Nosy Crow's Blog, page 198

Are you interested in illustrated fiction? Join in with our next reading group!

Next week we’ll be hosting our next Nosy Crow Reading Group, and this month we’re talking about illustrated fiction! We’re reading three fantastic and funny new titles: Claude on the Slopes by Alex T. Smith, Dixie O’Day: In the Fast Lane by Shirley Hughes and Clara Vulliamy, and our very own Hubble Bubble: The Glorious Granny Bake-Off by Tracey Corderoy and Joe Berger.

The event will take place here in the Crow’s Nest (10a Lant Street) on Tuesday, October 15 at 6.30pm – and if you aren’t joining us in person, we’d love it if you took part online. We’ll be partnering with The Guardian once again, and you’ll be able to join in with the discussion online at a page of their website and on Twitter with the #NCGKids hashtag.

As usual we’ve prepared a few discussion points to get you thinking in advance – here’s some of what we might talk about:

1) Who do you think these books are “for”?

2) Did you find the books funny? Do you think children would find the same parts funny?

3) What impact do you think the varying “distances” between the authors and illustrators of each book (one author-illustrator individual, one mother-daughter pair, and one combination of entirely separate author and illustrator) had?

4) What do you think the illustrations achieve that the text doesn’t?

5) How important do you think “story” is in each book? What do you think the most important elements are?

And here’s something that’s somewhat apropos to question three: author Tracey Corderoy talking on what it’s like to be illustrated by Joe Berger:

If you’d like one of the last remaining place for the group event here, send me an email to tom@nosycrow.com.

We hope you can join us!

Happy Children's Book Week!

It’s a pretty quiet week here in the Crow’s Nest, as a number of us are currently hard at work at the Frankfurt Book Fair – but it’s also Children’s Book Week, and we’d like to hear how you’re celebrating!

As we wrote last week, we’re very proud to have two titles featured in Booktrust’s 2013 Best Book Guide (launched to coincide with Children’s Book Week) – Weasels by Elys Dolan, and Books Always Everywhere by Jane Blatt and Sarah Massini.

Here’s the (very Children’s Book Week-appropriate) song we made for Books Always Everywhere:

Here’s a look inside the book:



Order Books Always Everywhere online.

Here’s our Weasels’ Workplace Survival Guide – full of useful (and important) tips to succeed in any world domination plans:



Download the Weasels’ Workplace Survival Guide as a PDF

And here’s a look inside the book:



Order Weasels online.

And, because it also feels like a very Children’s Book Week-appropriate thing, here’s the video of 20-month old Amber reciting the story of Pip and Posy: The Super Scooter, which we’ve written about on our blog previously, here.

There are lots of great resources for Children’s Book Week on the Booktrust website – here’s a list of events taking place, here’s a KS2 Writing Lesson Plan, and here’s Booktrust’s list of the 100 best children’s books that every child should read before they’re 14.

Are you doing anything to celebrate children’s books this week? Do let us us know in the comments section underneath this post – and happy Children’s Book Week!

Tracey Corderoy introduces The Glorious Granny Bake Off

This month we launched a very exciting new illustration fiction series – Hubble Bubble: The Glorious Granny Bake Off, based on the Hubble Bubble, Granny Trouble picture books by Tracey Corderoy and Joe Berger. In these three hilarious episodes, Pandora’s granny brings comic chaos to a televised bake off, delightful disaster to a school fair and tons of trouble to a stately home! But she puts everything right in the end, with a bit of help from Pandora. Everyone loves Granny, especially her long-suffering granddaughter! A bewitching brew of domestic dottiness, fizzy fun and chuckle-inducing charm, this delightful series is ideal for newly independent readers with a thirst for magic and mayhem.

And you can watch Tracey introduce the series in the video at the top of this post. There’ll also be more from Tracey on the blog later this week – keep an eye on this blog!

This month we’re also reading The Glorious Granny Bake Off as part of our next Reading Group event – you can find out more here. And here’s the first chapter of the book:



Order The Glorious Granny Bake Off online.

If you’d like to stay up-to-date with all our book news, you can sign up to our monthly books newsletter here, and we’ll write to you about all of our upcoming titles, along with interviews with our authors and illustrators, information on upcoming events, and exclusive competitions and giveaways.

Re-telling Little Red Riding Hood: using Nosy Crow apps in the classroom

Today’s blog post is by Juliet Revell, a second grade teacher in New Zealand. Juliet got in touch with us through Twitter in August, sharing the fantastic way she’s used our apps in the classroom, and has kindly written about the experience for us.

Learning to retell Fairytales gathered a new lustre last term with the addition of Nosy Crow Apps.

The pieces for this Literacy learning started coming together late in Term 2, when I visited Jo Makinson of Richmond School for some professional development in phonics and story writing. I was completely buzzing after this, and enthused about overhauling my Phonics programme and diving into some Fairytale retelling. I mused over the holidays about infusing some eLearning tools. Soon after that, I read a tweet that Allanah had written recommending Nosy Crow fairytales. Twitter serendipity strikes again! You can find the links to these apps on her initial iPad set up site.

One of Allanah’s prior recommendations had been The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore, an all time favourite with my kids. Now, while I have guided the kids (with the assistance of @Rm13DreamTeam) to ensure our classroom mantra is Think before you click, it is not something that I have got entirely down pat. Click. Install. I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed.

Initially, I shared the Little Red Riding Hood app with the children as a whole class, using Apple TV (you could use AirServer or Reflector.) Wonderment and Awe abounded. You may be thinking that terms of the SAMR model that this is just an example of substitution, inserting an app to replace a picture book. Well, on the surface you would be right, but please take the time to think about the interaction involved in that shared reading. Children are able to be chosen to click on the blue dot to activate the character’s dialogue and even chose the path of the story.



“Shall I take the path to the flowers, or to the feathers?”

The children were motivated and inspired by the subtle changes in the retelling of the stories. They were particularly taken with the options of choosing a path, both literally and metaphorically. This produced some great results. The kids seemed to be aware that a story could take different roads to an end, and their imaginations dictated how that would be. During the term, I would often find them choosing to this app during Listen to Reading.

After the children had completed their retelling, they used Audio Boo to record them. To do this, they pair up, and one records while the other reads. They save the file and upload it. Then they are able to listen to it and self and peer assess how it sounds. They know that the reason for this recording is to assess their fluency, and they love the analogy that they need make their voice sound “like a roller coaster,“going up and down. They are still at the age where listening to their own voice is a source of great entertainment and interest.

Listen to ‘Little Red Riding Hood, Retold by Lucinda’ on Audioboo. 0

Audio Boo has an added bonus. It produces QR Codes. My kids are mad about these.

The final stage (in this part of the journey) was to add some examples of the children’s writing/ recordings to our class blog to share with a Global Audience. It was amazing to receive feedback from the team at Nosy Crow Apps, who loved hearing about their apps’ use in the classroom.

Juliet_Revell</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Allanahk">Allanahk How fantastic – thanks for sharing! Would you consider writing a blogpost for our website about using the app?

— Nosy Crow Apps (@NosyCrowApps) August 29, 2013

A big shout out to Allanah King, who documented this example of iPad workflow for sharing on the Virtual Learning Network. Super “how to” stuff link there too. Thank you!

Thank you for sharing this, Juliet! You can find Little Red Riding Hood on the App Store here – and if you’d like to use it in the classroom and want to find out about the Volume Purchase Programme for Educational Institutions, get in touch at apps@nosycrow.com.

Would you read from a children's book at your wedding?

There’s an interesting story on the BBC’s site on reading passages from children’s literature at weddings, with a particularly popular choice being (unsurprisingly) Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney.

Lucy Wallis, the author of this piece, says that, “It might seem saccharine stuff to a hardened cynic but many brides and grooms seem to feel differently.” And she quotes Hannah Larkin, who chose Guess How Much I Love You for her own wedding ceremony: “Although it’s a children’s book, it resonates with adult life because it’s about the infinite nature of genuine love”.

It’s an intriguing idea, and I can’t think of any reason at all against reading from a children’s book – in my experience, adult books are just as likely to be saccharine as children’s ones, and children’s books are often the ones for which he have the strongest and most meaningful memories.

We tend not to publish very much that might enter in to the right sort of territory for a wedding reading, and the only Nosy Crow title that we could think of that might be remotely suitable was Just Right for Two, written by Tracey Corderoy and illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw – a heartwarming, beautiful story about the importance of friendship. In particular, we thought of the spread illustrating the top of this post. Dog realises that the thing he has been looking for to complete his life is his new friend, Mouse, and is overjoyed:

“It’s you!” cried Dog, scooping up his friend.

“You’re the special something else I need!”

“Me?” wondered Mouse.

“But I’m nothing special.”

“You’re you!” smiled Dog.

“And that’s very special.”

Here’s a clearer look at the spread (click to enlarge):

And here’s a look inside the book from the beginning:



Order Just Right for Two online.

The scene is reminiscent to me of another pair of characters whose dialogues would not be out of place for a wedding reading:

Along with The Little Prince and The Velveteen Rabbit, Winnie-the-Pooh also featured highly in the BBC’s piece, and is the book that immediately came to my mind:

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.”

And, of course, the following exchange:

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered.

“Yes, Piglet?”

“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”

Would you ever choose a reading from a children’s book for a wedding ceremony? Which book would you want? Any why?

It's October publication day!

Today’s an extra-special publication day: our final one of the year! We’ve got lots of great books out today – perfect for christmas gifts and reading together, with lots of wintery-y themes and something for all ages. Here’s what you can find in bookshops today:

Princess Penelope and the Runaway Kitten by Alison Murray is out now – a tactile treat of a picture book with glitter on every page! Follow Princess Penelope as she runs through the palace and the palace grounds, including a maze, garden and the royal stables, chasing her naughty runaway kitten – the kitten is all tangled up with wool, which makes a crazy pink glitter trail of shapes behind her as she leaps and jumps through the book. With strong contemporary art, this is a perfect present for would-be princesses. Here’s a look inside:

Order the book online.

It’s publication day for Because I Love You by David Bedford and Rebecca Harry. In this charming and delightful story, 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. Here’s a look inside:

Order the book online.

You can also find the first paperback edition Snow Bunny’s Christmas Wish by Rebecca Harry in shops today – a very satisfying, warm and fuzzy Christmas story with winter baby animals, lots of Christmas cheer, and foil on every spread for that extra special something. Here’s a look inside:

Order the book online.

For newly independent readers, we’re launching an incredible new illustrated fiction series: Hubble Bubble: The Glorious Granny Bake-Off by Tracey Corderoy and Joe Berger. Inspired by the Hubble Bubble, Granny Trouble picture books, this first volume in the series contains three hilarious stories featuring the little girl and her grandmother, who may just be (whisper it) a witch. Here’s the first chapter:

Order the book online.

And for slightly older readers, we’re publishing the second volume in the brilliant Space Pirates series, Space Pirates: Stranded! by Jim Ladd. These fast-paced, funny books are perfect for 7+ readers (particularly boys), with a truly FANTASTIC combination of themes – pirates and space – and brilliant black and white illustrations by Benji Davies. Here’s the first chapter:

Order the book online.

It’s also publication day for Zoe’s Rescue Zoo: The Playful Panda by Amelia Cobb, the third story in the Zoe’s Rescue Zoo series – another great story for 7+ year olds (and with very strong appeal for animal-obsessed readers). Two cuddly panda cubs arrive at the zoo – and they’re twins! Zoe isn’t sure how she’ll be able to tell them apart, until she finds that one of them is really, really naughty! Here’s the first chapter:

Order the book online.

And finally, we’re publishing the second incredible Faeries Tribes novel by Paula Harrison – Faerie Tribes: The Wildwood Arrow, an incredible fantasy series for 9+ readers. Laney and her friends have managed to find and keep safe the Crystal Mirror. But there are still four more hidden Myricals. If they fall into the Shadow Faerie’s hands, his power will strengthen and the faerie world will fall under his dark reign. Can Laney bring her unruly magic under control in time to find the Wildwood Arrow and continue the faerie fight? Here’s the first chapter:

Order the book online.

Congratulations to all of today’s authors and illustrators!

Reading for Fun

A guest post from Rona O’Connor, a Governor at St George V.A. Catholic College in Southampton.

We love you Nosy Crow. When we sent a cheeky request for free books for our Reading for Fun initiative you responded like an old friend who had just been waiting for us to turn up and join the party! You very kindly donated S.C. Ransom’s trilogy of novels, Small Blue Thing, and then you sent us two more sets! HOORAY!

We had an incredible launch on Thursday 12th September with 247 Year 7 & 8 students enthusiastically throwing themselves into a variety of reading based activities. With the motto ‘It Belongs To All Of Us’ staff, students and visitors all pitched in to make the day a resounding success.

The day ended with an assembly which was punctuated by clapping, cheering, whistling and stamping when judges were introduced, presentations were made and winners announced. The overall winners of the challenges were awarded a medal each; the winning group in both Years 7 & 8 were presented with signed copies of their books by Ali Sparkes and Judy Waite (who very kindly donated both their time and their novels). At the start of the day each student was given a raffle ticket and the winners each came to the front and chose a donated book, which was really exciting. And then everybody was given a glow in the dark college pen! Result.!

To top it off The Daily Echo gave us superb coverage and we have the newspaper report plastered pretty much on every window and wall in the whole college it seems!

Two weeks on and reading for fun is bedding in nicely. Each tutor group spends once a week sprawled out on gym mats reading for enjoyment. Their reading is being tracked and will be monitored against their reading levels. We know that reading for fun produces confident learners. Students love it. Teachers love it too. They get to read for pleasure as well. In the first week a Year 7 student read for 24 hours at home and at school. HOO! RAH! He was presented with a book token in a special assembly.

Southampton City Council librarians have climbed aboard and have started to work closely with the college in planning next steps, which will be fun stuff around World Book Day in March 2014. In the summer term our young readers will be working on becoming more confident writers. We’ve got a load of ideas bubbling away for that event including a link with Winchester University and creative writing. Yay! Can’t wait!

THANK YOU NOSY CROW FOR YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT!

Thank you to Rona and everyone at St George for taking part in this Reading for Fun initiative so enthusiastically! You can read the first chapter of Small Blue Thing Below, and order the book online here.

Booktrust's 2013 Best Book Guide

As a part of Children’s Book Week (which takes place from October 7 – 11), Booktrust have launched their 2013 Best Book Guide, and we’re very pleased that Books Always Everywhere, by Jane Blatt and Sarah Massini, and Weasels, by Elys Dolan, are both featured!

Here’s what Booktrust has to say about Books Always Everywhere:

“Big and small, wide and tall, there are all kinds of books to enjoy in this charming celebration of reading for even the youngest children. Sarah Massini’s appealing illustrations depict a whole host of babies and toddlers delighting in books – whether they are building with them, using them as hats, looking at them on the swings or reading them at bedtime. The simple, repetitive text is perfectly pitched for toddlers, and each page spread is teeming with lively details to explore together, and ask questions about. Vividly conveying a simple but very important message that it is never too soon to start sharing and enjoying books, this joyful picture book will leave little ones in no doubt that reading is fun!”

And here’s a look inside the book:



Buy Books Always Everywhere online.

Here’s what they have to say about Weasels:

“If you thought that weasels didn’t do much except for eating nuts and berries, or hiding in their weasel holes… well, you’d be quite wrong. What they really do is plot world domination – although their dastardly plans don’t always work out quite as expected. This entertaining book from Elys Dolan takes us inside the weasels’ lair, complete with machinery, maps and a top secret laboratory where, powered by biscuits and ‘frothuccinos’, the weasels put their plans into action. Each and every page of this book is a delight, from the entertaining endpapers to the busy spreads of the weasels at work crammed full of funny details that will amuse both children and their parents. Weasels is a wonderfully humorous debut from an exciting new picture book talent.”

And here’s a look inside the book:



Buy Weasels online.

You can read the full list of recommended books here (PDF). And congratulations, Jane, Sarah and Elys!

Win copies of our October books!

It’s time for our monthly book giveaway – and our final one of the year! October will be another exciting month of new books for us, with something for everyone. And if you’re a resident of the UK or Ireland you can win any of next month’s releases simply by subscribing to our Books Newsletter and either tweeting to @NosyCrowBooks or leaving a comment underneath this blogpost, telling us the name you subscribed with and the book you’d like to win. Here’s what you could win…

We’re publishing Princess Penelope and the Runaway Kitten by Alison Murray – a tactile treat of a picture book with glitter on every page! Follow Princess Penelope as she runs through the palace and the palace grounds, including a maze, garden and the royal stables, chasing her naughty runaway kitten – the kitten is all tangled up with wool, which makes a crazy pink glitter trail of shapes behind her as she leaps and jumps through the book. With strong contemporary art, this is a perfect gift for would-be princesses. Here’s a look inside:

You could win Because I Love You by David Bedford and Rebecca Harry. In this charming and delightful story, 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. Here’s a look inside:

And if that’s not enough, we’re also publishing the first paperback edition of Snow Bunny’s Christmas Wish by Rebecca Harry – a very satisfying, warm and fuzzy Christmas story with winter baby animals, lots of Christmas cheer, and foil on every spread for that extra special something. Here’s a look inside:

We’re launching a FANTASTIC new illustrated fiction series, based on the Hubble Bubble, Granny Trouble picture books by Tracey Corderoy and Joe Berger – Hubble Bubble: The Glorious Granny Bake-Off. In these three hilarious stories, Pandora’s granny brings comic chaos to a televised bake off, delightful disaster to a school fair and tons of trouble to a stately home! Here’s the first chapter:

You can win Space Pirates: Stranded! by Jim Ladd – the second volume in the Space Pirates series, a fast-paced, funny series with gags galore that will have you cackling from start to finish! Sam and the crew of the Jolly Apollo are still searching for Planet X, where they hope to find Sam’s parents and a whole load of treasure! But the dastardly Black-Hole Beard is on their tail, which is why they are forced to hide in the scariest, most deadly nebula in the universe. Here’s the first chapter:

Zoe’s Rescue Zoo: The Playful Panda is also up for grabs – the third volume in the Zoe’s Rescue Zoo series by Amelia Cobb. Two cuddly panda cubs arrive at the zoo – and they’re twins! Zoe isn’t sure how she’ll be able to tell them apart, until she finds that one of them is really, really naughty! Here’s the first chapter:

And finally, we’re also publishing Faerie Tribes: The Wildwood Arrow by Paula Harrison – the second title in this excellent fantasy series for 9+ readers. Laney and her friends have managed to find and keep safe the Crystal Mirror. But there are still four more hidden Myricals. If they fall into the Shadow Faerie’s hands, his power will strengthen and the faerie world will fall under his dark reign. Can Laney bring her unruly magic under control in time to find the Wildwood Arrow and continue the faerie fight? Here’s the first chapter:

You can subscribe to the books newsletter here (if you’ve already subscribed you’re still eligible for this competition) – and every month we’ll write to you with details of our upcoming titles, author events, exclusive interviews, and all of our news. So have a good think about which book you’d like to win (we can only accept one entry per person), and good luck, until next year!

Where I work: Caryl Hart

The latest instalment in an occasional series of blogposts, in which some of our authors and illustrators share their favourite writing spots. Today Caryl Hart, author of The Princess and the Peas, shows us her studio.

I spent my first six years as a would-be and then published author working from home. We have a small study in the middle of the house which is lovely, but also a thoroughfare for the family. So last May, I moved into a small studio in town and it’s wonderful! I no longer have to spend half an hour looking for a pen, or the sellotape, or my note book. Everything is here. And when I put something down, it’s STILL here the next day!

Also our house is old – dated around 1850, with thick stone walls and is half built into the hillside, so it can get incredibly cold when you are sitting still at the computer all day, even if it’s blazing hot outside. I did think about investing in one of these, but the draw of my own studio space was even more enticing.

So here I am. And I’m loving it. I bring Roo, my dog, with me. She has her own special bed and bag of gravy bones, and we’re really close to a brilliant park so we can go out for walks at lunchtime if we want to. Actually, once I’m here, I only really leave my desk to make cups of tea, but still, we COULD go if we wanted to. And I see real human beings too. There is a road outside where people walk in and out of town. Many of them have a good old nosey at me as they’re passing, which is quite funny. Rather like being in a goldfish bowl, I guess, but I don’t mind. If I want privacy I can always close the blinds.

But I don’t only work in the studio. I love working on trains – I think it’s the fact that there is absolutely nothing else to do when you’re on a train. You can barely even move. I love the discipline a two-hour stretch of immobility gives me and also like being surrounded by the general hubbub of life that you get on a train. The other day, though, someone was crunching crisps really loudly behind me, which was rather off-putting, especially as I didn’t have a packet of my own.

I make copious notes on my phone when I’m out and about, and also have a whole shelf full of notebooks that I scribble ideas, to do lists and terrible sketches in. The trouble with my notebooks is that I never remember to date anything, so it always takes me ages to find old notes and thoughts that I want to re-visit. Still, in the process I usually stumble upon some other half-forgotten idea which can trigger a whole new wave of creativity, so it’s never wasted time.

Finally, I recently bought an iPad and a bluetooth keyboard. It’s VERY snazzy and I’m enjoying pretending to work on it, while secretly playing with kids’ apps and watching videos of cats on YouTube. Well, you’ve got to have SOME time off, haven’t you?

Thank you, Caryl! You can take a look inside The Princess and the Peas below, and order the book online from Waterstones here.