First proper rain in over a month - the cats were thrilled!!

 

First proper rain in over a month - the cats were thrilled!!

 

All Ollie needs is a box - because a box can be anything... so let's go sailing...

 

All Ollie needs is a box - because a box can be anything... so let's go sailing...

 

Sending books out in style...

Captain is very pleased with the new packaging, he found it discarded on a chair, and instantly took up residence.

But what was the packaging from...? My new bright orange envelopes - because I want my books to arrive in style and make a statement. These are just for the Doodle series at present - but I've ordered some larger ones for the picture books, which will be here in a few days...!

 

So why should you order this book? What better way to start the summer holidays than a bright orange envelope dropping through your letter box, addressed to your child, and containing a book. A book full of imagination, about a doodle called Iver No-Idea and his dog HB. 

Step into a world where words and pictures come alive and interact with the real world... 

#LostinaBook

Is the internet a giant game of hide and seek?

Congratulations you found me! 

The internet is starting to feel like a giant game of hide and seek, and I seem to be an expert at hiding...

I sell most of my books at book signings, where people are delighted to meet a real live author, as if I'm some rare and endangered species.

Please visit my bookshop, have a rummage around and read the blurbs.

There's my new book for adults - where I share probably more than I should about how I got outnumbered by cats - is it normal to hiss back at your cat...? She was certainly surprised!

But most of my books are for kids - from picture books to share, to the Doodle series to either read aloud or leave new readers to discover alone.

Jump into a book and find a new friend. Talk about it with an old friend... read yourself into places you never thought you'd go...

Summer reading, and teaching kids a love of books

It's the summer holidays at last - time to read a book, read aloud and share books...

I still remember one summer holiday many years ago when reading finally clicked for me. It was The Faraway Tree, yes like many of my generation I was brought up on Enid Blyton, but The Faraway Tree was the first one that I devoured by myself. Reading had been a bit of a struggle, not helped, I suspect by Janet and John books which were surely written to put everyone off reading...?

But once I started reading The Faraway Tree the struggle of reading was left far behind, and I was part of the story, going up that tree and meeting the magical people who lived in it. And that's what a truly good book does - it welcomes you in and the characters become your friends. 

And since then I've read many books, and some even envelop me in the same way as I enjoyed that summer, but not all... I've learnt that not every book will be one that I want to live in - but every so often it happens, and when it does it's worth the search: and it's not always the high brow or the classics, right now it's Bridget Jones Beyond all Reason, which is surely a modern day classic. I've loved the films and read the books after the films, and now there's the new book: Bridget Jones Mad about the boy, which is sitting on my bookshelf waiting...