Author visit: Cath Howe

A couple of weeks ago, two of our member schools had a visit from Cath Howe. Cath is well known for her fabulous books for older readers, most recently the brilliant ‘My Life on Fire’, and has just started a new series for younger readers, ‘Call the Puffins’. Brilliantly illustrated by Ella Okstad, it was the first of these books, all about Muffin the Puffin who longs to join the search and rescue team, that Cath came to talk to the children about.

Great fun was had by all as Cath read some of the story, showed everyone how to draw Muffin and then taught them how to do the puffin dance! One teacher told me, ‘The children loved the visit!’, saying how engaged they all were and how much they were talking about the story afterwards. Another told me how wonderful it was to see so many happy children clutching their new books as they headed home.

Many thanks to Cath for coming to see us and for making so many children (and teachers) so happy! It was a wonderful day and ‘Call the Puffins’ is highly recommended!

You can find out more about Cath on her website-http://www.cathhowe.com/ and can read my review of Call the Puffins here.

Author visit: Jo Lindley

Last week, two of our lucky schools had a visit from Jo Lindley, author and illustrator of the ‘Best Friends with Big Feelings’ series. These books are beautifully illustrated, heart-warming stories which are perfect for reading aloud, sharing and discussing. Three seasons are currently available with ‘Hello Winter!’ coming later this year.

I was lucky enough to hear Jo speak as part of a picture book panel at last year’s YLG Conference so knew that the children were in for a real treat. Jo read to the children and talked to them about their feelings. ‘She was very lovely and the kids really enjoyed it’ one teacher told me.

Another teacher sent this message: Reception classes were so excited to meet author Jo Lindley today.  She read us her book ‘Hello Summer’, we talked about big feelings and what we can do to help ourselves when we feel angry, just like the character Summer in the story.  Then she drew the character Summer and added lots of different emotions to the face just by changing the mouth and eyebrows.  Thank you for visiting us Jo.

The children responded really well to her energy and enthusiasm and were excited about the story. It was a lovely day for all involved.

Thanks so much to Jo and the lovely people at Farshore for making the visit possible. And thank you to Alistair from Books on the Hill for providing a bookshop for each event.

You can find out more about Jo and her books on her website: https://jolindley.com

The Children’s Book Awards

Over the past year, children from our member schools have been taking part in voting for the Children’s Book Awards. Books from each of the three categories- Books for Younger Children, Books for Younger Readers and Books for Older Readers- are distributed so that our young readers can choose and share their opinion about a wealth of wonderful books, sent by publishers, voting on each on they read. This is the first stage of the testing process from which the top 10 books are selected and takes place over the whole year, with new books constantly being fed into schools as they arrive.

Once this stage is complete, the ‘Top 50 Pick of the Year’ are identified and from this, the magic Top 10 emerges! Children can then be involved in voting on one- or more- of the categories, ranking the books once they have read all those in a category to cast their votes for the awards. At each step of the process, it is the children’s votes that count, resulting in an award which actually gives voice to young readers!

Every year, children love being involved and take voting very seriously. They love discussing the books with their peers, often resulting in some very heated conversations, and feeling that their opinion matters. They really value having access to such a wonderful range of up-to-date titles and feel that it encourages them to try books which they might not otherwise have discovered. Here are some of their thoughts on being invloved!

E.S - I really liked taking part in this category. I loved the range of books and I felt an urgency to get them all read and chatting about them with other in my class that also read them. My favourite book was Dread Wood. I loved the mystery and found it quite scary in places.

L.L- It’s so exciting when new books appear and we are allowed to choose whatever we like. When the Top 10 are revealed, it’s brilliant when something you really liked has made it to that stage!

L.F - After we had read all of the books, we could then chat about what had happened - we were all very good to not give any spoilers and ruin it for others, but it was great chatting about what had happened in each story. 

R.W- It’s great fun taking part in this award. I really enjoy hearing about what other members of the class are reading and deciding whether I might like to try it.

A.L - I liked reading through the books and thinking about which other children in my class/ group would like the book and who to recommend it to. 

P.T- It’s sometimes hard to choose what to read first as I want to read everything! I think it’s really important that we are allowed to vote and say what we think about the books. Instead of teachers telling us what we should read, we can learn from each other!

On Saturday, we will discover who the winners are at the CBA ceremony, which is always the loveliest occasion. I have been lucky enough to attend quite a few of these over the years- with and without children- and it is always an absolute joy.

Author visit: Tamsin Mori

Last month, two of our member schools were lucky enough to have a visit from Tamsin Mori, author of ‘The Weather Weaver’ sequence. Wonderfully atmospheric, these books are fabulous adventures, perfect for reading aloud and exploring in depth. They romp along at a pleasing pace, with wonderful descriptions, full of myth and magic and the beauty of nature. Stones absorb all sorts of things…our connection to the world around us is beautifully celebrated, reminding us to pause, pay attention- and enjoy!

The children loved hearing Tamsin speak and being introduced to her books. One class teacher said, 'The children were captivated by Tasmin as she talked all things weather! Some of the children were particularly interested and impressed with the writing process - that the drafting and editing process can be as important as the writing bit took them all by surprise.'

Many thanks to Tamsin for joining us and inspiring so many children. Thanks also to Alistair from ‘Books on the Hill’ in Clevedon for providing copies of the books!

You can find out more about Tamsin on her website: https://www.tamsinmori.com

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.

Author visit: Sarah Coyle

Last month, two of our member schools had a real treat when author, Sarah Coyle, visited them for a ‘Pick-a-Story’ session. Pick a Story: a Pirate, Alien, Jungle Adventure is the first book in this interactive ‘pick your own adventure’ series and Pick a Story: A Dinosaur, Unicorn, Robot Adventure, the second. The books are perfect for immersing children in a story where they can make decisions about what happens every step of the way.

The events were a huge success with staff enthusing and saying how much the children enjoyed themselves. They said the children were completely transfixed, fully engaged for the whole session and loved the books. Lots of children from both schools bought copies and were delighted when Sarah signed them. Many have been spotted reading them since Sarah’s visit, a sure sign that they loved the event and it made a real impression on them!

When asked, the children said they had really enjoyed sharing the story, with some choosing the unicorn part as their favourite and others the dinosaur section! They also enjoyed making the cake, the soundscapes and hearing about how Sarah gets her inspiration for writing. A number mentioned they didn’t realise how long it took for a book to be written and published.

Alistair from Books on the Hill in Clevedon did a marvelous job of selling books- and as acting as chauffeur for Sarah. We are, as ever, very grateful for his support. Many thanks to Sarah for making so many of our children happy- and thanks to Antonia and Farshore for offering us this opportunity.

Pick a Story: A Pirate Alien Jungle Adventure

Sarah Coyle, illustrated by Adam Walker-Parker

Farshore ISBN: 978-1405299046

Pick a Story: A Dinosaur Unicorn Robot Adventure

Sarah Coyle, illustrated by Adam Walker-Parker

Farshore ISBN: 978-1405299053

Somerset CBG Launch

Yesterday, we were thrilled to welcome everyone to the launch of our new Somerset Children’s Book Group. After months of planning, it was wonderful to see everything coming together on the day and we couldn’t have done it without the support we received.

Children’s publisher, Nosy Crow, provided us with these gorgeous goodie bags, full of treats. Each included Fleur’s latest book, ‘Murder at Snowfall’, the new Frank and Bert story, ‘The One Where Bert Learns to Ride a Bike’ and a proof copy of either, ‘The Nowhere Thief’ by Alice M Ross or ‘My Life on Fire’ by Cath Howe, as well as the lovely Pip and Posy bags, bookmarks and postcards. It was incredibly generous of them and there were many ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ as people peeked inside! Sîan was particularly helpful and supportive and we are so grateful.

Sidcot School kindly allowed us to use their Meeting House to host the event. Their housekeeping and catering departments were brilliant, making sure we had everything we needed. We were also pleased to be joined by some students from the school who ran the raffle and helped with the teas and coffees. Thank you to all involved.

The Somerset CBG is one of the many children’s book groups up and down the country that collectively form the Federation of Children’s Book Groups. Each group is unique in its approach, but we are all united by our commitment to sharing the love of books and reading to everyone, everywhere. There has been a huge wave of support from our fellow groups and we were delighted that members from several other groups were able to join us for our launch. Book-ish people are lovely people!

Alistair (and his lovely dad!) from Books on the Hill in Clevedon came to set up a bookshop for the event. Once people had registered and gathered their goodie bag, they were quick to grab a cup of tea and spend some time browsing the wonderful range of books on offer, including a couple of exclusives. ‘Nell and the Cave Bear: The Journey Home’ by Martin Brown and ‘Winter’s Keep’ by Tamsin Mori are not available yet, but if you know the right people..!

Well known and much loved as the illustrator of the incredibly popular ‘Horrible Histories’ series, Martin Brown was our first speaker of the day. He had the audience completely enthralled as he talked his books and about the importance of drawing and teaching people the skills they need. He firmly believes that everyone has the ability to draw and his inspiring enthusiasm was infectious.

On arrival, everyone had been given a pink raffle ticket and there was a great ‘oooh’ of excitement as we announced that the winning number would receive this lovely picture (above) of Cave Bear which Martin signed and dedicated.

During the tea break, plenty of cake and biscuits were available and it was wonderful to see so many people getting their books signed and chatting to old friends and new. If any evidence was ever needed about how supportive the children’s book community is then the number of authors who attended our launch surely proves it. Anthony Burt, J M Joseph, Shauna Darling Robertson, Tamsin Mori, Rachel Delahaye, Emma Perry, Andy Seed, Anne Parsons, Laura Mucha and Cathy Faulkner plus a couple of authors who are not-yet-to-be-named all came along to offer their support as did Roy Johnson of Troika Books. Our lucky attendees were able to chat to these lovely people and get their books signed.

After the break, Fleur Hitchcock told a captivated audience about her childhood and other inspirations for writing, including a mysterious abandoned cabinet and a visit to Longleat. It was fascinating to hear about everything from the cover designs to the edits and alterations which contribute to the magic of creating a book. There were so many questions..!

Our event closed with a selection of poems performed by the joyful and exuberant Laura Mucha whose energy and enthusiasm had everyone joining in. It was the perfect way to close the perfect session.

Thank you so much to everyone who came and helped to make our launch so special. We look forward to holding more events very soon and hope to welcome many new members to the group. If you are interested in finding out more about membership, please email us somersetcbg@gmail.com

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!