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Revisiting the Kingdom of Silk
Every evening for the past couple of weeks I’ve had an appointment in the Kingdom of Silk. The Kingdom of Silk is a small patch of ground on the outskirts of a small Australian town. It’s remarkable...
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The Children’s Bookshow – take your class to see amazing authors, poets and...
The Children’s Bookshow is an organisation that arranges an annual tour across England of children’s authors, poets and illustrators. It’s a fantastic opportunity to take entire classes to see an...
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An interview with D. D. Everest – author of Archie Greene and the Magician’s...
Archie Greene and the Magician’s Secret by D. D. Everest takes you into a world where bookshelves are enchanted, librarians have magical powers, and spells aren’t just something to read about in dusty...
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The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow
Imagine the 20th century has just begun and a new and very grand London department store is about to open. Whatever your heart desires, you can get it wrapped up in ribbons and bows at Sinclairs. The...
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Books on the borderline? On wolves and testing the boundaries of picture books
Would you let your child loose with someone whom others might describes as threatening, morally corrupt, gullible, impudent, and very hungry for little people? I’m guessing not. And yet with picture...
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Making a game out of science fiction for 8-12 year olds
Once a month I lead a book group for 8-12 year olds at our local public library and our most recent session was about science fiction books. It was one of the most enjoyable sessions we’ve had, so I...
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When late arrivals are perfectly timed: Where, Oh Where is Rosie’s Chick?
With Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman out next month after a 55 year wait, gaps between (the publication of) sequels are the talk of the town. After all, we readers all love it when a great book has a...
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An interview with Tonke Dragt
One of the big (and to some, surprising) hits of English language children’s publishing in 2013-2014 was a novel originally written in 1962 by an author very few people in the UK or the US had ever...
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Eddie’s Tent and How to Go Camping
Last week I wrote about books where there have been many years between sequels, and today’s post is also about sequels in a way, but this time about sequels creating a series of books which have grown...
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At the Animal Ball
Get your glad rags on, pull out your dancing shoes and join me At the Animal Ball by Ella Bailey! A delightful, playful action-packed flap book mixing costume design and dance moves in such a fun way,...
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Play by the book – the board game!
Playing by the book is all about bringing books to life off the page and into our every day lives and so when I discovered that there was a board game call Play by the Book, my eyes opened wide and I...
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Food from out of this world
One day last week when the kids came in from school and I handed them this: When they checked their emails they found these links waiting for them: Nasa pages about eating in space. The UK’s National...
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Miffy and A Dutch wordless book about bikes
Special Tour de France Miffys are available! Tomorrow sees the start of the world’s greatest cycling event, Le Tour de France. This year it’s actually starting in the Dutch city of Utrecht, the...
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When it’s ok to have your head in the clouds: The Cloudspotter by Tom McLaughlin
I’m sometimes called the Bread-Bike-Book Woman by people who recognise me in the community but don’t know me by name; I go everywhere by bike and my basket is nearly always full of either baguettes and...
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Celebrating my book group’s 1st birthday
Last weekend saw the first birthday of the book group I run for 8-12 year olds at the local public library. On Saturday we celebrated with lots of games – book spine poetry and book charades (where...
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Joseph Coelho on Failure – The Ultimate Writer’s Tip
It was just less than a year ago that my then 9 year old did something I felt was especially meaningful and beautiful in her development as a reader. For the first time in her life she found a poem...
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An interview with Michael Foreman
Michael Foreman is someone rather special. He’s often described as a “national institution”, with a 50 year back catalogue of tremendous books for children and young people. I, however, think this is...
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The Little Bookshop and the Origami Army
The power of ideas and the resilience which comes with imagination are key themes in Michael Foreman‘s fabulous celebration of stories, The Little Bookshop and the Origami Army, about a bookshop...
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Happy Birthday Seven Stories!
Seven Stories is the UK’s “National Centre for Children’s Books” and has as its mission to save, share and celebrate Britain’s rich literary heritage for children. It is part archive, part exhibition...
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10 bookshops and 2 libraries in 23 Hours in Hay on Wye
You know how you can climb up the ladder at the top of the Magic Faraway Tree into magical lands, often those which match your wildest dreams? I’ve just spent 23 hours in my own magical treetop land, a...
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