Nosy Crow's Blog, page 164

Even more Nosy Crow picture books now available as iBooks!

We’re very excited to be continuing our programme of audio-enhanced iBook editions of our picture books – and today there are some fantastic new titles on sale, including (deep breath) iBook editions of the picture book versions of our award-winning fairy tale apps!

The Three Little Pigs and Cinderella, illustrated by Ed Bryan, are both now available as apps, print picture books, AND iBooks – there’s no excuse not to enjoy these fantastic fairy tales.

Here’s a look inside The Three Little Pigs:

And here’s a look inside Cinderella:

And if you’ve not yet discovered the original, highly interactive app versions of the stories, here are the trailers for The Three Little Pigs and Cinderella:

And that’s not all! This month we’ve also published an audio-enhanced iBook of Because I Love You, written by David Bedford and illustrated by Rebecca Harry.

It’s bedtime for Little Bear, but as his mummy tucks him into bed, he wonders if he’s had enough love that day. So Mummy Bear takes Little Bear on a journey, reminding him of all that they’ve done that day – of the laughter, the discovery, the joy – but most of all of the love they’ve shared. And Little Bear goes to bed happy, warm – and loved. This is an absolutely charming story, beautifully illustrated about a mother’s love – here’s a look inside:

We’ll be releasing more fantastic picture books on the iBook Store early next month – keep an eye on this blog for more details!

Come to the February Nosy Crow Reading Group - we're reading Five Children on the Western Front

Would you like to come to the next Nosy Crow Reading Group?

In February, we’ll be discussing Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders, a new sequel to E Nesbit’s classic Five Children and It.

We’ll be meeting on Wednesday, February 18 at 6.30pm, at the Nosy Crow offices – 10a Lant Street, London, SE1 1QR, for a discussion of the book with a glass of wine.

Winner of the Costa Children’s Book of the Year award, The Guardian called Five Children on the Western Front “a skilful and deeply moving piece of work: poignant, beautifully judged, not a crass pastiche but a respectful homage that recycles its source material to pack a powerful anti-war punch.”

This month we’re introducing a new system for reserving a place – if you’d like to come, just sign up for a ticket using the form below, or at this page. Tickets are free, but very limited! If the book group is full, you can add your name to the waiting list and we’ll let you know if a place opens up.

Event registration for Nosy Crow Reading Group: Five Children on the Western Front powered by Eventbrite

You can buy the book online here.

We’ll email everyone some discussion points for the book a little closer to the date – we hope you can join us!

The Nosy Crow Reading Group verdict on The Imaginary by A.F. Harrold and Emily Gravett

Earlier this week the Nosy Crow reading group met for our first event in 2015 to discuss The Imaginary, written by A.F. Harrold and illustrated by Emily Gravett. Quite unusually for the reading group, this was a book that I came to with very little foreknowledge: I didn’t know what it was about, hadn’t really read any reviews, and hadn’t read any of the author’s earlier work (although I am very familiar with Emily Gravett’s wonderful picture books). I’d chosen this for the reading group almost entirely on the strength of the physical package: it is a really beautiful book, published in a striking format, and it stands out wonderfully on the shelves of a book shop. On this basis, the book that I had been mentally comparing it to (prior to reading, anyway) was Goth Girl, by Chris Riddell – a former reading group subject, and another lavishly produced, beautiful object.

Before I go on, please beware – spoilers ahead!

This was, I think, a very good book for the reading group to begin 2015 with: it provoked a more divided set of reactions than some of our previous choices and left us with a lot to think about and discuss.

There were a few on things on which all of us agreed. This is, as I’ve said, an absolutely beautiful book, with some wonderful finishing touches. Although there was some disagreement on the power and effectiveness of a few illustrations in particular (on which more in a moment), overall we agreed that it had been fantastically illustrated by Gravett. Similarly, while some of us didn’t love the story, I think we all found plenty to admire in the language: it is poetic and striking, with moments of real beauty and a very distinctive voice. And none of us had any trouble in finishing the book (something which hasn’t always been the case…): those of us who weren’t particularly taken by the story found that the language carried us through.

All that being said, this was not a book that we universally loved. While plenty of us thought that the central premise of The Imaginary was a very strong one, with lots of dramatic potential, some of us were not quite so convinced by the story: there was a feeling that the ideas were good but the plot was a little thin. A few of our members felt that Harrold had not properly established the “rules” of his world (could imaginary friends physically interact with the real world or not, for instance?), and a couple of us did not sufficiently believe in the characters. Where there was story, some of us worried that it was contrived at moments (“MacGuffin-y”, in the words one of our members) – overly-relying on devices like Zinzan the cat to drive the plot forward.

But the book also had its ardent defenders: several of us absolutely invested in the story (and in the words of one person, “laughed at the funny bits, felt scared at the scary bits, and wept at the end”). A lot of us liked the relationship between Amanda and her mother, which felt natural and real, and a couple of people in particular admired the ideas (without thinking that they were let down by the story…). Many of us agreed that Mr Bunting was a fantastically scary antagonist.

A question that came up repeatedly thoughout the evening (as it so often seems to at our reading groups) was who exactly this book was for. Only one of us had actually read this book with children, and they reported that their twelve year old liked it. Some of the rest of us weren’t so sure: several people said that they would struggle to put it on an age scale, and one person thought that it was too scary for young children (the illustrations of Mr Bunting’s mouth, and the first appearance of his own imaginary friend, in particular), but too “young” for older children. There did seem to be some consensus that the subject matter – imaginary friends – inhabited a younger world than the sophistication of the ideas and the writing. One of the things that the book most reminded me of was the Toy Story trilogy of films: The Imaginary, for me, is a story about the end of childhood and the loss of innocence… and I do wonder whether these subjects are always felt more profoundly by adults than by children.

There was some debate over how well Harrold handled this idea of the power of imagination. Is this book a celebration of the imagination in general – or actually just a celebration of one person’s idea of it? A few of us felt that the other children Rudger befriended were treated rather unfairly – and that the message of the book was quite proscriptive in its view of what was a “good” use of imagination and what wasn’t.

And while I absolutely loved Gravett’s artwork, a couple of us questioned how well they sat next to the text. I thought the introduction of full-colour worked fantastically in selective spreads, and there was a collective gasp in the room as someone pointed out that the book’s decorative endpapers were a pattern taken from Mr Bunting’s shirt. One or two of us wondered how well the book would work without the illustrations, which always strikes me, as a reader, as a bit of an unfair question (a bit like asking whether a book would work if you only read the left-hand pages), but I do appreciate that for an editor, it’s a valid thing to consider: a manuscript will usually arrive only as a text, and it’ll have to survive on its own for this first reading.

This was a book that many of us had very high hopes for, and while it may not have entirely lived up to them for all of us, it is by no means without merit: a beautiful, lovingly produced book, and a worthwhile exploration of the theme of the imagination.

The Nosy Crow reading group will return in February! If you’re interested in attending, send an email to tom at nosycrow dot com, and I’ll add you to our mailing list.

Another January publication day!

January has been such a big month for us for new books that we’ve had two separate publication days – and from today, the last of our new titles are available in shops!

There are two amazing new Bizzy Bear books by Benji Davies out now – Deepsea Diver and Dinosaur Safari. These are absolutely my two favourite books in the series so far: the subjects are perfect and the colours and detail on every spread are just brilliant – toddlers will love them.

Buy the book online.

Buy the book online.

And we’re incredibly proud to publish beautiful, physical editions of the first two of our award-winning fairytale apps next month: The Three Little Pigs and Cinderella, illustrated by the amazing Ed Bryan. Gorgeously designed, and packaged with delightful detail and drama, these are books to treasure and enjoy over and over again. Here’s a look inside the first two books:

Buy the book online.

Buy the book online.

And if you like the books, you’ll love the apps! Here’s a preview of these award-winning, ground-breaking story apps:

Happy publication day to Ed and Benji!

Help Pamela Butchart win the Red House Children's Book Award!

Last year we blogged about a very exciting accolade for Baby Aliens Got My Teacher, the HILARIOUS fiction debut from Pamela Butchart. The book is shortlisted for the Red House Children’s Book Award – and there are only a few days left to decide the winner!

This is a particularly special prize to be shortlisted for, as it’s the only national book award that is entirely voted for by children.

So if you’ve read Baby Aliens Got My Teacher with your children, we’d be incredibly grateful for your support! Children (who’ll need permission from a parent and an adult’s email address if they’re under the age of 13) can vote for their favourite books here.

In case you’ve not discovered it yet, here’s the first chapter of Baby Aliens Got My Teacher:



You can buy the book online here.

Voting ends on January 24th – good luck, Pamela!

It's Penguin Awareness Day

Today is Penguin Awareness Day (yes, it’s a real thing!) – and what better reason could there be to mention our fantastic life science app for young children, Rounds: Parker Penguin?

This highly-acclaimed, award-winning app is the second in our fantastic Rounds series, and just like the first one, Rounds: Franklin Frog, it combines a charming and accessible story with a bold, graphic illustrative style (using only circles and components of circles), some hugely innovative interactivity, animation, voicework and original music throughout, and LOTS of fun facts – perfect for both home and the classroom.

You can help Parker do all the things that penguins do best – waddle, slide, swim, hunt, march, dance, protect their eggs, help a chick to hatch and shed its down – and then start all over again with Percy! Along the way, there’s lots to find out about penguins and the Antarctic – did you know that penguins can dive over 500 metres underwater? Or that they can hold their breath for 20 minutes when they are hunting?

The app is the winner of a 2013 FutureBook Innovation Award and was named as one of USA Today’s top 10 apps for kids for 2012.

You can watch a preview of the app at the top of this post – and here’s a free, downloadable penguin fact sheet to accompany the app:

Happy Penguin Awareness Day – we hope you have fun with Parker!

We need you! Take part in Stories Aloud

Yesterday I saw a lovely message on Twitter about our Stories Aloud picture books:

My daughter is loving the audio versions of her NosyCrow</a> books. <a href="http://t.co/ZpRHhwis18">pic.twitter.com/ZpRHhwis18</a></p>&mdash; Law West Big (LawWestBig) January 18, 2015

Stories Aloud, if you have not come across it before, is our innovative digital audio project, bundling together free, online audio readings with all of our paperback picture books. Launched in 2013, our Stories Aloud books have been streamed a combined total of over 200,000 times.

As with our apps, all of the Stories Aloud books use (mostly non-professional) child narrators – many of them our own children and their friends – and we’re looking for new readers!

We’ll be recording our next batch of Stories Aloud titles this coming weekend (Sunday 25th, to be exact), and we’ve had a couple of cancellations, which mean there’s now some space in the studio – so if you are based in London, and think your child might enjoy reading picture books aloud, we’d love to hear from you!

We’re looking for children between the ages of 6 and 11, with a clear speaking voice who can act well and with confidence. If your child is a confident and fluent reader, then so much the better. We’ll be at a recording studio in Farringdon – typically a recording session will last for about an hour for each child, but it might be shorter if the part is a small one.

If this is something that you think your child might be interested in, and you’re free on Sunday, do get in touch! If you can, send an email to tom at nosycrow dot com with a recording of your child reading something.

Win a proof copy of The Farm Beneath the Water!

Next month we’re publishing a truly wonderful book for 9+ year olds: The Farm Beneath the Water by Helen Peters, the sequel to the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize-shortlisted The Secret Hen House Theatre.

And today, you can win a highly sought-after proof copy of the book! All you need to do is follow @NosyCrowBooks on Twitter and re-tweet this message to enter a competition to win one of three proofs – and we’ll let winners know at the end of the day!

The Farm Beneath the Water has all the same hallmarks as its predecessor: great writing and an emotionally engaging, entertaining narrative. It’s PERFECT for 9-12 year olds who love a brilliantly-told story.

But don’t just take our word for it! Here are some of the EXTRAORDINARY reviews that Helen’s first book received:

“There is something timeless about Helen Peters’s accomplished and hugely engaging debut novel … Drawn with humour and affection, Hannah’s world is utterly convincing.” — The Guardian

“Full of action, with a happy ending, this is a book I didn’t want to finish.” — Michael Morpurgo

“As a child I loved The Swish of the Curtain, and The Secret Hen House Theatre is another engaging book about threatened amateur dramatics.” — Julia Donaldson

“A hugely enjoyable story of family, friendship and country life” — Booktrust

“One of my favourite summer reads: a contemporary adventure with secrets, wonderful characters and lots of heart. Dreamy girls will love the drama-competition plot, with nostalgic echoes of The Swish of the Curtain” — The Bookseller

You can take a look inside The Farm Beneath the Water below – and you can pre-order it online here.

To win one of the proof copies of the book, you must be based in the UK or Ireland. Good luck!

Announcing the line-up for the first Nosy Crow Masterclass, How to Write Children's Fiction

Next month we’ll be holding the first ever Nosy Crow Masterclass: How to Write Children’s Fiction – an intensive, all-day writing masterclass, with sessions from authors, editors, agents, and staff at Nosy Crow – all focussed on writing fiction for children.

Although we were fairly confident that there was an appetite for this sort of event, based on feedback we’d received from attendees of our Nosy Crow Conference, we had no idea exactly what level of demand to expect, whether we’d be able to fill a room, or if we’d find the right sort of speakers – but it seemed like it would be an interesting thing to try.

So we were absolutely amazed when tickets for the first masterclass sold out within 24 hours!

And since announcing the event, we’ve had many, many emails asking if there’ll be masterclasses on other subjects (and in particular, writing picture books) – and we’re very happy to say that the answer is yes: we’ll be announcing details of our first picture book masterclass next week. We expect the demand to be even greater than for this fiction class, so if you’re interested in attending, sign up to our books newsletter – we’ll be announcing the exact details of the picture book masterclass to our subscribers first.

And in the meantime, we’re incredibly pleased to be able to announce the (almost complete) line-up of speakers for the How to Write Children’s Fiction Masterclass!

The day will begin with an overview of the children’s fiction market from Nosy Crow’s Managing Director, Kate Wilson, setting a context for children’s fiction in 2015.

Our fiction editor, Kirsty Stansfield, will lead the first part of the morning: a practical, editorial session, filled with essential lessons for writing fiction.

This will be followed by a Q&A with The Rescue Princesses author Paula Harrison, who’ll talk about the challenges and demands of creating series fiction.

After coffee, literary agent Gemma Cooper will lead a session that will cover what she looks for in a submission, do’s and don’ts for authors, and more.

Over lunch, all of our attendees will have the opportunity to receive one-on-one editorial feedback on their own work. Our advisors on the day will be Kate Wilson, Kirsty Stansfield, Nosy Crow’s Editorial Director, Camilla Reid, and Gemma Cooper.

After lunch, The Secret Hen House Theatre author Helen Peters will talk about debut writing (or, in her own words, “how to turn an unpublishable novel into a publishable one”) – and will cover self-editing, using feedback, rewriting, and the most helpful pieces of advice she was given along the way.

The second part of our author’s afternoon will be lead by an incredible fantasy author, Ellen Renner, who’ll talk about world-building, writing fantasy, creating characters, and more.

We have more speakers for the afternoon yet to announce, and the day will finish with a session on writing for an international audience, lead by Kate Wilson – followed by a glass of wine at the end of the day!

The masterclass is taking place here at the Crow’s Nest – 10a Lant St, London, SE1 1QR – on Saturday February 7th.

And one place on our waiting list has just opened up – so if you were hoping to attend the masterclass, but didn’t manage to get a ticket the first time around, you’re in luck! The one remaining place will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis – so if you’d like to be here, don’t delay! You can book online with the form below, or here.

Online Ticketing for How to write Children’s Fiction: A Nosy Crow Masterclass powered by Eventbrite

How I made Dinosaur Rocket: a guest post by Penny Dale

Today’s guest post is by Penny Dale, creator of the Dinosaur picture books, on how she made the latest book in the series, Dinosaur Rocket.

It’s hard to believe that this is the fourth book in the Dinosaur series!

After digging and zooming and rescuing, the dinosaurs have become very proficient at driving land-based vehicles, but haven’t yet clocked up many flying hours. A couple of them have piloted a helicopter, but that’s about it. So I started to think about whether I could squeeze them into planes, or even rockets!

A mission to the moon began to emerge as the favourite for their next adventure. The amazing advances in technology that happened in the early years of human space flight, and particularly the camaraderie, teamwork and group endeavor that made it all possible, were very inspiring.

So, the challenge… How to get three enormous dinosaurs to the moon and back in the twelve, double page spreads available?

When starting to plan a picture book there are many things to juggle. If like me you are illustrating it as well, words and pictures can develop simultaneously.

I nearly always start with a storyboard and a written text draft side by side, and move from one to the other.

Here’s the storyboard in development, looking fairly close to the finished pages of the book, (but in fact one spread, that shows them looking back at the earth, missing home, was added later on – shown here at the end).

Then comes the research. I’m always trying to convey the feel, and some of the realism of the actual vehicles and machinery. I know children appreciate this sort of detail, but these massive rockets and fiendishly complex launch towers proved to be a BIG challenge. I couldn’t just copy reality – for a start it’s not designed for dinosaurs! And whilst one can sometimes draw something complex once, repeating it from a different viewpoint is much more difficult. Also there were extreme perspective challenges. Like looking across at the top of the launch tower and at the same time, down at tiny distant vehicles on the ground.

So… I had to design a rocket and capsule to fit the super sized astronauts, and space suits to fit over tails and claws. Easy to say, tricky to do! Try fitting a space helmet on a Triceratops! Or get a T Rex’s little arms to reach a control panel!

And whilst I managed with just drawings for the spacesuits, I made a model of the rocket and tower, which really helped to sort out the perspective.

Unsurprisingly no actual moon buggies exist that would fit a dinosaur, so I had to design those too. One can make things up to an extent by looking at the actual thing, but to get the proportions to feel right, I need to have something real to base a drawing on.

Thanks to Lego in this case…Cardboard and plasticine in others.

Flour and icing sugar for the surface of the moon.

So…after a few months of preparation, the actual colour artwork can begin. I start with a fairly detailed black and white sketch – sometimes re-worked on the iPad – that I print out the same size as the artwork, and trace down onto watercolour paper.

Then I work on each spread, using an ink or pencil or crayon outline, adding watercolour and more crayon for tone and definition.

This shows work in progress, with an earlier page of finished artwork top left for reference and continuity checking, like details on the space suits.

At this stage the text may still alter slightly to fit the illustrations better. Or the other way round, but because I work closely throughout the whole process with an editor and a designer, small improvements and changes can be incorporated as the whole thing comes together. Like the dinosaurs, I love working as part of a team, and especially with the great collaborators that I’ve been lucky enough to have at Nosy Crow.

I think of these books as part fiction and part documentary. I hope children will get an idea of what’s involved in similar ‘real’ situations. I hope they will be able to decode sub stories from the pictures, and to get an exciting sense of team or group endeavor… of shared emotions, solidarity, daring and fun.

And of course, in the end, when the book is published, I do have to remember how it started as it’s a few months since I finished working on it, and I’m now well underway on something completely different! All I can say about that at the moment, is that the dinosaurs will need their sea legs!

Thank you so much, Penny! Dinosaur Rocket is out now – you can buy it online here, and take a look inside below.