World Book Day - School & Library Visits

Spring is a bit of a crazy time here. It's all to do with World Book Day. You might think that's only one day, but the events associated with it spread out over a whole month. 

Any good primary school should be aware of World Book Day. Most celebrate it by having a day of dressing up as book characters, or doing special projects. Many schools and libraries also invite an author or illustrator to visit for a day, which is where I come in...

Like the other authors and illustrators who do visits, I can only be in one place at a time (though I do my best to be in at least three places at once, most days!), so World Book Day itself gets booked up months in advance. Which is why schools and libraries have to be flexible about the dates and the events spread out on both sides of March 1st.

This year I thought bookings might be thinner, because of all the cut-backs, but in the end it seems I'm busier than ever, so I'm really grateful to have John here in the studio this time round, holding the fort and dealing with emails while I'm out and about strutting my stuff. 

The season started for me in earnest on Tuesday Feb 21st, with a day at Oldham Library in connection with the Picture This! exhibition, where I met 70 smashing Y3 children from Coppice Infants School in the morning and then did a lecture for local adults in the afternoon. 

Between then and Thursday March 22nd I am booked solid, travelling all over the country, with only 3 working days in the studio to catch my breath (I'm even working one weekend).

Which is why blog posts might well be a little thin on the ground for the next three weeks. I'll ask John to scan in some of the train sketches I do on my travels, like these ones, from my first couple of days on the trail, then I can pop them onto the blog when I get a breather at weekends. 

Apart from that, I guess I'll see you at the other end!