time she will feel at home.
We hope the story helps children (and their grownups) discover the secret to navigating big changes, remembering there’s comfort and love in the in-between as well as, sometimes, fear and uncertainty.
One of my favourite books you’ve written is The Perfect Shelter. How is The Space Between similar? How is it different?
Both books aim to help children when life feels uncertain and out of control. Both are written in the first person for that immersive closeness, and they use nature as a metaphor for challenge and hope, albeit in different ways. I actually hadn’t realised how similar they are until now!
The Space Between builds on messaging in The Perfect Shelter about living in the moment. Sometimes, that’s all we can do. But actually, it’s not a second best. A lot of learning and growth happens in the Space Between. The story explores this conceptually and more widely in everyday life: animals, plants, baking, painting, relationships… there’s an in-between moment in all change. It might feel unsettling and frustrating, but if you re-frame your thinking it doesn’t have to.
Do have a favourite illustration from the book? Why is it your favourite?
Fiona’s art brings warmth and depth to the story, but also a timelessness. She’s packed it with clever little nods to the theme of change, like tiny caterpillars that turn into butterflies! But my favourite page is the one where the girl and her grandmother are looking at spider webs in the morning dew. I adore the glittering, jewelled webs and the pinky-orange sky. It was the first illustration Fiona shared with me, which also makes it extra special.
I know you run a website called Books That Help. What can you tell us about this initiative and what it aims to do?
Books That Help is a bit like a virtual bookshelf! One where children, parents and teachers can find books, and accompanying resources, that offer hope, understanding and comfort during seemingly impossible times. It stems from the belief that books can do more than entertain.
The reviewed stories are categorised by themes such as divorce, grief, loss and subtler challenges such as friendship, identity and moving house. My quiet mission is to use the power of picture books to support families with one message; our feelings matter and we are not alone.
If The Space Between was a song, which song would it be and why?
Love this question! I think something like ‘Let It Be’ by the Beatles, which quietly advocates for accepting and not fixing. Both centre on finding peace in struggle and invite us to look for hope in hard times.
Finally, can you describe The Space Between in three words?
Change. Growth. Love.
