Nosy Crow's Blog, page 39

Watch the trailer for Be Kind, Be Cool, Be You: Inspiring Words to Live Your Life By

Tomorrow we’re publishing Be Kind, Be Cool, Be You: Inspiring Words to Live Your Life By – a bright, chunky little book packed with positive messages, pick-me-ups, and wise words, illustrated by Nikki Miles. And today we’re delighted to share a video trailer for the book, which you can watch below!

This bright, chunky paperback gift book is the perfect package for anyone who needs to feel uplifted and empowered. Designed to build confidence, boost resilience and spark mindfulness and joy, there are over 150 inspirational messages alongside cheerful artwork, encouraging everyone to be kind, be cool, be you!

Take a look inside the book:

Be Kind, Be Cool, Be You will be published tomorrow – you can order a copy from Waterstones here, Hive here, or Amazon here. If you’d like to stay up-to-date with all of our book news, you can sign up to our books newsletter at this page, or with the form below, and you’ll never miss a thing.

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Take a look inside 2021 Nature Month-By-Month: A Children’s Almanac

Later this week we’re incredibly pleased to be publishing, in partnership with the National Trust, 2021 Nature Month-By-Month: A Children’s Almanac, written by Anna Wilson and illustrated by Elly Jahnz.

And today we’re delighted to share a first look inside this new edition!

Take an inspirational journey through the seasons, month-by-month with this fantastic, fully illustrated guide to 2021 – including nature spotter guides, indoor and outdoor craft and activity ideas, seasonal recipes, celebrations of religious festivals and special events. A wonderful gift to treasure and explore over the coming year, this gorgeous almanac, which has been updated with one-third new material and revised design throughout, will encourage young readers to connect with nature and the world around them.

Here’s a look inside our Children’s Almanac:

Pre-order the book.

The Children’s Almanac will be in bookshops and available online this Thursday – you can order a copy from Waterstones here, Hive here, and Amazon here. And if you’d like to stay up-to-date with all of our book news, you can sign up to our books newsletter at the bottom of this page.

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Introducing Peekaboo – a brand new series from the creators of the award-winning Felt Flaps books

I’m super happy because, after a small, pandemic-induced delay, next month we are launching Peekaboo Apple and Peekaboo Bear, the first two titles in our exciting new novelty series with Ingela P Arrhenius, illustrator of our award-winning, best-selling Felt Flaps series.

Just over five years ago, Zoe Bennett, Nosy Crow’s deputy head of design (and novelty-book design genius) had suggested that we think about doing something with Ingela and I immediately thought it was an inspired idea. I had admired Ingela’s work for many years, going back to my days when I was editorial director of Campbell Books, and Ingela was known as Ingela Peterson. We used to optimistically bring her work to acquisitions meetings and were forever being told by sales teams that it was too ‘high-end’ for our markets. Sigh.

But fast-forward to 2015 and my hunch was that tastes had shifted ­– I felt that the market was getting ‘posher’ in its sensibilities. On top of that, as a founder–director of Nosy Crow, I enjoyed a good deal more autonomy in terms of what I commissioned so thought we could probably push this through. By happy chance, I had been developing a felt lift-the-flap concept with our production team and with Zoe’s timely suggestion, the Felt Flaps series crystallised very quickly. The sample dummy of Where’s Mr Lion? that Zoe and I mocked up (using artwork ‘borrowed’ from Ingela’s website) to present to the sales team looks remarkably similar to the final version – with the addition of a mirror ending, an excellent suggestion from Catherine Stokes, now our head of sales and marketing.

The first title launched in January 2017 and the series has since become one of our bestsellers – approaching 3 million sales worldwide now. Where’s Mr Lion? won the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book of the Year in 2017, and the series is showing no sign of flagging – 19 titles, 19 foreign language editions, and a forward programme that stretches into 2022.

Having said all that, it wasn’t long before it dawned on us that however successful the Felt Flaps books were, there was still scope to do another novelty series with Ingela. She is an enormously versatile artist who works quickly and instinctively. Zoe, Ingela and I are lucky to have an enormously positive working relationship with great trust on either side, so I guessed that if we could think of a good enough concept, that didn’t cannibalise the Felt Flaps’ market, the chances were that Ingela would want to do it.

On the question of what novelty to use, I felt that the answer lay with our old friend the slider mechanism. Our Bizzy Bear, Tiny Tabs and Sing Along With Me series have all used sliders in one way or another, and have been very successful for us. Sliders are a fun and engaging device to catch the child’s attention and invite them to interact with the book. We hadn’t gone so young before with sliders, but if the books functioned as a series of ‘peekaboo’ images – always popular with tinies ­– I felt that it could work.

I’m really pleased with the way they turned out – I hope you’ll take a look at them. Whereas both Bizzy Bear and the Sing-Alongs each have five sliders, by using both sides of the slider, the Peekaboos are able to have 10 distinctly different sliders, a mirror ending AND a rhyming text, too! We truly maxed out!

Ingela’s artwork is, of course, delicious – edgy and friendly in equal measure. Whereas in the Felt Flaps we had only used naturalistic animals, the Peekaboo books have a mix of ‘real’ characters – bears, dogs, butterflies – and also the non-real – so everything from mushrooms to socks, to doughnuts have faces! This gives each title a fun, quirky feel that I think will be enjoyed by little readers, and their grow-up companions too.

Anyway, I’ll wrap up with some words from Ingela, talking about her experience of developing this series:

“It has been, and IS, so much fun working with the new series Peekaboo. In these books we try to work even more simple and graphic than the Felt Flap series since this can be the very first book the baby interacts with. Since I love faces and always want an image to have eyes (or letters) in them, this was a perfect challenge.

And as always, it’s a pleasure working with Camilla and Zoe, who do very well thought-out preparatory work and then we have a creative cooperation.

  I love how they turned out, they feel very stylish but still childish. And durable, too!”

Do let us know if you agree!

You can find out more about the Peekaboo series here, and you can watch short preview videos of each book below. Peekaboo Apple and Peekaboo Bear will be available in shops next week – you can pre-order Peekaboo Apple from Waterstones here, from Hive here, and from Amazon here, and Peekaboo Bear from Waterstones here, from Hive here, and from Amazon here.

Take a look inside Peekaboo Apple:

Take a look inside Peekaboo Bear:

The post Introducing Peekaboo – a brand new series from the creators of the award-winning Felt Flaps books appeared first on Nosy Crow.

Watch Carlie Sorosiak discuss the inspirations behind My Life as a Cat

Earlier this month we published My Life as a Cat – the extraordinary, heart-warming new novel by Carlie Sorosiak, author of the highly-acclaimed, Waterstones Book of the Month, I, Cosmo.

And today we’re very pleased to share a video of Carlie discussing the inspirations behind My Life as a Cat –  you can watch below:

With beautiful writing and a truly unique voice, My Life as a Cat is a heart-warming adventure, reminiscent of E.T and perfect for fans of Flora and Ulysses – a wise, funny, and moving story of what it means to find a family.

Here’s a look inside the book – you can read the opening chapters of My Life as a Cat below:

You can buy My Life as a Cat from Waterstones here, from Hive here, and from Amazon here.

And the book is now available as an audiobook, too – you can listen to the first chapter below:

Buy the audiobook.

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Nosy Crow named Children’s Publisher of the Year at the 2020 IPG Independent Publishing Awards

I’m on a belated summer holiday in the Isles of Scilly – if it’s good enough for Michael Morpurgo, it’s good enough for me – but not even the prospect of a crab sandwich or iffy WiFi could stop me from watching this afternoon’s Independent Publishing Awards virtual ceremony. The awards, run by the brilliant Independent Publishers Guild, celebrate the best of the huge range of independent publishing in the UK. Delayed by Covid-19, these awards reflected our performance in 2019.

We won, astonishingly, for the fifth time in our nine years of publishing, the Children’s Publisher of the Year Award, though we were up against a very strong shortlist of Walker Books, Sweet Cherry and personalised book publisher, Wonderbly. The award is sponsored by Blackwells, and we are hugely grateful to them for their continued support. In the summary, the IPG said of us that we had “had another remarkable year of growth in 2019. The judges were impressed by Nosy Crow’s energetic marketing, international reach, dedication to new and longstanding children’s writers and illustrators and commitment to issues like diversity and sustainability. ‘It’s a consistently impressive business with a brilliant team of people across sales, rights and editorial,’ they said.”

We also won, for the fourth time in our nine years of publishing, the IPG International Achievement Award, despite a shortlist made up of last year’s winners Kogan Page and Walker Books. In the summary, the IPG said, “Its tireless team achieved more stellar international rights growth last year, with the US and China among the best performers. Export sales grew too, after it brought management of them in-house for the first time. ‘Nosy Crow’s achievements in rights and coeditions are extraordinary… it’s an international powerhouse and getting even better,’ said the judges.”

We were very proud to be shortlisted for the inaugural Sustainability Award, won by Cambridge University Press, who are well on the way to being carbon-neutral. We know that we still have a way to go to make ourselves a truly sustainable business, but we were pleased to have our efforts in moving in the right direction acknowledged in this way.

Finally, Michela Pea, Nosy Crow’s Senior Rights Manager, won Young Independent Publisher of the Year – the second Nosy Crow to have won this award in our nine years of publishing (Tom Bonnick won in 2015). In the summary, the IPG said that Michela “has made a huge impact on her company since joining in May 2016. Initially as rights assistant and now as senior rights manager, she has kept Nosy Crow’s international sales growing fast, excelling in rights and coeditions and in the Chinese market in particular. ‘Considering she’s only a few years into publishing she’s achieved an outstanding amount. She is obviously right at the heart of the business already,’ said the judges.”

To be an independent publisher is tough just now. We don’t have big corporate money to keep us afloat, and all our profits have been, over the years, ploughed into funding our growth. Though we are finding many ways to thrive in difficult times, it is hugely heartening to have our hard work, creative integrity and commercial savvy acknowledged. It means a lot. I’m personally grateful to every member of the Nosy Crow team who has managed to find a way to contribute so brilliantly in unusual and sometimes trying times. And we’re all grateful to our authors and our illustrators and their agents; to our customers at home and abroad, from the smallest indie bookshop on a UK high street to the biggest of international publishers; to our printers and distributors; and to every librarian, teacher and carer who’s bought a Nosy Crow book anywhere in the world to share with the coming generation of readers.

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“Fast-paced time-slip adventures” – new editions of A Chase In Time!

Next month we’re excited to be publishing a new edition of A Chase In Time, with brand new cover and interior illustrations, as well as the second book in the series, A Christmas In Time! From multi-award winning Sally Nicholls, A Chase In Time is a brilliant time-slip adventure series, packed with action and fun. These new editions feature stunning interior illustrations by Rachael Dean and cover artwork by Isabelle Follath.

When Alex and Ruby fall through the mirror in their aunt’s house, they find themselves in a different historical period, each time with a different task to perform before they can return to the present. From Edwardian crime capers to Victorian Christmasses, their time-slip stories are always exciting and beautifully told.

If you haven’t picked up this fun-filled, fast-paced time-travel series yet, now is a perfect time! Here’s what reviews have been saying about the first book:

“Perfect for those who might be thrilled by the idea of two contemporary children explaining what a mobile phone is to Edwardian children in knickerbockers. Nicholls is a great storyteller… my clock’s ticking for the next in the series” – The Times, Children’s Book of the Week

“This rip-roaring time-slip novel has a fast-paced plot and entertaining characters.” – BookTrust

“The book consists of 10 short, cliffhanger chapters, which an able reader would devour in a sitting… Nicholls is a wonderful storyteller.” – The Telegraph

“The first offering in a new time-travelling series blends action and history.” – Sunday Express

Read the first chapter of A Chase In Time:



Pre-order the book.

Read the first chapter of A Christmas In Time:



Pre-order the book.

You can pre-order a copy of A Chase In Time from Waterstones here, Hive here, and Amazon here – and A Christmas In Time from Waterstones here, Hive here, and Amazon here.

If you’d like to stay up-to-date with all of our book news, you can sign up to our books newsletter with the form at the bottom of this page.

 

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Take a look inside the new colour edition of Earth Heroes!

This October we’re delighted to be publishing a stunning new and fully illustrated colour edition of Earth Heroes – an inspiring non-fiction book celebrating the work of climate activists from around the world, written by Lily Dyu and illustrated by Amy Blackwell.

And today we’re sharing an exclusive look inside this new edition!

With beautiful illustrations by Amy Blackwell, this updated colour edition features inspiring activists from the first edition as well as amazing new additions. From Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough to Felix Finkbeiner and Charles and Perrine Hervé-Gruyer, this book is packed with inspirational stories about the pioneering work of ‘Earth Heroes’ from around the globe. Each tale is a beacon of hope in the fight for the future of our planet – proving that one person, no matter how small, can make a difference.

Take a look inside:

This stunning new edition of Earth Heroes will be published on October 15th – you can pre-order a copy from Waterstones here, Hive here, or Amazon here.

If you’d like to stay up-to-date with all of our books news, sign up to our books newsletter on this page, or with the form below.

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My Life as a Cat is now available as an audiobook

Today we’re delighted to share a brand new audiobook edition of My Life as a Cat by Carlie Sorosiak – a wise, funny, and moving story of what it means to find a family.

With beautiful writing and a truly unique voice, My Life as a Cat is a heart-warming adventure, reminiscent of E.T and perfect for fans of Flora and Ulysses.

Beautifully narrated by Chase Brown, you can buy the audiobook of My Life as a Cat from Audible, Amazon, Apple, and Cloudaloud now – and you can listen to a preview of the audiobook below.

Buy the audiobook.

You can also read the opening of the book below:

And you can buy the print edition of My Life as a Cat from Waterstones here, from Hive here, and from Amazon here.

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Watch our trailer for Mother and Daughter Dress-Up Dolls: Fashion From Long Ago

Earlier this month we published Mother and Daughter Dress-Up Dolls: Fashion From Long Ago, by Gracie Swan and Felicity French – the second book in the series, featuring eight stand-up dolls, 40 different costumes, and a page full of sticker accessories!

And today you can watch our trailer for the book!

Press out the mother and daughter dolls, then pick which beautiful historical outfit to dress them in, using the easy fold-down tabs, before adding a hat or sticking on some accessories. From kirtles and crinolines to boots and bell-bottoms, there are decades of different outfits and eras to explore!

You can buy a copy of the book here. If you’d like to stay up-to-date with all of our books news, you can sign up to our books newsletter at this page, or with the form below.

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100 First Words shortlisted for the 2020 Junior Design Awards

The 2020 Junior Design Awards shortlist has been announced, and we are thrilled to see that 100 First Words illustrated by Edward Underwood has been shortlisted in the Best Baby Book Category!

The Junior Design Awards are run by parenting magazine Junior and celebrate “the very best and most beautiful products on the planet” – so we are honoured to have been shortlisted again this year.

100 First Words is a beautifully illustrated first words book and must-have for any nursery bookshelf. Featuring gorgeous artwork by homeware designer Edward Underwood, which is sure to appeal to parents and toddlers alike, little ones will love discovering what’s under the bold, easy-to-lift card flaps.

Here’s a look inside the book:



Buy the book.

Judging for the Junior Design Awards will begin in mid-September. You see the full shortlist, here.

Best of luck Edward!

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