Nosy Crow's Blog, page 179

What questions would you like answered about children's publishing?

Last week we announced the return of our sell-out conference, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Children’s Publishing (But Were Afraid to Ask), taking place this September. Tickets are selling fast and our line-up of speakers is almost complete – there’ll be fantastic talks from children’s book expert Julia Eccleshare, agent Hilary Delamere, Waterstones Children’s Book Buyer Florentyna Martin, Nosy Crow’s Managing Director Kate Wilson and Head of Picture Books Louise Bolongaro, authors Helen Peters and Tracey Corderoy, social media expert Adam Tinworth, and more on the way!

Our programme for the day will be announced soon, but we’d also like to hear from you. What would you like the day to cover? What burning questions about children’s publishing would you like answered? Are there particular areas you think we should include, or speakers from other backgrounds you’d like to hear from? Whether you’re an aspiring writer, interested in starting a career in publishing, working in a related field – a library, perhaps, or a reading charity, or bookshop, or school – or just enthusiastic about children’s literature, this conference is for you. So if you’re coming along, let us know in the comments underneath this post what particularly interests you, and we’ll try to cover as much as we can on the day.

The event is taking place all day on Saturday, September 13 at the St Bride Foundation on Fleet Street in London. Early Bird tickets are available now (the ticket price includes morning and afternoon coffee breaks, lunch, and a glass of wine and homemade cake at the end of the day) – you can order them online here, or with the simple form below.

We hope you can join us!

Event Registration Online for Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Children’s Publishing… powered by Eventbrite

It's July publication day!

Our July titles are out today! There are some truly LOVELY new Nosy Crow books out this month – here’s what you can find in shops now.

It’s publication day for Mouse’s First Night at Moonlight School, by Simon Puttock and Ali Pye, a funny, heartwarming, and gently reassuring story with SUBLIME illustrations that’s perfect for little ones who are about to start school. It’s Mouse’s first day at Miss Moon’s Moonlight School for the wee, small creatures of the night – but she’s a little shy. Wherever can she be? Inside the paint pots? On the tops of cupboards? Under a pile of special leaves? Here’s a look inside:



Buy the book online.

The Spy Who Loved School Dinners by Pamela Butchart is out today – the hilarious sequel to Baby Aliens Got My Teacher! Loaded with laughs and crazy capers, this is a brilliant story for 7+ readers who LOVE funny books – and it’s already getting some fantastic reader reviews! Izzy’s suspicions are aroused when new girl Mathilde actually likes school dinners (also known as poison), and even has seconds. The only logical explanation for this is that Mathilde is a spy who has come to uncover their secrets. Can they stop her before it’s TOO LATE?! Here’s a look inside:



Buy the book online.

It’s publication day for Izzy’s River by Holly Webb, the sequel to Maya’s Secret and the second book in a fantastic new sequence of novels about four friends who want to make the world a better place – entertaining, inspirational and ideal for 8+ year olds. Izzy is horrified by the state of the river that runs near her house. People have even thrown old bikes into it! She decides to clean it all up, and brings together the community at the same time… Here’s a look inside:



Buy the book online.

And finally, Saving Sophia by Fleur Hitchcock is in shops now – an action-packed novel about friendship and searching for the truth from the highly-acclaimed author of Dear Scarlett. All Lottie wants to do is have adventures, but no such luck. Until she meets Sophia, a girl with an intriguingly mysterious history… Here’s a look inside:



Buy the book online.

Congratulations to all of today’s authors and illustrators!

We're proud winners of the Best Tech Stuff Award at the Best Books Award, and an Innovation Excellence Award from The Stationers' Company

Another week, another two awards…!

On Monday, Ed, Will, AJ and I went to the remarkably grand Stationers’ Hall for The Stationers’ Company’s inaugural Innovation Excellence Awards. We were enormously proud to be one of eleven very diverse winners for our “creative use of multimedia apps for screen-savvy children”.

Ed, Will, and AJ, in the courtyard garden of Stationers’ Hall before the ceremony (typically incompetent photo taken by me, for which the usual apologies)

Other winners included a closed-loop recycling company, a food packager and an online academic research collaboration platform, as well as closer colleagues: Touch Press and Bloomsbury Drama Online also won awards. You can find out more about the 24 nominated companies (I know it doesn’t have the prize winners, but I am doing my best here) here.

Today, Ed, Will, AJ, Tom (all above) and I went to the Booktrust Best Book Awards 2014. Both Little Red Riding Hood and Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Farm were shortlisted in the Best Tech Stuff category. Shortlisted titles are voted for by tens of thousands of school children. We were absolutely not expecting to win: other categories (see below) were won by really big names, and we were up against ITV and David Walliams. But Little Red Riding Hood did win, and Ed, who illustrated the app, as well as working on the animation and design of the app, accepted the prize.

Drawing wall at The Booktrust Best Books Award

Here’s the full list of winners (the numbers refer to the ages of the child at whom the book/app is aimed):

0-5 BEST PICTURE BOOK: Peck Peck Peck by Lucy Cousins

6-8 BEST STORY: Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis

9-11 BEST STORY: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney

9-11 BEST FACT BOOK: The factual award went to Operation Ouch!: Your Brilliant Body by Doctor Chris and Xand van Tulleken

12-14 BEST STORY: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

0-14 BEST TECH STUFF

Little Red Riding Hood, illustrated by Ed Bryan

Winning prizes is the most fantastic boost and validation of all the work that we do, and it’s tremendously gratifying to have our apps win out against the competition when judged by professional judges, who understand the technology and the innovation involved, and, more importantly, by children themselves.

We’ve had to commandeer another shelf in our trusty Ikea unit so that we can proudly display our collection of awards – not a bad haul in our three-and-a-half years of publishing, we reckon, but perhaps we’re biased.

Here’s the trailer for Little Red Riding Hood, if you’ve not seen the app before:

Happy Children's Book Week!

It’s Children’s Book Week, and to mark the occasion, Booktrust have released their annual Best Books Guide – a handy guide to the best books of the past year. And we’re very pleased to see that several Nosy Crow books and apps have made the cut!

The Grunts all at Sea, the hilarious second volume in the fantastic series by Philip Ardagh and Axel Scheffler, is included in the 6-8 category. Booktrust write, “With clever use of language, absurd humour, and plenty of his trademark wit, this is another laugh- out-loud episode of Philip Ardagh’s Grunts series. Wildly inventive and full of bizarre characters and ridiculous twists, it is a wonderfully absurd tale which will delight both existing fans and those who are new to the Grunts.” Here’s look inside the book:



Buy the book online.

Baby Aliens Got My Teacher, the brilliant, laugh-out-loud debut by Pamela Butchart, is also recommended in the 6-8 category. Booktrust write, “This wacky novel from debut author Pamela Butchart, with simple cartoon-style illustrations by Thomas Flintham, is packed full of fun. The bold, bright package is particularly enticing, making this a book that children will want to pick up. With quirky characters, lots of humour and a reassuringly familiar primary school setting, it will particularly appeal to young readers with lively imaginations.” Here’s a look inside:



Buy the book online.

Our award-winning Little Red Riding Hood app is also recommended (as well as being shortlisted for a Booktrust Best Book Award, in the Tech Stuff category). Booktrust write, “This interactive storybook app is a completely new take on the classic fairy-tale of Little Red Riding Hood … Full of imagination and fun, this is a hugely appealing example of digital storytelling at its best.” Here’s the app’s trailer:

And finally, the app of Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Farm (also shortlisted for the Booktrust Best Book Award) is in the guide – Booktrust call the app “a great fun digital twist on the old fashioned flap book that children will love exploring.” Here’s the app’s trailer:

You can read the full Best Books Guide here – happy Children’s Book Week!

Come and work for Nosy Crow: we're hiring a Senior Designer

We’ve been trying to hire a Designer to work on our picture book and novelty book lists for the last month or so.

We had a lot of applicants, and we met several very capable and agreeable people (thank you very much for applying if you did so!), but we haven’t found The One yet. We need someone who combines the right mix of picture book and novelty experience and skills with a set of sensibilities that makes us feel that they’d be the right fit for Nosy Crow – someone who we are sure will care about the same things that we do.

So we’ve been wondering whether advertising for a Senior Designer might help to widen the pool of applicants. As we are clear that we want a range of experience across both picture books and novelty books, we think maybe it’s more realistic to look for someone at a higher level.

All this means that we have a fantastic opportunity for a highly creative, talented, hardworking and bright Senior Designer to join our design team at Nosy Crow. This is a full-time role and the successful applicant will be based in the London office of Nosy Crow in Borough (near London Bridge, Borough and Southwark tube stations, and 15 minutes’ walk from Waterloo).

We make and publish great books and apps. We win awards. We’re growing fast. We bake good cake.

Candidates will have a minimum of 3 years’ experience in graphic design, mostly if not exclusively in children’s publishing, and will have worked on picture books and novelty books. Proficiency in Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator programmes, excellent proven book design and typographic skills, and a love of children’s book illustration are essential, along with good written and spoken communication skills, and the ability to work to a deadline.

The successful candidate will manage illustrated book projects (currently picture books and novelty books, but who knows what we might do in future?) from initial layouts all the way through to production, supporting the illustrator or the author/illustrator throughout the creative process. The designer will report to the Head of Design but will work closely with other members of the Nosy Crow team, particularly the editorial staff, to produce child-focused, parent-friendly, high-quality books.

We are a small, close team here at The Crow’s Nest, working in a friendly, highly creative and professional environment and we need a team player who is willing to muck in, particularly during busy times.

If you are think that you’re at, or about to be at, Senior Designer level, but you have picture book and novelty experience and think you’d be right for a Designer role and missed the last closing date, then we’d be happy to hear from you.

If you have the right to live and work in the UK, and would like to apply for the role, please send a CV and application letter, along with digital samples of your design work, to Stephanie Amster via email (stephanie@nosycrow.com).

If this job isn’t for you, but you know someone that it might be interesting to, do please run and tell them/tweet about it/send them a hand-written letter: we want news of this vacancy to spread far and wide!

The closing date for applications is 18 July 2014.

Our conference on children's publishing is back for a second year!

Last September, we held our first conference, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Children’s Publishing (But Were Afraid to Ask) – and it was such a sell-out success, and with such encouraging feedback from our attendees, that we’ve decided to hold another event this year.

We’re doing it because we know of so many people with aspirations to write books for children and who want to be published. They use our blog and our Twitter feeds as a source of information and we think that many of them would like to know more about the industry.

We’re doing it because we know (from every time we advertise a job on our website) that there are lots of people out there who are keen to work in children’s publishing, or who think they might be, and we think that the things we’ll be discussing will be relevant to them too.

We’re doing it because we love what we do, and we want more people to understand it.

And we’re doing it because there were so many of you who wanted to come last year but couldn’t get tickets in time!

The second edition of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Children’s Publishing (But Were Afraid to Ask) will take place on Saturday, September 13 at the St Bride Foundation on Bride Lane, Fleet Street – and you can buy your early bird tickets today.

Event Registration Online for Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Children’s Publishing… powered by Eventbrite

We’ve got another FANTASTIC line-up of speakers planned for the day (both new and returning), including:

Julia Eccleshare, journalist and children’s books expert

Julia is a writer, broadcaster and lecturer, the Guardian’s children’s books editor, and an all-round expert on children’s literature. She is a co-founder of the Branford Boase award, and has chaired the Whitbread Children’s Book Award, the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. Julia won the Eleanor Farjeon Award in 2000 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to children’s books, and was awarded an MBE in the 2014 Queen’s birthday honours list. Julia will be sharing her observations on current trends in children’s literature, what catches her eye, and what makes a brilliant book.

Florentyna Martin, Waterstones Assistant Children’s Buyer

Florentyna is the Assistant Children’s Buyer for Waterstones, with particular responsibility for picture books, fairytale and gift, and characters and licensed publishing. She previously managed the children’s department at Waterstones’ flagship shop in Piccadilly, and with her experience both on the shop floor and in the head office, she has an unparalleled view of the commercial realities of children’s book selling – what sells, what doesn’t, and why.

Hilary Delamere, agent

Hilary will be returning to our second conference after an absolutely spellbinding talk at our first event. She represents a star-studded roster of authors and illustrators including Raymond Briggs, Lydia Monks, Michael Bond, and Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman, and her talk will answer the question, What’s an agent for?

Feedback from last year’s event: “Hilary Delamere was particularly inspiring.”

Tracey Corderoy, author

Another returning speaker – after an incredibly well-received, creative and inspirational session last year – Tracey is the author of dozens of children’s books, including the Hubble Bubble, Granny Trouble series, Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam, and Just Right for Two. She’s well-known for her spectacular author events, and her talk will draw on the lessons she’s learnt performing in front of thousands of young children.

Feedback from last year’s event: “I found Tracey Corderoy motivational and magical! Thank you for this fantastic opportunity to meet such down to earth, funny, passionate and creative people.”

Louise Bolongaro, Head of Picture Books

Louise is Head of Picture Books at Nosy Crow and was previously Editorial Director at Puffin. With over fifteen years of experience in publishing (almost all of them spent working on her true love – picture books), Louise is in an unrivalled position to offer advice on what makes the perfect picture book. She’ll be delivering a masterclass on the subject, filled with essential do’s and don’ts – unmissable for anyone interested in picture books.

Adam Tinworth, social media expert

Adam has been a blogger since 2001, and involved in online community of various sorts since 1996. Since 2012, he’s worked independently advising publishing companies from the Financial Times and the Telegraph, to specialist book publishers, and he also teaches a social media and community module for City University’s MA in Interactive Journalism. He’ll share some indispensable advice on social media, brand-building, and online marketing – absolutely crucial for anyone who’s new to the world of publishing.

Helen Peters, author

After a brilliant session last year, Helen – author of the highly-acclaimed, Waterstones Children’s Book Prize-shortlisted The Secret Hen House Theatre – will be back for a Q&A with Nosy Crow MD Kate Wilson, answering questions on writing fiction and sharing her experience of being published for the first time.

Kate Wilson, Managing Director

Nosy Crow’s founder and Managing Director, Kate will draw on over 25 years of experience in publishing to share and some of the decisions that go into every publishing deal that’s made at Nosy Crow, the story of the company, and explore future trends in publishing and digital innovation.

You can book tickets directly here – early bird tickets are available now!

The conference will take place at the St Bride Foundation (on Fleet Street, a walking distance from Blackfriars Station), and will include lunch, morning and afternoon coffee breaks, and a glass of wine and homemade cakes (and the chance to chat with us all!) at the end of the day. It’s a jam-packed event so we’ll be starting at around 9.30am, and will finish at 6.00pm.

Here’s some of the feedback we received from delegates last year:

“This was my first conference and so it was pitched perfectly. Friendly and welcoming. I hope Nosy Crow will do it again.”

“A very informative day that certainly was extremely beneficial and helpful enormously. Thank you.”

“I can’t thank you enough for organising such an entertaining and educational event. It was an enormous treat to take a break from the usual routine and devote a full day to learning more about writing – and you couldn’t have put together a better line up. Many, many thanks again.”

We hope you can join us – it’s going to be a fantastic day!

Event Registration Online for Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Children’s Publishing… powered by Eventbrite

Win copies of our July titles!

It’s time for our monthly books giveaway! If you’re a resident of the UK or Ireland, you can win any of our new July books simply by subscribing to our Books Newsletter and sending us an email with the book you’d like to win. Here’s what’s up for grabs…

In July we’re publishing Mouse’s First Night at Moonlight School, by Simon Puttock and Ali Pye – an absolutely lovely new picture book that’s perfect for little ones who are about to start school. It’s Mouse’s first day at Miss Moon’s Moonlight School for the wee, small creatures of the night – but she’s a little shy. Wherever can she be? Inside the paint pots? On the tops of cupboards? Under a pile of special leaves? Here’s a look inside:

You can win The Spy Who Loved School Dinners by Pamela Butchart – the hilarious sequel to Baby Aliens Got My Teacher! Izzy’s suspicions are aroused when new girl Mathilde actually likes school dinners (also known as poison), and even has seconds. The only logical explanation for this is that Mathilde is a spy who has come to uncover their secrets. Can they stop her before it’s TOO LATE?! Loaded with laughs and crazy capers, this is a brilliant story for 7+ readers who LOVE funny books. Here’s a look inside:

We’ll be publishing Izzy’s River by Holly Webb, the sequel to Maya’s Secret and the second book in a fantastic new sequence of novels about four friends who want to make the world a better place – entertaining, inspirational and ideal for 8+ year olds. Here’s a look inside:

And finally, you could win Saving Sophia by Fleur Hitchcock – an action-packed novel about friendship and searching for the truth from the highly-acclaimed author of Dear Scarlett. All Lottie wants to do is have adventures, but no such luck. Until she meets Sophia, a girl with an intriguingly mysterious history… Here’s a look inside:

To win any of these books, all you have to do is subscribe to our books newsletter (if you’ve already subscribed you’re still eligible for this competition) and send an email to tom@nosycrow.com with “Newsletter competition” in the subject heading and the title of the book you’d like to win in the body of your email. So have a good think about which book you’d like to win (we can only accept one entry per person), and good luck – we’ll pick the winners at random next week.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Yesterday the second episode of Down the Rabbit Hole aired on Resonance FM – a WHOLE programme dedicated entirely to children’s books – and if you missed it, you can catch up now. Brilliantly hosted by Katherine Woodfine of Booktrust and Melissa Cox of Waterstones, this monthly radio show is a wonderfully cheering half-hour of intelligent, interesting discussion about children’s books – and an excellent argument for their rightful place – the very centre – in the media and our culture.

Here’s the most recent episode in full:

If you’ve even a passing interest in children’s books, sit down with a cup of tea and listen to it now. In fact, stop reading this and press play. I’ll wait. Nothing’s going to happen here for a bit anyway.

Keep an ear out for recommendations for Mouse’s First Night at Moonlight School, by Simon Puttock and Ali Pye, and The Spy Who Loved School Dinners, by Pamela Butchart, as two of the highlights for July! This month’s episode has a picture book theme, and as well as fantastic suggestions for upcoming titles, there are also discussions with Nadia Shireen and Ed Vere, an interview with recent Greenaway-winner Jon Klassen, and more!

You can follow Down the Rabbit Hole on Twitter here, and find the show on Tumblr here. And if you’d like to support Resonance FM to ensure that fantastic programmes like Down the Rabbit Hole can stay on the air (and do so ad-free!), you can donate here.

Here’s a look inside one of the programme’s recommended Nosy Crow titles, Mouse’s First Night at Moonlight School:



Pre-order the book online from Waterstones.

And here’s a look inside another highlight, The Spy Who Loved School Dinners:



Pre-order the book online from Waterstones.

Keep an eye on the Down the Rabbit Hole Twitter feed for news of the next episode – don’t miss it!

Tickets for the Edinburgh Book Festival are now on sale!

A little while ago we wrote about the fantastic set of events taking place at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this Summer featuring Nosy Crow authors and illustrators… and tickets are now on sale! Here’s a reminder of who’ll be there:

On Saturday, 9 August at 10.00am, you can join Barry Hutchison – a good friend of Vulgar the Viking author Odin Redbeard – to hear about his latest adventure, Vulgar the Viking and the Rock Cake Raiders. You might also get to take part in Blubber’s Got Talent, so hone your juggling, balloon modelling and keepy-uppy skills. You can find out more and book tickets here.

And here’s a look inside The Rock Cake Raiders:



Buy the book online from Waterstones.

On Sunday, 10 August at 3.00pm, you can join Shifty McGifty and Slipper Sam author Tracey Corderoy to hear about the adventures of the two hapless robber dogs – and then join in with making a very jolly bouncy spider to take away. You can find out more and book tickets here.

Here’s a look inside the book:



Buy the book online from Waterstones.

On Monday, 11 August at 10.30am, The Grunts creators Philip Ardagh and Axel Scheffler will be introducing the latest instalment in the superlatively silly series, in a fantastic and funny storytelling and live-drawing session. You can find out more and book tickets here.

And here’s a look inside The Grunts all at Sea, the second book in the series:



Buy the book online from Waterstones.

Also on Monday, 11 August, at 2.00pm, will be Tracey Corderoy and Joe Berger – creators of the Hubble Bubble picture book and young fiction series – perfect for little people who like a sprinkling of magic on their stories. You can find out more and book tickets here.

Here’s a look inside Spells a Popping, Granny’s Shopping!, the third Hubble Bubble picture book:



Buy the book online from Waterstones.

Axel will be re-appearing on Monday, 11 August at 3.00pm for a special Pip and Posy event – join Axel for stories, drawing and the opportunity to meet Pip and Posy themselves! You can find out more and book tickets here.

Here’s a look inside Pip and Posy: The Big Balloon – out now in paperback:



Buy the book online from Waterstones.

On Thursday, 14 August at 5.00pm, My Brilliant Life and Other Disasters author Catherine Wilkins will be joining fellow author Karen McCombie on stage to discuss families, friendship, and fallings-out in their very funny fiction. You can find out more and book tickets here.

Here’s a look inside the book:



Buy the book online from Waterstones.

On Friday, 15 August at 10.00am you can meet Dinosaur Rescue creator Penny Dale for an event that’s simply perfect for young dinosaur enthusiasts – expect lots of roaring! You can find out more and book tickets here.

Here’s a look inside the book:



Buy the book online from Waterstones.

And finally, on Saturday, 16 August at 3.00pm, Pamela Butchart will be discussing her laugh-out-loud fiction debut, Baby Aliens Got My Teacher!, and its hilarious sequel, The Spy Who Loved School Dinners – brilliant stories for 7-9 year olds that perfectly capture the craziness of a primary school where almost anything is possible. You can find out more and book tickets here.

Here’s a look inside Baby Aliens Got My Teacher:



Buy the book online from Waterstones.

We hope you can join us there!

Come to the (Carnegie-themed) July Nosy Crow Reading Group!

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

In light of the fact that the winners of the Carnegie and Greenaway awards will be announced today, we thought that for our next event, we’d read one of the shortlisted titles (and we have, as it happens, already featured two of the nominated books; a sign of our excellent taste, I think) – so for July, we’ll be discussing Ghost Hawk, by Susan Cooper.

In his review of the book for The Guardian, Marcus Sedgwick writes that, “moving and long lasting, this is rich storytelling, and is probably Susan Cooper’s finest work so far”… so it has a lot to live up to!

We’ll be meeting on Thursday, July 10 at 6.30pm, here at the Nosy Crow offices – 10a Lant Street, London, SE1 1QR. If you’d like to come to the physical event at our office in London, send an email to tom at nosy crow dot com and we’ll try to fit in as many people as possible. If we can’t save a place for you this time, we can, if you’d like, keep you on our waiting list for cancellations and add you to our mailing list for future events.

You can order the book online from Waterstones here.

If you can’t make it here, we’d love for you to join in online, either on Twitter with the #NCGKids hashtag, or in the comments section of our blog for the evening.

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