Trying My Hand at Mime

Never let it be said I'm not game for a challenge...

After Friday's diagnosis (see Croaking to a Halt), I figured I'd have to cancel this Saturday's event: 'Reading Heroes', a big Family Day in Ashton Town Hall, where I was doing 3 storytelling sessions. But I really hate letting people down, and my presence there had been won as a prize, so I felt doubly guilty.

Then I thought some more, and realised I am much more an illustrator than an author, and could still draw...

I never thought they'd go for it: it did sound a bit mad, but I offered to bring all my props and direct operations, in a Marcel Marceau kind of way, if a librarian would assist with the actual reading. I could draw pictures on a flip chart to match the story, and we'd play it by ear.

The organiser said, 'Why not?'. We had a plan.

Marcel Marceau didn't blow his nose quite as loudly but, that apart, it didn't turn out too bad. Librarian Ruth Lomas was a star, diving in at the deep end to read several stories she'd not seen before, as well as singing my made-up songs! I played commander-in-chief, whispering in Ruth's ear. The kids took it all in good part and seemed to have fun.

The day had an added bonus: I met excellent comic artist SmS (yes, that's his name), also there to draw with the children. He even got them 'life drawing' the rather scary men wandering around in Starwars stormtrooper outfits! Plus I met Sam the Bubbleman: self-styled bubbleologist, proud owner of a Blue Peter badge, and in the Guinness book of records for the biggest bubble ever! I got to watch him put first a small child, then a big child and then a 6ft man INSIDE a big bubble:

What a strange and interesting day!

Bookaboo: Don't Miss It!

If you haven't already seen Bookaboo, the new children's series on CITV, and most importantly, if you haven't yet seen the totally gorgeous Robson Green read Class Two at the Zoo, you need to get yourself sorted out. What are you thinking of?!?

The series was launched on World Book Day, with Meatloaf reading one of my favourites: The Lamb Who Came To Dinner (he does it brilliantly, you have to see it). Then there was a new story every day, each read by a different celeb.

They've added lots of funny animation effects to my illustrations (I love the slithering anaconda, and the way they've made his crazed eyes whirl hypnotically) and Robson Green really brings out the humour, with his wonderful, straight-faced delivery.

The series includes 13 stories, one a day, in rotation, repeating all the stories, at least a couple of times.

And do you know what? I've noticed it's made a huge difference in the bookshops - Class Two at the Zoo is appearing on the shelves all over the place, which is great, great, GREAT!!

POSTSCRIPT: There is now a fabulous 2nd series of Bookaboo, in which I am lucky enough to have yet another of my books featured: Stinky! this time read by Maisie Smith from Eastenders. Yahoo!

Smudge Visits the Vet

Not really, unless I qualify as puppet-vet. But she was badly in need of a bit of TLC. I have been using the glorified sock-puppet of dear Smudge, that my clever Mum made for me, for... goodness, about 8 years! No wonder she's looking the worse for wear (that's Smudge, not you Mum).

One of my favourite books to read aloud to younger children is Smudge's Grumpy Day. It's such a sweet story, but has a wonderfully naughty edge that I can really bring out, by getting Smudge herself to speak the dialogue and act certain bits out.

Unfortunately, I noticed last week that she had lost all her whiskers on one side, her skirt was falling to bits, and she was in dire danger of having one eye drop off (can you imagine the trauma to those unsuspecting 4 year olds!? Perhaps that's why some authorities insist of £5million liability insurance...)


Of course, one problem is that children like to stroke her, which takes it's toll, but mostly it's being crammed into a bag and then squashed into a suitcase with a lot of heavy books that's done for her.

So, when I got back from the doctors yesterday, I spent the rest of the morning with scissors, double-sided tape and tissue paper, seeing if I could give Smudge some much-needed beauty treatment. She already had a new skull last year (cardboard and sticky-tape), she's on her third set of whiskers and I seem to have completely lost the felt tuft of hair from her head somewhere along the line. Poor Smudge.

Still, she's looking more rosy-cheeked already and is off to fight another day. I might be in a right old mess, but at least Smudge is fighting fit!

Croaking to a Halt...

I have been away from home again towards the end of this week, at Brayton College in Selby. Actually, I was booked to visit a couple of years ago, but we had to cancel as there were massive floods everywhere: Sheffield had helicopters pulling people off the tops of flooded buildings!

I really enjoyed spending the day with older children for a change. I was working with 12 & 15 years olds. The actual projects I did were not hugely different to normal, just pitched a little differently.


It was lovely to see small knots of kids hang around between sessions, keen to ask questions and to get a closer look at my sketchbook. As usual, I'd shown them the train pics I'd done on the way there, which almost always gets them interested.

I started the day with a PowerPoint talk, then did a series of illustration workshops. Unfortunately I've caught a cold somewhere along the line (occupational hazard - ask any teacher) and my voice got smaller and smaller, then deeper and deeper as the day went on. By the last session I was just a croak, and by the time I got home, I had lost my voice entirely!

Last time this happened, I ended up completely silent for over a week and had to cancel some visits. I spent last night frantically gargling with TCP, but this morning the doctor has said it's acute laryngitis, and there's nothing to be done, I just have to wait.

Gnash Gnaw Advance Copy

It's my week for nice surprises from the postman!

I just got the advance copy of the next new book: Gnash, Gnaw, Dinosaur!. The author and illustrator always get sent a copy of a new book a little in advance of publication, usually a week or two. This title isn't due for publication until June though, so the advance copy is much earlier than usual. Which is why it came as such a surprise.

Kingfisher (which is now part of Macmillan), have made a really lovely job of production: the colours are spot on and all the flaps are absolutely perfectly aligned, which can't be an easy matter, I'm sure. I hope Tony Mitton is as pleased as I am.

By the way, I want to apologise for being a bit sluggish with putting the two new books on my website, and updating the Funclub puzzles. You may remember that I am about to have the website redone (see Website Redesign). I might just wait until that's done, as one of the reasons for having it redesigned professionally (I did it all myself the first time), is to make it quicker and easier to add new stuff.

Bear with me!

Day in a Football Stadium!

I've been looking for something to top this post, but this is the only football illustration I can remember doing, from Spook School (they are ghost children, which is why the ball goes straight through him).

Anyway, I spent yesterday in Port Vale FC Stadium in Stoke on Trent. I wasn't playing football though, I was storytelling, in one of the premier boxes in the stadium, with an amazing view over the ground! It was a bit different to normal in other ways too: I was part of a 2-day extravaganza, offering all sorts of advice and free goodies to the local community.

My role was to encourage families to share stories with young children and, to help follow through, the organisers, the Children's & Young People's Services, gave one of my books free to every single child that attended. Isn't that brilliant!? I signed well over 400 books. Extraordinary.

The event was also to promote healthy eating, so there was loads of free food too. They were giving away all kinds of fruit, and even had a free smoothie bar! I'd had a bit of an early start to get there so, when I arrived, I was presented with a delicious muesli and yogurt breakfast, with peaches and honey - scrummy!

The day was quite hard work, as we had so many children coming through, but that just proved what a huge success the event was. Well done to everyone who helped: what a fabulous project!

And a big HELLO to all the boys and girls who came to see me!

By the way, these pencil sketches are people on the train there and back. I did a few more, but it was a bit frustrating - people kept moving half way through. How selfish!

Thank You!

A quickie...

I was just opening my post, while munching on my lunch (a cheese and beetroot sandwich, if you're interested). Mostly it was the usual boring stuff but, as I opened one envelope, a delicate fountain of glitter sprinkled out (fortunately not onto my sandwich!).

Inside, there was a cheque (yippee!) but also this lovely, spangly, thank you card from Houghton Primary School in Cambridgeshire, where I visited a while back.

I'm so glad you enjoyed my visit guys. And thank you too, for such a sweet thought!

Guess what? When I showed John, my husband, he said: 'Ask them to send chocolate next time"!!

Digby the Dyslexic Dinosaur

The postman has just bought me another lovely surprise (don’t you just love that?). I opened a fat envelope to discover my very own, signed copy of Digby the Dyslexic Dinosaur: a limited edition and really rather special…

Back in November last year, I did some workshops with dyslexic children from the SpLD Centre in Stafford (see Dyslexic Dinosaurs). They told me they were working on their own book, about a dyslexic dinosaur.

Coincidentally, I had just received a publisher’s mock-up of my Gnash, Gnaw, Dinosaur! book, so I read it to them (a bit exciting, as nobody else had seen it yet). We drew dinosaurs together and I showed them how to create movement and action. We had great fun and, a few days later, I got some lovely feedback from Janice Jay, the children’s teacher. And that was that.

Except, it turns out that it wasn’t. I am really chuffed that they remembered me and, now their book is finished, have sent me a copy! These are some of the illustrations done by the children.

It’s a really good story, all about how poor Digby is misunderstood. The other dinos in his class think that, just because he’s not good at spelling, he’ll be rubbish at everything else, but they are in for a BIG surprise!

Digby the Dyslexic Dinosaur is so good that, as you can see, the children were invited to present it at Stafford Town Hall. And here is Mrs Jay, reading the story aloud.

Well done everybody! I will treasure my copy of Digby and, to help say ‘thank you’, I am posting you a signed copy of my brand new book Stinky! - I hope you like it!

A Busy Week in Cheshire & Shrewsbury

As I mentioned earlier, I spent most of last week away from home again, visiting more schools.

I started with a day at Mostyn House School near Chester, in a beautiful old building, with the most extraordinary view, straight out across the sea. They actually have a moose, deer and tiger head mounted on the wall in the dining room! Then I travelled on to Shrewsbury for the Bookfest, where I visited 3 more schools over 2 days, finishing at Albrighton Junior's, where everyone was lovely.

It was quite hard work, as I did very full days, with most of the break times taken up with signing books for children, so I was on the go almost constantly each day. It was still good fun though. I consider myself very lucky to have found something, completely by accident, that I appear to be good at and really enjoy.

I am often asked how on earth I manage to sustain enough energy to keep going all day, as I like to keep it pretty lively, with a lot of silliness and jumping about. I never feel tired though: I run on adrenaline. Mind you, when I stop, it's like pulling a plug and I have to be really careful not to fall asleep on the train!

One highlight this week, was getting to spend a couple of evenings with the lovely Ian Whybrow (author of Stinky!), as we were both doing events for Shrewsbury Bookfest at the same time. We were really well looked after and put up in a fabulous B&B (thanks Sophie!), and had dinner together with the organisers both evenings. One of the downsides to my away from home visits, is the saddo 'dinners-for-one' in the corner of restaurants, so being taken out was a lovely bonus!

No Internet!!!

Picture me last Tuesday...shaking my little, girly fists, gnashing my teeth and stamping my feet: I'd had no Internet all day long. Grrrrrrr! Turned out it was a problem with Virgin Broadband, exclusively in my postcode area, which somehow made it EVEN WORSE.

It was particularly bad timing, as I had just packed a big suitcase and was off away later that afternoon, taking a train to Liverpool, ready for visiting a school the following morning, and then straight on to do a couple of days at the Shrewsbury Festival. So this was my last chance to sort out those last-minute emails.

Of course, I couldn’t even moan effectively, because I couldn't post this blog either!! I decided I would right it anyway and then post it as soon as I got back: you can’t waste a good whinge - Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

POSTSCRIPT: I got back from Shrewsbury on Friday night and, guess what? STILL no Internet. Aaaaaaaaaahh!! Imagine: a beautiful, sunny, Saturday morning... what am I doing? I am stuck in front of my computer, while the techy folk at Virgin Helpline talk me through all sorts of diagnostic whatsits and thingybobs for 3 WHOLE HOURS!!! While I am talking on the phone, poor John is wedged under the desk with the dust and fluff, plugging and unplugging cables to routers and modems...

The upshot was, as you can see, that we got it back online, but not until late last night. And it came back all by itself because, though they swore it wasn't, it was a problem at Virgin's end all along! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

RIP Mr Strongmouse

I am feeling a little bit upset at the moment. I had a call from someone trying to order copies of Mr Strongmouse and the Baby. They’d been told it was unavailable, so I phoned Orchard Books. Turns out, it has gone out of print and… there won’t be a reprint! It’s really sad, as people still regularly tell me Mr Strongmouse is one of their favourites, but unfortunately that’s the way it goes in modern times.

Apparently I should have had a letter but, guess what? Same old story: when they checked it out, I’d been overlooked, and only the author was told. It’s a hard life, being the poor old illustrator!

So, short of the public getting up-in-arms and storming the offices of Orchard Books, waving pitchforks and burning torches (hmm, I guess that’s not all that likely…) it’s effectively the end of Mr S.

I’ll still read him regularly in schools, as he makes for some fun workshops, and so try to keep his spirit alive, but I can’t help wiping away a little, mouse-sized tear…

Sketchbooks and Children's Festival Events

Me again. You may wonder how come I am posting this week, when I am supposed to be so busy travelling the world (well, England anyway). Aha! Well, sneakily, I set up some posts in advance again.
I was very bad and, instead of doing all the sensible things I desperately needed to do, like writing invoices and sorting back admin, I 'wasted' valuable chore-time, setting up my blogs for this week. Slap wrists.

Anyway, as you read this, I am in Shrewsbury doing storytellings and creative writing workshops for their Children's Bookfest. It's a little special, as it's the festival's 10th anniversary (I have been promised cake!)

These drawings are of course from last week. I was rather pleased with this one below, although I got very tetchy doing it - I was sitting just up from the door to the buffet car and, every couple of seconds, another person would walk by on their way to get some breakfast.

Sometimes they even queued between me and my victims: particularly irritating, as I never know whether this might be my last few seconds before the subject moves!


You can see more of my train sketches here or watch a film of me talking about my sketchbook work.

Stinky is Here!!

On Monday morning, the postman bought me a lovely surprise - the advance copies of my brand new book, Stinky! Hurrah! It should be in the shops any day (I always get my copies slightly early).

I finished the main artwork for this book way back in September 2007 (yes, really). It was originally going to be published last year, but it was put back for one reason or another, so it's great to finally have it.

I last talked to you about Stinky when we finalised the proofs (see The Proofs Are Here) and tweaked the cover design, to make the background colours less heavy (see Stinky Cover).

As you can see though, the colour of the text has also changed since then.

I like the darker secondary text, which shows up well on the now paler pink and lilac. I have to say though, I think I prefer the yellow title myself, as it seems a more natural 'stink' colour, and also ties in with the spots on the shorts and the tusks. When I get time, I will ask why it was changed.

In the meantime, if you would like a signed copy of the very funny Stinky!, whose poor little life is made a misery by pesky flies (£10.99 plus postage), please email me. I will add the personalised dedication of your choice and a little warthog drawing.

Looked After Children: Illustrator Event

At first, I wasn't sure about doing last Sunday's gig, squeezed as it was between two very busy weeks of touring schools up and down the country. My long-suffering Hubby is always telling me off for taking on too much. I'm not very good at turning things down.

I'm so pleased though that I threw caution to the wind! I took a train across to Stockport's Dialstone Library, where I was fed a yummy buffet lunch, before spending the afternoon with a group of local 'looked-after' children and their carers. I chatted to them about my books, read them Mr Strongmouse and the Baby and showed them the fairground artwork:

The librarians gave everyone juice and biccies, and some children had their faces painted, then a few joined me for some drawing. It was a lovely afternoon, really well organised by the wonderful Stockport Library Service (no, they really are). They even gave every child a goody bag, including a £10 book token - how generous is that?

Borders were supposed to be supplying my books for the event, but something went wrong somewhere along the line, so I took my trusty suitcase full, and I'm happy to say that it was a lot lighter on the way home (ya, boo, sucks, Borders!).


I drew this man and these two Oriental women on the way home. The train was packed and I felt a bit guilty turfing someone out of my reserved seat, but hey - how else could I draw?

The sketch at the top of this post was a real challenge by the way - I spent the whole journey, all the way to Stockport, drawing it. Those Tesco's bags were something else!! One would have been a test enough, but two together... Yikes!

You can see more train sketches here.

A Slightly Lonely Birthday...

Sorry I've not been posting as regularly as usual, but I am out every day still, travelling on yet more trains (as you can see). I'm staying away from home 3 or 4 days a week at the moment, so no computer access.

I managed to see children from 12 different schools last week, plus I even worked this Sunday, with a group of 'looked-after children' in Stockport. It's been ridiculously busy, and I had to spend the night of my birthday, last Tuesday, all on my tod, in a hotel in Corby. It was full of men: an Electrical Engineering Products conference (whoopee!). But it's still been worth it.

Luckily, Tuesday in particular was really fun. I was at Oakway Primary in Wellingborough. The school had ordered several of my books in advance to work on with the kids, so everyone was really excited. Each year group had studied a different story and had made a truly magnificent display, with massive 3D animals hanging off the walls in the hall!! They've promised to send me photos.


The day was to celebrate the opening of their new library and I had the honour of cutting the ribbon. They also had a wonderful jazz singer working with the children. She had the whole school, plus parents, singing Ballin' The Jack, with all the actions - I had a grin that made my cheeks ache. I do love a good sing-song and I'm obviously not alone!

The children all made me these lovely birthday cards and gave me a little Oakway teddy to take home - thank you!


They also bought every single one of the books I had with me, which was extra nice, as I didn't have to carry them around for the rest of the week!

I finished my travels at the beautiful historic town of Oundle (where I was unfortunately too knackered to draw my surroundings). This is the last sketch of the week, done on the final leg home to Sheffield:

Author Visits to Schools: I'm Off Again Already!

I'm back on trains again...

Less exotic than Costa Rica, it's true, but I have been travelling around the UK all this week. No time for jet-lag: I was near Lincoln on Monday, in Dronfield on Tuesday, then straight across to Colwyn Bay in Wales for Wednesday, then in Leeds Thursday and Friday.

This is Ian, from the train to Wales - I promised to email him the drawing when I got home.

I have been working with school children, and we've had a great time, as usual. I get a real buzz from the kids' enthusiasm. It's been a bit of a struggle though, dragging myself out of bed for the early starts each morning (6am taxi to the station on Monday...) then every evening having to get myself sorted, ready for the next day.

I only got back from holiday last Saturday, and spent most of the Sunday going through the 200 emails lurking in wait for me!

This coming week will be even busier, as I also have Tuesday until Friday staying away from home. Poor John will think I've left him!

Lots of excellent opportunities for people sketching though. Hasn't this man got a great face? He kept almost perfectly still the whole time.

On the Friday train from Leeds I drew this man. He was very big (not fat, just big) and not only had a wonderfully lived-in face, but home-grown tattoos on his hands (LOVE and HATE fingers etc). I was a bit nervous about showing him, but the old man opposite me, who had been leaning across the table every few seconds to try and see, insisted. And 'Geoff from Hoyland' turned out to be really sweet and loved his portrait.

And who should be sitting opposite Geoff, but the man I painted on a train home from London in January:

So we said hello, and he told Geoff from Hoyland and the old man all about the Bookaboo recording, when we'd met up last (see Recording Studio), and once again I had a lovely, sociable journey, where 4 disparate people, who would normally have just stared blankly through each other, chatted away merrily. Sketching is so brilliant.

And finally, I really wanted to show you this one too, as I was so pleased with the simplicity of it: