Author, illustrator

Dr Yasemin Allsop MBE

In short, I am Yasemin Allsop, author, illustrator, teacher, student, mother, and a bit of everything really. I love reading, writing, walking, history, astronomy, astrology and technology. I am the author of the ‘Alya the Pathmaker’ children’s book series. Recently, I published my first picture book ‘Give the Colours Back to the Earth’ in which I was both the author and the illustrator.

About the author

Sign up for our newsletter and be the first to get updates.

Yasemin Allsop and Shadow

My Story

I was born in Bursa, Türkiye, quite a while ago. I spent most of my childhood playing hopscotch and skipping in front of our house in my little grey plastic slippers, now they are called sliders. The rest of the time I was busy reading, writing and daydreaming all somehow proved to be very useful activities.

I can’t say that I was academically very bright, I had always the highest marks in literacy, history and philosophy, usually got fairly good marks in mathematics, but physics and chemistry are subjects that I never enjoyed. Maybe that is the reason I just managed to pass them. On top of this, I missed receiving a merit certificate because I failed my PE lesson, as a result of not being able to do a back flip. I wonder how many children would fail their PE because they couldn’t do a backflip!

My Books

Click on the images below to see some sample pages from each book.

BUY NOW

BUY THE EBOOK

BUY THE PAPERBACK

Free resources

Visit the Pathmaker Learning website for free activities and resources based on my books, created by an amazing team. We believe in context-based learning, this means our activities and resources are linked to specific themes.

Visit https://pathmakerlearning.co.uk for more information.

TESTIMONIALS

Alya the Pathmaker is a wonderful children’s book full of excitement and adventure. It is about a nine year old girl who lives with her dad in London. One morning, her dad gives her a stone cylinder that belonged to her late mother. That moment changes Alya’s life as she and her best friend, Ben, embark on a quest to find the mystery behind the stone cylinder. The storyline is gripping and beautifully woven into Alya’s feeling about the loss of her mother. As Alya and Ben travel across the universe, they explore space, learn codes and meet robots and beasts. I can’t wait for the next book!

Maria Hadjisoteris

Alya the Pathmaker by Yasemin Allsop is an adventure book about nine year old Alya. When she gets given a magical stone cylinder she starts to find out more about her mother who died in a car accident when she was little. She finds out that she was a pathmaker and learns to become one too. I would recommend this book for 7-13 year olds who love to read books about adventure, a bit of mystery and sci-fi. If you get it you’ll enjoy reading it!

Helen Jones and the kids

What a delightful read this book is! “Alya the Pathmaker” will inspire young (and not so young!) readers in many different ways. I work closely with Y7 children and I know that Yasemin’s approach to scifi/fantasy will engage her readers’ emotional intelligence as well as their intellectual curiosity and will open new ways of looking at the world. Imagine being given a mysterious stone cylinder by your mum – who is no longer alive – and being followed around by not so nice adults who clearly have their own agenda. Alya has to work out herself how to open new pathways into different worlds and cultures. She is curious, resilient and knows the value of friendship. In my school I teach an “Introduction to Language” course and we send the students to the British Museum every year to find out about the history of writing systems and alphabets. Exploring cuneiform is always very stimulating for them. I know that Yasemin is writing a sequel…. Will the stone cylinder let Alya unravel all the secrets and, most importantly, will she see her mum again? I can’t wait.

Katrin Frank