Easter Delights!

Easter is just around the corner. Are you off on a journey or just staying at home to enjoy some last Spring sunshine? Whatever your plans you can be assured that there is a book for you to enjoy. You could look through the latest edition of Armadillo Magazine for some inspiration of take up one of my suggestions here.

For the crafty among you why not try making something with the inspiring ‘I Can make things for Easter’ from Lion Publishing. Packed with ideas, in fact there are 16 projects from using paint and your fingers to make fingerprint chicks, getting busy in the kitchen creating chocolate nests, crafting an Easter card or even making chicken markers for the traditional Easter Egg hunt. Not forgetting of course the woolly sheep, bunny ears and Easter vase, there really is something in this book for everyone; every age; every ability. So what are you waiting for: get stuck in!

If you are travelling then I have the perfect idea for you, ‘The Children’s Travel Journal’ by Ann Banks is an opportunity to record you thoughts and feelings about the places you may have seen, include some interesting and memorable facts even save some mementoes in the special pocket. Perfect for any budding writers and reporters, a lovely way to keep your memories safe this is a friendly charming an well designed journal.For younger children unfamiliar with Easter and wanting a little craft activity of their own ‘My Very First Easter Story’ again from Lion publishing should tick the box. Not only does it introduce the youngest children to the traditional Easter story but it allows them to customise the story with the enclosed stickers.

If it is a reading book that will make you happy then for younger readers I can strongly recommend 'Naughty Toes' by Ann Bonwill & Teresa Murfin. This is a charming story about how to be yourself. Trixie and Belinda may be sisters but that does not mean that have the same ability when it comes to ballet, or that their hair is the same or even their dress sense! Smile at the gorgeous illustration a glorious collage of shape and colour, giggle at the story and enjoy discovering, along with Belinda, that being yourself is best for you never know what you may discover! Sticking with the performing theme

‘Sam in the Spotlight’ by Anne-Marie Conway continues the drama and dilemma’s faced by the Star Maker Club. This time it is Sam who faces a confidence problem, how do you react when you receive a letter from a sister you didn’t even know you had? Follow Sam’s journey as she comes to terms with a new family member and her drama dilemmas in this latest addition to a series charting the ups and downs of the members of Star Makers Drama Club.

Finally for anyone a little older why not try the new stand alone novel from Liz Kessler, 'A Year Without Autumn.' Liz originally wrote this story 6 years ago but her editors wanted her to wait until the time was right to publish it. The time is definitely right now for this novel of time-slips, family ups & downs and friendships. A pacey, well told and exciting story with plenty of ups & downs this is a great read and perhaps a step up for some readers.

Do enjoy your Easter break however you spend in and do try to find at least one good book to read!

Make this Your First Gruffalo

My niece reaches the grand age of 1 next week and I have the perfect present for her - a set of My First Gruffalo (Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler, Macmillan) books. Of course they won't actually be her first Gruffalo books at all as I gave her a lovely copy complete with buttons to press and sounds to hear at christmas. she may not be old enough yet to fully appreciate them but she does love hearing the story, seeing the pictures and even trying to turn the pages!

The four My First Gruffalo books are therefore perfect for they will help her to begin to learn her Colours, Numbers, Opposites and even Animal Actions as she grows. Better than this though becasue they are tough and chunky board books she can handle them herself without the worry of torn pages.

Each book features well-known and loved characters from the stories using each of them in an apprpriate way. For example in Colours the red fox is on his own but opposite a bright red page with the word RED and a few other red pictures from the story. GREEN appears opposite a nice tall tree from the forest and so on for the five colours featured.

In Opposites the BIG Gruffalo is opposite a small mouse. A happy mouse with his acorn faces a sad mouse without the acorn. In this book there are six Opposites for children to learn. Five numbers will find the reader counting the characters on each page with the words to learn to read too and animal actions will find children and their parents making some wonderful noises!

What is there not to enjoy about the Gruffalo and even more so now that there is a wonderful set of books with all our favourite charcters helping babies and toddlers to learn and take their very first steps into reading and understanding.

I know my niece and her parents will have great fun with this bright, colourful, durable and edcuational set of books, I hope you do too!

Autumn in Spring

Last night a lovely group of publishers, librarians, magazine editors and bookshop staff joined Orion editors and Liz Kessler in Lodn's Covent Garden to celebrate the launch of her stand-alone story A Year Without Autumn. Liz began to write this marvellous story six years ago and was recommended to put it on the shelf, after shedding a few tears she did as she was told, and wrote a few more stories very successful stories, keeping this one faithfuly on that shelf!

Feeling the time was now right, her editors at Orion decided A Year Without Autum could now be published. The time is most certainly right now for this beautiful book. We may be enjoying Spring but there is nothing wrong with a little Autumn, or is there? In this beautiful, tender and yet pacey book Liz tackles family friends and time-slips! I won't go into detail here but please do visit Armadillo Magazine for a wonderful review.

Liz was a charming celebratee thoroughly enjoying the evenuing and meeting many new people. Thanks to Orion for a lovely event and of course for keeping this great book for the perfect moment and then allowing Liz to share it with us all.

Sit down and Face the Tweets

Armadillo are doing it and it seems that everyone is at it these days - Twitter and Facebook of course. Reading is apparently no longer a solitary activity for those older people among us, we now have to share it which is wonderful news! We don't have a Facebook page but who knows. For now the Blog, an occasional Twitter @Armadillomagazine and the quarterly magazine are more than enough for us to be doing.

However if you want more from your books and you would like to be able to chat to the authors as well as other fans then why not pop along and see what Chicken House are tweeting at Chickenhsebooks, look for the latest news on their Chicken House UK Facebook pages or perhaps find out what Jonathan Stroud the author is up to @jonathanstroud on Twitter, or www.facebook.com/jonathanstroudauthor. His Bartimaeus website has recently been updated www.bartimaeusbooks.com and he is giving himself a wider online presence so pop along and see him for a chat one day.

Then as if that is not enough the Federation of Children's Book Groups are starting up a fortnightly Twitter book group, Sunday's between 8 and 9pm find them at @FCBGChair and why not join in?

This is a wonderful chance to see books, their authors and the stories in a whole new light, pick up some great hints and tips and even find out about new books to excite you as readers.

The to top it all off come back here for more latest news and take a quick peek at the inspired sketch Sarah McIntyre posted to her Blog ttp://jabberworks.livejournal.com/385463.html after a wonderful Armadillo interview in the current edition - thanks Sarah!

Make sure to remember however that there is still nothing better than sitting down with a real book and feeling the joy of turning those pages, heart in mouth as you wait for the story to unfold!

The Picture Book World of Polly Dunbar

An event report from Liz Bankes

This is a command: get yourself to Daunt Books on London's Marylebone High Road sometime before 24th of March! An utterly lovely experience awaits you. The Picturebook World of Polly Dunbar is an exhibition of over 60 original artworks from Polly Dunbar’s books, featuring all her much-loved characters – Ben and Penguin from Penguin, Tilly, Hector, Pru and the rest from the Tilly and Friends, Lizzie and her Dad from David Almond’s My Dad’s a Birdman, and many more. And if you haven’t been to Daunt Books (as I hadn’t) then you can have the double pleasure of seeing the exhibition and being in a proper ‘booky’ bookshop. Everything is wooden and there are galleries and staircases and books lining the walls – you will want to live there.

It’s also a lovely setting for Polly Dunbar’s illustrations. Her books already seem like classics. The illustration ‘You be saucer, I’ll be cup’ from Here’s a Little Poem is an example – it feels like a picture I’ve known since I was a child, even though I’ve actually only just seen it! Seeing the original artwork allows you to look at this picture in detail – and there is a lot to see. The picture is made up of different textures, with the stars, characters and background cut from different types of material, and the flowery tablecloth is made from what looks like pink glittery wallpaper. Her characters seem familiar, like old friends, even though we’ve actually only met quite recently. I think especially with the Tilly and Friends series, because each book follows one of the gang, the characters’ personalities just leap off the page. This was the same even seeing one page from a book as an artwork on its own. My particular favourite is Hector the pig, and it was fun to go through the exhibition finding him in different pictures. Each picture is a story in itself, and even if you haven’t read the book it’s from you can tell immediately what is going on, and how the characters feel about one another.

Polly Dunbar was at the exhibition herself on Thursday 17th of March, spending her St Patrick’s Day kindly signing books for keen exhibition goers (thanks Polly!). I would imagine there were many young Polly fans who were later thrilled to be presented with a book containing not only her signature, but a sketch of one of the characters. She also did a signing/family event on Saturday 19th March. So what are you waiting for? Get yourself to the Picturebook World of Polly Dunbar. Ben and Penguin are expecting you.

The Picture Book World of Polly Dunbar

18th - 24th March 2011

Daunt Bookshop

83 Marylebone High St

London W1U 4QW

Artwork Up for Grabs!

I am a great admirer of artists who can also turn their hand to writing and of course vice versa. So it is with great pleasure that I report the following opportunity to you, my readers.

Jackie Morris, acclaimed artists whose work can be found sumptously decorating a number of beautiful children's picture books, is auctioning her original watercolour picture of a tiger from Caroline Pitcher's Lord of the Forest. The auction is being held in aid of the 21st Century Tiger fundraising partnershhip.

Only 100 years agio there were 100,000 tigers in the wild, now there are only 3,200. Jackie Morris loves knowing that tigers are in the wild and wants to ensure that they continue to live in the wild for future generations. 21st Century Tiger give 100% of all money raised to carefully selected projects in Asia so you can be sure that your money will be well used to save these beautiful animals and, if you take part in the auction you could own a very beautiful and orignial piece of artwork.

The auction starts today on Ebay and lasts for 10 days, finishing on 31st March. For more information vsiit http://www.21stcenturytiger.org/ and if you have never seen Jackie's artwork then start ith Caroline Pitcher's Lord of the Forest and you will be hooked!

Loud Music!

My husband loves to play his cd's at a very high volume and I find myself sounding like my own parents when complaining about the voume so it was with a great deal of amusement that I read Kaye Umansky's Tales from Whitchway Wood: Crash 'n' Bang.

Umansky is on fine form and back in Witchway Wood not with Pongwiffy this time but a host of new characters. She has turned her storytelling skills to the tales of some of the others we always knew lived in the woods but who were always on the periphery of the action. They are now firmly in the centre of it and making a lot of noise too!

Witchway Wood may be a magical place but it is not always a favourable magic that befalls its residents as the Witchway Rhythm Boys are about to discover.

This band comprising a dragon, fiend and leprechaun, not forgetting the later addition of a Werewolf have their own share of problems, some of which seem to be the result of magic, some of which are the result of being in a not very well-known rock band! they are loud that much is certain and yes they do have some talent but there is one thing missing ... a singer ...

Become a groupie, follow the band as they set out to win the Battle of the Bands. Are they any good? Will they ever find a singer? Will they make it to the venue? Will magic, politics and romantic rivalry spoil the day or can the band win? Will Skulgooey's kitchen ever get cleaned and will they make it to the cake sale? Lots of questions, but if you read the story there are lots of answers.

Kaye Umansky is a talented writer of funny, unusual but above all warm books that will endear her to children of all ages. Funny books can be taken seriously as 'proper' reading books, just start with this one and you will soon see how.

Worlds of Books

Have you enjoyed a wonderful World Book Day? Found a book to enjoy or perhaps one that you are considering buying with your voucher? We have had a wonderful day, buzzing with books and ideas for stories as well as suggestions on how to use our vouchers. But all is not yet over for on Saturday the adults have World Book Night, this may have come under some criticism but it will be interesting to see how it goes. I don't think I will brave the cold and crowds in Trafalgar Square but I will be curled up at home with my next new book from the ever growing pile.

If you are looking for a book to read, having been inspired by World Book Day or in preparation for World Book Night then why not try Factotum by D M Cornish, published by David Fickling books? Reviewed here for you by Armadillo reviewer Simon Barrett it is the third in a brilliant trilogy that can actually be read on its own but why miss out on a great series?

Rossamund Bookchild: Founderling, Lamplighter and now Factorum or personal servant to Europe, the most feared monster-slayer in all the Half-Continent. Together they travel to her residence in the city of Branden-Brass, escaping the evils of Winstermill, only to find that scandals travel faster.

Here in the city Rossamund at last finds out his true identity. He is a rossamunderling: a manikin or monster in the form of a man. Rossamund however still needs to discover his true purpose in a life full of contradictions. He is a monster deeply loyal to a monster-slayer. Men call him a sedorner -- someone who sympathises with monsters – while monsters call him humbuggler, a hypocrite who acts the opposite of what he says. Somehow he must be himself in a world where men can be monsters too, such a man as Pater Maupin, who becomes Rossamund’s most deadly enemy.

Factotum continues the epic story of the half-continent in which men and monsters war and half-forgotten myths of monster-Lords come to life in the most unexpected places. The author, D M Cornish, continues to expand the horizons of the Half-Continent and the things that inhabit it, whilst delving deeper into its history and the origins of men and monsters through the footsteps of Rossamund. Along with the Branden Rose, Rossamund is joined by his once guardians and sea-salts, Craumpalin and Franistart. There is plenty of adventure and desperate to the death struggles as well as enjoyable sojourns in which Rossamund and his friends taste the delights of life. It all reaches a fierce and bloody end in which friends and foes lie dead or mortally wounded.

For young adult readers of fantasy the Monster Blood Tattoo series will continue to sate your appetitie and make you hungry for more.

Words and Letters

Having now fully recovered from the madness that was the last half term I am now back on an even keel and have been able to return to my reading habit, I try and get through at least four new children's books a week, not least becasue there are so many good ones to read but also because the children at school love to hear my latest recommendations and I now have a reputation to maintain!

So I have been busily reading away though I must confess that half term found me finally finishing Anna Karenina - a moving and powerful story and Emma Kennedy's hilarious 1970s holiday memoir The Tent, The Bucket and Me. It was lovely to indulge in some adult reading but I do miss my children's books. There is something very special about the way in which writers of chidren's book use words and language with such skill that they can be as entertaining and fulfiulling for an adult as a child. There is also something very special and priviledging about being able to read such books.

One book that stays with me and I find myself regularly recommending is Toon Tellegan's Letters to Anyone and Everyone. Tellegan has a magical way with words, making them powerful, touching, amusing and compelling. Not only does he prove that letter writing is not a lost art but that short stories can be built from the simplest of letters. Accompanied by the gentle and calming illustrations of Jessica Ahlbery, Tellegan has created one of a series of such books that Boxer Books, the small, indpendent publisher discovered and thankfully shared with us. So special is this particular book in fact that it recently won the Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation. This award is fully deserved and will, I hope, bring this wonderful author and his very special skill to a much bigger audience.

I can not recommend the book more highly and suggest that you all make an effort to find and read a copy, you will, I promise, be transfixed!

An Alternative Valentine

Well Valentine's Day comes but once a year and what a shame. For it is, in my opinion something that we should constantly remember - our love for one another. So because I am against the commercialism that has overtaken today I am instead offering an alternative - a book to love.

In actual fact I have a number of books to love and, trying to keep in the spirit of the day, I have chosen cute and sparkly books! Sorry boys but your turn will come…


For my cute one first of all, the most appropriate for today is I Spy Something Wonderful by David Conway (published by Red Fox). With its cut-out heart front cover this will have an instant appeal to all little girls, couples with the oh-so cute picture of the deer family who could fail to fall in love with this story? The perfect story for a cold wintery day or with a cuddle at bedtime this is an ‘I spy’ story with so many lovely things to spot, but there is one very special thing to spot right at the end and a lovely novelty fold out too.


Moving on and I find myself once again drawn through the magic mirror with Ellie and Emma into the fun place to meet – Sparkle Street. With four new adventures to enjoy young fans and readers will love helping the friends with the problems they encounter. One adventure, Spells and Showers, finds them helping Wizard Stargazer cast a happy spell resulting in a riot of colour and sun shades rather than umbrellas! They must avert a potential catastrophe and prevent Rosa Bloom from having disappointed customers in Daisy Disaster. The Missing Mice cause a bit of a stir so Ellie and Emma must turn detective and then when Fairy Pink’s wand gets out of hand once again there are quite a few bubbles to deal with in Bubble Trouble (all published by Macmillan). Great fun, very pink, very glittery and perfect for a Valentine’s Day.


Finally, continuing the theme, there is no doubt that at one time or another every little girl dreams of being a hairdresser so they would be advised to read The Fairytale Hairdresser (published by Random House) and find out just how Rapunzel got her prince. A very amusing and clever take on a very old folk and fairytale. Full of vibrant colour, a sprinkling of glitter, lots of hair and a great adventure this is in fact a book that could be read by boys and girls alike.

I hope that you enjoy this sparkly, glittery alternative to hearts and chocolates and I hope to see you back here later this week!