Author: chickenandfrog

Independent Booksellers Week 2015 has come to an end and what a week of celebration it’s been. We kicked off the fun last Saturday, with the launch of our Booksih Quiz (congrats to the lucky winners, we will get your prizes to you during the coming week). As well as the quiz, we took part in the Tiger Who Came to Tea Trail, which ran for the week. We hid said Tiger in local independent shops and sent the children off on a Tiger Hunt. It’s important to support other indies and the town; little events such as these make it possible and we love them.

Also on 20th June, we hosted a free Tiger Tea Party for our younger visitors, with face painting, stories, a craft and cake (of course). The atmosphere in the shop was fantastic!

There was a lovely surprise visitor for us this morning; Erica, aka Bookshop Blogger popped in, secret-shopper stylee. It was great to meet someone who is so passionate about real bookshops and we hope that she’s delighted with her jolly good choice of book,

Do check out Erica’s blog, linked above. Erica also supported Wivenhoe Books, Caxton Books and Red Lion Books with cheery visits. Superb.

And we were visited by one of our favourite authors ever, J.D.Irwin, who was picking up some books for a school visit later in the week. For those of you that haven’t read Julie’s books yet, do! They are great.

We chose not to run any specific events during the week, sticking to our usual storytimes and rhtyhm & rhyme sessions. However, we made up for it today. Alex English came along this afternoon for a pirate party, in celebration of her new picture book ‘Pirates Don’t Drive Diggers’. Alex shared her book with the children, signed books and showed the children how to make their very own Captain Hook hooks. There was also face painting, cake (cake features heavily at Chicken and Frog) and a bit of colouring in too. Yaar!

Here’s a little selction of pics which sum up #IBW2015 for us.

In the past two weeks I have learned so much about the processes that authors go through. I don’t want to give too much away because hopefully you’ll get to meet the two amazing authors that I’m writing about and I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you.

The first is Dave Cousins, an award winning writer of MG/YA fiction such as ‘Fifteen Days Without a Head’ and, more recently, the Charlie Merrick series for a younger readership.

Two weeks ago we spent a fun packed day with Dave, taking him on a mini tour of Brentwood, visiting Shenfield High School, Hogarth Primary and Larchwood Primary. Dave explained how the Charlie Merrick books came about. He uses a notebook to flesh out his ideas and whilst this is nothing new, Dave does something rather magical. He begins with a basic character, developing them through a series of interviews. It’s such a brilliant idea and one that I’m keen to borrow in Creative Writing Club. Once the characters are coming together well, the plot is built up around them. Illustration is key for Dave as he is a multi-talented man, illustrating and writing his creations; something that the new children’s laureate Chris Riddell, is bound to approve of.

This week we had the pleasure of introducing debut author Abi Elphinstone to the pupils of Ingatestone and Fryerning, Ingrave Johnstone and Kelvedon Hatch.

Abi reminded me of a method actor; she immerses herself in research, travelling across the U.K. (and beyond at times) in search of inspiration. Again, a notebook is key to the process, filled with copious notes, and also maps.I was delighted to see the maps as this is something that I encourage children in tuition and creative writing to do, so I must be doing something right!

Both authors write the most fantastic narratives which hook the reader in, making them desperate to finish but at the same time not wanting the adventure to come to an end.

If you are lucky enough to meet Dave or Abi, take the opportunity, especially if you have a passion for stories. Dave will be part of the Brentwood Children’s Lit Fest in 2016 for sure, and we’re hoping that Abi will be too…watch this space!

Today was the day of the Strawberry Fair on Shenfield Common – a great day out for the family, with strawberries (of course), fun fair rides and stalls galore, celebrating how great our town is. Although as Brentwood-ites we love the Strawberry Fair, as shopkeepers it usually results in a pretty quiet day, which is not so great. Not so this year. I am pleased to report that even though the weather was misbehaving, the Strawberry Fair was busy and so were we!

The reason for our great day? Two words. Tor Freeman. Well actually, six words: Tor Freeman and Jude (Tor’s mum). Tor is a multi talented author and illustrator, who very kindly agreed to spend some time at Chicken and Frog, reading stories, searching for hidden items in Digby Dog and making hats (see below),

I think you’ll agree that Tor looks particularly fetching in her Digby hat – the ears make it!

You can just see Tor’s lovely mum to the left of the photo. Jude was on hand with her crafty skills too, creating Digby ears and coming to the rescue with split pins when the need arose.

The Digby Dog books are a work of pure joy, with a super story following the life of the lovable Digby, as well as a ‘search and find’ activity running throughout. Perfect for bedtime or car journeys.

We stock a range of Tor’s books, so pop in to see them for yourselves, or follow Tor’s link above to check out her website.

Tamsyn Murray is amazeballs. If you don’t believe me, here’s photographic evidence:

See, I told you. Praise indeed from one of our Book Clubbers don’t you think? But why is Tamsyn ‘amazeballs’? Well, there are sooo many reasons, but here’s our top 5:

1. She can lick her own elbow!

2. She is a self-taught balloon animal creator.

3. Plate spinning is easy peasy for Tamsyn.

4. Decorating of cakes is yet another of Tamsyn’s talents.

5. Tamsyn is a fantastic author!

You have no idea how tricky it was to limit that list to just 5.

Tamsyn came in yesterday to share the first of a new series of books with us…and to decorate cupcakes too! Why the cupcakes? Because Cassidy (from Completely Cassidy) is in search of a talent for her schools’ talent show. To understand how Cassidy would have felt, Tamsyn tried her hand at a whole host of new pastimes, from hula hooping to plate spinning. And she discovered that she’s actually pretty good at cake decorating, amongst other things. Not only did we get a visit from a great author, we also had a cake decorating 101 session, with the following results:

We also learned how to spin plates, create balloon dogs and swords, try desperatley to lick our own elbows and find out what’s in store for Cassidy next. All of our visitors had a brillaint time with Tamsyn and can’t wait for Completely Cassidy: Star Reporter, which is due for publication on 1st July.

Last week Ruth Fitzgerald joined us for a spot of origami cat making, reading from her new book Emily Sparkes and the Friendhsip Fiasco and the signing of books. It was a fab afternoon. Ruth is a very patient origami teacher. Here she is in action:

As if Ruth hadn’t worked hard enough, she also popped into Creative Writing, encouraging children to develop their ideas and sharing her experiences as an author. We are eagerly awaiting the publication of book number 2, Emily Sparkes and the Competition Calamity, on 2nd July.

About two weeks ago we received this invitation:

I know, I know! How awesome is that? So, last night, myself and Mr Frog went into the big smoke. On a school night too. We live on the edge.

Now, I am sure that I don’t need to tell you about J.K.Rowling or her rather successful series of Harry Potter books. Over the years, Harry has been translated into 77 different languages, with illustrated front covers from a talented array of artists.

However, what we saw last night was something extraordinarily special. Jim Kay has been commissioned to create full colour, highly illustrated editions of Harry Potter and last night we got to have a sneak preview of said artwork. For those of you who have not been lucky enough to come across Jim before hop over to his website. Amongst many great achievements, Jim won the Kate Greenaway Medal for his illustrations of Patrick Ness’s ‘A Monster Calls’ in 2012. Despite the fact that Jim is immensely talented, he was genuinely pleased, even relieved, that the response was overwhelmingly positive. The detail of each picture adds an extra layer of brilliance to this already iconic book.

This re-imagined world is perfect for the avid fan, as well as readers who are entering Harry’s world for the first time. Publication is set for 6th October 2015, with a RRP of £30. The finished book will be hard backed, with colour illustrations on each spread – glorious!

 If you would like to pre-order this gem, get in touch.