Brentwood's very own independent bookshop and tuition centre!
Author: chickenandfrog
The independent children's bookshop and tuition centre in the heart of Brentwood, Essex.
Owned and run by Mr Frog & Mrs Chicken (happily married book-nerds), with the sole aim of bringing high quality books and tuition to our community.
We have just finished Book Club for November and it was a real circus! Our chosen title was The Enemy Within, by newly published author Gary Nott.
I don’t want to give too much away, as this is a mystery with many a twist and turn. But I will tell you that it’s set during one summer holiday in the 1970s; there’s romance (not too much), crimes to solve and firm friendships made, all within the space of one hectic school break.
The Book Clubbers absolutely loved The Enemy Within, as you can see from this 5 star review by Julia (aged 11).
The Book Clubbers got to ask Gary questions about the life of an author, as well as getting their book signed, which is always a treat,
We’re looking forward to Gary’s next book, which is a collection of original short stories. Watch this space for an update.
We welcomed another author into Chicken and Frog today. Billy Coughlan is a local author, who has had her first picture book, Not Without My Whale, published with Maverick Books. We’re very please to say that another book is due on the shelves in 2017.
Not Without My Whale is a super, gentle book, about coping with daunting situations. It’s a great tale for starting discussions about trying out new things – thankfully Arnold has his whale, as well as a very resourceful friend in Dora.
Billy really worked hard today, sharing her story with three groups of children, including our Creative writing Club. Each session was highly interactive, with actions and cheeky sound effects!
We also found out a lot of interesting whale facts, including the fact that they can hear each other from 500 miles away and that the Cuvier’s Beak whale is one of the smelliest creatures in the ocean! Did you know that a Blue Whale’s tongue is as big as an elephant, or that its heart is the size of a car? Neither did we until this afternoon.
Thank-you to Billy (and to her family for letting us borrow her)- we had a brilliant time and are looking forward to seeing her again soon.
Billy is keen to visit schools in the New Year, so if you’re interested in booking her, just pop in or email us.
Three years! Can you believe it? We are so grateful to our wonderful family, friends, customers and community for making the past three years incredibly enjoyable.
How did we celebrate? Well, with cake of course! Thanks to Wootton Wonder Cakes for this fabulous creation:
There were stories, lots of visitors and Alice in Wonderland balloons too. It may not be very rock and roll, but it’s jolly good fun.
The White Rabbit visited Mi NeniHere’s our special guest at Piccola
Here’s to the very busy year that we have planned. Brentwood Children’s Literary Festival here we come!
Last week we had the pleasure of taking the legend that is Faustin Charles into Larchwood Primary School.
Faustin came across as a quiet, almost shy man. However, once he was in front of an audience of children, Faustin’s natural gift for storytelling came pouring out. He explained to the children that he wasn’t go to read his book, but rather that he was going to tell it and he certainly did.
There were sound effects, exaggerated movements, voice changes and uproars of laughter from the enthralled audience. And once Faustin had told The Selfish Crocodile, he enabled the children to re-enact what they had just watched. It was a real joy to see.
Credit to the extremely well behaved children from Larchwood (some of whom have only been in school for a couple of weeks) and the incomparable skills of Faustin Charles.
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…
We have signed copies of Mac’s books in store.
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.
Signed copies are available in store
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.
Hello all, sorry it’s been quiet on the festival front. We’ve been very busy, just behind the scenes. Firstly, we’d like to give a heartfelt public thank-you to the following organisations for their kind support:
The following sponsorship packages are available to businesses and organisations who would like to get involved.
£150 : All companies who support us will have their logo included in all of the festival literature, which will be sent out borough wide (schools, libraries, children’s centres etc), as well as further afield, to neighbouring boroughs and beyond. In addition, your logo will be on the website, linking to your site.
£300: Your literature will be made available at all of our events, as well as the above.
£450: Each company will receive a free family pass, plus a signed book from their chosen event, as well as all of the above.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss the festival further, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Yesterday we had a roaringly great afternoon with new author Naomi Burman-Shine. Naomi’s award-winning book Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur is a boldly illustrated picture book (illustrations from Callum Grant), following the tale of Stonely on his quest for the perfect pet dino.
The mix of a fast paced rhythm, simple rhymes and humour, makes this book a pleasure to share with children – either one to one or a whole class.
Naomi’s book is available right now at Chicken and Frog!
We run a Summer School for Larchwood Primary School. The pupils come along for 2 days a week, to keep on top of their learning through the long summer break. As a teacher I recognise that 6 or 7 weeks can be far too long a hiatus for many, causing quite a ‘dip’. As a parent, I recognise that 6 or 7 weeks can be tricky in terms of keeping them busy and not becoming bankrupt!
We are keen that when the pupils come for Summer School they see it as a treat, as something to look forward to, rather than school during their holidays! So, we aim to do things a little differently, with highly interactive sessions, tailor made to suit the needs of a small group. We use Lego (of course) for maths projects, which encourages children to explore ideas on a more practical level.
Last week we ran a media day for the group. Newspapers were cut up and discussed at length – what makes a balanced report, how do newspapers sell, what makes an effective headline…and so on. We also looked at film reviews, before writing our own. It was a very busy day!
To follow up, we were visited by Piers Meyler from the Brentwood Gazette and Essex Chronicle. Piers bravely took on a lot of tricky questions from the group, including ‘Have you ever missed a deadline?’ and ‘Have you ever written something that you shouldn’t have?’
Trying out short hand.Short hand decoded.
The group had a great afternoon with Piers, finding out how a newspaper works and what goes on behind the scenes. You never know, perhaps there’s a budding journalist or two from Larchwood?
Chicken and Frog Bookshop 
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