Nosy Crow's Blog, page 46

Meet Ruffles: Hugless Douglas author and illustrator, David Melling, and lovable character, Ruffles, find home for three new picture books at Nosy Crow

Nosy Crow is delighted to announce the acquisition of Ruffles and the Red, Red Coat, the first of three picture books about the lovable dog Ruffles, to be published in 2021 and 2022 by Hugless Douglas author and illustrator, David Melling.

Ruffles and the Red, Red Coat will publish in hardback in February 2021, followed by Ruffles and the Teeny Tiny Kittens in August 2021. The third title will be published in February 2022. Louise Bolongaro, Head of Picture Books at Nosy Crow, acquired world rights in all languages from children’s literary agent, Eunice McMullen.

With bright colours and a contemporary artwork style reminiscent of Miffy, Ruffles and the Red, Red Coat is the first in a series all about first experiences, aimed at helping pre-schoolers navigate all the tricky troubles of toddler life.

Ruffles Does NOT like wearing his coat. No, no, no, no, no, no! Not even one tiny little bit. But when it rains, he soon learns that some things are definitely worth wearing your coat for – like splashing in puddles!

Manda Scott, Senior Designer at Nosy Crow, says: “I first met David when we worked together on Hugless Douglas. It was a privilege, of course, but what I loved most was going through his collection of sketchbooks. As a warm-up exercise, he would draw hilarious sequences of tiny sketches that told a story. I would pore over them endlessly and encourage him to explore further. A few years later, after I joined Nosy Crow, David and I met for a pint in a grimy London Bridge pub, and David shared a few newer sketches with me . . . together with his desire to do something completely different . . . Fast forward to a different pint in a different bar, and we shared those sketches with Kate Wilson and Louise Bolongaro for the first time. They were both immediately drawn to pictures featuring the cute little dog that was to become Ruffles . . .

It has been a real pleasure working with David on his wonderful new character and helping to develop an exciting new style that still remains very recogniseably David’s at heart.”

David Melling comments: “It’s always exciting to begin working on a new project with a new team. So when an opportunity arose to collaborate with Nosy Crow, hearing all the very good things I had, I jumped at the chance. Working with Nosy Crow has been a real joy from the outset. The project I’ve developed with the team has been an incredibly organic process; their approach and ideas are so creative and innovative, encouraging me to explore my thinking in new and exciting ways, working to get the best out of me. I hope they have! It’s been a real partnership and so refreshing. I couldn’t be happier to be part of the Crow’s Nest!”

Louise Bolongaro, Head of Picture Books at Nosy Crow, comments: “As a parent and a publisher, I have admired the David Melling magic for many, many years. His sense of visual fun and extraordinary ability to capture mood and expression through body language makes him a household favourite and a real picture book legend. It’s been a such privilege to work with him, exploring new art techniques and new ways of storytelling, and we couldn’t be prouder of Ruffles and the beautiful Miffy-esque world that David has created.”

Eunice McMullen, children’s literary agent, comments: “I’ve had the pleasure of working with David for more than twenty-five years during which time he’s produced some amazing best-selling picture books. His new work with Nosy Crow feels exciting and fresh, and I was so pleased to see how closely they worked with David to take him in a completely new direction. Ruffles is a delightful and funny character and I can’t wait to see where his adventures lead him in what’s sure to be another very successful series.”

David Melling was born in Oxford and still lives near the city with his wife and two children. As a child, he loved drawing and his dad, who was a sculptor, would often help with the difficult bits. He studied Art in London and Photography in Blackpool. In the mid eighties he returned to London and started work as a freelance illustrator but soon found himself working in animation studios: drawing backgrounds, assisting animators and rendering cells for TV commercials and a handful of TV films including Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs. It wasn’t until the early nineties that David turned his attention to children’s books. “When I started drawing pictures for books I knew this was for me. I love drawing characters, bringing them to life and letting them tell a story. I have done other jobs over the years but making up stories with pen and paper is by far the best.” David’s books have been published in nearly 40 languages and sold over 3 million copies. Hello, Hugless Douglas was a number one bestseller across all book charts and David’s stories have been turned into apps and theatre shows, and regularly appear on CBBC.

Nosy Crow’s Erin Murgatroyd on the importance of nature poetry and I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree

Erin Murgatroyd, our Rights Manager, discusses the importance of nature and poetry during the current coronavirus crisis – and reflects on the success of our nature poetry collection, I Am the Seed that Grew the Tree. Here are her thoughts:

____

Nature always matters, of course. At an emotional level, because it is about the connection between people and nature, publishing I Am The Seed made perfect sense when we did it in the autumn of 2018. If anything, it makes even more emotional sense now: during the coronavirus crisis, we are all, as individuals and families, recognising the importance to us of being outside, and, for many of us this is a moment when we see and observe nature around us more clearly both because we have time to do so and also because the natural world – whether it’s a kangaroo bounding through the streets of Adelaide or wild ducks on the canals of Venice – is resurgent and visible, even if only through our windows or on our screens.

But, though it made perfect emotional sense, at no point in the process of creating I Am The Seed That Grew the Tree did it make any financial sense. With 336 fully illustrated pages, using poems from a rich literary history which required two years’ worth of permissions clearing, the project was – to say the least – economically ambitious. This was a project that stemmed entirely from faith alone, and it was a risk that paid off tenfold for the UK market. To date, I Am The Seed has sold over 80,000 copies, and has won both Waterstones Children’s Gift Prize 2018 and a 2019 British Book Design & Production Award. These are accolades that exceeded everyone’s expectations and, most of all, our own.

Nonetheless, there was another hurdle for us rights folk. The content of this title makes it very UK-language market specific. Poetry is tricky across borders and every country has its own unique literary heritage. We never anticipated this to be something that we would sell abroad; showing it to customers at book fairs only as an attempt to demonstrate the diversity of our publishing programme, and out of pride for what we had achieved.

It was something of a surprise, then, when we not only sold the title into 6 different languages across three continents, but further when the Dutch edition Ik wou dat ik een vogel was (I Wish I Were A Bird) charted as the number 1 bestselling children’s book in The Netherlands for four weeks running. The title was highlighted on Dutch national television in one of the leading Dutch talk shows, with the panel of booksellers praising the anthology as “a book for all ages, with something in it for everyone, a beautiful anthology that every family should have.” This led to the first print run selling out in less than two weeks for Ploegsma, the Dutch publisher.

We have seen innovation in the way that our international publishers have approached the project – our Dutch publisher, for example, went as far as to commission 60 new poems for particularly tricky spreads where it didn’t feel there was a pre-existing Dutch poem that would naturally complement the artwork. We have been overwhelmed by the dedication of our co-publishers, to see through what was such a consuming (and in turn rewarding) project of our own, in a new edition. We are so proud to have been proven wrong and to see that I Am The Seed has shattered not only the pre-conceived boundaries of the UK market, but of international markets, too!

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To reflect the added relevance of nature poetry in our lives right now, we are posting a poem every day on Twitter and Instagram, with the hashtag #NosyCrowPoemADay.

You can take a look inside I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree below – and if you’d like to be the first to find out more about our upcoming follow-up to the book, Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright! An Animal Poem For Every Day of the Year, you can sign up to our exclusive Tiger, Tiger newsletter here.

Buy the book from Waterstones or Hive.

Drawathon-A-Lenton: a 24 Hour Drawing Challenge for the NHS

Steven Lenton, illustrator of the Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam series (and the upcoming Octopus Shocktopus), will be embarking on a 24 hour (!) draw-a-thon this Friday, in order to raise money for NHS Charities Together – he’ll be illustrating non-stop on Friday 24th April from 7am.

You can watch the Draw-a-thon live on Steven’s Facebook channel this Friday – and if you’d like to donate, you can do so here.

Here’s a schedule of what Steven will be drawing and when:

If you’re a fan of any of Steven’s books, do tune in – your support will be enormously welcome.

Good luck, Steven – we will be cheering you on!

Actor Hugh Bonneville voices audio for Nosy Crow’s coronavirus book for children

Nosy Crow is pleased to announce that Paddington and Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville has voiced the free audiobook for its recently released free ebook for children about the coronavirus, illustrated by best-selling Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler.

The audiobook is now live; you can listen to the audio for free on Soundcloud here, and below. It is also available to download for free through the Cloudaloud audiobook app, which can be found on the App Store here.

Nosy Crow produced the audiobook with Strathmore Publishing, and both Strathmore and Bonneville gave their time for free.

It will also be available to download for free from Audible and as a free audio-enhanced iBook edition from the Apple Books store at a later date.

On Monday 6th April afternoon Nosy Crow issued a digital book FREE for anyone to read on screen or print out, about the coronavirus and the measures taken to control it.  It has been written by staff within the publishing company with expert input from Professor Graham Medley of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine who acted as a consultant, and advice from two head teachers and a child psychologist.

In just the first 24 hours the digital book was accessed over 100,000 times directly from the Nosy Crow website. Since then, the pdf has been downloaded from/read on the website over 650,000 times. This number does not include ebook downloads and other third parties who have made the book available; Nosy Crow estimates that total downloads now surpass 1 million.

Nosy Crow is also working with publishers in different countries around the world to develop free international editions; to date, the book is being translated into 38 languages (including US English), with updated localised information (their own equivalent of Childline, for instance). Nosy Crow’s only condition for giving the book to these publishers is that they will make the book available free of charge and as widely as possible, mirroring what we’ve done in the UK.

Kate Wilson, Managing Director of Nosy Crow, said:

“We have just been overwhelmed with the response to our book.  As a relatively small, independent publisher we have just never seen this level of activity on our website or through our social media channels.

We were very aware that many parents and carers are struggling to explain the current extraordinary situation to children, many of whom are frightened and confused. We thought that the best thing we could do would be to use our skills to produce a free book – accessible to everyone – to explain and, where possible, reassure children and there has been astonishing levels of demand, both here in the UK and worldwide.”

Axel Scheffler, illustrator of The Gruffalo, said:

“I asked myself what I could do as an children’s illustrator to inform, as well as entertain, my readers here and abroad.  So I was glad when my publisher, Nosy Crow, asked me to illustrate this question-and-answer book about the coronavirus. I think it is extremely important for children and families to have access to good and reliable information in this unprecedented crisis, and I hope that the popularity of the books I’ve done with Julia Donaldson will ensure that this digital book will reach many children who are now slightly older, but might still remember our picture books.”

Professor Graham Medley, Professor of Infectious Disease Modelling at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said:

“This pandemic is changing children’s lives across the globe and will have a lasting impact on us all. Helping children understand what is going on is an important step in helping them cope and making them part of the story – this is something that we are all going through, not something being done to them. This book puts children IN the picture rather just watching it happen, and in a way that makes the scary parts easier to cope with.”

The book answers key questions in simple language appropriate for 5 to 9 year olds:

What is the coronavirus?
How do you catch the coronavirus?
What happens if you catch the coronavirus?
Why are people worried about catching the coronavirus?
Is there a cure for the coronavirus?
Why are some places we normally go to closed?
What can I do to help?
What’s going to happen next?

Nosy Crow wants to make sure that this book is accessible to every child and family and so the book is offered totally free of charge to anyone who wants to read it.  However, the company suggests, at the back of the book, that families might make a donation to help our health service if they find the book useful: https://www.nhscharitiestogether.co.uk/.

You can download a PDF copy of the book here, and also read it below:

Actor Hugh Bonneville to voice audio for Nosy Crow’s coronavirus book for children

Nosy Crow is pleased to announce that Paddington and Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville is voicing the free audiobook for its recently released free ebook for children about the coronavirus, illustrated by best-selling Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler.

The audiobook is now live; you can listen to the audio for free on Soundcloud here, and below. It is also available to download for free through the Cloudaloud audiobook app, which can be found on the App Store here.

Nosy Crow produced the audiobook with Strathmore Publishing, and both Strathmore and Bonneville gave their time for free.

It will also be available to download for free from Audible and as a free audio-enhanced iBook edition from the Apple Books store at a later date.

On Monday 6th April afternoon Nosy Crow issued a digital book FREE for anyone to read on screen or print out, about the coronavirus and the measures taken to control it.  It has been written by staff within the publishing company with expert input from Professor Graham Medley of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine who acted as a consultant, and advice from two head teachers and a child psychologist.

In just the first 24 hours the digital book was accessed over 100,000 times directly from the Nosy Crow website. Since then, the pdf has been downloaded from/read on the website over 650,000 times. This number does not include ebook downloads and other third parties who have made the book available; Nosy Crow estimates that total downloads now surpass 1 million.

Nosy Crow is also working with publishers in different countries around the world to develop free international editions; to date, the book is being translated into 38 languages (including US English), with updated localised information (their own equivalent of Childline, for instance). Nosy Crow’s only condition for giving the book to these publishers is that they will make the book available free of charge and as widely as possible, mirroring what we’ve done in the UK.

Kate Wilson, Managing Director of Nosy Crow, said:

“We have just been overwhelmed with the response to our book.  As a relatively small, independent publisher we have just never seen this level of activity on our website or through our social media channels.

We were very aware that many parents and carers are struggling to explain the current extraordinary situation to children, many of whom are frightened and confused. We thought that the best thing we could do would be to use our skills to produce a free book – accessible to everyone – to explain and, where possible, reassure children and there has been astonishing levels of demand, both here in the UK and worldwide.”

Axel Scheffler, illustrator of The Gruffalo, said:

“I asked myself what I could do as an children’s illustrator to inform, as well as entertain, my readers here and abroad.  So I was glad when my publisher, Nosy Crow, asked me to illustrate this question-and-answer book about the coronavirus. I think it is extremely important for children and families to have access to good and reliable information in this unprecedented crisis, and I hope that the popularity of the books I’ve done with Julia Donaldson will ensure that this digital book will reach many children who are now slightly older, but might still remember our picture books.”

Professor Graham Medley, Professor of Infectious Disease Modelling at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said:

“This pandemic is changing children’s lives across the globe and will have a lasting impact on us all. Helping children understand what is going on is an important step in helping them cope and making them part of the story – this is something that we are all going through, not something being done to them. This book puts children IN the picture rather just watching it happen, and in a way that makes the scary parts easier to cope with.”

The book answers key questions in simple language appropriate for 5 to 9 year olds:

What is the coronavirus?
How do you catch the coronavirus?
What happens if you catch the coronavirus?
Why are people worried about catching the coronavirus?
Is there a cure for the coronavirus?
Why are some places we normally go to closed?
What can I do to help?
What’s going to happen next?

Nosy Crow wants to make sure that this book is accessible to every child and family and so the book is offered totally free of charge to anyone who wants to read it.  However, the company suggests, at the back of the book, that families might make a donation to help our health service if they find the book useful: https://www.nhscharitiestogether.co.uk/.

You can download a PDF copy of the book here, and also read it below:

TrooFriend is now available as an audiobook

Today we’re delighted to be sharing a brand new audiobook edition of TrooFriend – a unique, gripping, and little bit sinister sci-fi story from Waterstones Children’s Book Prize nominee, Kirsty Applebaum. You can listen to the first few chapters of the new audiobook edition below!

Imagine having the perfect friend, one who never steals, lies or bullies. Now you can, with the TrooFriend 560, the latest in artificial intelligence! What can go wrong with a robot buddy? Especially one that’s developing human characteristics and feelings, and who has just run away with her human?

With fantastic narration by Aysha Kala, you can buy the audiobook edition from Audible and Amazon now, and listen to the preview below:

And here’s the first few chapters:

You can pick up a copy of TrooFriend from Waterstones here, The Hive here, or from Amazon, here.

Nosy Crow gives wings to a soaring debut from Lucy Beck

Nosy Crow is delighted to announce the acquisition of Fledgling, the first middle-grade novel from Lucy Beck, a graduate of the Bath Spa MA in Writing for Young People.

Fledgling begins when a strange creature is blown into Cassie Engel’s bedroom during a thunderstorm, triggering a series of terrifying events. 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. But as the dark forces gather around them, can Cassie protect all that she holds dear?

Kirsty Stansfield, Head of Fiction at Nosy Crow, bought world rights from Joanna Moult at Skylark Literary Agency. Stansfield comments: “Fledgling is such a fresh and original piece of writing. Full of brilliant characters and sinister charm, I know it, and Lucy, will take off in a big way!”

Lucy Beck comments: “I am thrilled that Nosy Crow will be the publisher to lead Fledgling from the safety of its nest into the big wide world. I’ve always loved Nosy Crow books, not just because they are beautiful things, but because they contain wonderful stories of hope for a better and kinder world to grow up in. I know, like Fledgling, I am in safe hands with such a dynamic, forward-looking publisher, and I am delighted that they have put their faith in me and my book at this challenging time.”

Joanna Moult comments: “Fledgling was the perfect read to transport me far away from this rather overwhelming reality, told in the most compelling and atmospheric way. Nosy Crow is such a fabulous home for Lucy – they know exactly how to make a book like Fledgling soar!”

Lucy Beck grew up in North Wales and, after a range of jobs from working in schools to designing websites for the education sector, she completed a master’s degree in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University. Lucy now lives in the Cotswolds with her husband, two almost-grown-up children and a shaggy dog called Bronte.

Watch our video preview of Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Minibeasts

This month we published Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Minibeasts – the eighth book in Axel Scheffler‘s fun and quirky Flip Flap series, featuring Flip Flap Frozen, Flip Flap Dinosaurs, and Flip Flap Safari amongst others. Today we’re sharing a video preview of the book, showcasing some of the wonderful animal combinations inside!

What do you get if you cross a ladybird with a grasshopper? It’s a ladybopper, of course! And how about a millipede with a stag beetle? Why, that’s a millipeetle! With over 121 possible creations, silly names and strange noises to make you giggle, this new Flip Flap book is perfect for preschoolers and ideal for creepy-crawly fans. With a hilarious rhyming text and brilliant illustrations from Axel Scheffler, simply flip the pages to create some seriously silly mixed-up minibeasts.

You can watch our video preview of Flip Flap Minibeasts at the top of this post – and you can order a copy of the book from Waterstones here or The Hive here.

If you’d like to stay up-to-date with all our latest book news, you can sign up to our books newsletter with the form below, and you’ll never miss a thing.

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Watch the latest in our Sing Along With Me nursery rhyme series – Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes!

Today we’re sharing a brand new sing-along video to accompany the latest in the wonderful Sing Along With Me! series, illustrated by Yu-hsuan Huang – Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Every board book in this brilliant series for babies and toddlers comes with a free nursery rhyme, sung to original music! Simply scan the QR code with a smartphone or tablet to access the free audio. For more information on how to access the audio, click here.

You can also enjoy the songs with our free nursery rhyme video series, which we’re adding to today with Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes! Watch the video below:

Buy the book from Waterstones.

And here are some other videos in the series for you to enjoy…

Sleeping Bunnies:



Buy the book from Waterstones.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat:



Buy the book from Waterstones.

Old Macdonald Had a Farm:



Buy the book from Waterstones.

You can find out more about the series, here – and you can find our full collection of Sing Along nursery rhyme videos, here. If you want to stay up to date with all of our book news, you can sign up to our newsletter at this page, or with the form below.

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Out now: a free information book explaining the coronavirus to children, illustrated by Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler

Axel Scheffler has illustrated a digital book for primary school age children, free for anyone to read on screen or print out, about the coronavirus and the measures taken to control it. Published by Nosy Crow, and written by staff within the company, the book has had expert input: Professor Graham Medley of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine acted as a consultant, and the company also had advice from two head teachers and a child psychologist.

The book answers key questions in simple language appropriate for 5 to 9 year olds:

• What is the coronavirus?

• How do you catch the coronavirus?

• What happens if you catch the coronavirus?

• Why are people worried about catching the coronavirus?

• Is there a cure for the coronavirus?

• Why are some places we normally go to closed?

• What can I do to help?

• What’s going to happen next?

We want to make sure that this book is accessible to every child and family and so the book is offered totally free of charge to anyone who wants to read it. However, we have suggested, at the back of the book, that families might make a donation to help our health service if they find the book useful: https://www.nhscharitiestogether.co.uk/.

Kate Wilson, Managing Director of Nosy Crow, said:

“We were very aware that many parents and carers are struggling to explain the current extraordinary situation to children, many of whom are frightened and confused. We thought that the best thing we could do would be to use our skills to produce a free book to explain and, where possible, reassure children. We asked Axel, whose work is so familiar and so loved, to illustrate it. He was happy to do it, and did it extraordinarily quickly. Meanwhile, having heard Professor Medley interviewed by the BBC, we looked him up and wrote to him, and despite his huge workload, he reviewed the book over a weekend, and we were able to incorporate his suggestions, together with those of two head teachers and a child psychologist, into the final version of the book. We hope it helps answer difficult questions in difficult times.”

Axel Scheffler, illustrator of The Gruffalo, said:

“I asked myself what I could do as an children’s illustrator to inform, as well as entertain, my readers here and abroad. So I was glad when my publisher, Nosy Crow, asked me to illustrate this question-and-answer book about the coronavirus. I think it is extremely important for children and families to have access to good and reliable information in this unprecedented crisis, and I hope that the popularity of the books I’ve done with Julia Donaldson will ensure that this digital book will reach many children who are now slightly older, but might still remember our picture books.”

Professor Graham Medley, Professor of Infectious Disease Modelling at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said:

“This pandemic is changing children’s lives across the globe and will have a lasting impact on us all. Helping children understand what is going on is an important step in helping them cope and making them part of the story – this is something that we are all going through, not something being done to them. This book puts children IN the picture rather just watching it happen, and in a way that makes the scary parts easier to cope with.”

You can download a copy of the book here (or, if you have trouble with that link, here) – and also read it below :

We have also created a free audio edition of the book, read by Hugh Bonneville. You can listen to the audio for free on Soundcloud here, and below. It is also available to download for free through the Cloudaloud audiobook app, which can be found on the App Store here.

Nosy Crow produced the audiobook with Strathmore Publishing, and both Strathmore and Bonneville gave their time for free.