To celebrate the release of the fourth and final Spud book, Spud – Exit, Pursued by a Bear, John van de Ruit conducted a live Twitter chat on 7 August. Fans followed #Spud4, the official hashtag for the book, and tweeted their questions to John at @johnvanderuit.

Here are a few highlights:


@johnvanderuit: Welcome to the twitter chat. Remember to use #Spud4 to join. Coffee up, scrape the snow off your boots & fire away

@Pickled_Chef: @johnvanderuit #Spud4 the book was a triumph old boy! *said in the Guv's voice*

@Tammy24_7: @johnvanderuit  If you could have any character from another book guest star in #Spud4 who would it be and why?

@johnvanderuit: @Tammy24_7 Yossarian from Catch 22. Sheer genius for my mind. "I plan to live forever or die in the attempt..." #spud4

@salambander: @johnvanderuit My grade 9s are studying Spud 1 in class and loving it. Do you have any words of wisdom for them? #spud4


@johnvanderuit: @salambander Tell them to count their lucky stars, we had Thomas Hardy! #spud4

@QueenKelso: @johnvanderuit My dad has 'stolen' each Spud book, just as I get into it... Any advice to get #Spud4 out of his clutches? @PenguinBooksSA


@johnvanderuit: @QueenKelso Unplug his bar fridge and threaten a tantrum. Gluck #spud4


@johnvanderuit: Okay now a question for you all. What was the moment in the series when you felt hooked? #spud4

@Pickled_Chef: @johnvanderuit when Dad cracked open a beer from the stash Frank left in the boot, saying, "the taste that stood the test of time" #Spud4

@TiaancVan: @johnvanderuit #spud4 The house play in Madness continues...

@johnvanderuit: The house play was the sum total of a thousand mortifying moments on stage. Glad you liked it too. #spud4

@QueenKelso: @johnvanderuit the funniest #Spud moment, for me, was when Fatty came out that spaza shop holding two tins of baked beans! #Spud4

@AzraaBux: @johnvanderuit Where's your favorite city in South Africa ? #Spud4

@johnvanderuit: @AzraaBux Tough one. Cape Town is gorgeous, Durban is home and in Jozi I feel famous. #spud4

@Pickled_Chef: @johnvanderuit thank you so much for your time! It's been epic. Don't deprive us of more of your brilliance for too long! Side Guy! #Spud4


@johnvanderuit : Many thanks for all your questions and comments. Let me know if you would like to and we'll do it again sometime. Spudlove everyone! #spud4

Follow @johnvanderuit on Twitter for more tweets from the man himself.

Like Official Spud Books on Facebook for all Spud news.

Read Spud – Exit, Pursued by a Bear and join the madness.

This article originally appeared on Penguin Books' blog, Classy Bird.  Follow Penguin on Twitter.