Hello dear reader. We have had a really super afternoon, celebrating children’s writing. Our previous post let you know all about the annual writing competition that we run and who all of the well-deserved winners were.
Below are a small selection of photographs from the afternoon, with author and friend of Chicken and Frog, J.D.Irwin:
Look out for this week’s edition of the Brentwood Gazette and Made in Essex for the full story!
Our annual writing competition was a huge success, with over 700 entries this time around. It was an absolute joy to read all of the stories and poems that were sent in. Congratulations to all who entered, you did yourselves proud.
Thankfully we do not make the final decision; we passed on that huge responsibility to J.D.Irwin, author extraordinaire!
So, after a lot of reading, here are the winners and runners up. We had so many entries from Key Stage 2, that we ended up choosing 2 winners and a runner from that age category!
EYFS: Kamsi Nebo (winner) and Shaun Obi (runner up)
Key Stage 1: Thomas Staunton (winner) and Olivia Eriksson Hassan (runner up)
Key Stage 2: Timmy Akinsehinwa and Archie Harris (winners) and Aimee C (runner up)
Julie will be joining us on Saturday 21st February at 2p.m. to award certificates and prizes. All are welcome to join us.
Hooray for WBD! We will have all of the WBD £1 books in for you – just come in to exchange your voucher for a book or use your £1 voucher towards another book in-store.
The vouchers are given out in schools and nurseries – don’t miss out!
We will be reading stories throughout the day and giving away some little goodie bags – first come, first served.
Thursday 5th February marked the very first #HarryPotterBookNight. Bloomsbury came up with the idea and encouraged bookshops, libraries, schools etc.to take part in this magical night. We decided to shift our event to the Saturday, as we tutor mid-week and felt that a 7p.m. start wasn’t too practical for children (or tired parents) on a school night. And so, #HarryPotterBookNight took place for us just last night.
The idea behind this event was to celebrate the books, rather than the film franchise which so many immediately think of when the name ‘Harry Potter’ is uttered. We were very happy with this. Don’t get me wrong, film and television has it’s place without any shadow of a doubt, but books…well, they’re special too. As the event was free, we had no idea about numbers – we didn’t think to ask people to book in, pardon the pun. To be honest, I thought we’d get between 10-15 children at most. As it turned out, this was a little naive and we ended up with 35 children, plus parents, so it was rather busy in our teaching room last night.
Wizarding hats off to Bloomsbury, who put together a superb resource pack to use. The event began with a reading from ‘The Sorting Hat’ and it was wonderful to see a room of attentive listeners as I read Rowling’s infamous narrative aloud. We sorted our new students into their Houses, sang the Hogwarts song (in a variety of ‘tunes’, volumes and speed) and then split into Houses before the grand Hogwarts Quiz. It was close, however Gryffindor came out as the victors. Bravo to Gryffindor – I was Hufflepuff, but I think that I took the loss graciously.
Once the quiz was over, we drank Butter Beer (cream soda and butterscotch sauce), before icing sticky licky biscuits. Inbetween the sugar, each House designed their own magical creature and penned brand new spells fitting with the characteristics of their allocated House. All in all, it was a brillaint evening of fun, which we are very much looking forward to repeating next year. Here are some pictures of our Hogwarts students:
Do look out for us in the coming week’s edition of the Brentwood Gazette – I am sure that their photographs will be far better than ours!
This February will see the first ever Harry Potter Book Night. This exciting event gives new and existing fans a chance to share the wonder of J.K. Rowling’s unforgettable stories and, most excitingly, to introduce the next generation of readers to the unparalleled magic of Harry Potter. You are hereby invited to embrace the magic and banish the midwinter blues!
Our event is taking place on Saturday 7th February, 16:00-17:30, combining a love of Harry with our regular Creative Writing Club.
It’s free and suitable for ages 6+. There’s no need to book in. You are encouraged to dress up though!
If you’re local to us, then you may already know that there’s a new free paper available in Brentwood and the surrounding area. It’s called Made in Essex and the team behind it are passionate about promoting the positives of our town, which is very good news.
But why am I telling you about them? Well, partly because of the above and also to let you know that we will be teaming up with Made in Essex, to write a monthly book column. Look out for recommendations, tips on how to encourage your child to read and the odd give away too. Our first column is due for publication in February…
You can contact Made in Essex via Twitter @MIEnewspaper, on Facebook or on 01277 833130
Another year has almost gone and what do we have to show for it? Well, in my case, an expanded waistline and lots of Alice-related goodies. I’m very excited about the 150th year of Alice this year – watch this space for celebratory events.
The week in-between Christmas and New Year is a pretty quiet one for us at the shop. It’s freezing cold, people are tired and it’s a good opportunity to do a whole lot of nothing before returning to the normal routines of life. However, what I really love is that families choose to bring their children in to spend Christmas cash on books. It’s wonderful! With that in mind, Mr Frog has set me the following challenge and who am I to say no? Sorry it’s so tiny, but follow the link and you can have a proper look at the list.
What with the Gruffalo visiting, the Light Up and people starting to get organised for Christmas, we’ve had a very busy few weeks – I’m not complaining, it’s been great! And today we’ve been celebrating #SmallBusinessSaturday.
Ariel and Horrid Henry have been into Chicken and Frog, as well as going for a stroll around the town – especially the wonderful Ongar Road, where you can find so many brilliant shops and food outlets.
Henry was rather naughty, as you can see,
Luckily he wasn’t as cheeky when he went for a walk around the town. I’m not sure even Henry was outrageous enough to jump on other people’s furniture…at least, I don’t think he did.
The beautiful Ariel braved the cold, visiting the Ongar Road, the High Street, the Baytree Centre and Crown Street. Here she is in the warm, looking gorgeous,
If you would like to hire Ariel for a party, just follow this link.
A massive thanks to the Renaissance Group and Brentwood Council for their continued support of our endeavors!
Chicken and Frog Bookshop 
You must be logged in to post a comment.