Who was your childhood hero?
Tintin! He got to visit amazing places, his friends were very interesting and funny, and he had adventures all the time. I think the places he visited are still the ones I most want to go in my life (Tibet, Peru, ship wrecks…).
What was your favourite book when you were younger?
Uncle the Elephant by J P Martin. Uncle books were the strangest and most imaginative books I ever came across and also had the funniest characters with the best names. Jellytussle has to be the greatest name in the English Language.
Did you read a lot as a child and do you still read children's books now?
I was not a great reader, but I did consume a lot of books like Tintin and Asterix which today seem to be called graphic novels. These days I do read some children's books (the last were the Northern Lights series by Phillip Pullman) but mostly I read science and food related books.
What was the last book you had recommended to you and what children's book would you recommend to us?

A podcast recommended Ivan Day's Ice cream: a history and I loved it. Amazing history that makes you think about food and how human peoples have been throughout time.

And if there was one book I would recommend Tim Hunkin's The Rudiments of Wisdom (or anything by Tim Hunkin). Mr Hunkin's mind breaks down how things work and explains it in ways that anyone can understand and his drawings are simple, clever and charming. He should be made a Lord or, Sir and put in charge of education.
What advice would you give to your 10-year-old self?

When you look closely at anyone… they are weird, and probably weirder than you.
How does it feel to see your book Here Be Monsters interpreted as a film?
It's all very, very strange. As of today I've not seen the whole film, so I can't tell about the story has changed, but seeing the characters and the world of the boxtrolls made solid by other artists is more than odd. It's like having a dream but knowing that there is a parallel universe outside of the dream which is slightly different. Is The Boxtrolls film how you imagined and hoped it would be?

I knew that the process would change things. In the past Ive been involved in a few projects where people work together and things will always not be your own vision but a mix of everybody's because that is what you have agreed to by working with them. So I've sat back and waited with delight (and a little trepidation) to see what would happen. Based on what I have seen, when I finally get to see the full film I am sure it will make me happy.

How involved have you been in the making of the film?

Not very much. It's been like waving a ship out of port for its voyage and now I am waiting for it it to arrive back with a new and interesting load gathered from a world outside.

What comes first for you when you are making your books, the writing or the illustrations?

Illustration and writing went hand in hand on the first book, but I lost quite a few illustrations in the editing, so when I wrote the second book I drew things for myself but not finished illustrations for the book as I worked.
What would you be if you weren't a writer and illustrator?

An aspiring ice cream maker. Actually this is what I am doing right now. I started on an idea for a book and it might well be that I end up making ice cream instead of illustrating and writing books. But strangely my book work is a major influence of my ice cream… more will be revealed by next year I hope, when I open my own parlour.

If you could travel in time, where would you go first?

To meet Leonardo Da Vinci on a day he was feeling very jolly and happy. I am sure he would be amazing at explaining things and would also be very interested to hear how science has changed things for us now. I wonder what he'd make of the internet?

What is the weirdest thing a fan has ever said and/or given to you?
I had a French boy make his parents drive across France to deliver a boxtroll he'd made for me. It was extremely good and I still have it in my workshop sitting on top of my computer.

• Alan Snow's Here Be Monsters, the book that inspired The Boxtrolls movie, is available at the Guardian bookshop. The Boxtrolls opens in cinemas across the UK this weekend.