But his love and protectiveness can be extreme to the point of menace. Babagoo adores and loves Landfill, as he genuinely sees him as the only good thing left in a very dark and dangerous world. Landfill and Babagoo have a very complicated relationship that’s as poignant as it is unsettling. Find out more about the book here!Ĭan you describe the relationship between the two main characters, Landfill and Babagoo? Not just because I loved the art so much, but because that was the moment it really hit home that Scavengers was getting published. I could barely speak as I showed it to my wife. I spotted the email on my phone and opened it, and when I saw the image I was stunned. It was the summer of 2018 and my family and I were heading back to a campsite after a visit to Portmeirion. Usborne were great because they allowed me to see an early draft so that I could comment on it early on. I remember very vividly the first time I saw it. It’s both striking and nuanced, and I think it’s also very true to the novel. I’m so lucky that Tom illustrated the cover.

The front cover design by Tom Clohosy Cole is beautiful and captures your descriptions of the sky and Hinterland wonderfully! Can you remember how you felt when you saw it for the first time? In short, I guess I’d call it a junkyard Jungle Book. Scavengers is a grubby middle-grade adventure about a feral boy called Landfill and his paranoid protector, Babagoo, who hide in an industrial, overgrown wasteland called Hinterland from the Outsiders beyond its walls. Without giving too much away, can you tell us a bit more about your new book Scavengers? Here he talks about the book’s creation and inspiration… Find out more about Darren here!

Darren Simpson is the author of Scavengers, a grimy, gritty middle-grade adventure about a boy called Landfill.

Jungle scavengers