Nosy Crow's Blog, page 149

Nothing to see here

Well, our new website hasn’t launched today.

Hopefully, it might do tomorrow.

In the meantime, here’s the trailer for our latest brilliant app, Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Jungle:

… And fingers crossed, if you come back here tomorrow, a few things might look a bit different!

The week (we hope) before our new website launches

Soon, really soon, we hope early next week, this website will be replaced by the new Nosy Crow website.

This one has served us well since we announced our existence on 22 February 2010.

A few months ago, I found the bits of paper on which I had drawn my initial idea of the website, and though it’s changed over the years of our existence, actually it’s remained remarkably close to those original ideas.

When the new website is launched, lots will be better. It’ll work properly on your phone. It’ll be easier to search and find things on it. You’ll be able to buy things from it. We really hope you like it.

Some things, though, will go – mainly the ones we put on the website to disguise the fact that, for the first ten months of our existence, we hadn’t yet published a book or released an app. The Bird Brain quote of the day will go. So carefully added to and curated in our first few months, it’s now been stuck on Kate di Camillo’s “You have no time at all with a kid to get them to trust you. You have a page. That’s all.” for ages. We don’t have time these days to schedule reruns of the old quotes, let alone find new ones. The Crow facts have got buried deeper and deeper in the website will go too.

It’s right. It’s necessary. What was prominent on our website at first was put there as a sort of courtship: we were trying to find those of you – and some of you are, we hope, reading this now – who might be interested in what we do and encourage you to like us. Now the website needs to be about Nosy Crow still, of course, but it also needs to be about the books, the apps, the events and the other things we love and make and work on and sell.

One last corvid moment, then, from Christopher Reid (published in The Curiosities):

CROW

Courtship for him

is arranging his feathers

askew and doing a truculent

war-jig in front of the object

of his desire; and yet they say

he mates for life. Even so,

you mustn’t forget

he’s just a crow.

The week (we hope) before our new website launches

Soon, really soon, we hope early next week, this website will be replaced by the new Nosy Crow website.

This one has served us well since we announced our existence on 22 February 2010.

A few months ago, I found the bits of paper on which I had drawn my initial idea of the website, and though it’s changed over the years of our existence, actually it’s remained remarkably close to those original ideas.

When the new website is launched, lots will be better. It’ll work properly on your phone. It’ll be easier to search and find things on it. You’ll be able to buy things from it. We really hope you like it.

Some things, though, will go – mainly the ones we put on the website to disguise the fact that, for the first ten months of our existence, we hadn’t yet published a book or released an app. The Bird Brain quote of the day will go. So carefully added to and curated in our first few months, it’s now been stuck on Kate di Camillo’s “You have no time at all with a kid to get them to trust you. You have a page. That’s all.” for ages. We don’t have time these days to schedule reruns of the old quotes, let alone find new ones.

The Crow facts have got buried deeper and deeper in the website, and they will go too.

It’s right. It’s necessary. What was prominent on our website at first was put there as a sort of courtship: we were trying to find those of you – and some of you are, we hope, reading this now – who might be interested in what we do. We wanted to encourage you to like us. Now the website needs to be about Nosy Crow still, of course, but it also needs to be about the books, the apps, the events and the other things we love and make and work on and sell.

One last corvid moment, then, from Christopher Reid (published in The Curiosities):

CROW

Courtship for him

is arranging his feathers

askew and doing a truculent

war-jig in front of the object

of his desire; and yet they say

he mates for life. Even so,

you mustn’t forget

he’s just a crow.

How to write children’s fiction

This October we’re very pleased to be holding the second edition of our sold-out Nosy Crow Masterclass, How to write children’s fiction.

It promises to be a FANTASTIC day: we have some incredible speakers lined up, including David Solomons, author of the brilliant, laugh-out-loud debut novel My Brother is a Superhero, talking about funny writing, Helen Peters, author of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize-shortlisted The Secret Hen House Theatre, who’ll lead a session on debut fiction, Tracey Corderoy, author of the amazing Hubble Bubble young fiction books, talking about creating a series, superstar literary agent Louise Lamont, speaking on the role of an agent, and members of the Nosy Crow team including Kirsty Stansfield and Kate Wilson, who’ll cover editorial essentials, the importance of thinking internationally, and more.

As part of the day, there’ll also be individual manuscript critique sessions for anyone who submits their work in advance – if you’ve written, or begun writing, a children’s novel, this is a fantastic opportunity to receive some one-on-one advice from an expert.

And the masterclass is very nearly sold out! There are a grand total of exactly 3 places remaining for the event – so if you’re interested in coming, book your space now.

By a very happy coincidence, today I discovered 3 of the incredibly-rare, impossible-to-buy, not-to-be-missed proof copies of My Brother is a Superhero hidden in the depths of my desk – and so we’re holding a giveaway!

If you’d like to win one of these extremely limited-edition proofs, just re-tweet this message from @NosyCrowBooks – we’ll pick our winners at the end of the week! If you’re one of the lucky three people to book the remaining places onto the Masterclass, we’ll also throw in a proof of the book.

If you’ve not discovered this hilarious book yet, here are the opening chapters of My Brother is a Superhero:

You can book your place onto the How to write children’s fiction masterclass at this page, or with the form below. The masterclass is taking place here at the Crow’s Nest – 10a Lant St, London, SE1 1QR – on Saturday October 10th, and ticket price includes lunch, morning and afternoon tea and coffee breaks, a glass of wine (and homemade cake) at the end of the day, and our manuscript critique sessions. We hope to see you there!

How to write children's fiction

This October we’re very pleased to be holding the second edition of our sold-out Nosy Crow Masterclass, How to write children’s fiction.

It promises to be a FANTASTIC day: we have some incredible speakers lined up, including David Solomons, author of the brilliant, laugh-out-loud debut novel My Brother is a Superhero, talking about funny writing, Helen Peters, author of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize-shortlisted The Secret Hen House Theatre, who’ll lead a session on debut fiction, Tracey Corderoy, author of the amazing Hubble Bubble young fiction books, talking about creating a series, superstar literary agent Louise Lamont, speaking on the role of an agent, and members of the Nosy Crow team including Kirsty Stansfield and Kate Wilson, who’ll cover editorial essentials, the importance of thinking internationally, and more.

As part of the day, there’ll also be individual manuscript critique sessions for anyone who submits their work in advance – if you’ve written, or begun writing, a children’s novel, this is a fantastic opportunity to receive some one-on-one advice from an expert.

And the masterclass is very nearly sold out! There are a grand total of exactly 3 places remaining for the event – so if you’re interested in coming, book your space now.

By a very happy coincidence, today I discovered 3 of the incredibly-rare, impossible-to-buy, not-to-be-missed proof copies of My Brother is a Superhero hidden in the depths of my desk – and so we’re holding a giveaway!

If you’d like to win one of these extremely limited-edition proofs, just re-tweet this message from @NosyCrowBooks – we’ll pick our winners at the end of the week! If you’re one of the lucky three people to book the remaining places onto the Masterclass, we’ll also throw in a proof of the book.

If you’ve not discovered this hilarious book yet, here are the opening chapters of My Brother is a Superhero:



You can book your place onto the How to write children’s fiction masterclass at this page, or with the form below. The masterclass is taking place here at the Crow’s Nest – 10a Lant St, London, SE1 1QR – on Saturday October 10th, and ticket price includes lunch, morning and afternoon tea and coffee breaks, a glass of wine (and homemade cake) at the end of the day, and our manuscript critique sessions. We hope to see you there!

Brand new Bizzy Bear!

Let joy be unconfined: there are two new Bizzy Bear books coming out this year – and finished copies have just arrived in the Crow’s Nest!

This October we’ll be publishing two brand new board books in the brilliant series illustrated by Benji Davies – Bizzy Bear: Christmas Helper and Bizzy Bear: Space Rocket. Every time new Bizzy Bear books arrive I become convinced that they’re the best ones yet – but this time I really am sure: these books are BRILLIANT. Here are very quick looks at each of the new books:

In Christmas Helper, Bizzy Bear has come to help Father Christmas get ready for a very special day:

Pre-order the book online.

And in Space Rocket, you can join in the countdown and help Bizzy Bear’s rocket zoom into space!

Pre-order the book online.

These books are PERFECT for toddlers: Benji’s illustrations are bright, colourful and friendly, there’s lots for toddlers to get involved with in every book, and the sturdy mechanisms and chunky sliders will withstand the roughest treatment!

Both books are out in October – but if you can’t wait, there are plenty of other Bizzy Bear books in shops now.

Brand new Bizzy Bear!

Let joy be unconfined: there are two new Bizzy Bear books coming out this year – and finished copies have just arrived in the Crow’s Nest!

This October we’ll be publishing two brand new board books in the brilliant series illustrated by Benji Davies – Bizzy Bear: Christmas Helper and Bizzy Bear: Space Rocket. Every time new Bizzy Bear books arrive I become convinced that they’re the best ones yet – but this time I really am sure: these books are BRILLIANT. Here are very quick looks at each of the new books:

In Christmas Helper, Bizzy Bear has come to help Father Christmas get ready for a very special day:



Pre-order the book online.

And in Space Rocket, you can join in the countdown and help Bizzy Bear’s rocket zoom into space!



Pre-order the book online.

These books are PERFECT for toddlers: Benji’s illustrations are bright, colourful and friendly, there’s lots for toddlers to get involved with in every book, and the sturdy mechanisms and chunky sliders will withstand the roughest treatment!

Both books are out in October – but if you can’t wait, there are plenty of other Bizzy Bear books in shops now.

"A laugh-out-loud tale with bold, exquisite illustrations": a reader reviews Cinderella's Sister and the Big Bad Wolf

Today’s guest blog post is a review of Cinderella’s Sister and the Big Bad Wolf, written by Lorraine Carey and illustrated by Migy Blanco, which comes to us from Sally Doran, who contacted us on Twitter to tell us how much she’d enjoyed the book.

There is a little known fact about the Ugly sisters – there are actually three, yes, three of them! And well might it be a secret! Mrs. Ugly and her family have tried their very hardest to keep the youngest of their clan a closely guarded secret. Gertie has a perpetually sunny disposition of which Mrs. Ugly is deeply ashamed. And forget everything you have ever heard about Cinderella – by all accounts she is thoroughly lazy and a nasty piece of work! For all her complaining, you are far more likely to see little Gertie feeding the mice and watering the pumpkins and Cinderella putting her feet up and painting her nails.

Gertie’s lack of resemblance to any members of her family, leads her to being excluded from an invitation to the Palace Ball. She pleads with Mrs. Ugly to allow her to go and tries to convince her that she is, deep down, an Ugly sister, just like the others. Mrs. Ugly agrees on one condition; that she trains to be a REAL Ugly sister. For this, she is sent to study under a number of truly wicked villains including the nastiest baddie of all – the Big Bad Wolf.

But it’s no good. Gertie is simply incapable of being bad and proceeds to foil all the baddies’ plans at the most crucial moments. The result is that Gertie puts an untimely end to the baddies’ most evil and murderous plots and Snow White, Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood trot off into the sunset, unscathed.

Just as young Gertie looks likely to be the wolf’s next meal, something rather unlikely happens. Our eponymous villain, it turns out, has a desperate hankering to attend a ball. In return for being taken off the menu, Gertie agrees to try and get them both to the ball. The pair race home to find the Uglys have already left! Is all hope lost?…Of course it isn’t! This is a fairytale after all and no fairytale worth its salt allows its sweet-natured and kind heroine to be disappointed. Enter our thoroughly modern Fairy Godmother – phew! What a relief! But what’s this? Cinderella! Where did she come from? Could she dash the pair’s plan at the last minute? Not likely! Thankfully our snappily dressed Fairy Godmother is a supremely good judge of character and swiftly turns the little madam into a mouse.

Order restored, our plucky pair finally gets to go to the ball in two new and very fancy dresses. Hooray!

This is a simply BEAUTIFUL picture book – a laugh-out-loud tale with bold, exquisite illustrations. The tale is wonderfully funny – playfully combining old fairytale favourites with new characters – and whips along at a brilliant pace.

And the illustrations…I loved everything about Migy Blanco’s illustrations, EVERYTHING! From Gertie’s orange beret to the subtle nod to Disney’s colour pallet for the principal heroines. Each page-spread is stunning with a delicious and heady mix of colour and clever detail.

But what would my young friend think about it? Well, her bag was groaning with books when she came to stay and this was the top choice every time. At one point it was requested four times in a row – she was totally absorbed by it. And her favourite page? Pretty much any page featuring the Big Bad Wolf!

With an ending to rival any good fairytale and its unconventional (and potentially controversial!) way of portraying Cinderella as a bit of a brat, I think it might have actually made my top three. I can’t wait for the next offering from this very successful partnership. I’m off to buy myself an orange beret!

Thank you very much for sharing your review, Sally! If you’ve read one of our books with children and would like to write a blog about it, please get in touch – send an email tom [at] nosycrow [dot] com. You can take a look inside Cinderella’s Sister and the Big Bad Wolf below:



Buy the book online.

Nosy Crow at the Cheltenham Literature Festival

Over the weekend the full line-up for the Cheltenham Literature Festival was announced – and there are some fantastic Nosy Crow authors and illustrators taking part!

On Sunday 11 October at 11.30am, you can join Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam creators Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton for a fantastic performance featuring everyone’s favourite two robber dogs. You can find out more about the event here – and here’s a look inside the second brilliant Shifty and Sam picture book, Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: The Cat Burglar.



Buy the book online.

And at 2.45pm on Sunday 11 October, you can meet The Rescue Princesses, The Secret Rescuers, and Red Moon Rising series author Paula Harrison for a special introduction to the Rescue Princesses. Being a princess isn’t all about gorgeously bejewelled tiaras and choosing beautiful dresses for royal balls – the Rescue Princesses are just as likely to be using their ninja skills, flying about on zip-wires or tracking lost animals. You can find out more about the event here – and if you’re new to the Rescue Princesses, here’s a look inside the first book in the series, The Secret Promise.



Buy the book online.

You can find the entire fantastic programme for the Cheltenham Festival here – tickets go on sale for members on August 26 and for the public on September 2. We hope to see you there!

Funny rhymes and crazy creatures to make you giggle!

In case you missed it, yesterday we released our latest app: Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Jungle is available on the App Store now!

What do you get when you cross a monkey with a porcupine? Why, a monkupine, of course! What about a leopard with a armadillo? Well, that would be a leopadillo, naturally!

This is the third app in the series, with incredible new artwork from Axel, new funny poems, 121 new silly animal hybrid names and creatures, and the same wonderfully intuitive interface – you can swipe anywhere on the screen to create new combinations! It is INCREDIBLY satisfying (and addictive) – you’ll be swiping for hours – and all for just 99¢/ 79p! Here are just a few of the brilliant combinations you can make:

This is GREAT for keeping young children occupied over the summer, I think (very good for car journeys…) – and it’s also a fantastic app for building reading ability. The second app in the series, Flip Flap Safari, recently won the inaugural UKLA Digital Book Award (the only digital book award in the UK voted for by teachers), and in their commendation for the app, the UKLA wrote that Flip Flap Safari is “beautifully produced and appealing and can easily be incorporated into guided reading sessions. Children have great fun creating their own animals and playing guessing games and the ‘read to me’ feature is a useful tool enabling all children to enjoy the book. Teacher judges appreciated the rich vocabulary and thought the poetry examples inspired further poetry activities in class.”

Here’s Flip Flap Jungle on the App Store for 99¢/ 79p.

And here’s what to look for on the Store:

And if you like the app, you’ll love the book! We’ve published a print edition of Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Jungle too, in a wonderful split-page, spiral-bound board-book format – you can find out more here.

If you enjoy Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Jungle, or one of our other apps, we’d be incredibly grateful if you’d consider leaving a review on the App Store – it’s so important to us. And if you’d like to stay up to date with our upcoming apps, you can sign up for our Apps Newsletter here.

We hope you enjoy Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Jungle!