Author visit: Martin Brown

Today, the very wonderful Martin Brown came to Somerset. Visiting three locations, he spoke to children and staff from five schools, inspiring them all with his enthusiasm for drawing.

He started the day by talking to children from Year 6 and 7 about the Horrible Histories books which are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year! The children were so responsive, really enjoying his energy and enthusiasm as he inspired them to believe in their artistic abilities and to focus on the pleasure of drawing.

At the next two schools, Martin focused on his ‘Nell and the Cave Bear’ books, treating the audience to a reading. He showed the children how to break down a picture of a bear into shapes, offering lots of great tips, resulting in a gorgeous picture of Cave Bear. His energy and enthusiasm never waned for one second as he rushed from easel to easel, creating pictures from the children’s suggestions with oodles of good humour and such a spirit of fun!

It was a brilliant day! Thank you so much to Martin for coming to visit and to Pippa for all her support in arranging the visit.

Our new logo!

The Federation of Children’s Book Groups is a national, voluntary, self-funded organisation whose aim is to promote enjoyment and interest in children’s books and reading and to encourage the availability of books for children of all ages, from first picture books to young adult. The Somerset Group is launching at the end of January and is committed to helping teachers, parents, schools, libraries, booksellers…anyone involved in sharing books with children to promote a lifelong love of reading and books. We are particularly keen to support author events to engage as many children as possible with those who write for them.

We are delighted to be able to share our new logo, designed for us by the incredibly talented (and very kind!) Steve Antony. Bev, the group secretary, loves giraffes which formed the initial idea and Steve worked his magic with the rest! We are delighted with it as it captures the energy and enjoyment of books which each committee member feels and are so grateful to Steve for his kindness.

Steve is the author/ illustrator of some of our favourite picture books and has illustrated many others. He offers excellent school events, much loved by adults and children alike, which we highly recommend to anyone looking for an engaging, enthusiastic author/illustrator. He also makes an excellent judge of pumpkins-as-book-characters competitions! You can find out more about Steve and his work on his website.

We look forward to sharing more book group news soon!