This term I’ve been revisiting my childhood for Poppy’s Packed-lunch post-its. Here are the first five weeks worth…
A month or so ago I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute a second gallery to the Guardian’s brilliant How To Draw… series. My first, How To Draw… A Windy Day, featuring the characters from Blown Away, got a great response so I was more than happy to oblige.
Click here to see the new one…
I am very pleased to have contributed to this ace new book, Draw It! Colour It! Creatures, published by Macmillan. It’s a lovely collaboration between 40+ artists and illustrators (including Axel Scheffler, Chris Riddell, Emily Gravett, Jim Field, David Mackintosh, Alex T Smith, Tim Hopgood, Marta Altes, Sarah McIntyre, Lorna Scobie and, oh, LOTS more!). The idea is that we start the drawings and the readers finish them off!
My two offerings are a hungry whale…
and a posse of peacocks…
You can buy the book here: http://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/childrens/draw-it-colour-it-creatures-with,macmillan-childrens-books-9781447290704
The new school term began last week and that meant more packed-lunch post-its for Poppy (see earlier blog posts for more details). Excitingly, the Guardian ran a feature on us in their Family section…
Poppy was very nervous on the Saturday that it came out cos she thought we were going to be recognised everywhere we went. Fortunately, the paparazzi must have had the day off because we were left in peace ;)
My second book GRRRRR!, starring Fred the bear, has been out for just over two weeks now. I was actually away on holiday the day it was published so I watched events unfold from afar. It was all very exciting.
Here are a few pictures of the book itself…
And here are some of the great displays that the creative booksellers around the country have made (including the brilliant Leilah Skelton at Doncaster Waterstones)…
I was also absolutely thrilled to see the FANTASTIC window display in Foyles on the Charing Cross Road, London (see below). I’ve been walking past that bookshop for 25 years and I never ever thought that a book I’d written would appear in the window. Definitely one to cross off the bucket list.
A few reviews have started to appear. Gulp. Fortunately everyone has been very nice about the book (so far!).
Among others there’s this one from the Mudwaffler (which includes a mini-interview), this from Jill at the Red Riding Hub, this amazing rhyming one from the aforementioned Leilah in Doncaster and these from the people at LoveReading4Kids (be sure to read the children’s comments - so sweet).
And finally, I want to say a big thanks to my Colour Collective buddy Penny Neville-Lee who drew this ace picture of Fred and his mates for me. I love it!
So there we go. Update over. As you were.
Two weeks to go until GRRRRR! is out. It tells the story of Fred Bear who wakes up on the morning of the Best Bear in the Wood contest with no GRRRRR. What will he do???!
ps Anyone who has read Blown Away should keep a eye out for familiar faces ;)
Had a lovely time on Wednesday doing Blown Away events at the fabulous Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden. Probably the last penguin-based session, for a while at least. It’s all about the bears from now on.
Huge thanks to everyone who came - some very talented kids indeed - and to the staff at the museum for looking after me so well. If you get a chance you really should visit.
A sneak peak at GRRRRR! His name is Eugene.
Out on August 27
#sneakpeek
Pre-launch signing session :)
Not long now…
Hi. I’ve just realised that I haven’t posted here since April and as you’re obviously DESPERATE to see what I’ve been up to I thought I’d do a very quick round-up. That’s me all over, always thinking of others.
So, here we go…
At the end of May I did a couple of events at the Hay Festival. As you can see my daughters came too and they had a lovely time. Well, one of them did anyway. That’s Poppy on the right looking a bit grumpy.
The events went really well, were a lot of fun and they even sold out (see below). Hopefully that means I’ll get to go back next year.
One quick dash back down the M4 later, and we arrived at the Discover Children’s Story Centre in East London. Wow! What a FANTASTIC place it is. So much to do and look at including a fantastic Oliver Jeffers exhibition. You should definitely visit. Here’s a picture of me reading Blown Away…
…and here’s a better look at the lovely picture that we all made together.
What else? Well, the Game of Thrones finalé was big news in our house. No spoilers, I promise, but I will show you this picture I drew to mark the occasion. Actually, maybe there’s a picture book in it. HBO, if you’re reading this you know where to find me ;)
Then a very exciting thing happened. The first copies of my new book GRRRRR! arrived. It’s hard to describe the feeling you get when you hold your book in your hands for the first time. Surreal is the word I keep coming back to. Anyway, here it is…
And here’s the PLC (the hardcover thingy underneath the dust jacket). Am quite pleased with the way this turned out…
And finally it’s got a little showy-offy sticker on it. Well it would be rude not to, I guess…
At the end of June I did another event with the nice people at the Discover Centre. This time it was in the Olympic Park. It was called StoryFest and was hopefully the first of many. I was first up in the yellow tent…
I tried out a new event structure – the children and I wrote a rhyming story together. We actually ended up with a pretty decent tale about a Cat called Whiskers who lost her pet Spider. Don’t worry, it had a happy ending.
Last week I was very excited about the publication of the “new” Harper Lee book Go Set a Watchmen. So much so that I drew a little picture of Scout…
So there you go. That’s what I’ve been up to. Oh, and I’ve redesigned the Observer Magazine too. Keep an eye out for the new look in September.
Not long now until GRRRRR! hits the shelves. I will be posting a few teasers between now and publication day (August 27) but here’s something to keep you going in the meantime…
I am very pleased to be able to tell you about a couple of greetings card ranges that I’ve been working on with the nice folk over at Roger la Borde.
The first collection, Wild Things, is available now. I know that some of you have already spotted the cards in the shops. Thanks to everyone who has sent me pictures.
The range includes six general birthday cards…
and five age-specific ones…
There’s also some jigsaw puzzles and fun mosaics…
As you can see, there are a few cameos from the Blown Away crew. Clive the polar bear is front and centre in the Merry Christmas range (out later this year). Here he is wearing his best Christmas jumper on some double-sided wrapping paper…
and on a card…
and on a gift bag…
Click here to see both ranges in their entirety. You’ll also find links to online retailers should you wish to buy any :)
*tiny drum roll* Ladies and gentleman, I can finally reveal the cover of my second book. It’s called “GRRRRR!” (With five ‘R’s). I hope you like it.
COMING SOON…
#GRRRRR!
Over the last two or three weeks I have been sent lots of pictures from Waterstones booksellers around the country showing the brilliantly creative Blown Away displays that they’ve made for their branches. The amount of work they have put in is just incredible. From Hanley to Hull, Liverpool to Lincoln, Dorking to Durham, these are some seriously creative people. Very talented artists too. I need to watch my back.
Honestly, I feel very lucky (not to mention honoured) and would like to say how grateful I am. Hopefully I’ll get to come and meet some of you very soon so I can say thank you in person.
Here’s a little selection…
Special mention to the Waterstones Newcastle team who recreated my favourite scene from the book (See below) :)
Oh, and head over to my Instagram to see the brilliant MOVING display made by bookseller extraordinaire Leilah Skelton in Doncaster. Here’s a link:
