Just when I was getting ready to write all about the brilliant books I have read recently and cheer you all up after this miserable (but good for the garden rain), Liz Bankes has written a wonderful series of Hay Diaries, so sit back and enjoy the installments over the next few days and before you know it I will be back with even more books up my sleeve!

The Hay Diaries

Thursday 2nd June: Things I didn’t see

2:45pm – On the train
As I journey to the Hay Festival I thought I’d depress myself by looking through the Hay Fever programme at all the things I’d already missed. (I did this while eating Burger King chips with my hands if that makes it any more tragic). Here are my top five things I didn’t see:

1. The Etherington Brothers – creators of Monkey Nuts
I didn’t find out how to make comics, draw monkeys and be hilariously funny.

2. Geraldine McCaughrean and Candy Gourlay, chaired by Sarah McIntyre
I didn’t get to find out how these quirky, humorous writers put spark into their writing (but they in turn missed out on my contribution to Q&A – WHY ARE YOU ALL SO GREAT??)

3. Fiona Dunbar – Ghostorama
Phantom science teachers, dead celebrities and creating a spooky mystery to solve… *cries*

4. Patrick Ness and David Almond – A Monster Calls and My Name is Mina.
Do I need to explain?

5. Julia Donaldson and friends – A Jolly Jamboree
It is one of my life’s ambitions to meet the Gruffalo. [and you can add to that a chance missed of meeting the new Children’s Laureate!]

7:30pm – In a tent selling cider
(The tent was a cider selling tent – I didn’t just start selling cider to people.)
So, after my train ride I accidentally got on three buses and at some point arrived in Hay. As the Hay Fever events had finished, there weren’t many children around, but I heard many a word of praise for Andy Stanton and his Mr Gum event from many an adult. (There’s a number 6 for my list)

I had a look around the Hay Fever courtyard, where all the children’s books events were taking place. There was the Starlight Stage – venue for most of the author events, the Make & Take tent, the Mess tent for cooking events, and a giant wall book about planet earth.

There’s only so long you can walk around a festival before you accidentally spend all your money and so I went to my Hay house, where I was cat-sitting for my uncle.

I was a few hours later than I thought I’d be. The cat was not impressed.

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!

We all Love Funny Books

Well its true, I hope, and the best thing about today is that we have learnt that funny books can also be lovely books (and that Louise is obviously the name to have).

What am I alluding to? Well the Roald Dahl Funny Prize of course which was won yesterday (17th November) by Louise Yates, in the under 6 category, for her wonderfully funny (of course) and quite simply charming picture book, Dogs Love Books (Jonathan Cape).

I was thrilled to read that Louise had won, being a big fan of this story as I may have mentioned before!

Not only did Louise win this category but she also pipped to the post Quentin Blake, the long-time Roald Dahl illustrator and, she says, one of her own inspirations!

In the 7-14 category the winner was Louise Rennison with Withering Tights, a shamelessly laugh-out-loud story. Her heroine comments with wit and insight on the world around her whilst continuing to be carried along with it so there is plenty of humour in this book on many levels.

Judge and award founder Michael Rosen commented on the freshness and humour in these winning titles which were just one aspect of a wonderful and varied shortlist. I strongly urge you to visit the Book Trust website for more detail and to investigate the shortlisted as well as winning titles further.

In the meantime well done to the Louise's and thank you for bringing so much humour into our lives!

Can I Share or Shall I do It All Myself??

Okay, hands up, I admit that when packages arrive on my desk at work and I open them up to find books spilling out that publishers want me to review for Armadillo I am actually very loathe to part with them. I want to read them all myself and as a result review them too. I love the reviewing but I have to say it is the temptation of reading them all which is the real draw! I am however good and having learnt to delegate I do actually make sure that they are shared among my reviewers and that if they look really good I buy copies for the school library too.

The temptation to read all these wonderful books is just one temptation in my life, the other is to want to do everything at home myself, that way I can be sure it is done to my exacting standards!! Well not quite but at least I know that things have been done…

So when I opened up yet another exciting parcel to find the latest title from Andersen Press and Tony Ross, A Little Princess Story with the title ‘I Want to Do It Myself’ I just had to keep this one back! Imagine my sheer joy and surprise then when the next book to come out was Share! a glorious new title from the pen of Andrea Simmons and the drawing board of Georgie Birkett. A better combination could not have been planned!

You are probably wondering by now what the Little Princess wants to do all by herself … well … she wants to go camping! Off she sets with bags packed but, on finding the perfect spot it appears that the little princess has forgotten the tent, and the cooking equipment and … well the list goes on. luckily there are some quiet and secretive helping hands to ensure that all goes smoothly, the only trouble is that on the way home the bags do seem very heavy! A story in which lots happens as if by magic which is how I often feel myself! If you love the Little Princess stories then you will also love A Little Princess Trilogy which also landed on my desk recently and is a great collection of 14 wonderfully hilarious stories along with puzzles to play - so go on, indulge!

Share on the other hand finds a brother and sister having to do just that – learn how to share. From toys to food and even bathtime whatever one sibling loves the other automatically desires to share and after all that is what Mummy wants them to do. Delightfully cheeky this picture book is the perfect size for sharing, will bring a smile to all faces and will make the perfect shared bedtime book. It is also a very important message to children about how to share.

The wonderfully bold, bright and vibrant pictures in both these books are a testament to the skill of the illustrators who know just how to appeal to young eyes, theirs is a skill I would love to share but I remain content to know that I can share in other ways as can we all.

And now I am off to enjoy the late Sunday afternoon sun and check that the rabbits and chickens are sensibly sharing the garden and perhaps even some lovely fresh eggs for the soufflé dinner….

And the winners are...

This is not to do with the tennis which is now completely wide open, but with children's book award winners - certainly not a simpler set of awards to predict!

Now many of you will be aware of the winners already, I am rather late with my report due to an arm injury making typing rather a challenge!

Nevertheless the Carnegie and Greenaway awards have been announced for 2010 with Freya Blackwood winning the Kate Greenaway Medal for her picture book illustrations in the gorgeous Harry and Hopper whilst Neil Gaiman won the Carnegie Medal for his deliciously dark Graveyard Book.

These awards are for some, the highlight of the year and they are certainly very highly regarded by authors, publishers, librarians and even children as well as a wide reading audience. The difference with these awards is that the winners are chosen by adults, librarians, whilst children form shadowing groups to read the titles for themselves and discuss the pros and cons of each, selecting their own winners.

Gaiman and Blackwood are both very worthy winners having produced exceptionally good stories that have a strong and wide appeal. Gaiman's Graveyard Book follows the adventures of Bod, a young boy who would be completely normal if it were not for the fact that he lives in a graveyard being raised and educated by ghosts! His adventures and the dangers that he faces, particularly from the man who murdered his family make turn this from a good story into a gripping and exciting adventure. Neil Gaiman has done a double with this book, also winning the prestigious Newbery Medal in America. He explained that he was inspired to write this story when his young son rode into a graveyard on his tricycle yet the echoes of Kipling's Jungle Book must also have been an inspiration. It was certainly an inspired and unusual choice for a story and Gaiman has applied his undoubted skill making it into a brilliant and exciting story.

Freya Blackwood's illustrations in Harry & Hopper on the other hand are based on personal childhood memories. She says that when she read the story she was in tears, it bough back memories of her own whippet dog who met a very sad end. This on its own proves that picture book stories are powerful and have the ability to move even adults before the pictures are even added. Blackwood was certainly inspired in her illustration and was the ideal choice of illustrator for this story. Her illustration is muted in colour, suiting the story. It makes excellent use of space and perspective, drawing the reader in and helping them to connect personally to what they are reading and seeing. The story is handled in a very sensitive style and the visual is strong.

Two excellent and very worthy books have been awarded prestigious medals that are well deserved in the 2010 Carnegie Awards. Features on both will appear in the September issue of Armadillo magazine, int he meantime there are two very good books to read and an author as well as an illustrator to investigate further. Enjoy reading and sharing these stories, whilst we offer congratulations from all at Armadillo.

Babies galore!

Very young children have been the focus of my life recently for there have been two additions to my growing family – both of my sisters have very recently had children. My youngest sister has had her first, a little baby girl who is now one month old. My other sister has had a third, a little boy who is now two weeks old. This is a perfect excuse of course to need to read and review yet more books for babies and toddlers for they are always in need of recommendations and just to prove that no-one is ever too young for a book the youngest sister and her husband have been reading Room on the Broom and the Gruffalo to their daughter already whilst they are now in need of a book of nursery rhymes having making the shocking admission that they know none!

I don’t have a nursery rhyme book to recommend to them here but there are two books that I think they will love!

The first is Sing a Song of Bottoms by Jean Willis & Adam Stower (Puffin) is a wonderfully bright laugh-out-loud, rhyming, read-along story of bottoms from a hugely talented team! Bottoms are one thing that we are all closely acquainted with, especially new parents! In this book bottoms of all shapes and sizes are celebrated with joy whilst the narrator tries to establish exactly whose bottom should win aprize. I won't give away the wonderful ending but encourage you all to read this charming and hilarious story with its brilliantly clever and witty text as well as hilarious and cleverly captured bottoms in all their glory this book is a riot of colour and life, perfect for the eyes and ears of all little readers and listeners!

At the other end of the body there is of course the head and whilst many of Adam Stower’s bottoms have pants, Millie’s head has a hat. In Satoshi Kitamura’s Millie’s Marvellous Hat we find hats of all shapes and sizes varying depending on…. well the imagination of their wearer of course!

Millie falls in love with a beautiful hat and its perfect fit encourages her to decide to make a purchase, its “five hundred and ninety-nine pounds and ninety-nine pence” price tag is somewhat prohibitive but the shopkeeper is certainly resourceful and the wonderful box with its empty potential certainly inspires Millie. I loved the title of this book – reminding me as it does of my own sister Millie. All about using the imagination and being a little bit daring this is a book for lovers of distinctive and colourful illustrations, great stories and a little thought will enjoy the journey this book takes them on through parks, streets and interiors.

Creative, comic and fun both these books are about being an individual and having fun – what better message for two new mums and their growing families – plus two great books to read!

Happy Easter

Easter is a time for celebration, it is obviously imbued with religious significance but its also an opportunity for families to come together and enjoy a long weekend of fun and games, Easter egg hunts and chocolate. What do we do with little ones when they are worn out with all the activity or with those who have eaten too much chocolate, or those, who like me cannot eat chocolate? My answer is of course books - we can never too many of these and I have some wonderful recommendations to make of books that are not just for Easter!

The Usborne Little Book of Chocolate is perfect for fact finders and chocloate

lovers alike for it reveals the history of chocolate from its origins in ancient Mexcio where a bitter chocolate drink was the favourite indulgence through to the soild milk chocolate that we eat today all types, and flavours of chocolate are considered. This book is sure to leave the mouth watering and the brain filled with interesting trivia!

Once this little gem has got the taste buds tickled then where better to turn than to an inter-galactic chocolate covered adventure story featuring a princess some rather mean aliens and a host of wonderfully bright and funny characters Gillian Rogerson and Sarah McIntyre have created a brilliant picture book to share with children, take them on a wonderful adventure and find them drooling over the many sweets decorating the pages, available in both hardback and paperback editions this would make a brilliant alternative to a chocolate Easter egg if you are stuck for a gift and is of course one that can be enjoyed long past this weekend.

As if this were not enough the story of Easter can be shared with Caroline Church's Here Comes Easter featuring an eggciting Easter egg hunt and a number learning exercise - a fun book that helps children learn on many levels and with a durable board book format this is perfect for even the littlest and most chocolate covered fingers! Finally why not turn to Val Gorbachev's charming Little Chick, the story a mother hen and her lost chick told with charm and wit this is the story of how one missing chick causes a great search, only to be found safe and sound taking a nap - will any of the characters learn? Turn to this for a charming read and a nice wind down after a hectic day at any time but perhaps especially this weekend!

Relaunch Takes Off In Style!

I may not have the best mathematical mind words rather than numbers mean alot more to me but when I heard that Steve Cole has written 45 books in 5 years and that over 2 million copies of the Astrosaurs series have now been sold even I was stunned by such numbers!

Such is the success of the series that Steve Cole created just a few years ago that last night, despite the rain, a group of adult fans and friends joined Steve and his RHCB cadet team to celebrate his achievement, see the Astorsaurs books with bright new covers and get a sneaky preview of a brand new series.

It seems that Steve Cole is unstoppable for this year he will launch Slime Busters a new series whose tag line is Fighting Crime with Slime! There will be the second book in the Z-Rex series for older readers and his very first picture book too. This is an author whose imagination knows no bounds and who throws himself with great enthusiasm into all aspects of his work. Steve was as stunned by the numbers as the rest of us, was enjoying a great party and was particularly pleased to have met Woody Fox, the talented illustrator of his books who had come up all the way from Devon.

Thanks go to Steve for a brilliant series of books and yet more to look forward to and also the team at RHCB for finding him, keeping him and letting us all in for a sneak preview of some exciting new stories to come this year.

Retro Book Fun

Today I took myself and my somewhat reluctant husband to a second hand book fair. Whilst the draw for me was the books it was also the records, I love my old fashioned vinyl and in the same way I love my old books. New books to are quite a draw so I has a very happily occupied browsing, picking up lots of books for a good look and it was great to see lots of families and children there too – also picking up and enjoying the touch and feel of the books as well as the stories and information that they were finding in them.

This brings me very nicely to the topic of today’s Blog which is touch and feel books. Once again I have been relearning the pleasure of books that provide the opportunity to interact and learn at the same time. Inparticular this week I have been looking at two titles in anew series from Lornea Siminovich. The series is Petitcollage and the two books are ‘I Like Fruit’ and ‘I Like Bugs’. They are specifically designed for sharing with babies, the first introduces not only fruit but also colours. Red, Green, Yellow, Orange and Blue are the fruits, each double page spread divides its first page into four squares, one with the colour and three with the fruit whilst its facing page features a collage picture of the fruit of which one section has been cut away to reveal a touch and feel patch. In the Bugs title children are encouraged to count as well as learn about bugs. They can count up to five, discover some fascinating looking bugs from a dragonfly to a beetle and some very fluffy bees. There are beautiful pictures made up of many colours and patterns to look at and certainly a lot to learn! The collage nature of the pictures provide different patterns and designs to look at in the Fruit titles whilst the Bugs titles does this and also gives children simple images of gardens and plants to pour over. The bright, vibrant and interactive feel of these books will be certain to charm and entertain little eyes, minds and hands for many hours!

Once children have learnt how much fun it is to have some interactive fun with books then why not think about introducing them to ‘Funny Felt Animals Faces’. I had great fun making up silly faces for Lion, Giraffe, Elephant, Monkey and Parrot! It felt very retro too for I remember having hours of fun playing with Fuzzy Felt as a child! You can follow the instructions built into the text of the simple story and make the faces fit or have fun and play around making up your own pictures. This book assures children that they can play with their books as well as read and learn from the text. It provides a wonderful opportunity to have fun and learn without perhaps realising it!

Now I must go and have some more fun, listening to audio books but I will leave you with the suggestion that you go out and find some fun books to interact with or share with some little ones, rekindle a love of books for fun as well as learning and then perhaps share with us all at Armadillo anything you have particularly enjoyed.

Books of Love and Flowers for Valentines'

Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate love; it is usual to find gifts of flowers and chocolate from a loved one on such a day. How often are any of us given books – would we even consider a book on a day of love? Well if the answer is no then I would urge you to rethink after all we have all fallen in love with a book and often declare how much we love to read so why not consider giving a book as an expression of love? Rather than the usual gifts from husband to wife, boyfriend to girlfriend and so on, why not think about giving a child a gift on Valentine’s Day, after all we love them too.

I have found two books perfect for sharing on Valentine’s Day, books that will be loved by children and adults alike. The first is Love-A Duck written by Alan James Brown with illustrations by Francesca Chessa and published by Meadowside. It is an adorable story of one little yellow duck, Love-a-Duck, and his bath-time companion Jane. Love-a-Duck has lost his squeak and when he inadvertently falls out of the bathroom window he sets out on an exciting adventure to find it again and to discover just how special he really is. A simple and charming story to share with bright, vibrant, solid and simple illustration to charm the youngest reader at bath and bedtime this is a warm, witty and loving story with delightful illustration.

For older readers, young listeners and I would certainly say adults too I suggest Flower Heaven by Else Wenz-Vietor, published by Floris Books. With its solid hardback, red spine binding and flower-fairy-esq front cover illustration this book has a wide appeal before the pages have even been turned. It tells the story mistreated flowers who have found their way to Flower Heaven where they are tended, nurtured and kept safe by the gentle flower angels. Taking place over just one evening there are snipped roses, de-petaled daisies and thirsty garlands. Over the course of the evening the flowers tell their tale and the angels tend to their patients. This charming, simple and slightly old-fashioned story presents the flower’s point of view and gently explains to the young listener how they might perhaps better care for the beauty and bounty of the nature around them. As I say a book for children and adults alike.

Both titles would make charming gifts of love on a Valentine’s Day and charming reading all year round. Share the gift of love as often as you can with a book.

Interactive Book Fun!

This week has been great fun because I have been playing with novelty children’s books. Often I am asked why I have these books and what use they are – the answer is that I think it is very important for interactive books aimed at babies (and their parents) as well as toddlers are given reviews. Anyone with young children will know how difficult it is when entering any bookshop to decide between the sheer mass of books that have been created for this group of children, but being able to find out what even a small selection of them are like is very important.

This brings me to ‘Bouncy Books’. There are four books in this charming series, Jungle, Garden, Pets and Farm. Each book introduces children to four associated animals. Collect the series and children will have an understanding of 16 animals, they will learn what they are called and where they live, they will also get the opportunity to play with the books for the animals in these books bounce! It is great to be able to interact with a book, look at the pictures, play with them and have a learning experience at the same time. Fun, entertaining and educational these are a great set of books.

As well as this I have been testing my skills of dexterity with Splashy Sea and Busy Bugs, two books in the new ‘Lacing Card Books’ series. These books come with press out pieces that need lacing. They are certainly for the older toddler; perhaps those starting school needing to learn co-ordination skills. They are however great for any children (or adults) who want to practise their manual dexterity skills! Wonderfully vibrant pictures combined with interesting facts that have been written with the young reader’s education in mind combine to create another set of must-have fun books.

Revitalise your own and your child’s relationship with books by testing out some of these fun, lively and refreshingly different interactive, educational offerings.

From Cowboys & Pirates to Princesses!

Whilst the snow falls here in Leatherhead I am trying to keep warm and what better way of doing that than curling up in front of a lovely warm fire and dreaming of hot places - well perhaps less of the dreaming and more of the reading about in my case. I have just had the pleasure of reading three fabulous picture books, two of which are due for publication in the new year and which I am quite certain will find legions of adoring fans very quickly!

The first book I delved into and which really did take me away from the snow was 'Desert Rose' by Alison Jackson with illustrations by Keith Graves, a wonderfully bright, new and funny picture book. This is the story of a pig farmer and her very lazy hog. Rose, for that is the farmer's name believes that she has found, with the help of a little bit of gold, a prize winning hog to take to the state fair but the hog is stubborn and lazy, refusing to cross a creek. Rose tries in vain to enlist the help of a host of animals all of whom have their own excuses. When she rather nicely approaches her final animal and asks politely for some help a hilarious chain of events begins. This book not only introduces children to a dialect, in rhyme, a new country and some new animals but also to the importance of politeness and manners. Children will love listening to this story read out loud in a Texan drawl if you can manage it and the bright pictures are certain to keep them entertained too.

From this I turned to 'Captain Finn and the Pirate Dinosaurs: The Magic Cutlass' by Giles Andrae and illustrated by Russell Ayto. As usual Captain Finn and his pirates find themselves in a brilliant adventure featuring their favourite enemies the Dinosaur Pirates. In this title they find themselves teaching the Dinosaurs an important lesson about not bullying and playing fairly. Any young readers already fans of this series will love this latest adventure, and adore the chaotic, fabulous illustrations that deserve having plenty of time spent pouring over them for they are detailed and completely crazy as well as being great fun!

Finally after so much adventure and excitement I turned to Kate Lum and Sue Hellard's 'Princesses are Not Perfect' - a surprising title because of course we all believe that they are! In this story there are three princesses each of whom excels in their own area - gardening, woodwork and baking. When they declare themselves to be bored of this excellence and determined to switch roles the results are quite hilarious, yet also touching and the end result is well...surprising. With beautifully intricate and detailed illustration this is a book for the girls. It is a fun story to read and share whilst at the same time imparting to children an important message about using your talents and skills wisely. Are Princesses Perfect? Read on to find out for yourself.

All Shapes and Sizes

Books come in a variety of shapes and sizes, some have only pictures others only words and others still a combination. Yet it is not only the formats which differ but also the style in which they are written, sometimes depending on the audience at other times dependent on the type of story they want to tell.

So it is that I have been reading two very different books, Eoin Colfer's 'And Another Thing' and Toon Tellegen's 'Letters to Anyone and Everyone' with illustration by Jessica Ahlberg.

Eoin Colfer's book is necessarily madcap, action packed and quite honestly full of such a variety of eclecticism that it is quite difficult to describe! Following on in the footsteps of Douglas Adams was never going to be easy but Colfer has done it with a passion and reverence. His style is to narrate the story with interjections from the Hitchhikers Guide, hence the relevance to different styles of writing. Anyone unfamiliar with this series would do well to start with book 1 if only to meet all the characters, from then on, in many ways it does not matter which book you read. Colfer has helped me finally gain a clearer understanding of the whole story, our favourite characters are all here - Ford, Trillian, Arthur, Zaphod and others, there is, of course a very large slab of cheese and also a pantheon of unemployed gods. I loved this book for its madness, sense of fun and adventure and variety of story as well as styles of writing.

Tellegen's book of letters is another rather extraordinary book. This one is aimed quite firmly at young readers and features a series of interlinked letters between animal friends and from creatures of the earth to the sun! A series of short stories in a letter format this is a charming little book to be dipped into at leisure and it is in fact all the more charming for this reason, it can be picked up and read at the fancy of its reader. The stories are quite whimsical and utterly charming, I love the idea of writing a letter to a letter, of birds communica

ting by letter and of the squirrel and the bear exchanging birthday cake ideas. With exquisite and delicate illustration from the highly skilled Jessica Ahlberg this is a book to be treasured by chidlren and adored by adults. Yes, it may have been written with children in mind but I very much doubt any adult could resist its charm!

Two books with very different styles of writing yet both engaging and exciting in their own way, without this variet

y we would perhaps be much less inclined to read so I for one am very glad of it and urge you all to try something new and surprise yourselves!

It is with news galore that I write my blog post today and trying to decide where to start is not easy!

First I must tell you about the launch of Perform-a-Poem, the first e-safe

website for children's poetry performances. The launch took place at the National Theatre in London on 3rd November. This was the brainchild of Michael Rosen whilst Children's Laureate and he has now been able to see his ideas become a reality. At the launch Michael said “I’m hoping that Perform-A-Poem will give an opportunity for children and teachers to experiment and play with poetry in an exciting way. All poems have a voice; sometimes this voice is best heard silently, but most poems enjoy being spoken and performed, because this is how we get to feel a poem.”

Secondly there was the launch of P for Poland photographed by Prodeepta Das and written by Agnieszka Mrowczynska. This wonderful book is a great addition to a series that Prodeepta is building up and introduces children in a very accessible way to countries of the world that they may be less than familiar with. Thanks to the Polish Institute in London for an interesting insight into Polish Culture and a lovely, intimate evening.

Next is the announcement of the winners of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize.

Morag Charlwood attended this event on behalf of Armadillo and her report, along with many others, will feature in the December edition of the magazine. In the meantime however congratulations go to Sam Lloyd whose Mr Pusskins Best in Show won the under six prize and Philip Ardagh whose Grubtown Tales:

Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky won him the prize in the 7-14 category. These and all the books on the shortlist were wonderful and I hope the prize continues to go from strength to strength.

This week I will be in the audience as Geraldine McCaughrean and Philip Reeve talk about their new novels; finding time to prepare the December edition of Armadillo Magazine and getting together all the wonderful Christmas books that I have been sent ready to provide all my Blog readers with some ideas for some fantastic Christmas gift ideas! So as they say, Watch This Space...!

Spooky Books for Halloween

It is Halloween and all things spooky will be happening, children will be trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins and having great parties. To help with the entertainment adults could read their young children Liz Martinez and Mark Beech’s story of The Everyday Witch published by Bloomsbury.

With Mark Beech’s illustration in the style of Quentin Blake adding colour and atmosphere to this story of a little boy who strongly suspects that his mother is a witch and accompanying the humorous rhyming text of Liz Martinez there is plenty to enjoy listening to and detail galore to pore over.

When Jimmy peeps though his curtains one night and sees his mother flying on a broomstick with the pet cat Tiddles he is determined to prove that she does not lead a life of potion brewing and spell casting! When he thinks that he has finally proved himself right he finds stripy stockings on the washing line – help!

If further entertainment in the form of story telling is required Winnie the Witch finds herself in possession of an Amazing Pumpkin. Children will delight in the story of Winnie and Wilbur enjoying their vegetables, particularly pumpkin – they may even learn to like them too! The fun comes when Winnie, laden with her greens, finds it difficult to get home from the market so decides it is time to grow some instead! All does not quite go according to plan and Winnie’s magical spells once again create a riot of colour and fun. With captivating and detailed illustration as well as hilarious text Winnie’s Amazing Pumpkin, published by oxford University Press, should keep its young audience entertained for hours and may even provide some inspiration to budding gardeners.

Another picture book, this time with magic flaps to lift comes from the talented Nick Sharratt. What’s in the Witches Kitchen? Encourages children to actively engage with the story and make it their own as they decide whether the witch is storing ‘tasty cheese or bats with fleas’ in her fridge. Will it be ‘pooh lizards fart or yum cherry tart’ in the oven and so the horrible by hilarious rhymes continue. With one on every double page spread and a simple repetitive story this book will delight the little ones, have them reciting some truly awful ideas, searching the kitchen for all things horrible and generally having a great time!

Finally to entertain toddlers during the day –shouldn’t they be in bed by the time of the party? – there is Scary Doodles written by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and illustrated by Anja Boretzki – before the children get their hands on it! This is a wonderful take on the traditional colouring book. A spiral bound hardback this invited children to accessorize the many illustrations and add their own splash of colour as well as their own goulish creations! Add spiders to webs, draw creatures in a cave and decide what the witch has in her cauldron. Not for the faint-hearted and perhaps best to play with during daylight hours this is a wonderful celebration of ghouls, ghosts and witches. Just grab a pencil and let your imagination run wild!

Enter a Pastworld if you dare!

Ian Beck’s fist venture into teenage literature has resulted in a darkly gothic tale of a future London that is a Victorian dystopia.

More widely known for his picture books and illustration as well as his recent Tom Trueheart stories for junior readers Ian is a much loved and favourite author. As he opens up his skill to a new audience he reveals another side to his character and a new set of skills as an author. There are not many who can travel from gentle picture books to dystopian gothic horror!

Pastworld is the creative genius of a corporation in love with the ideals of a Victorian society. They have created a world populated by people who know very little of the real time in which they live, they are in an alternative reality, they are a theme park but they do not all live by the rules.

The gawkers or visitors from outside undergo a thorough process before being admitted to Pastworld, but those inside are under no such obligations, watched over by the police and special intelligence services they are still very much free to behave as they would and the authentic Victorian fogs merely aide and abet their crimes.

There is one inparticular – the fantom who haunts both those inside and out of the Pastworld he has a sinister murderous criminal with dark secret and he is after just one person.

Eve is an innocent but curious young girl, it is through her journal and the narration of Inspector Catchpole that we are drawn into this dark world.

Dark, gruesome and yet compelling this is a wonderful story from a highly creative mind and it has some wonderfully authentic touches. Watch the special trailer by following this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRtAOFkUyuc and then seek out Pastworld for yourself.

The Great Hamster Massacre

If you are a hamster lover then look away now for this is not a story for the faint hearted or squeamish!

There has been a Great Hamster Massacre and an investigation into this most awful of crimes was carried out under the watchful eyes of Simon & Schuster publishers, Katie Davies (author) and

Hannah Shaw (illustrator).

(Picture shows (L-R): Kate Hancock, Waterstone’s; Hannah Shaw, illustrator; Katie Davies, author; Alan Davies; Sophie Overment, Waterstone’s)

In Katie's debut novel the writer, columnist and comedienne tells the story of Anna, her brother Tom and their assorted family, pets and neighbours who are all implicated in the massacre. Anna is relentless in her investigations and the ensuing mystery, whodunit investigation is a brilliant read for hamster lovers everywhere. Wonderfully illustrated with the quirky drawings of Hannah Shaw this is a brilliant new book from a new talent.

The evening celebrations marking the launch of this book were a great success and many of those who gathered for the investigations on the Strand were no doubt nursing sore heads the following morning!

Whilst Katie's book was launched in great style and with great enthusiasm we can hope that children will love the story as much as all we adults and can only wait with bated breath for the next installment of Anna's ill-fated and hilarious pet relationships!

Time for School!

Getting ready to go back to school after a long summer holiday is hard for children, teachers, parents and even librarians!  After all we have all just been enjoying a few long luxurious weeks of not having to do very much, jetting off on holidays if we are lucky and generally having a very nice time.  Many children will be very keen to tell their friends and teachers all about their summer holiday experiences but there is one who really doesn’t want to go back to the first day of term.  This child’s name is Michael and in a hilarious collection of letters to his teacher ‘Dear Miss’ written by Any Husband and published by Meadowside, Michael tries to use his imagination to save him from school.  Will it work or will he be lured in by Misses responses – I will leave the reader will have to discover.  In the meantime here is a taster of Michael’s summer excuses!

Open up the envelope styled book to see a letter from Michael’s headmaster informing him who his new teacher is and how hard he is going to have to work, move on then to Michael’s own letters and telegrams explaining how he has been on a secret mission taking him to the Himalayas, into the Amazon jungle and even onto the ocean.  Unfortunately pirates, alligators and other problems befall Michael making him potentially late for the start of term, can his teacher’s letter of welcome lure him back sooner?

For pre-school children not yet having to experience the first day of term there is pleasure in ‘Dig the Dog’.  Dig’s problems come in the form of Doug the Dog who steals his lovely juicy bone!  Maddy McClellan’s hilarious illustrations and Alison Maloney’s intelligent story writing combine to provide pre-school children with a delightful medley of madness and mayhem in the garden.  The story is a simple one, but very funny and it is the wonderful illustration, as riotous as the story, really bringing the book to life.  The scruffy Doug, smart Dig, scared cats, flying mud and general madcap mayhem jump off the page into the imagination and provide a wonderfully entertaining story to share and enjoy whilst older children head back to school.