Games to Encourage Early Readers
Thanks to Family Interest Magazine for publishing my article on games to encourage early readers (p. 13 — full text copied below). I would love to hear from others about your tried and tested ideas, so...
View ArticleAlphablast: Innovative additions to the alphabet book pantheon
New alphabet books show that writers and illustrators continue to place their original stamp on this classic genre. Read my review of some of my favourites.
View ArticleI Will Survive (Just About…)
These days, I blink back tears when people try to make me laugh. I am too edgy to eat proper meals, and crave supersized sundaes with extra hot fudge. For breakfast. I tune out during business...
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Book making project: Making my daughter’s story into a book
These days, I find that most of my ideas for story-based activities with the kids come organically from them, rather than owing anything to my pre-planning. In this case, my 8 year old son suggested at...
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Writer Mother profile: Jennifer F Steil
The Ambassador’s Wife is a novel as adventurous as its free-spirited protagonist, Miranda. With confidence and evident enjoyment, author, Jennifer F Steil explores the methods and strategies of high...
View ArticleWrite this! – An inopportune time to get the hiccups!
Every month, the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators hosts Write This, a challenge to writers: Respond to a prompt in 50 words or less. The top 20 entries appear in an online...
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Sandra Horning Interview and Book Giveaway
Award-winning children’s author, Sandra Horning, was inspired to write her first published book, The Giant Hug (2005) by a real-life hug she shared with her toddler son. Her subsequent children’s...
View ArticleWrite This! competition – November entry
When my 9-year-old falls short of a goal (and even when he succeeds), I usually say something along the lines of, “The hard part isn’t making it across the monkey bars. The hard part is not making it...
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Parents and Kids Trying Books On Together
An independent bookstore owner explains why shops like his are a magical part of childhood Twice winner of the Bookseller’s Award for the Independent Bookshop of the Year, Mr B’s Emporium of Reading...
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Parents and Kids “Trying Books On” Together
An independent bookstore owner explains why shops like his are a magical part of childhood Twice winner of the Bookseller Industry Award for the Independent Bookshop of the Year, Mr B’s Emporium of...
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Lovely e-mail exchange with John Fardell, Author of “The Day Louis Got Eaten”
In a previous post, Nic Bottomley, founder of Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, cited The Day Louis Got Eaten by writer/illustrator John Fardell as one of his top ten picture book...
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Lovely e-mail exchange with author, John Fardell
In a previous post, Nic Bottomley, founder of Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, cited The Day Louis Got Eaten by writer/illustrator John Fardell as one of his top ten picture book...
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Lovely E-mail Exchange with John Fardell, Author of “The Day Louis Got Eaten”
In a recent post, Nic Bottomley, founder of Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, included The Day Louis Got Eaten by writer/illustrator John Fardell in his list of top-ten picture book...
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Your Child’s Day: A Book to Treasure
A few years ago, in a desperate bid to get my son (ever the recalcitrant writer) to put pencil to paper during the l-o-o-o-ng Easter vacation, I suggested that we make a book about a day in his life....
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Play Doh Doctor Drill N Fill: Decent Play Value, but no Educational Bite
The Play Doh Doctor Drill N Fill (ages 3+, retailing for £13.99 on Amazon.co.uk) is a cleverly designed, reasonably entertaining toy. Disappointingly, however, Play Doh passed up a valuable opportunity...
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Picturebook Review: I Loathe You, by David Slonim
I’ve always been a little creeped out by Sam McBratney’s classic, Guess How Much I Love You. The one-upmanship in matters of the heart strikes me as manipulative and inflected with guilt. So I was...
View ArticleCollaboration with Jane Whelen Banks
I’ve always loved collaborative art forms — playwriting, journalism, and now picture books, where author and illustrator drive the story forward together. So I was thrilled when author, Jane Whelen...
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Picture Books Beyond Primary School
Book Review & Prize Draw Rediscovering picture books — favourites from my childhood, and stacks of new ones — has been one of my great unanticipated joys as a parent. I devoured picture books as a...
View Article20 Tips for Writers from SCBWI
On the weekend of November 18-20, I attended my first ever creative writing conference organized by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) UK in Winchester. It was welcoming,...
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A Thank You Poster for our Nanny
If I had been one of the good fairies bestowing gifts to Sleeping Beauty at her baptism, I wouldn’t have bothered giving her clear skin or musicality. Instead, I would have given her a strong capacity...
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