Russell Brand, now he’s writing kids books

Just look at what Russell Brand has achieved in the last year.

He toured the world with his Messiah Complex show; got his picture taken at Insite; battled the forces of global neoliberalism; probably had sex with your sister, maybe even your mom… the list goes on.

Now it turns out he been secretly writing books for your kids, too. And in the race to see which unlikely British dandy does the better job—Brand or the Enid Blyton of brandy and smack, Keith Richards—I’m going with Brand.

Why? Because he clearly sees this as yet another vector in his campaign to transform universal consciousness.

“Once we start changing the way children see the world,” sighs Brand, rather affectingly, in the video below, “Oh, we can do all sorts of stuff.”

The short promo clip contains an excerpt from the first in a series of planned books called Russell Brand’s Trickster Tales, in this case his take on "The Pied Piper of Hamelin". We’re also given a preview of Chris Riddell’s illustrations of “rats, and pipers, and children, and townsfolk, and squares, and mystical concepts.”

Russell Brand’s Trickster Tales: The Pied Piper of Hamelin is published in November by Canongate. According to unconfirmed reports, each page will be laced with a child-friendly dose of ayahuasca.

Adrian Mack edits the movies and Russell Brand sections of the Georgia Straight. Send your complaints to @AdrianMacked.