New book available soon

 

Publication date set for 14th April - which is Belle's birthday - I wonder if she knows what a special lady she is...

Belle is an ex racehorse, but she doesn't know what that means. She was born to race, so what now…?

Maybe she's a jumper, a dressage horse or an explorer… she still has the instinct to race whenever she gets the chance; but maybe just horsing around could be fun too.

#exracehorse #LostinaBook 

What to do at Easter - read of course!

April at Lost in a Book (from the Little Bookshop with big ideas) 

1st April

A new month - and it's nearly Easter - now the DIY stores would have you believe that you should be ripping the house apart or digging up the garden every bank holiday, but with snow forecast for Easter wouldn't you rather be reading a book...? And given the forecast I think A Face Full of Snow would be an excellent choice.

If you live in the York area why not pop along to my book signing at Cliffton Library on Tuesday 7th April from about 10.30am

  

Third in the Doodle series:

As Eric crashes his way down the ski slope, totally out of control, his only consolation is that Iver No-Idea isn't there to see.

Iver No-Idea and his dog HB are doodles. But they are no ordinary doodles – they're alive, and words and pictures come alive around them. Iver No-Idea has been learning to ski in a ski brochure. He's been practising for weeks and now he thinks he's an expert, and can't wait to tell Eric how it's done.

But when Iver No-Idea and HB are left behind, they find a way to gatecrash Eric's holiday. They arrive at just the wrong time, causing their own unique brand of trouble.

50 page paperback

Black and white line drawings

ISBN 978-0-9560232-3-0

Lost in a Book

I see that the last time I featured A Face Full of Snow in the Little Bookshop with big ideas it was in February... oh well, the weather obviously has no regard for the seasons, so here it is again propped on the display table at the front of the shop. :)

The magic of reading aloud...

What could be better on a dark and dingy Monday in February, than to get lost in a book...? Well, one thing maybe - to get lost in a book with a someone...

There's something very special about sharing a book with a child, entering a magical world together and making it yours.

Everyone interprets a book in their own way, and it becomes part of them - think of your favourite book from childhood - reading that book again will take you back to that moment in your life in the same way as a piece of music of a smell, and you'll feel like you're in that moment again. So isn't it a magical thing to share that moment, and become part of that memory.   

What age are picture books for?

I'm often asked what age my books are for... that has to be the hardest question of all, harder even than how long does it take to write a book...?

Picture books are enjoyed by a wide age range, from babies who enjoy the pictures and the sound of your voice, through toddlers who start to get the story, and love the repetition of being read a favourite story. As children grow they will understand a bit more of what is going on in the story, and ultimately enjoy reading along or reading in turns - they may be able to read a chapter book, but it doesn't mean they can't still enjoy a picture book. And they can still enjoy being read to...

Picture books are the perfect length for a bedtime story - what better way to end the day than to read the whole book...! 

Getting kids reading

I'm on a mission to get books into little hands - because the best way to give children a love of reading is to give them books from an early age.

I often get parents of 2 and 3 year olds saying that their child is too young for books, while another family will happily buy one for a baby under a year old - so what is the secret of these young book lovers?

It's simple, their parents have read to them from being tiny babies. It doesn't matter at that age whether they understand all that is being read to them, they enjoy the closeness of a being held and hearing the sound of your voice.

Choose a book with colour pictures for your baby to look at as you read, and by the time they graduate to stories without pictures their imagination will have learnt to paint the pictures in their heads as they read.

Many picture books are written on two levels - they need to entertain a small child as well as their parent, so choose a book that you can enjoy too... 

But I'm Not Sleepy - still my bestseller - it seems everyone has a Lucy who just doesn't want to go to sleep. But few will admit that they were just the same at that age...

Book signings and Christmas fairs... and sheep

It's that time of year again, and dates for Christmas fairs are filling up, mostly in November and into December, I probably should get back into sheep production to save a last minute rush - last year I seemed to spend every night in November knitting extra sheep to keep up with demand, and this year I have a few other hand made items in mind...

Sheep on the loose... this is what happens when Downboy the sheepdog isn't around