Nosy Crow's Blog, page 21
October 22, 2021
Read the third chapter of Fledgling – a dark, gothic adventure filled with magic, from debut author Lucy Hope
In a few weeks time, we’re delighted to be publishing Fledgling, by Lucy Hope – a dark, gothic adventure set deep in a Bavarian forest, with angels, owls, magic and a boy who isn’t all that he seems. This is a beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat tale, with soaring twists and turns!
We’re sharing a brand new chapter from the book every week until Fledgling is published on November 4th. If you missed the first two chapters, you can read them here and here – and today we’re sharing the third chapter, which you can read below.
A cherub is blown into Cassie Engel’s bedroom during a thunderstorm, triggering a series of terrifying events. Cassie must discover if its arrival was an accident or part of something more sinister.
With a self-obsessed opera singer for a mother, a strange taxidermist father, and a best friend who isn’t quite what he seems, Cassie is forced to unearth the secrets of her family’s past. As the dark forces gather around them, can Cassie protect all that she holds dear?
Watch a reading of the third chapter:
Read the third chapter below:
You can order a copy of Fledgling from Waterstones here, Bookshop.org here, and Amazon here. If you’d like to be the first to know about our new books, along with receiving exclusive previews, giveaways, discounts and more, you can sign up for our newsletter here, and you’ll never miss a thing.
The post Read the third chapter of Fledgling – a dark, gothic adventure filled with magic, from debut author Lucy Hope appeared first on Nosy Crow.
October 21, 2021
Following Frankenstein is now available as an audiobook
Today we’re absolutely thrilled to share a brand new audiobook edition of Following Frankenstein, by Catherine Bruton – a hugely exciting and beautifully-written historical adventure, inspired by Mary Shelley’s masterpiece, perfect for 9-12 year olds.
Sometimes I was jealous of the monster of Frankenstein. I grew up believing my father cared more for him than he did for me. And was I wrong?
Maggie Walton’s father has dedicated his life to a single pursuit: hunting down the monster created by Victor Frankenstein. It has cost Maggie and her family everything – and now her father is staking everything on one last voyage to the Arctic, with Maggie secretly in tow, where he hopes to find the monster at last.
But there they make a shocking discovery: Frankenstein’s monster has a son…
Following Frankenstein is a breathtaking, epic adventure, spanning the icy wastes of the Arctic Tundra to the vaudeville circus of New York, from the award-winning author of No Ballet Shoes In Syria and Another Twist in the Tale.
You can buy the audiobook of Following Frankenstein from Amazon now – and you can listen to a preview of the audiobook below.
You can also read the opening chapters of the book below:
And you can order a paperback copy of Following Frankenstein from Waterstones here, Bookshop.org here, and from Amazon here.
The post Following Frankenstein is now available as an audiobook appeared first on Nosy Crow.
October 14, 2021
Read the second chapter of Fledgling – a dark, gothic adventure filled with magic, from debut author Lucy Hope
This November we’re very excited to be publishing Fledgling, by Lucy Hope – a dark, gothic adventure set deep in the Bavarian forest, with angels, owls, magic and a boy who isn’t all that he seems. With soaring twists and turns, this is a beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat adventure to get lost in this winter.
Each week until Fledgling is published in November, we’re sharing a new chapter for you to read, along with a wonderful video reading from Lucy Hope – if you missed the first chapter last week, you can read it here. And today we’re sharing the second chapter!
A cherub is blown into Cassie Engel’s bedroom during a thunderstorm, triggering a series of terrifying events. Cassie must discover if its arrival was an accident or part of something more sinister.
With a self-obsessed opera singer for a mother, a strange taxidermist father, and a best friend who isn’t quite what he seems, Cassie is forced to unearth the secrets of her family’s past. As the dark forces gather around them, can Cassie protect all that she holds dear?
Watch a reading of the second chapter:
Read the second chapter below:
You can order a copy of Fledgling from Waterstones here, Bookshop.org here, and Amazon here. If you’d like to be the first to know about our new books, along with receiving exclusive previews, giveaways, discounts and more, you can sign up for our newsletter here, and you’ll never miss a thing.
The post Read the second chapter of Fledgling – a dark, gothic adventure filled with magic, from debut author Lucy Hope appeared first on Nosy Crow.
October 13, 2021
Take a look inside Where’s Mr Polar Bear – the latest book in our bestselling Felt Flaps series by Ingela P Arrhenius
Last week we published Where’s Mr Polar Bear – a wonderful, wintry addition to the bestselling Felt Flaps series by Ingela P Arrhenius and Camilla Reid. And today we’re sharing a video of the book in action – you can watch it below!
With five colourful felt flaps to lift, friendly characters and a surprise mirror ending, there’s so much to discover in this Felt Flaps book. From Mr Santa Claus to Mr Unicorn, Mrs T-Rex to Mrs Queen, there are over twenty books to collect in this stylish, fun and incredibly durable series of books. This new book, featuring Mrs Walrus, Mr Hare, Mrs Reindeer and Mr Polar Bear, is a must-have for little ones as the festive season approaches.
“The felt flaps in this sturdy board book are perfect for little ones to turn and tug, which means you can get even the tiniest tot into books and finding the activity fun… A perfect book to share with very little ones!” – BookTrust
You can order a copy of Where’s Mr Polar Bear from Waterstones here, Bookshop.org here, or Amazon here.
If you’re looking for more books for babies and toddlers, you might like the Peekaboo series, also created by Ingela P Arrhenius, with 10 sliders in each book and that signature friendly artwork.
And don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter here to stay up-to-date with all of our latest book news, including early previews, giveaways, and exclusive offers.
The post Take a look inside Where’s Mr Polar Bear – the latest book in our bestselling Felt Flaps series by Ingela P Arrhenius appeared first on Nosy Crow.
The Boy Who Met a Whale is World Book Day’s October Book Club Pick!
We’re absolutely delighted by the news that The Boy Who Met a Whale, by Nizrana Farook, has been chosen as World Book Day’s October Book Club pick!
From the author of Carnegie-nominated The Girl Who Stole an Elephant, and with cover art by David Dean, The Boy Who Met a Whale is another brilliant escapade set in fictional Sri Lanka – jam-packed with peril, mystery, and a huge blue whale.
Razi, a local fisherboy, is watching turtle eggs hatch when he sees a boat bobbing into view. With a chill, he notices a small, still hand hanging over the side… Inside is Zheng, who’s escaped a shipwreck and is full of tales of sea monsters and missing treasure. But the villains who are after Zheng are soon after Razi and his sister, Shifa, too. And so begins an exhilarating adventure in the shadow of the biggest sea monster of them all…
Read an extract below:
You can buy a copy of The Boy Who Met a Whale from Waterstones here, Bookshop.org, an independent bookshop supporter, here, or from Amazon here. If you’d like to find out more about the World Book Day’s Book Club, and this month’s pick, visit this page.
Don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter here to be the first to know about all of our latest book news, including early previews, giveaways, discounts and more.
The post The Boy Who Met a Whale is World Book Day’s October Book Club Pick! appeared first on Nosy Crow.
October 11, 2021
Ingela P Arrhenius’s Felt Flaps series has sold 4 million copies
Ingela Arrhenius has been filming a craft course in London, which gave some of us an excellent opportunity to see her. She’s the brilliant Swedish illustrator of our stylish and superbly age-appropriate series, Felt Flaps and, with Camilla Reid, Peekaboo; and, also with Jonathan Emmett, of Alphabet Street and this month’s Christmas Street; and, soon, with her husband, Peter, of the forthcoming celebration for the youngest readers of the people who work all night (many of whom have kept things going through the pandemic), When You’re Fast Asleep. Her bold and graphic illustrations with a stylish retro feel and a real warmth are immensely recognisable and have become firm favourites for babies and pre-schoolers in many countries in the world.
They’re so much of a favourite that we’ve sold over 4 million copies. Nosy Crow has a tradition: when we sell a million copies of books by any of our authors or illustrators, we present them with a golden – well, gold plate on brass – egg, engraved with the words “corvus curiosus” (Nosy Crow) and with their name and the date. We were so happy to have the opportunity to celebrate the presentation of Ingela’s fourth egg in person on Saturday.
We’d already created a little animation to share the good news:
I won’t forget Camilla making the first spread of a Felt Flap book using an image she’d found on Ingela’s website. I remember she stood up, holding it towards me, and called across the office, asking if I thought that we should see if we could ask Ingela to make books based on the idea, and whether I thought that we could sell them in the UK and internationally. Even at a distance of 12 or so metres, I am very happy to say that I was able recognise their huge aesthetic and commercial appeal instantly, and said that, yes, we should ask Ingela to make four books. That was maybe 6 years ago. The first Felt Flaps were published in 2016, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Huge congratulations to Ingela! And thank you so much to all the parents and other carers, librarians, nursery workers, shops and publishers abroad who’ve recognised her unique skills and supported her so wonderfully so far.
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Take a look inside Meekoo and the Bedtime Bunny
Later this month we’re publishing Meekoo and the Bedtime Bunny – the third book in the adorable Meekoo sound button board book series, written by Camilla Reid and with gorgeous artwork by Nicola Slater! Each book in this series follows recognisable toddler experiences, from starting school to getting used to a bedtime routine, and with five sound buttons to press that make reading fun and interactive.
And today we’re sharing a video of the book in action – you can watch Meekoo and the Bedtime Bunny below!
Meekoo and the Bedtime Bunny will be out October 21st – you can order a co3py from Waterstones here, Bookshop.org here, or from Amazon here.
If you’d like to stay up-to-date with all of our latest book news, including early previews, giveaways, discounts and more, you can sign up to our newsletter here, and you’ll never miss a thing.
The post Take a look inside Meekoo and the Bedtime Bunny appeared first on Nosy Crow.
October 8, 2021
What it means to be a Great Briton – a launch party speech by author Imogen Russell Williams
Last night we celebrated the publication of the marvellous Great Britons: 50 Amazing People Who Have Called Britain Home – written by Imogen Russell Williams and illustrated by Sara Mulvanny – at the wonderful INK@84 Books in Highbury.
And today we’re delighted to share Imogen’s speech from the launch party, which touches on what it means to be a ‘Great Briton’ and what she hopes this book will mean to readers.
—
I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of brilliant people. To Louie Stowell for giving me my start in children’s non-fiction, which I’ve always felt passionately about but never thought of writing before she gave me the chance. To Rebecca Mason for sterling and splendid publicity. To Kate Wilson, managing director at Nosy Crow, for wrangling over this list of Britons so intently, thinking all the time about how to make it as representative and inspiring as possible as we added and subtracted and nudged names up and down, trying to ensure every reader could find a hero here. To Sara Mulvanny – who did do the pictures – for doing such a great job, and to Emma Hobson, the designer. With my critic’s hat on, a lot of my friends may have heard me rant about the kind of oversized nonfiction doomed to sit dustily on a coffee table because it’s text-dense and dry – it may look elegant, but it’s too adult and long-winded to work for children. It’s Sara and Emma’s lovely sensitive work that makes these pages, which do have a lot of text on them, feel inviting, rather than intimidating and starchy.
About that text: I owe an absolutely enormous debt of gratitude to my editor, Elizabeth Jenner. All the time I’ve spent working with her – especially on the more potentially fraught areas of the book, like how to balance the portrayal of Winston Churchill, and how to convey a sense of the impact of empire and its long reverberations in a way that felt appropriate and thought-provoking – I have never felt so simultaneously pushed and supported, and I was never in doubt that this book was in the hands of the best possible co-pilot.
I also owe thanks to Dr Philip Abraham, brilliant post-colonial historian; Matthew Bergin, black hole consultant and physicist extraordinaire; Ada Lovelace expert Julia Gray; and perpetual sounding board, emergency tea purveyor and altogether optimal husband Alastair Harper. Last but not least, to my daughter Pererin, who is careful not to let me get uppity by being impressed too often. It does mean, though, that when she is impressed, I feel a proper sense of accomplishment.
Photos from the Great Britons launch party last night at INK@84 Books
I hope that this book will mean something to its readers: that being a genius doesn’t mean you can’t also be a muppet sometimes, like Alan Turing, who buried his savings in the form of silver ingots and could never find them again. Also, that virtuoso talent like Yehudi Menuhin’s can lend itself to splendidly ridiculous stunts, like standing on your head and conducting the Berlin Philharmonic with your toes. More than that, I hope it will say something about who we consider being worth the name of a Great Briton.
People of glamour and acumen, principle and talent and doggedness, people who were and are eccentric, bloody-minded, flawed and human. People who came here from all around the world or who grew up here, privileged and otherwise. People who did and gave their best. People whose unacceptable views give us something to learn from now – that we can and should expect better, from the people at the top in particular. And people who made it clear that enslaving other people is sickening, violent and wrong. It’s been profoundly educational to me to research and write this book (although now, sadly, the etch-a-sketch of my brain has long been shaken, and every date or figure has instantly fallen out) and I hope that it will be fun to read – and maybe galvanising too.
—
What an interesting and empowering speech! Thank you, Imogen.
Discover the inspiring, empowering and diverse stories of 50 brilliant Britons who have impacted the way we live, think and feel today in this beautiful new book. From the warrior queen Boudicca of early Britain, who rose in revolt against the Romans, to activist Malala Yousafzai, who fights for every girl’s right to an education today, these gripping tales include key figures from all areas of British life – science, medicine, entertainment, sports, activism and more.
Featuring the inspirational lives and achievements of amazing people such as Florence Nightingale, Alan Turing, Mary Prince, Stormzy, Charles Darwin and Noor Inayat Khan, Great Britons is not only a celebration of our history as an island, but also as part of a far larger and greater world.
Take a look inside the book:
The post What it means to be a Great Briton – a launch party speech by author Imogen Russell Williams appeared first on Nosy Crow.
October 6, 2021
Read the first chapter of Fledgling – a dark, gothic adventure filled with magic, from debut author Lucy Hope
Next month we’re absolutely delighted to be publishing Fledgling, by debut author Lucy Hope – a dark, gothic adventure set deep in the Bavarian forest, with angels, owls, magic and a boy who isn’t all that he seems. With soaring twists and turns, this is a beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat story to get lost in this winter.
We’re going to be sharing an extract from the book, and a wonderful video reading from Lucy Hope herself, every week until publication on November 4th. And today we’re very pleased to be sharing the first chapter – you can watch the reading below!
A cherub is blown into Cassie Engel’s bedroom during a thunderstorm, triggering a series of terrifying events. Cassie must discover if its arrival was an accident or part of something more sinister.
With a self-obsessed opera singer for a mother, a strange taxidermist father, and a best friend who isn’t quite what he seems, Cassie is forced to unearth the secrets of her family’s past. As the dark forces gather around them, can Cassie protect all that she holds dear?
Watch Lucy Hope reading the first chapter of Fledgling:
Read the first chapter below:
Fledgling will be published on November 4th – you can pre-order a copy from Waterstones here, Amazon here, or from Hive here.
If you’d like to be the first to know about our new books, along with receiving exclusive previews, giveaways, discounts and more, you can sign up to our newsletter here, and you’ll never miss a thing.
The post Read the first chapter of Fledgling – a dark, gothic adventure filled with magic, from debut author Lucy Hope appeared first on Nosy Crow.
October 1, 2021
Four Nosy Crow books included in the 2021 BookTrust Great Books Guide
We’re delighted that four Nosy Crow books are included in the 2021 BookTrust Great Books Guide! This printed guide of the BookTrust’s 100 favourite books from the previous year will be posted to all primary schools in England and Wales – and is also available to read on the BookTrust website, here.
The four books included in this year’s guide are Meekoo and the Little Nursery, by Camilla Reid and Nicola Slater; Octopus Shocktopus, by Peter Bently and Steven Lenton; The Boy Who Met a Whale by Nizrana Farook; and My Life as a Cat, by Carlie Sorosiak.
Meekoo and the Little Nursery is a charming interactive board book, perfect for little ones already at nursery or about to start. With gorgeous artwork by Nicola Slater, and five fun sound buttons to press, this is a wonderful, fun, and reassuring addition to any toddler bookshelf.
Buy the book.
From award-winning and bestselling picture book creators Steven Lenton and Peter Bently, this is a brilliantly bonkers story about an octopus who lives on the roof. Warm and witty, with zingy artwork and fun rhyming text that children will love to join in with!
From the author of The Girl Who Stole an Elephant, this is a thrilling adventure set in a fictional Sri Lanka, jam-packed with peril, kidnap, and a huge blue whale – perfect for 9-12-year-old readers.
My Life as a Cat is a wise, funny and moving story about what it means to find a family, from the bestselling author of I, Cosmo, Carlie Sorosiak. With a wonderfully unique hero and an incredible voice, this is perfect for 9-12-year-olds and fans of Rebecca Stead and Kate DiCamillo.
Congratulations to all our authors and illustrators included in the guide!
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