A school visit to remember - Tips on how to have a successful school author visit

A month ago I had my first school visit for Animania at my children’s school. We had a whirlwind afternoon of visiting all of the key stage 1 children in the space of 2 hours. For my American friends that covers all years within the 4 to 8 age range, which is the perfect age for learning the alphabet

The visit was a huge success and I owe a lot of that to Critterish Alllsorts who Animania sponsors. You can read more about the organization in my earlier post Animania Sponsors Critterish Alsorts Dale from Critterish Allsorts kindly offered to come down for my first school visit so that we could read the book and introduce the children to some of the critters. I didn’t tell the children about Dales visit, it was all kept hush hush. So a couple of weeks before, I gave the school a load of posters and leaflets to pop into the kids school bags to tell them about the author visit. I mentioned Critterish Allsorts and said that all percentage of the sales will go to them. I said that it would be an author visit with a twist, but that was as much as I gave away.... I do like a tease.

We only had 20 minutes in each classroom which was a bit tight, so I decided the best thing to do was for me to go in and read some of the book to the children. After this I mentioned that Animania was sponsoring Critterish Allsorts and that I had a surprise for them. That’s when Dale came in with one of his critters. We had Stoosh the skunk, Connie the boa constrictor and Shiver the Blue Skink. Well, you can imagine the excitement that caused! The looks on their little faces was absolutely priceless!  Dale was amazing with the kids and told them all about what the organization is about and then gave a little talk about the animal he had bought in. The children then had a chance to handle the animals briefly before we rushed off to the next room.

The whole experience was so much fun! The children’s excitement was infectious and I felt like a big kid again. It was so rewarding to finally share my work with children and I was blown away with their enthusiasm and interest. Sadly due to distance issues this combined author visit will be the only one of it’s kind as we live quite a distance away from each other. Such a shame as we made such a good double act and the interest was definitely there for both the book and the organisation.

My plan with future visits is to use my artistic abilities to add the extra factor. Animania is about completely made up animals so I thought at the end of the session the children can help me create their very own Animania character which I can draw out for them. We could have a lot of fun creating a new character and discussing what their characteristics would be, what we should call them, what they will look like etc…hey you never know, it could well trigger a new book concept he he.

Another success was introducing the colouring book. At the end of Animania I included a couple of colouring sheets and some blank sheets for kids to create their own Animania character with. So when I finished reading the book, they saw the colouring page and there was alot of excitement over that. So when I heard the “oooo a colouring sheet” response it was the perfect opportunity to show them the colouring book which I had recently published. The colouring book is basically the entire book republished in line art so that the children can colour in their own version of Animania. The colouring book did very well and I took many orders that day so another little tip, colouring sheets go down very very well!

So how can you have a successful author visit?

Find something that stands out from the norm

I can’t thank Dale enough for helping me with the first visit. The combined double act really added a little something special to the visit and made it a more memorable experience for the children. Try and think outside of the box a bit. Have a think about what your book is about, is there anything you could utilise that would be a fun little twist on the visit? There could be organizations or people out there that could help out. So for example, say your book includes a magician… get a magician in to do a couple of tricks. If it’s about an animal and you know someone who owns said animal then ask if they could come in with you. You might want to dress up or have some friends that are happy to dress up for you, you might even have some budding actor friends who would like to act some of the scenes out.  The possibilities really are endless, you can be as crazy and whacky as you like, that’s the beauty of children, you really can’t put a foot wrong. They will enjoy whatever you do but giving them something that leaves a lasting impression will make the occasion more memorable.

Another fellow author Rosie Russell shared with me what she does with her school visits to make them tailor made for her.....

I go and do a reading of my Maggie, Millie, and Merrie's Magical Adventure" book. There is an art project in the back so the art teacher I know invites me to do this with her 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. The students really love this project. I give them each a bookmark and they all enter a chance to win a box of school supplies. (The supplies are in the story.) I also talk to them about how they can become authors and illustrators.

Twitter @RosieRrbjj /  Facebook

Interact with the children

Kids love interacting with you so ask lots of questions throughout the reading and get them involved with the story.  Ask them if they can guess what happens next, or if any of them can relate to a scene in the book. You will find this happens naturally anyway, kids will certainly put their two pennies worth in.

Another indie author AJ Cosmo has recently had a school visit and I wanted to share one of his pictures with you.  I loved how AJ actually sat down on the floor with the kids, making himself at their level so that he in essence was just a big kid there inspiring them.  I thought it was a great idea for AJ to actually get on the floor with the kids, I am going to have to pinch that idea he he.  So  let your inner child out and be one of the kids for the day.

AJ also gave some invaluable advice on self publishing in a past blog post 

To Self Publish or not Self Publish

Twitter:  @AJCosmokids / https://www.facebook.com/ajcosmokids/

Dress to impress

You could go the whole hog and go for the full fancy dress costume, you will certainly get noticed that way and guaranteed to make quite an impact. If like me though you are a little more introverted than that, then choose an outfit that stands out. I am a bit of a girly girl hippy chick anyway so my style is a bit in your face at times. I chose one of my favourite long skirts, a bright purple layered number and the little girls loved it, they made me feel like a princess. I was sitting there reading and these little fingers kept playing with the ruffles on the bottom of my skirt, it was very cute. So go for something bright and cheery and if you are brave enough to go for a costume then go for it, they will love it!

Set some tasks so that the memory of your visit lives on

You want your visit to leave a lasting impression so set some tasks for the children so that they are still talking about the visit days after. For our one Dale came up with the idea that each of the classes were to create an Animania character based on the facts they had learned for each of the animals. They could draw the character or come up with a verse for it and then they could share it on the board outside of the classroom so that other classes could see each others ideas.

This will encourage the children to carry on discussing the book and characters after the visit too. Again be inventive and think of a task that specifically relates to your book.

Everyone loves a Freebie

                    

You can’t go wrong with freebies. I went for colouring sheets with mine, they are the most affordable option and kids love them! I have supplied a few sheets to other authors I have worked with in the past by using the preliminary line drawings as a basis for a colouring sheet . From an illustrators point of view creating colouring sheets are super easy to do. So have a chat with your illustrator and see if they can do some bespoke sheets for you. Or like Rosie Russel did for her recent book launch reach out to people to ask if they are happy to donate some colouring sheets.

There is a fantastic group on face book called Colouring in with Colour. This group is packed full of amazing creatives and are always offering free colouring sheets. I gave Rosie some of mine and so did Karen Emma Hall founder of the colouring group and the fabulous Kid Literature Authors group. I am sure there will be people on there happy to donate some of their colouring sheets, I am more than happy to share mine too.

Other inexpensive ideas are stickers, bookmarks, badges etc.  You could even bake something , again chose something that relates to your book.

Have you any other tips you would like to share with fellow authors on what particularly works well with your school visit? If so then please do leave a comment below.

Happy Birthday Kid Literature Authors

I have been quiet lately trying to complete Animania and working on Animal Stories For The Young Part 4. So as you can imagine blogging and social media have taken a bit of a nose dive.

I had to put some time aside to put together a very special blog though and that is one to dedicate to Kid Literature Authors first birthday. For those who do not know about team KLA they are a group that formed on twitter and facebook with the aim to create a place where authors, illustrators and kid lit enthusiasts could share their works, but to also create a place where we can all encourage each other and support one another. To grow, to give back and to inspire children world wide. The group comprises of Karen Emma Hall, (founder) Steve Conoboy, Cat Michaels, Carmela Dultra, Hilary Hawkes and Carolin Palmer. Each one of them will be helping celebrate this huge occasion from the week of the 13th-19th April. 

So what will they be doing to celebrate this big occasion??

To mark the occasion there will be a week long celebration of fun on their Facebook and Twitter pages which everyone is invited to. There will be videos, games, giveaways and much more, so do come along and join in the festivities. I will also be giving away some cards and prints as part of the rafflecopter feature and will post updates on my Facebook and Twitter pages. Do come 
along and show some support for everything this amazing team does.

To kick start the festivities, here is a chance to enter the first rafflecopter hosted by Cat Michaels  For a chance to win a copy of her " Sweet T and the North Wind" just click on the rafflecopter tab on my page. This will be updated as new giveaways come along.



Here is a little video to show what these guys have been up to the past year...

Why team KLA are such an important part of my life

I signed up to twitter a couple of years ago and didn’t get it at all. After a couple of days scratching my head with it I decided to not pursue tweetsville any further. It was only after reading a blog about how to get your artwork noticed that I decided to give it another bash a year later. One of the top things to do was to join twitter, so off I went again. 

As much as I was a rabbit caught in headlights at first, I stuck with it and started striking up friendships with people. Team KLA were one of the very first groups to reach out and show support to my work. 

I was blessed enough to help out behind the scenes with spreading the word of KLA and in return I have been rewarded with constant inspiration, tips, support and most important of all friendship. This group homes some of the nicest people out there, people who have a wealth of knowledge under their belt about the whole children’s literature industry, from writing to illustrating to publishing and marketing. I have learnt so much the past year and the majority of that has been through the lovely folks at KLA. I am just tipping my toes in the author world and I tell you this much so far.... it's not an easy road to go down! Promoting artwork is a piece of cake compared to producing and marketing a book. It's an upward struggle at times but the support and inspiration from all members of the group has been invaluable and has kept me going.

So wishing all at Kid Literature a huge Happy Birthday. I am so lucky to have seen you start from nothing to this flourishing hub of creativity, all in the space of one year. Each and every one of the admin team deserve a massive hug for all they do.

September Highlights

Well where do I begin!! What a fun month September has been, a tad chaotic hence no blog entries, but muchos funos!! So many lovely things have happened so I thought I would dedicate this blog to my September highlights. It’s been a whirlwind of celebrations, catching up with family, meeting new friends and off course lots of painting! So where to begin….

Completion of Animal Stories For The Young Bk 3

I guess it would have to be the completion of Animal Stories for the Young Volume 3…. Woohoo!! After three and a half months or painting pretty much every day the book was completed. This time around I submitted all the illustrations digitally, a different approach to what I have done before. Usually I let the publishers scan everything their end but this time I wanted to edit the images myself. I was a little wary about sending the memory stick off, waiting for the email saying “it’s no good, you need to redo it all”. Thankfully a few days later I had an email saying that they were delighted with the illustrations and that it should be published next month! Happy days.

The plan was to take a break from the pencils and brushes but it doesn’t seem to have happened, I have since worked on landrovers, squirrel balloons, fallen angels and very fluffy critters. October’s plans are to carry on with my own picture book Animania plus a few other bits and pieces I want to squeeze in. No doubt it will be a random mix of subjects again. Plus I want to build a website purely for my illustrations.

Mum visiting from Oz

It has been a year now since I saw my little munckin. She came over from Australia for 4 weeks at the beginning of September so there has been a lot of fambo time this month. We had a lovely day trip to London where we saw the London poppies and then the London dungeons after. If you haven't done it yet you have to see the poppies, such a moving piece of art, you can't help but be moved, I am so pleased we went to see it. It's going to be sad saying goodbye again but it will just be another 5 months before I get see her again so will keep telling myself that, plus skype makes things much easier.

Meeting Karen Emma Hall, founder of Kid Literature

The biggest highlight has been meeting some really lovely peeps off twitter. I was lucky enough to have a cuppa with the lovely Karen founder of Kid Literature Authors while she was visiting family. It was so nice to meet up with her and I will be popping in a date on the calendar next year to go and visit. She has done some remarkable work with the kid lit group and its growing from strength to strength. I feel very blessed to have been a part of the group when it first started out and really respect and admire Karen for what she has achieved. The group is a resource for all kid lit enthusiasts, whether you are an author, illustrator or avid reader, the group is a must to join and be a part of. It will be an invaluable tool for me when I come to promote my own book when I am ready. I have learned so much from them already and built some lovely friendships. Do check out the links below to learn more about them, they are always on the lookout for new admins to help run the site.  Facebook  Twitter  Website

Interview with Success Skunks

Another friendship has been formed with Paul Cody, the founder of Success Skunks. At the beginning of the month I was interviewed by Success Skunks and am doing a couple of illustrations for their new website. They are a charity who’s aim is to inspire children to pursue their passions by interviewing all manner of professionals, from sportsmen, musicians to authors, artists and much much more. Do take a look at their site to learn more about their charity. They are also currently running a donate a book scheme for the charity http://www.sosbc.org/ If you would like to be a part of this community or donate a book or colouring pages then please contact them via these links: Facebook  Twitter  Website

Squirrel Balloons!!!

I have also been having some fun and giggles with fellow tweeting buds and have to give a special shout out to two of them for putting a massive smile on my face in September. First up is Jon, who specialises in humorous comic style cartoons. If you fancy a giggle http://bubblefox.thecomicseries.com/ is well worth a nosey. After one of our random conversations one afternoon we some how side tracked into a conversation about squirrel balloons. I can’t even remember how or why but I hold Jon entirely responsible, he has an overactive imagination! Anyway after discussing what a ridiculous concept it was we then agreed that once I finished my book and once Jon had finished all of his comic strips we would celebrate by drawing each other some squirrel balloons. I was chuckling away the entire time I drew mine and from what Jon has said, he enjoyed doing his part too ;) We both agree to post our drawings on twitter the same day. What tickled me was how without discussing what we were doing (other than inflatable animals), between the two of us we came up with a little story board. Here is what happened….

 Follow Jon on Twitter

My very own flamenco dancer by artist Sean Ashton

Another dear friend and someone I find a true inspiration is Sean. When I first met Sean I was really taken with his figurative studies. His work bought back memories of how I used to enjoy working in the fine art area. I do have a soft spot for fine art and seeing all the work Sean is doing lately is really making me want to have  another crack at it. I asked him if he had ever painted a flamenco dancer as it is something I have always wanted to paint but never attempted it. The next thing I know he sent me a few photos of flamenco dancers and said he was going to give it a go. The photo I chose was in black and white but I asked for the dress to be in red against a very dark background. Passionate, intense and striking was my brief. Well I thought he might not speak to me anymore at one point as I had picked a very hard subject and coverting black and white to colour is no easy task but he did it and I absolutely fell in love with it. The most touching thing though was that a few days later it was popped in the post and I am now the luckiest girl in the world with my very own flamenco dancer. 

He has inspired me to try another fallen angel painting again. I haven’t painted a canvas for over 3 years now, can you believe it! The books have kinda taken over, not that I am complaining, I love working on children’s illustrations but there is always an itch to paint a canvas.

Do follow his work on Facebook and Twitter To be at the level he is after just 2 years of painting is quite remarkable….. watch this space, this one is gonna go places!!

Ok I will stop rambling for now. All I can say is September has been a fun one! Oooo just remembered another thing. I bought a WACOM tablet so I am venturing into something I have been petrified of trying…. Digital hokery pokery! I shall dedicate my next blog to this new toy of mine.  It’s certainly opening my mind to new possibilities. On that note I shall be on my merry way.

Over and out for now

A tribute to a remarkable man... Herbert C Burrow author of Animal Stories For The Young

AMAZON LINK
I have been a bit behind lately due to a much needed break away to Valencia. It was a fab holiday and given me lots of memories to cherish. I took myself offline and armed myself with Herbert C Burrow’s autobiography to read while I lazed about. I have been meaning to read this for ages but things always get in the way and I am pretty shattered come the evenings. Anyway I did it, I completed the book and am so pleased I did. I have worked with some interesting characters over the years but Mr Burrow is top of the list for leading such an extraordinary life with an alien abductee coming a very close second (that’s a whole blog in itself he he)

I have worked with Mr Burrow now for two years on his Animal Stories For The Young books. What is truly remarkable though is it will be his 100th birthday this December. I am currently working on the 3rd Volume and we are pushing to get this published just in time for the big occasion. He is even half way through writing the 4th Volume! I find it so inspirational that he is still writing and painting to this day. I hope I have as much passion and determination in my later years.


Close friends will tell you, I am not the most enthusiastic person when it comes to reading non fiction or anything that requires you to concentrate for more than ten minutes, I have a very short attention span! I know that’s a terrible thing to admit to, I am more your easy reading and pretty pictures kinda gal. Saying that I am a sucker for a really good gritty crime or horror story. But I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this and have gained a whole new respect for the man. So much so that I wanted to do a little blog in tribute to him.

His autobiography “It all Began in the Garden of Eden” covers his fascinating career working with the British Council. He was 29 years old when he took over running the B.C. in Iraq, the beginning of a long career of zigzagging across the world to very different countries. With 15 postings in 13 countries - Iraq, Algiers, Morocco, Tunisia, London, Czechoslovakia, Brazil, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Ghana and France. It was fascinating reading about all of the experiences that were had throughout his life as he spread the word, encouraging the use of the English language and establishing cultural relations with other countries. The peaceful nature of this task was often carried out under a state of violence and political upheaval. Faced with unusual and dramatic situations such as being held hostage in the British Embassy in Baghdad for the month of May 1941 when a pro-German group of Iraqi Generals staged a coup He often had to rely on his own initiative to get himself out of some pickles and always managed to retain his good sense of humour. He and his wife of 58 years were quite the team, up heaving themselves with each posting and turning what little they were given into a family home. They both were very respected in the communities and met many well known names as a result. It was fascinating reading about the cultural and political life in these countries during one of the most eventful periods of modern history - the Second World War and its aftermath. 

A fascinating man and someone I have grown very fond of, my only regret is that our paths did not cross earlier on in my life. My Dad would have loved listening to his tales, such a shame we couldn’t of shared that together. I have certainly learned a few things since working with him.

AMAZON LINK

In the meantime I shall carry on working on the 3rd edition of Animal Stories For The Young. He is very fond of animals and these books are a lovely collection of short animal stories with characters you can’t help but fall in love with. What makes them stand out though are all the little tit bits of information he throws in about animals that he has come across over the years. He had many strange pets and has told me some stories you would find hard to believe like how his little pet parrot Perky sat on his finger throughout the whole flight between Rio to Thailand! The purpose of these books are to stimulate affection for animals instead of treating them just as pets. I think he accomplished what he has set out to do.



I will leave you with a little collection of my favourite characters so far from The Animal Stories of The Young collection....

        

     

Book blog - Week Two - A Rabbit’s Tale by Rob Bounds

We were all very excited to see what was in store for us this week with our new picture book assignment. This week we have read A Rabbit's Tale by Rob Bounds. This delightful book is about a young rabbit’s adventure after a few narrow escapes on our busy roads. He takes us on a little journey meeting some lovely characters on a quest to find out how he can avoid these dangers. 

The story has been used by the illustrator Neil Hunt's school to promote the message  "be bright to be seen"

After last weeks teething problems I decided that I would get more sense out of the children by reading it to them all individually as it took a good 15 minutes of mucking about last week before they started settling down. I hold my hands up…  we were not the most professional of book groups! What with the girls giggling and Dylan making faces it turned out to be a rather long affair. We cracked it in the end though.

So we started with my daughter Felicity aka Flic who is seven years old (going on 18). Well the first thing that was pointed out to me was that I needed to work on my expressions! Apparently I need to practice my story telling skills, cheeky moo! After a stern telling off she said that she really enjoyed the book and liked the fact that it was in rhyme.  She liked the story and pictures very much and would like to read it herself (obviously with more expressions lol).  She is a very keen reader and writer and later that evening I had seen she had been writing her own piece of poetry so she was obviously inspired by our little story time session.

Next up is our latest recruit Phoebe, our next door neighbour. Phoebe is nine and is full of constructive criticism and I must say has taken a very keen interest in our weekly story time sessions. She enjoyed the story and said that this would be a great book for schools and to be used as a teaching aid as it teaches you about road safety.  She also commented on how bright and colourful the illustrations were so would appeal to younger children.

Then we have my son Dylan who is ten (going on two).  Now he loved the rhyming, both of my children have a thing for poetry. He said that the rhyming made the story have a nice flow to it and made it nicer to read. I might add, at this point this was my third attempt of reading this out loud so I was quite the story teller by this time he he.  Another point made was that he liked the concept behind the book and how it was not only a good story but had an important message behind it too.

So from the kids we have another thumbs up.  From the grown ups point of view…. Well I too have  a soft spot for stories in rhyme so was very pleased when I started to read this. The illustrations have been done by Neil Hunt and have a very retro feel which instantly took me back to my childhood. Anything that makes you go back to your inner child is always a good thing in my eyes. The illustrations are created using bright bold colours in a sketchy style that I am sure children would enjoy. 

 

The story itself is lovely, and I agree with the kids I do like the message behind it. It is important to know road safety and I like that you learn this as the story goes on. The words flow very well and engage the reader, leaving you wanting to know what happens on the next page. Yes I agree with the little people this is another fine book for our young readers out there and should be a book in every schools library.

So all in all a lovely read.

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From all at the Holyoake Homestead, it’s over and out for now. Be sure to pop by again for the next installment.

Sweet dreams xx

Weekly picture book blog for http://www.kidliteratureauthors.com/

Step by step process to my illustrations & some great vids thrown in

I thought I would share the step by step process I take with one of my illustrations. I personally am fascinated watching other artists work and love looking at videos and pictures of their process. I remember taking my poor Mum to one of the art workshops run by the Bognor art club. The first session is spent watching the artists work for 3 hours and then the next session you get to have a go yourself in the workshop. Now I personally loved it but poor mother dearest…. well it’s literally watching paint dry, bless her! She never did come to another session with me he he

Anyways the point to my waffling is that I find it a fascinating process seeing a picture come to life so I thought I would show you the steps I take for my illustrations. These have changed quite a lot over the years but this process is something I seem to be sticking to now, the only change is I am incorporating more digital effects. I do however personally favour traditional art, call me old fashioned but there is something magical about a piece that has been hand painted. So as wonderful as modern technology is I don't want to go over board with it.

AnaBelle Stamps

My medium of choice these days are water based coloured pencils, the inktense range being my absolute fave. In fact it was this video that made me want to try them out. As soon as I saw this I ordered a box of pencils and the brushes and I haven’t looked back since. They are so lovely too blend and the colours really pack a punch. I have never tried pro markers but I would imagine they have a similar effect. I now use a mix of pastels, inktense and watercolour pencils and coloured pencils on Daler & Rowney's 220gsm heavy weight paper.

So the first step is to roughly sketch out my initial draft. I then use carbon graphite paper to redraw the image onto the heavy weight card. I could draw straight onto the card but I find that by redrawing an image I really get a feel for it which makes everything happen much more naturally.

Once I have the final pencil sketch ready to go it’s the fun bit of colouring in. I block in my base colours using unison pastels. I use to do this with all of the background but lately I have been experimenting with mixing this with digital backgrounds.

Then I colour in everything but the grass with my inktense pencils. Then, my fave bit, going over it all with a wet brush. The watercolour pencils never blended as well as these bad boys do. The inktense pencils really do blend very well and you don’t need to add much more to them after.

Then I get the coloured pencils to add all the finer details and extra shading. The grass is made up of layers of little strokes, usually made up of four to five different shades of green. I also go around the characters in black coloured pencil. I did use a pen originally but prefer the black pencil as it just seems a little softer. I want the characters to pop out more than the background so only go around them.

Then I do the final editing on the computer and voila job done.

I am completely self taught with my illustrations so I can’t comment if this is the right way of doing things but it works for me :)

Here are a few of my favourite artists videos that I have watched over the years. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.....

This one has been watched over and over, I just love it and is probably my most fave art video out there. Absolutely love his style. The artist is AlfieAlpha  Follow on facebook

Huge fan of this talented ladies work. Her work is very illustrative and decorative. I have seen a few of her pieces now and you really need to see them in person to appreciate the true beauty of them. I could stare at these pieces for hours, so much to look at. Artist Kerry Darlington 

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And another of my faves Leonid Afremov. If you like colour you are going to love his work!! I don't think there is one piece of his I haven't liked.  

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Last but not least, the talented artist Karl Andrews. His landscapes are stunning, take a look at his work at  www.kadesign.co.nz or 

Follow on facebookThis video is one I studied when I first attempted to paint my fallen angels on canvas. He makes it looks so effortless here! Great soundtrack too...

First Picture Book Blog for KLA - The Fun Begins by Sandra Stoner Mitchell

So last night was story time in the Holyoake house. I rallied the children and our next door neighbour Phoebe and what started out as a ten minute story turned into a 40 minute chit chat.

We have started our picture book blogs with Sandra Stoner Mitchell's http://sandrascapers.com/ the Fun Begins, the latest addition to the Hedgerow Series. Timmy and Tommy are household names for us as I illustrated the very first Hedgerow book so the kids were very excited to hear the new story. This is a wonderful introduction to all the characters and leaves you wanting to know what fun they will get up to next.



AMAZON LINK


So the children's verdict was an all round thumbs up. We had a long chat about how awesome it would be to go to school in the bus, they all thought that Timmy and Tommy were very luck to have this privilege. Phoebe then went on to tell me how the book would be great for younger children just starting school and how her brother George is starting in September. After a later than usual bedtime it was all agreed that we were looking forward to the next picture book review so I now have my official team of reviewers for this weekly blog recording.

From the grown up point of view, well I am familiar with Sandra's writing and this is yet another little gem she has created. This story is a lovely introduction to the Hedgerow gang and goes through a story about them all playing hide and seek in the haystack and then venturing into their first day at school. The characters are endearing from Millie the Mole the more quieter character to Reggie the rat, the groups clown and we can't forget Millie the Mole and Cyril the Squirrel.  This story will be a joy for any younger reader as it is told in a way that they will relate to, covering topics that they understand and day to day adventures that children have.

Oh and off course the illustrations are great lol ( well I would say that wouldn't I, considering I illustrated the original illustrations for Hedgerow Capers) he he

Here are Sandra's links:
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From all at the Holyoake house......sweet dreams world xx

 http://www.kidliteratureauthors.com/

Loving Daily Doodles theme this week for Roald Dahl

I was having a little chat with one of my twitter buds last night about his entry to the daily doodle theme this week of Roald Dahl. We were discussing what were our fave stories and it inspired me to write my 2nd post. For those that haven’t heard of Daily Doodle, it is one of the groups on twitter that encourages people to pick up the pencil and get doodling. It’s a great way to share your work and be inspired by others not to mention meet some lovely peeps. They pick a topic each day and all you have to do is draw it and post it with their relevant hashtags. 

Daily Doddle picked a great topic this week, I would imagine all the illustrators had an absolute field day reincarnating some of these stories. Sadly I have been swamped with Animal Stories For The Young Vol 3 so can’t participate in the fun, booooo. But here are some of the doodles that caught my eye that I had to share.

Illustrator Jamie Briggs:                    Lucy's Illustrations: follow on twitter
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Amanda Pike:  follow on twitter          Steve Brown: follow on twitter

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Now like most people out there I was a huge fan Roald Dahl’s books, the man was such an inspiration. Lucky old Quentin Blake getting to illustrate his books! I would have been extremely excited to illustrate these stories, such an extraordinary imagination!

Looking at the doodles for this weeks theme got me reminiscing of times when I was a little girl reading his stories and I was trying to remember what my favourite was. You know what, I honestly don’t think I have one, there were so many. These are the ones that stuck out for me…

BFG, The Witches, Georges Marvelous Medicine, The Twits, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda.

 

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I know there are any more but these are my favourites, I wonder what everyone else’s was. I am off down the library this weekend and taking a trip down memory lane.