Author: chickenandfrog

Just a quick piece of cheery news on this rather wet, dreary day. Chicken and Frog are proud to announce that we now sell tickets on behalf of the Brentwood Theatre, for the up and coming performance of Peter Rabbit. The show runs (or should I say hops?), from the 8th-30th December.

It is an honour to support our local theatre and we hope that this is the beginning of an enduring partnership. Tickets are £13.50 (£11.50 for concessions) and can be purchased either at the theatre box office on 01277 200305 or here at Chicken and Frog.

N.B. We can only accept cash or cheque in-store.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am not the world’s number one Christmas fan. It’s not that I don’t love the time we get together as a family, or the food (lots of food), or the pressies (giving in particular). All of that is wonderful. And of course, ‘Fairytale of New York‘ is played, so that’s got to be good. It’s the fact that it starts in October that gets me twitchy.

However, now that I am a ‘shopkeeper’, I have had to give in slightly to the commercialism of the season, so the decorations are now up at Chicken and Frog. Poor Mr Frog was sent back to the Christmas shop with the bag of highly-colourful foil selection that he had so carefully chosen, but other than that it’s gone without a hitch.

   Not in my shop!

We have some very pretty twinkly snow flakes and lots of gorgeous books and crafts in situ and that’s enough for me. I am holding off until the 30th November before we create and unveil our Christmas window display, so it will at least be nudging into the correct month. I can just about cope with that!

However, I am not a complete Grinch

and really do love the way that children get so engrossed in the magic of it all. So, in order to rid myself of this ‘bah humbug’ tendency, ‘The Jolly Christmas Postman’ will be shared during Discover a Book tomorrow morning.

As if that wasn’t enough (and quite frankly a morning surrounded by the genius of the Ahlberg’s is pretty close to perfection), the children will get to write to Santa (with a bit of help if needed). All of the children are guaranteed to receive a reply in time for Christmas Eve.

Ho, ho, ho!

‘The what?’ I hear you cry. ‘The Phlunk,’ I say. But what does that mean? Am I just making up odd words in a bid for attention? Well, no, I am not. But Lou Rhodes might be!

I shall explain. Yesterday we received an unexpected parcel. I am usually a fan of unexpected parcels, especially when they contain books that I have not read before. So, yesterday morning, whilst minding my own business, in came the postman bearing a gift of ‘The Phlunk’. 

He looks like this (the Phlunk, not our postie),

thanks to the creativity of illustrator, Tori Elliott. Pretty cute heh? He’s a sort of cat-alien creature, with enormous ears and striking green eyes.

I read the book to myself first and wasn’t completely sure. It is beautifully illustrated and has a gentle rhythm to it, but I thought that some of the images may be a little scary. So, I read it to a lovely bunch during one of our story-time sessions, to find out what children think. The verdict? I am very happy to say that it was a huge hit. The children loved the Phlunk himself and enjoyed the story too. It actually sparked a lovely discussion about dreams, which was a pleasant diversion.

Needless to say, we will be stocking ‘The Phlunk’ at Chicken and Frog as soon as it is available.

Have you got a hidden writer-in-the-making at home? Would you like to encourage their creativity? Well, we have the solution. During this week we are running a selection of creative writing sessions for children. As of Saturday, there will be a ‘Creative Writing Club’ every week, running from 16.00-17.30. There is no need to be tied to coming every week, but you are more than welcome to do so. The cost is just £5 and will include a drink and biscuit to keep the brain working.

Our first session this afternoon and was a roaring success, producing some pretty gruesome stories about vampire hamsters and such.

The premise behind the club is simple; I want to encourage children to write. It’s not a literacy lesson. The children are free to write whatever they want, in the style of their choosing. We share our ideas, critique each others writing (no pressure though, only if you want to hear it) and even ‘magpie’ some fabulous vocabulary.

I use a range of techniques, including role play and these amazing little storytelling cubes (which we will be stocking very soon),

The grand plan is to publish some of the children’s writing right here on the blog. You never know, we may discover the next Dahl or Rosen!