Nosy Crow's Blog, page 47

Released today: 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 :

Two Nosy Crow books shortlisted for the 2020 UKLA Book Awards

We’re thrilled to announce that two Nosy Crow books have been shortlisted for the 2020 UKLA Book Awards – The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros in the 3-6 category, and The Middler by Kirsty Applebaum in the 7-11 category. Now in their 12th year, the UKLA Book Awards are the only awards judged entirely by teachers.

The UKLA Book Awards seek to celebrate children’s books to encourage teachers to increase their knowledge of recently published high-quality children’s books, and to promote the importance of books for young people from nursery to key stage 4.

A touching and timely story about the importance of kindness, The Suitcase is a picture book that will stay with readers young and old, long after the final page is turned. Here’s a look inside:

Buy the book from Waterstones here.

Set in a near-future world, The Middler is a gripping story for 9-12 year olds, which perfectly captures the trials and frustrations of being the middle child, the forgotten child, the child with no voice – even in your own family. Here’s a look inside:

Buy the book from Waterstones here.

You can find out more about the UKLA awards, and read the shortlists, here. The overall winners will be announced later this year at the 2020 UKLA International Conference.

Congratulations Chris and Kirsty!

Take a look inside a new Felt Flaps book – Where’s Baby Chick

Earlier this year we published a brand new book in our best-selling, award-winning Felt Flap series, illustrated by Ingela P Arrhenius – Where’s Baby Chick? And today we’re sharing a video preview of the book! Watch the video at the top of this post.

With bold, vibrant artwork, these board books are perfect for sharing with babies and toddlers. Peek behind the soft felt flaps on every spread to see who’s hiding – and then enjoy the fantastic mirror reveal on the final page.

We were delighted that the series was shortlisted for the 2019 British Book Design & Production Awards last year – you can read more about it here.

You can buy your copy of Where’s Baby Chick from Waterstones, here, or The Hive, here. If you’d like to stay up-to-date with all our book news, you can sign up to our books newsletter with the form below.

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New books out in April

This continues to be a hugely challenging and unusual time for everyone –  and for many of us, especially those of us staying inside at home with young children, books and reading are more important now than ever.

In case you missed it, we shared all of the free resources (including a free picture book every day, a free audiobook every week, a free nature poem of the day, free content on a daily inspirational figure from history, and lots of free activity sheets and material for schools) that we’ve made available here.

And we are determined to continue supporting bookshops, schools, libraries, parents and carers of children, and all of our authors and illustrators, in as many ways as we can – and today, we’re incredibly proud to share the new books that we’re publishing this month. You may not be able to find these books in all of the places from which you might normally be able to buy them, but you can still order all of them online from Waterstones and Amazon, as well as directly from us.

Here’s a look at all of the fantastic news books out in April from Nosy Crow – between the wonderful novelty and board books for babies, beautiful picture books, brilliant fiction and exciting and accessible non-fiction, there’s something this month for everyone.

Flip Flap Minibeasts, by Axel Scheffler:

Buy the book from Waterstones.

Sing Along With Me! Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, by Yu-hsuan Huang:

Buy the book from Waterstones.

Sing Along With Me! Sleeping Bunnies, by Yu-hsuan Huang:

Buy the book from Waterstones.

Sing Along With Me! Old Macdonald had a Farm, by Yu-hsuan Huang:

Buy the book from Waterstones.

Sing Along With Me! Row, Row, Row Your Boat, by Yu-hsuan Huang:

Buy the book from Waterstones.

Bad Cat!, by Nicola O’Byrne:

Buy the book from Waterstones.

The Princess and the Shoe, written by Caryl Hart and illustrated by Sarah Warburton:

Buy the book from Waterstones.

National Trust: Horses, Hens and Other British Farm Animals, illustrated by Nikki Dyson:

Buy the book from Waterstones.

National Trust: 50 Things To Do Before You’re 11 3/4, illustrated by Sandra De La Prada:

Buy the book from Waterstones.

TrooFriend, by Kirsty Applebaum:

Buy the book from Watersones.

Clifftoppers: The Thorn Island Adventure, by Fleur Hitchcock:

Buy the book from Waterstones.

Unicorn Academy: Lily and Feather, written by Julie Sykes and illustrated by Lucy Truman:

Buy the book from Waterstones.

We hope that everyone reading this is coping as well as you possibly can be in these extraordinary circumstances – and congratulations all of the authors and illustrators of this month’s fantastic new books.

Building a Home is Scottish Book Trust’s Bookbug Book of the Month

We’re thrilled that Building a Home, written by Polly Faber and illustrated by Klas Fahlén, has been named Scottish Book Trust’s Bookbug Book of the Month! Beautifully illustrated throughout and with inclusive characters, Building a Home is a wonderful guide to exactly how an old building can become a brand-new home.

Find out all about the people, machines, processes and tools involved in breathing new life into an old building. Packed with builders, cranes, diggers, cement mixers and a host of other exciting tools and machinery, follow a crumbling old factory on the edge of town as it goes from being an empty shell to something entirely new… a home.

The Scottish Book Trust said: “Ever wondered how you build a home? Building a Home guides you through this fascinating process with beautifully detailed illustrations and a step by step narrative. Full of different characters – architects; a foreman; bricklayers; plumbers; electricians – and powerful machinery including diggers, bulldozers and one enormous crane, Building a Home shows us how we make a house, a home.”

Take a look inside the book here:

The Scottish Book Trust are also giving away five copies of the book! Head over to their blog post to enter, here. If you’d like to pick up a copy of Building a Home, click here.

Don’t forget to sign up to our books newsletter to stay up-to-date with all of our books news at this page, or with the form below, and you’ll never miss a thing.

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Nosy Crow acquires three children’s books from journalist, anthologist and cookery writer, Ella Risbridger

Nosy Crow is delighted to announce the acquisition of two gripping middle-grade novels AND a stunning poetry anthology from brilliant writer Ella Risbridger.

The first novel, The Secret Detectives, is an exciting and unputdownable historical mystery, perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell and Robin Stevens. UK publication is scheduled for February 2021, with the second novel to be published in 2022. Tom Bonnick, Senior Commissioning Editor at Nosy Crow, bought world rights for two middle-grade books from Daisy Parente at Lutyens and Rubinstein.

The Secret Detectives is a hugely gripping historical mystery with a fantastic, unique setting and a wonderful new hero. On board the S.S. Mariana, Isobel Petty witnesses a shocking act – somebody being thrown overboard in the middle of the night. But when the ship’s captain insists that nobody is missing, Isobel and her reluctant new friends must solve two mysteries – the identities of both the murderer and the victim – before the ship reaches England and the culprit has the chance to escape.

Meanwhile, Louise Bolongaro, Head of Picture Books at Nosy Crow, was inspired by Ella’s adult poetry collection, Set Me On Fire: A Poem for Every Feeling, to acquire a children’s poetry collection from Ella, which will be published in September 2021.

Set to be illustrated in glorious full colour by rising star Anna Shepeta and with high production values, including a beautiful cloth quarter binding, Ella will pull together over 100 poems to create an inspiring and uplifting poetry anthology written by women and girls. Ella’s ability to create stories through her anthologies will be brought to life with wonderful illustrations from Anna on each spread. The book will feature voices from a diverse range of backgrounds and ethnicities and from throughout the ages. It includes poets such as Christina Rossetti, Grace Nichols, Mary Oliver, Carol Ann Duffy, Sappho, Elizabeth Hewer, Imitiaz Dharker, Jackie Kay and many, many more.

Ella Risbridger is a writer from London. Her first cookbook, Midnight Chicken (& Other Recipes Worth Living For), was named a Book of the Year 2019 by half a dozen different publications, including The Times, Daily Mail, and Observer. The Secret Detectives is her debut children’s book.

Ella comments: ‘When I was four years old, I decided I wanted to make a poetry anthology when I grew up. When I was ten, I had an idea for a murder mystery about The Secret Garden. Now I get to make both those books, and I get to make them with Nosy Crow. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be part of the Nosy Crow family – which is everything you hope children’s publishing will be. (There is cake, there is an office dog.) You hesitate to say “dream come true” because it’s so trite, but the world is very hard and sometimes good things happen and this is one of them, so why not? It’s a dream come true to be doing this; it’s a dream come true to be doing this with Nosy Crow, who I have loved for years and who make such beautiful books; it’s a dream all round.’

Tom Bonnick, Senior Commissioning Editor at Nosy Crow, comments: ‘I have been a huge admirer of Ella’s writing for adults, including her journalism for The Pool and her wonderful cookbook, Midnight Chicken, for many years, and to be publishing her first novel for children is the most enormous privilege. Inspired by the classic literature from her childhood, Ella has created a brilliant and beautiful story – I fell in love with the writing, and her young heroine, Isobel, from the first page. The Secret Detectives is a true modern classic.’

Louise Bolongaro, Head of Picture Books at Nosy Crow, comments: ‘Ella has poetry running through her veins. She knows a poem not just for every feeling, but for every moment, every question and every hope. We knew she would create an uplifting, visionary collection that would speak to girls and women everywhere, and inspire them in every way. I couldn’t be more proud to publish this wonderful book.’

Q&A with Kirsty Applebaum author of TrooFriend and editor Kirsty Stansfield

Author Kirsty Applebaum sat down with her editor Kirsty Stansfield, to discuss her new middle-grade novel, TrooFriend – a unique, gripping, and little bit sinister sci-fi story about artificial intelligence.

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?

—

Hello Kirsty! Thank you for agreeing to answer these questions, and congratulations on the publication of TrooFriend, your brilliant second novel. As I remember it, a funny thing happened on the way to work one day when I took a call from your agent, Nancy Miles, in a graveyard. She had NEWS about the book you were writing…

Thank you! Ah yes. I was supposed to be writing my second children’s novel for you and Nosy Crow – and I was finding it so hard. It just wasn’t going right. But suddenly, in a writing workshop, I’d come up with the first few lines of TrooFriend – and it wouldn’t let me rest until it was finished. I felt terribly guilty as I should have been writing the other book but, on wise advice from my agent Nancy Miles, I continued until I had a first draft. Nancy liked it and I think that was when she called you, Kirsty (although I didn’t know you were hanging out in a graveyard at the time!) Happily, you liked it too, so I was forgiven for writing the wrong book, and given an extra year to complete the one I should have written in the first place.

I was taking a shortcut. Honest. You started The Middler on the Bath Spa creative writing MA. Was it very different writing your second book?

The book I was originally supposed to be writing was tougher to write than The Middler – and The Middler was tough, even with all the wonderful support from everyone on the MA. TrooFriend, however, was really very easy to write. It poured out of me, like it had been sitting there just waiting to be written.

TrooFriend is about the relationship between a human and an AI. It’s not always clear what that relationship is or how benign. When did you decide you needed to write the story from the AI’s perspective? How easy did you find it?

TrooFriend was written from the AI’s perspective from the moment it began – the voice just came to me and I started writing. I found staying in the AI’s perspective quite easy, but at times it became a little challenging to maintain the correct voice. When I finished I went back and carried out several thorough checks for consistency. The final chapter was a lot of fun to write because it’s from a different point of view and in a different voice – it felt very freeing after being inside a robot’s head for several weeks.

When my daughter was small, she was given a Furby for her birthday. It cursed our every car journey. Did I hear your son had a robot when he was little?

Yes – he did have a robot, but it wasn’t all that great. It fell over quite a lot. It could sing songs and do little dances and it snored when it went to sleep, but I’m sure my son would have preferred an artificially intelligent android like the one Sarah has in TrooFriend.

We’ve come a long way from Furbys and robots that fall over. Would you ever ride in the back of a driverless car?

Right now I’d say no – but then I remember saying I’d never use a smartphone (why would I need to check my email while I’m out?) or need a TV remote control (what’s wrong with just getting up and pressing a button?) or use the internet to look up a phone number (that’s what the Yellow Pages are for isn’t it?). So, yep – I expect one day I probably will ride in the back of a driverless car.

It’s exciting to see TrooFriend going out into the world this Thursday. Is the cover anything like you thought it might be?

No – it’s a million times better. The circuits, the heart, the silhouette, the fabulous orange. Nicola Theobald and Sam Kalda are so clever. It’s perfect.

Publishing a book in a time of lockdown is a learning curve for all of us. How easy is it to write now that you have other people in YOUR house?

Ah yes. In the days before social distancing I used to have the whole house to myself to work in. Bliss. Now I’m having to share and it’s not easy at all. Why do people speak so loudly on the phone? Who keeps nicking my charging cable? And why does it always seem to be my turn to make the tea? Argh!

And what’s next?

The first exciting thing after the publication of TrooFriend is that The Middler is coming out in the US on 14th April – so I’m really looking forward to that.

Then I have a third children’s novel being published in spring 2021 with Nosy Crow. It’s the one I was supposed to be writing when I wrote TrooFriend – yes, I finally finished it! I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say, but it’s got a forest in it, and a town, and a stag and a bear and a wolf and a goose. It has something of the fairy tale about it.

And right now I’m working on some books for younger readers and also on an idea for a fourth novel.

—

Lots to look forward to! And here’s a virtual cheers to send TrooFriend on its way – can’t wait to raise an actual glass one day… Congratulations, Kirsty!

You can take a look inside the book below:

Buy the book.

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 How to Be a Footballer and Other Sports Jobs

Do you have what it takes to become a professional footballer, a manager, or even to work in sports TV? Learn all about football and incredible sports jobs in our new guide, How to Be a Footballer and Other Sports Jobs – a fun, fact-packed, and brightly illustrated book, written by former England and Arsenal footballer, Rachel Yankey, and illustrated by Sol Linero. And today we’re sharing a preview!

From training to become a player or team coach, to running the game as a referee, scouting young players for talent or even working inside the stadium. This book will inspire any girl or boy who wants to kick start their interest in playing football.

Take a look inside:

How to Be a Footballer and Other Sports Jobs will be available next month! You can pre-order your copy from Waterstones here, The Book Depository here, or from your local independent bookshop.

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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Free books, activities and resources from Nosy Crow

This is a hugely challenging and difficult time for all of us – and we hope that everyone reading this is coping as well as you possibly can be in these extraordinary circumstances.

And while so many of us around the world are currently at home and staying inside with young children, we want to help – so we’ve put together lots of free Nosy Crow books, activities, resources and other content which we hope will help keep your families busy, entertained, and inspired. We’ve collected all of the material that we’re currently sharing in one place on this page – and we’ll keep updating that page as more content and resources become available, so do bookmark it if you would like to hear more from us. And here’s a quick summary of what we’ve current made available for everyone:

Activity sheets

You can find free teacher resources, lesson plans, and fun games and activity sheets for lots of our books and characters, and for all ages, here.

Nosy Crow Book At Bedtime

From Monday, we’ll be sharing a new fiction audiobook every week, for free, in daily instalments, as a #NosyCrowBookAtBedtime. Our first free audiobook will be Baby Aliens Got My Teacher, written by Pamela Butchart and read by Susan Calman – and you can listen to the first night’s instalment here.

Nosy Crow Storytime

We’ll also be sharing a new, free Nosy Crow picture book every day from next week, accompanied with our unique Stories Aloud audio. You can read along to our first free picture book, Pip and Posy: The Super Scooter by Axel Scheffler, here – and we’ll be sharing each new daily picture book on Twitter and Instagram with #NosyCrowStorytime.

Nosy Crow Poem A Day

Over on our Twitter and Instagram channels, we’ll be sharing a #NosyCrowPoemADay from Monday, with poetry and artwork from I Am The Seed That Grew The Tree: A Nature Poem For Every Day of the Year, our ground-breaking and award-winning poetry collection, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon and with poetry collected by Fiona Waters.

Nosy Crow Discover

We’re also sharing new material every day on Twitter and Instagram from some of our incredible non-fiction books: you can learn all about extraordinary and inspiring people and animals every day, with content from HerStory: 50 Women and Girls Who Shook the World, WildLives: 50 Extraordinary Animals that Made History, and Youthquake: 50 Children and Young People Who Shook The World. Along with a new person or animal to discover every day, we’ll also be sharing activities and creative prompts related to that day’s inspiring figure. Keep an eye on the #NosyCrowDiscover hashtag on Twitter and Instagram to find more.

Videos

On our YouTube channel, you can find playlists of author readings, character illustrations, and author and illustrator Q&As (find out about space and learn how to be an astronaut with Dr Sheila Kanani and discover the laws of physics – including entropy, black holes, and mobius strips – with The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day), sing along to lots of nursery rhymes with our Sing Along With Me series, and learn to make origami with our British Museum and National Trust origami instruction videos.

If you have any questions about any of our resources, please don’t hesitate to get in touch – we’d love to hear from you on Twitter, Instagram, or by email.

Introducing Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright!: An Animal Poem for Every Day of the Year

Today we are enormously proud to introduce Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright! – a rich and varied collection of animal poems, one for every day of the year.

Publishing this September in collaboration with The National Trust – with poetry selected by award-winning anthologist Fiona Waters and illustrated by Kate Greenaway Award-shortlisted Britta Teckentrup – Tiger, Tiger is an astonishingly worthy successor to our hugely ambitious 2018 Waterstones Gift Book of the Year, I Am the Seed that Grew the Tree: A Nature Poem For Every Day of the Year. At the time of writing, UK bookshops have sold over 40,000 copies of I Am the Seed, and rights have been sold to the USA, France, Germany, Italy, China and the Netherlands, where it has topped the children’s bestseller list for many weeks.

“I feel very proud to have helped make this book and hope that all the wonderful poems here might make your heart sing and your skin tingle, and make you a poetry person, too.” – Louise Bolongaro, Head of Picture Books

With poetry spanning 400 years – from William Shakespeare to Ftoun Abou Kerech, a teenage refugee from Syria – these poems describe cats, dragonflies and mice, but also elephants, sloths and alligators, drawing on the extraordinary landscapes and the entire animal kingdom. The animals, and the extraordinary landscapes they live in, from California to Japan and from Alaska to Antarctica, are lavishly illustrated throughout.

Gorgeously bound and lavishly illustrated throughout, and publishing in September, Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright! will be a book for families to share, savour and treasure. If you’d like to be the first to know about any future news, including exclusive content and offers, you can sign up to our special mailing list, here.