Could you write the perfect bedtime story?

Walker Books, Mumsnet and Gransnet have just launched a competition to find the best children’s bedtime stories written by parents and grandparents. The ten winning entries will be published by Walker Books in The Mumsnet Book of Bedtime Stories. 



Together with Mumsnet, the UK’s busiest website for parents, and sister website Gransnet, Walker have launched a nationwide competition to find the ten best bedtime stories for publication in the Mumsnet Book of Bedtime Stories slated for release in October 2013. 

The judging panel, led by Children’s Writer and former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen, will compile a shortlist of twenty stories that will be made available online for Mumsnet and Gransnet users to vote for their favourites. The final ten winning authors will be announced on 18 February 2013, Each will win £500 and their story will be illustrated and published in the Mumsnet Book of Bedtime Stories published by Walker Books.
 

The illustrated gift book will be aimed at the under sevens and the judging panel will be looking for fresh voices, original contemporary ideas and, most important of all, stories that children will love.

 
To find out how to enter the competition, visit Mumsnet or Gransnet. 
 

Happy writing!

Oh No, George! shortlisted for Roald Dahl Funny Prize

The shortlist for the fantastic Roald Dahl Funny Prize, which is celebrating its fifth birthday this year, was announced yesterday. And... we're ecstatic to announce that our very own Chris Haughton is on the shortlist for his whimsical tale of George, the hapless dog who just can't behave! Well done to Chris (and to George!) You can see the full list of shortlisted books on the Booktrust website.

If you haven't read Oh No, George! before, why not watch the trailer for it just to the right of this blog post? And if you have read it, tell us if you'll be rooting for it to win the Prize! 



The Roald Dahl prize aims to promote laughter and humour as a feel-good factor when reading, to draw attention to funny books as readable and enjoyable books and to reward authors and illustrators who write and illustrate books using humour. Visit the Booktrust website to read what some of the judges, including broadcaster and comedian Mel Giedroyc and We're Going on a Bear Hunt author Michael Rosen, had to say about the shortlisted entries.



Congratulations once again to Chris! 

Hold on to your hats!

When a tiny fish shoots into view wearing a round blue top hat (which happens to fit him perfectly), trouble could be following close behind. So it’s a good thing that enormous fish won’t wake up. And even if he does, it’s not as though he’ll ever know what happened…will he?

Yes, you've guessed it - the wait is almost over for This Is Not My Hat, the brand new picture book by award-winning author and illustrator Jon Klassen! If you’re as excited as we are about this tiny fish in a blue bowler hat, then take a glimpse of what’s to come in this quirky trailer made by Jon Klassen himself.







 



Be the first to read This Is Not My Hat and pre-order your copy here.

Stay tuned next month for an exclusive guest blog post by Jon Klassen about the making of the book...

Available 9 October 2012.

Illustrating Anna's World

Illustrator Lauren Tobia transports us to amazing Africa, sharing with us her inspiration for illustrating the beautiful world of Anna Hibiscus.

Hello My name is Lauren and I have the fun of illustrating the world of Anna Hibiscus. Anna Hibiscus lives in amazing Africa with her extended family in a compound in a large African city. The stories are written by Atinuke (who is pretty amazing herself) I have had the fun of listening to her storytelling! My “job” is to read all about Anna’s adventures, lean back in my chair and imagine! Atinuke’s stories take me to Anna’s special world in a busy African city (a bit like Lagos) full of people, taxis, scooters, shops and market stalls. Inside all this commotion is a large leafy compound where her mother and father, grandfather and aunties and uncles live and right in the middle most importantly is Anna’s mango tree. 

I have been illustrating Anna’s world for a few years now and have had loads of fun imagining Amazing Anna her family and the city she lives in. This is an early drawing of Anna’s city, it eventually became the endpapers for the book as a sort of map so that I could explain the beautiful craziness of the city she lives in.

I have a bit of an admission to make …I have never been
to this part of Africa! Atinuke comes from Nigeria so at the beginning I
thought I should do a bit of reading and found quite a lot of
inspiration from watching Nigerian pop videos and an awful lot of
imagining. Atinuke herself was also always useful for odd questions
about clothes or whether the road should have a pavement or not! But
most of it was done chewing my pencil and just staring out of the
window. 

Illustrating a book is a bit of a team effort and between me and the talented team at Walker Books who questioned me, made suggestions and had many conversations over a slice of cake and mug of tea! It must be said a lot of the tea and cake was also eaten in my studio where I sketched the pictures on big sheets of layout paper and much scribbling. My studio is in the front bedroom in my house and I can look out at what’s going on in the street, the antics of the seagulls and the occasional hot air balloon that floats by. I share my studio with my two Jack Russell’s Tilly and Poppy who when they are not barking or running after each other sleep in a box of blankets behind me. 

I draw the images in pencil so I can be as free as I can and then rub out the bits that don’t work so well or add other drawings on the computer. They eventually end up as sometimes one drawing and sometimes a huge collage of pictures that work together to make a page. I use layers of colour on the computer to build up the finished artwork and send it all by magic (or the internet ) to Julie at Walker who works her designer spells and hurrah! Anna Hibiscus is a picture book…I hope you like it! 

Join the amazing world of Anna Hibiscus with these free downloadable activity sheets.

Get your hand on a copy of the beautiful Anna Hibiscus' Song by Atinuke and Lauren Tobia here.

A Picnic in the Sky

Over the past 10 days, we’ve enjoyed a marathon of picnics taking place all over the country, each with it's own twist. There's been creative cooking, stacks of story-telling, and a range of fun-packed activities from paper boat racing to butterfly searching. As we come to the end of the Picture Book Picnic blog tour, the team at Walker Books decided to finish up with our very own picnic, on the roof of Walker Towers! 

Overlooking sunny Vauxhall on a slightly blustery day (and by blustery, I mean we spent a good amount of time chasing plastic cups!), we set up our urban picnic with some make-shift grass, a bag full of sandwiches, a gingham rug and lots of picture books. No teddy bear’s picnic is complete without a teddy bear (or three!), so we couldn’t resist having a few special guests at our picnic, including Maisy, Nutbrown Hare and of course the lovely Walker Bear himself. Wally also made a surprise appearance – see if you can spot him!  

 

After tucking in to a feast of bear biscuits, yummy sandwiches and a scrumptious selection of fruit, it was time for Walker Bear to read us a few stories. We all gathered round and listened to George Flies South by Simon James. This beautifully illustrated picture book is about George, a brave little bird who loses his nest but eventually finds his wings. In the story, an enormous gust of
wind blows George's nest out of the tree, launching him on a journey through the city, under bridges, over buildings and into the unknown.  This inspirational story is great for little children who are learning to do something for the first time, and perfect for reading outside, where there were plenty of birds to spot blowing around in the wind!

 

We then read A Walk in London by Salvatore Rubbino, and had fun spotting some London landmarks from our rooftop spot, including the Shard and the London Eye.

Our Marketing Manager couldn’t make it to the rooftop picnic, so instead she organised her very own Picture Book Picnic with her friends and family in the park. Everyone tucked into a yummy selection of picture books including Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton, and had lots of fun  with butterfly face-painting and colouring-in activity sheets.

Join in the fun and hold your very own picture book picnic this summer with our free downloadable picnic pack and a great selection of free activity sheets. Happy picnicking, from the team at Walker!
 

10 picnics, 10 blogs, 10 books, 10 days!

Over the next 10 days, join us for a marathon of picnics as we take the Picture Book Picnic on tour across 10 fantastic blogs. Each blogger will be holding their very own picnic complete with yummy treats, creative activities and a tasty selection of picture books. So join in the fun and pick up some ideas for your own picnic!  Download your very own free picnic pack here.

The blog tour kicks off with Playing by the Book, including tree climbing with Anna Hibiscus, paper boat racing with Arthur's Dream Boat and creative cake-making with Oh No, George!



Join in the fun on the Picture Book Picnic blog tour:



30th July:  www.playingbythebook.net
31st July: www.rainydaymum.co.uk
1st August: www.amothersramblings.com
2nd August: www.theboyandme.co.uk
3rd August: www.beingamummy.co.uk
6th August: www.deepinmummymatters.com
7th August: www.wahm-bam.org
8th August: www.mummymishaps.blogspot.com
9th August: www.arewenearlythereyetmummy.com
10th August: www.picturebookpicnic.co.uk

How To Get a Job, by Me, The Boss.

What do your little ones want to be when they grow up? Sally Lloyd-Jones covers everything from President of the World to Balloon Holder in her exclusive blog post about her new picture book, How To Get a Job, by Me, The Boss.

What can I say?

When I was 2—long, long ago, back in the
time of caves, back in the time when dinosaurs ruled the earth and parents left
children in cars—my sister (a fresh plumpy newborn) and I were left in the back
of our Humber car while our parents popped out—just for a second.

When they left us, I was sitting on the
back seat, and my sister was in the carrycot.

When they came back, I was in the carrycot
and my sister was on the floor.

So it was only a matter of time before I
took further revenge on my three little sisters… and wrote a shocking expose.

It’s called How To Be A Baby, By Me, TheBig Sister.

Actually, when I say I wrote it—that’s not
strictly true. I started out writing it, but then this six-year old
self-appointed baby expert narrator Big Sister totally took over. And she’s
been writing them ever since. (She has three books out now.)

She said things and I wrote them down. I am
just the scribe, really.

How To Be A Baby, By Me, The Big Sister is filled with helpful advice and tips and all the reasons why it’s
better not to be a baby (you don’t know if you are a boy or a girl, you don’t
read books you eat them; you don’t carry a backpack you go in one, stuff like
that). Though by the end she can’t help it, she has to admit it is actually sometimes quite nice being a baby
because everyone hugs and kisses you—and having a baby brother isn’t always
awful because they get bigger and then you can play with them.

Her second book is called: How To Get Married, By Me, The Bride and in it the self-appointed bridal expert
addresses the finer points of pulling off the perfect wedding (outfits you can
wear, who is suitable to marry, who isn’t so suitable) and now she turns her
attention to the job market and here comes everything you need to ace the
interview, and land the perfect job in this handy manual—How To Get a Job, byMe, The Boss.

It is packed with all kinds of helpful
advice and tips. She is very thorough and covers all kinds of jobs: large ones
(like “President of the World”) and small ones (like “Balloon Holder”) and even
includes some startling revelations. For instance, how very disappointing to
read: “Sitting in your chair eating cookies” is NOT a job. (I wanted that job.
Is it really not a job?) The Boss even does a sample interview—and helps you
conduct yourself appropriately, advising on what is appropriate to bring to the
interview (your CV) and what isn’t (your whole family, your gerbils) and what
is good to do during an interview and what isn’t (sit on the boss’ lap).

She is highly encouraging and helpful in
everything. In fact, she has so much wisdom to impart that even grown ups are
reading her books now—Brides and Grooms to be are picking up tips from How to Get Married, By Me, The Bride and anyone newly looking for work—or who
doesn’t yet know what they want to be when they grow up will probably learn a
great deal from How To Get A Job, By Me, The Boss.

I know I did. 

(She hasn’t told me yet if she has another
book coming—if I have a job as her scribe. But that doesn’t matter.  For now I have plenty to do. First of all,
I’ve got to go to my chair and sit in it and eat some
cookies.)









How To Get a Job, by Me, The Boss by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Sue Heap is available from all good booksellers.



 Get a taste of what it's like to be the boss with these fun-filled activity sheets!