Exciting news! The website for the Brentwood Children’s Literary Festival is now live!
There will be regular updates, so keep your eyes on it.
We would like to say a very big thank-you to Laurie at Local by Social for her amazing work creating just what we wanted.
Also thanks to Sharon at Bee Spotted for the logo.
What with the summer holidays, we haven’t taken an author into a school for a couple of months. And then, two came along at once!
On Wednesday 16th the rather brilliant Mac Barnett visited Doddinghurst Infant School for an hour or so. We were delighted when Walker Books contacted us to ask if we would like to work with Mac during his UK book tour. So, we thought about it for about a nano-second, before we jumped up and down (very professionally) with excitement and set a date before he could change his mind.
Mac’s books are full of humour, with plots that make children ask questions, often whilst roaring with laughter. A personal favourite of ours is Battle Bunny – it is a product of genius between Mac and Jon Scieszka. Battle Bunny is on a mission and it’s not all happily ever after.
Mac wasn’t really scared… |
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There was much laughter, followed by book signing and posing for photographs. All in all, a great time was had by all.
On Friday, we shifted gear to welcome newly published author, Tasha O’Neill, to Brentwood. We hadn’t met before; as booksellers taking an unknown into schools can be a little daunting. We knew that Tasha’s book, Charlotte Stone and the Children of the Nymet was a worthy read, but that doesn’t guarantee a successful event.
However, there was no need for trepidation, as Tasha’s natural way with the children and endless knowledge of the worlds she has created, made the sessions interesting for all. We are planning to work with Tasha again in the near future and can’t wait to find out what’s in store for Charlotte Stone as her adventure continues.
Next week, Faustin Charles will be spending the afternoon at Larchwood Primary School, so watch this space for an update.
What does that mean? It means that James Patterson loves bookshops! And one of the bookshops he loves is Chicken and Frog.
Bestselling author and bookshop devotee James Patterson has announced 69 successful independent bookshops across the UK and Ireland to be allocated a share of £110,000 in grants, following his latest pledge in April 2015 to donate £250,000 over the next year.
Since the first round of applications in September 2014, this third announcement takes the total allocated by James to over £360,000 across 210 independent bookshops to date. £140,000 is still left to allocate in the next round of applications with the successful bookshops announced by James Patterson next year.
Any independent bookshop with a dedicated children’s book section was eligible for a grant of between £250 and £5,000. Patterson is committed to bringing attention to the important contributions of independent bookshops and he is especially concerned with inspiring children to become lifelong readers.
We will be putting our grant to very good use, as it will go towards costs for the Brentwood Children’s Literary Festival, meaning that tickets can be sold for just £3 each, with under 3s attending events for free.
Our thanks go to James Patterson and the Booksellers Association, for their tireless support of bookshops.
Chicken and Frog Bookshop 
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