Author: chickenandfrog

Last month we received an intriguing email from Laura Givens at Book Trust. For those of you who don’t know, Book Trust is a charity who are passionate about reading with families. They provide books and support to families all over the U.K., via a nurturing model which builds up a love of reading within a family setting.

Each year Bookstart holds an Independent Book Selection panel meeting in order to select the best possible titles in children’s literature for their Bookstart packs and this year, we were invited to be on the panel of people who select the books for each pack..

This year there are four selections – universal packs, Bookstart Baby (0-12 months) and Bookstart Treasure (3-4 years), as well as targeted packs, Bookstart Corner (12-24 months) and Additional Needs packs (0-5 years).

It was a really interesting experience and one which we feel honoured to have been a part of. The criteria for choosing the books is very specific, and so as an adult who reads a lot, you can not be guided purely by your own preference. We got to meet lots of other professionals within the world of books, including Wendy Cooling who started it all, fellow bookseller Jo de Guia from Victoria Park Books in Hackney, parent bloggers, children centre co-ordinators, the new CEO Diana Gerald and more – sorry, I’m terrible with names!

We’re looking forward to finding out what the final selection will be…watch this space!

This week the annual London Book Fair returned, but to an all new location: Olympia. And it was huge! Don’t get me wrong, it’s never been a small event, however Olympia felt almost overwhelming, especially as I have no sense of direction whatsoever!

Luckily, the children’s publishers were all housed together, upstairs, which meant that once we’d got past the crowds, it was relatively straightforward to find what we wanted. Adding to that, I had Mr Frog with me, which helped greatly. The poor man spent the majority of our visit saying things like ‘No we’ve already been that way,’ in a slightly exasperated tone.

As usual, there was a great amount to see. With new books hitting the shelves constantly, it was exciting to see the actual books, rather than just a catalogue. Interestingly, many of the stall holders seemed surprised to meet real-life booksellers. One lovely woman actually exclaimed ‘Are you real booksellers, with an actual shop? Oh, how lovely.’ Although it made us chuckle at the time, on reflection, that’s a bit sad. Partly because we are a dwindling breed and partly because booksellers don’t seem to be taking up the opportunity to visit this great event. It is true that much of what happens at LBF is geared up for international trade and publishing, but there’s still a great deal to learn for us. The fact that you get to see the books, meet up with publishers, authors and fellow booksellers, makes the experience well worth it. Even if the journey is a nightmare, due to lorries hitting bridges and trains being cancelled. But we won’t dwell on that…

For us, the highlight was the children’s publishers event, where very brave (and accomplished) representatives from a plethora of publishing houses had just four minutes each to dazzle us with hot new titles for the year ahead. The time keeper was firm but fair, meaning that we got to hear about so many wonderful titles in just over an hour. Not only that, but we met up with the sparkly Laura Dockrill, who has asked to come back for a visit very soon – watch this space!

As an aside, it was truly lovely to see Laura again. Firstly, because she’s great and secondly, because we always worry that authors are just being polite when they say that they’ve enjoyed their experience with us at Chicken and Frog! So, it’s brilliant when an author genuinely wants to come back for another event. Maybe it’s the chocolate that we bribe them with…

Mr Frog was particularly pleased when he spotted this gem from Stephanie Blake,

And I was more than happy with this tea room, in addition to the huge amount of glorious Alice books etc that are coming this year, to mark the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece. I shall leave you with this image. Here’s to #LBF2016 – although I think that the organisers need a jolly good rest first.

For those of you who may not know, we run a monthly book club at Chicken and Frog. One of the things we really love and appreciate about the club is that, whilst facilitated by myself, we are under no illusion that the children run the show. That means that they get to vote on the titles read and steer the discussion each month. It has lead to an eclectic mix of books, from The Swiss Family Robinson to The Templeton Twins.

This month the group chose Pamela Butchart’s award winning ‘The Spy Who Loved School Dinners‘. Hurrah! Anything published by Nosy Crow is a sure-fire hit as far as we’re concerned. Married with an impressive Blue Peter Award, everyone was delighted to read this month’s choice.

As if this wasn’t enough (and it would have been), Pamela very kindly offered to take part in a live Tweet throughout the Book Club meeting, answering questions as we went along. To say that the group (and myself) were excited, is a huge understatement.

You could trawl through our Twitter feed, but that would be rather laborious, so just in case you missed it, here’s how the Tweeting went:

QUESTION 1

Hi @Pamela_Butchart Our first question is what influenced you to write this particular book?

@chickenandfrog I love writing about all the things that happen at school that teachers and grown-ups don’t always notice. It’s fun!

The shepherd’s pie was SO BAD at my school…someone HAD to write about it! 🙂

A love of primary school, smelly shepherd’s pie at school dinners & my French-exchange friend, Mathilde!

QUESTION 2

@Pamela_Butchart Super answers! How did you feel when you win the Blue Peter Award?

@chickenandfrog It was such an honour. I’m over-the-moon about it! And I got a Blue Peter BADGE!

Honestly, I felt SHOCKED! My hands were shaking and everything. I couldn’t believe it!

QUESTION 3

@Pamela_Butchart Why did you choose young primary school children for your main characters?

@chickenandfrog Because they’re hilarious! I love the weird (and completely dramatic) explanations they come up with to explain going-ons 🙂

It’s the BEST age!

When I was that age, if something slightly strange happened at school me & my friends would come up with completely…

…over-the-top explanations for what was going on…& we believed them! Imagination runs WILD in primary school. I love it!

QUESTION 4

@Pamela_Butchart Did you get a say on the front cover? Do you think it’s had an effect on boy readership?

@chickenandfrog Yes – everyone @NosyCrow works really closely together. I’ve involved at every stage – it’s great fun 🙂

Pink on the cover doesn’t seem to have put boys off (certainly none that I’ve met). The cover is bright & eye- catching…

…and the spot-uv looks fantastic! Tom and Nicola (Nosy Crow designer) are amazing, they really are. I love the covers!

We love the covers too!

@thomasflintham pictures and covers are a vital part of what makes the book work. He illustrates the story so well!

QUESTION 5

How did you come up with the chapter names @Pamela_Butchart ?

@chickenandfrog They just popped into my head – they were probably the easiest things to do! When I’m in ‘the zone’ they just seem to…

…pop out of my head!

QUESTION 6

On a scale of 1-10 how much did you 💜 writing the book? And how long did it take to write?

10 for sure! It took about a month to write the 1st draft. It was great fun 🙂

QUESTION 7

We love the illustrations and the book! 5 out of 5 from us👍@Pamela_Butchart

Aww, thanks everyone! And thank you so much for letting me be part of your Book Clubbers meeting today 🙂 It was great xxx

As you can see, Pamela answered the question pinged at her in great detail, which was fantastic. Here are some comments from our Book Clubbers, following this unique experience:

‘We were at Book Club and we were told that we could ask Pamela Butchart some questions on Twitter. We were very lucky to have been able to talk to her! She answered a lot of questions. I enjoyed her book.’

‘We had a Tweet-off with author Pamela and it was fun.’

‘We were very lucky that we got to ask Pamela Butchart questions about her book.’

Next month we will be reading and reviewing Edward Lear’s ‘Book of Nonsense’, but who knows, perhaps we’ll get to take part in another live Tweet with an author soon!

The past week has been sooo busy – again. Being a bookseller in the current climate means that you have to diversify in order to keep going. The mark up on books isn’t good, in fact it’s poor. So, we offer other bits and bobs along the way, in order to survive. Some of the added extras are unpaid, but that’s ok, because we get to spread the word about reading.

I thought I’d run through how this past week went, so that you can gain an insight about bookselling. You never know, it may be something you’ve been pondering…

On Monday and Tuesday afternoon I went off to Larchwood Primary School, to teach a target group of Year 6 pupils, who are all preparing for the dreaded SATs. This is lovely for me, as it’s all the positive aspects of teaching without the paperwork. Hurrah. Also, the pupils there are great, so it’s a real pleasure.

On Wednesday a visit was paid to Brentwood Ursuline, to speak to the girls about recommended books for their Readathon. They were so enthusiastic about books, it was inspiring. Their library is beautiful too, so it’s always a pleasure to visit. I’ll be back there in a month or so, to talk about the Carnegie.

A rest on Thursday? No. I was invited to spend a little time at Shenfield High School, for their day with BBC Radio Essex. A charming group of students interviewed me about books – wonderful. I have to say, their library is a superb place to be. It’s quite noisy, in a busy-hive-of-industry way and just a great space to spend time.

So, a rest on Friday? Well, no. On Friday we delivered training for some of the SEPT team, who work with young adults with a range of mental health issues. The team were keen and very happy to join in, making it a loud, productive morning.

Saturday – a chance to take it easy? Not exactly, although the great author Teresa Heapy did the majority of the hard work, reading stories, singing, puppeting (I know it’s not a real word) and so on. She was fab – see previous post. Creative Writing Club took place in the afternoon.

On top of all that, we sold books, ran tuition sessions Monday to Friday, took bookings for birthday parties, recommended books to visiting teachers, read stories, sourced books for a school, ordered stock, met with reps…and at some point I think we slept.

That’s it. An average week in the life of booksellers. We’re off for an afternoon nap!

From time to time we are contacted about new products that designers would like us to stock. Now, we’ve tried other bits and bobs in the shop a few times, but aren’t overly successful, so we usually respond with a quick, but polite no thank-you.

However, this week we have been approached by the creator of Little Genius Crafts and it was not quite so easy to say no. The product is so lovely, it left us in a quandary. So what is it? Basically, it’s an interactive play set which includes:

Each kit includes the following:

• Everything you need to make a theme based collage (i.e. a strong board card collage background with a covering film so that the kits are reusable; and two sheets of strong board card shapes to place on the collage background to make the themed scene)
• A colouring-in sheet of the completed collage
• A bag of fun facts about the theme
• A very informative educational resource packed with ideas on how the kits can be used to support early learning across EYFS and Key Stage 1. This resource has been informed by the EYFS and Primary National Curriculum
• The sets are designed to be portable, making them an ideal distraction on a long car or train journey

Sadly, we have decided not to stock this wonderful product, as it just doesn’t fit in with Chicken and Frog, but you can purchase sets online and hopefully it will be available locally soon.

Apologies for the poor quality of the scanning – technology failed us somewhat. Many congratulations to all who entered – we had a tough task choosing winners.