No one can accuse author Mark Haddon of ignoring his readership. His latest book, Boom!, a tale of boyish derring-do centred on two schoolchildren who set off to discover the meaning of a dark, mysterious language spoken by their teachers, was completed after he received a letter from a class at SS Philip and James primary school in Oxford.

The class, called Lilac Four, wanted the Oxford-based writer to know just how much they had enjoyed hearing the story read by their teacher, Alison Williams (It was originally published in 1992, under the title Gridzbi Spudvetch!).

Spurred on by his publisher and by this encouragement from 25 spellbound youngsters, he set about re-sculpting his by now somewhat outdated narrative “I was finally persuaded,” he explains. “I put aside some time and returned to Gridzbi Spudvetch! armed with a scalpel and a red pencil. By the end of the process I’d changed pretty much every sentence in the book.”

His tale is now housed in a bouncily bright orange cover and with Haddon’s own sweet, simple black-and-white illustrations — as well as an author and poet, he is also an artist and cartoonist whose work has featured in Private Eye and The Guardian) — and is a delight to read.

A rip-roaring adventure involving high-speed chase sequences, tussles with shady secret agents and a crescendo-building visit to the Isle of Skye, the page-turning narrative is spring-loaded with hilarious one-liners that will entertain adults and kids alike. Who, of any age, cannot emit a chuckle at the surreal thought of a giant spider called Britney uttering the words: “Tell me about cross-channel ferries and Abba, a Swedish pop band that shake my booty? Does my English sparkle? Do we groove?”?

Did Haddon as a boy ever invent a secret language that was only decipherable to himself or to his friends? “No, I don’t think I ever did,” he replies. As for the months of rigorous editing he embarked on for Boom!, he admits to a perfectionist streak. “I simply want my work to be good, and the only the way to make your work good – at least the only way to make my work good – is to edit and edit and edit.”

Does Mark Haddon have an obsessive mind? He famously captured the voice of a boy with Asperger’s with remarkable acuity in his 2003 smash literary hit The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, about Christopher, who excels at maths and puzzles and who turns his forensic mind to detective work. The book was lauded by child psychologists for its insight into autism and praised by critics; it was a runaway success, winning more than 17 literary awards and selling more than ten million copies.

Such coups are the stuff of writer’s dreams. But sometimes such triumphs can set the bar too high; in truth, nothing Haddon has written subsequently has begun to reach such giddy heights. Has Curious cast too long a shadow for him?

“Well, as shadows go, it’s a pretty comfortable one,” he says. “It’s given me a freedom I simply didn’t have before. Since Curious I’ve been able to write a collection of poetry, a TV film and (most recently) a stage play. It bought me the time (and the confidence) to take those risks.”

Haddon was already a prolific children’s author by the time Curious was published. The son of an architect, he read English at Oxford, before working with autistic people, and then as an illustrator and writer. He has clocked up over 20 books (mostly children’s). He lives in Oxford with his wife, Sos Eltis, who teaches English at Brasenose College, and their two young sons. They used to live in East Oxford, but have moved from the area now, although he remains loyal to the Cowley Road, saying: “It’s a great place to buy Greek food, stock up on proper muesli and do etching.”

Asked what attracts him about the city, he reels off a list in breathless fashion.

“The Thames. Port Meadow. The nearness of London. The open space. All the metropolitan luxuries on a tiny scale. The fact that you can walk everywhere. Shotover. The Playhouse. Uhuru Wholefoods. The Covered Market. If it weren’t for the lack of mountains and a rocky coastline it would be perfect.”

  • Boom! is published by David Fickling at £10.99.