blog – Page 24 – Chicken and Frog Bookshop

Independent Booksellers Week

Posted on June 26, 2013 by chickenandfrog

Hello all, how is everyone today? Good I hope! Here at Chicken and Frog we have been very busy putting together an exciting holiday programme of events to keep the children busy and the parents sane. For details of all that is going on, check out the events page.

We are really looking forward to the summer hols, but before we get there, next week is Independent Booksellers Week . What does this mean? Well, ideally it’s the time when you embrace your local independent bookshop and show them how much you love them. To this end, the following events are taking place:

On Saturday 29th June, the very lovely Christopher William Hill will be spending the whole day with us. Clearly we have never met or he would never have agreed to such madness. Christopher will be reading extracts from his book, talking about his life as a writer, selling some books (whilst masquerading as a bookseller) and even spending some time with our Creative Writing Club.

On Wednesday 3rd July (13:30-14:30) we are holding a FREE Hugless Douglas event for pre-schoolers. This is a drop in session, where you can make a Hugless Douglas mobile and listen to stories.

Thursday 4th July is Independents Day (clever play on words, we know). To celebrate this and the fact that Judith Kerr has just celebrated her 90th birthday, we will be having a Tiger Who Came to Tea Party, from 11:3-12:30. For just £1 (parents are free), you can eat cake and listen to lots of stories, including The Tiger Who Came to Tea (of course) and various Mog stories.

And finally, to round off Independent Booksellers Week, there will be a Where’s Wally Hunt in Brentwood on Saturday 6th July. Where’s Wally? You need to find him! He’s hiding in the following locations:
Chicken and Frog, Mi Neni, Rossi’s, B.M.Cycles, Ya Ya’s, Brentwood Theatre, Brentwood Library, Vintage Verde (KIngs Road), The Hair Company and French Quarter.

All you have to do is collect a ‘postcard’ from each location and bring them back to us. Easy! The first 100 hunters receive a prize. If you find 8 you will be entered into a bigger prize draw. This is a FREE event, so get involved.

Psst. There will be a bonus Wally at the Holly Trees Summer Fair – chocolate is on offer 😉

So there you go. Lots to do over the next week or so. Enjoy!

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Creating creativity

Posted on June 15, 2013 by chickenandfrog

What is creative writing and how do you encourage/coax your child into getting involved? All too often at school the creativity kind of gets sucked out of you. Not at my school obviously, because we have a brilliant creative curriculum which very much has our children in mind. But, what if that isn’t the case, then what? There’s nothing worse than being confronted with an A4 blank sheet of paper, when you have no ideas and/or enthusiasm.

So I thought I’d share a couple of the things that I do, in the classroom and also at Chicken and Frog during Creative Writing Club.

One very simple tool is story cubes. They are superb in my opinion. If you’re going on a long journey, there is an app version too, which saves you scrabbling around on the floor in search of lost dice.

There are different ways of using the cubes. The children can take it in turns to create a part of the story, using the dice for inspiration. Or roll all of the dice in a set and link the images together to form a story. The challenge level can be raised or lowered according to the ability of the child. I firmly believe that if you can’t say it, you can’t write it, so story cubes are the perfect way in for oral rehearsal of ideas.

My second secret weapon is Lego. I can not stress how heavily Lego features in my life. It is ace! Boys respond particularly well to Lego, but it works equally well with girls. One great activity is to give the children some to build…whatever they want. As they build, talk and then talk some more. Ask questions and if the answers are lacking in detail, ask some more. This is a sneaky approach to writing, as it is rather a covert operation. Once the building phase is complete, encourage the children to ask each other questions about what they have made. Then comes the writing. It can take on a range of genres: an interview, instructions, a story about the structure or creature…the possibilities are endless.

The final way in to writing that I want to share with you today is film. Children love film and T.V., so why not use it to your advantage? I find it particularly effective to take a look at clips that are not so familiar, otherwise children tend to just copy what they already know. Anime films are brilliant for character development and are a little different, so work well. You can watch a clip for inspiration, carry on the story or write the back story, create a film script…up to you! We have looked at various versions of the same story to kick off a good discussion, leading into writing reviews or a blog.

So there you go, just a few ideas to get your children writing. I know that these ideas aren’t groundbreaking, I’m not that clever, but hopefully they’ll help you to help your child. Go for it, writing can open up a whole world of possibilities.

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Martin Brown has left the building

Posted on June 7, 2013June 7, 2013 by chickenandfrog

Months ago I entered a competition with Scholastic to win a goody bag of free Horrible Histories stuff. I really love free stuff, so was more than happy to write a short email with a gruesome fact about Brentwood.

And then, a little while later, we were called on the phone. She said that we’d won ourselves a Martin Brown! I said ‘Are you sure? We’re very small you know,’ but she was certain. How amazing. The brilliantly talented Martin was booked in to visit us. Look, here he is, in our shop!

And so today, at around half past two, Martin arrived, accompanied by the equally lovely Elizabeth. Needless to say, there was much excitement abounding. Phoenix FM and the Gazette have been ever so generous and enthusiastic with their support, as have local schools. All of which meant that Martin was pretty much trapped with us for three hours, with a constant queue heading out of the door.

Here’s some pics to show it wasn’t all a dream:

Not only did Martin sign books, posters and Rattus stickers, he also spent time talking to all of our visitors. The rather bizarre creation pictured above was drawn by Martin, who asked the children for suggestions to create a character. So now we have a weird and wonderful original Martin Brown drawing. Yay!

As if all of that wasn’t generous enough, Martin then drew out the winning raffle ticket for our free prize draw for this,

The lucky winner will be contacted in the morning…and now I’m off for a snooze.

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Half term update

Posted on May 29, 2013May 29, 2013 by chickenandfrog

Hello all. It’s been a frantic couple of days at Chicken and Frog. Happy frantic though, so I thought I’d take a moment to share some photographs. The first lot are from our Crazy Cooking sessions, where we made rocky road, chocolate lollies, marshmallow biscuits and fresh fruit smoothies. Many apologies to the parents who collected their sugar-filled children!

Next we used the brilliant Klutz book Gotcha Gadgets.

We created sneaky codes, disguised ourselves, made ID cards, solved a mystery and that was all before we had even opened our copies of Gotcha Gadgets!

And…yes, and! Today there was the Lego challenge. I’d like to give a big thank-you to the wonderful Andrea at Nickel Books, from whom I stole the idea. You can’t go wrong with Lego in my opinion. We also provided lots of Duplo for our younger guests,

I was really impressed with the great teamwork this afternoon, especially from a lovely group of boys who hadn’t met each other before today. Inspiring.

Bring on the drama workshop, our Teddy Bears’ Picnic and Russell’s drawing class to round the week off.

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Posted on May 22, 2013May 22, 2013 by chickenandfrog

Our little fella came home yesterday pleased as punch. He was clutching a large envelope containing a gold certificate, with a copy of a short story he had written at school. The story had been chosen to be published in an edition of Young Writers, along with quite a few others from his class. Oh, did I forget to mention that there was an order form also enclosed? I’ll get onto that.

We are no strangers to this process, as daughter number 2 bounded home with something similar a couple of years ago. The situation is a little muddied because, on the one had, you feel very proud at the achievement, but at the same time, horrified by the astronomical cost. It can’t be denied that £15.99 for a paperback is a bit steep. And then of course the cynic in me kicked in, whispering into my ear that this is no more than a money making ploy, taking advantage of doting/naive parents.

Hhmm…what to do? Master Frog is hopping around excitedly because his name will be in print, but in my heart I suspect that the ‘competition’ is perhaps not following the rules of fair play. There’s been local grumblings on Facebook from disgruntled parents and I completely understand their point of view, although I have mixed feelings on the matter. At the end of the day, this competition encourages children to write for a purpose and that can’t be a bad thing can it?

We have been set a challenge by some of the parents and it is this:

‘would it not be possible to arrange a writing competition for all the schools in Brentwood and print a book that is available for parents to buy in aid of a local charity or good cause?’

It is potentially a huge project, but we don’t like an easy life, so we if we can get the backing from all relevant parties, we’ll take it on.

This is what we will need before we can embark on the project:

willing schools, who will guarantee their participation
a local, reliable printing service
a small amount of funding for publicity and printing costs

If you would like to get involved, or know someone who would, let us know! Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could produce a book every year which celebrates children’s writing?

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Karen McCombie

Posted on May 18, 2013May 18, 2013 by chickenandfrog

Wowser, what a busy day we’ve had today. Aside from the Family Learning Project, Bring Daddy to Story-time and Creative Writing Club (which is our normal Saturday), we were lucky enough to welcome Karen McCombie into Chicken and Frog. Karen signed books and talked about life as a writer. This would have been enough, but then she very kindly joined our Creative Writing Club and jolly well inspired them!

Top tips for avoiding DULL writing, coupled with a mammoth Q & A session resulted in a group of highly enthused young writers (plus me – not quite so young, but certainly inspired).

We’d like to say a very clucky and hoppy thank-you to Karen and her lovely daughter Millie, for taking a mosey on down to sunny Brentwood. Cluck, ribbit!

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El Club Espanol!

Posted on May 9, 2013May 9, 2013 by chickenandfrog

We’re going all European (I know technically we are, but…). During the summer holidays, Romina will be running a weekly Spanish club for your little ones.

If you want more info or would like to book in, please contact Romina on 07912615118 or gramec88@hotmail.com

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Who’s Queen?

Posted on May 8, 2013 by chickenandfrog

Warning: This post contains some ranting.

Last night I sat down to watch Mary, Queen of Shops on the old goggle box. I’ve seen the show before, but never as a small business owner, so I was interested to see what words of wisdom could be gleaned from it.

I was almost drawn in by terms such as ‘anchor’ when referring to the re-branding of the Eastend’s Roman Road, finding myself nodding emphatically,agreeing that the issues could be rectified. However, it soon became apparent that in order to create this ‘new’ experience some traders would loose their livelihoods. I’m not naïve, I do realise that many of the stallholders needed to move with the times in order to survive, but that’s not the same as actually moving. On top of that, the system of joining a waiting list to secure a plot on the market was whipped away.

The reality, carefully hidden underneath a retro shabby-chic carpet, is that the picture is skewed. New businesses do not simply spring up over night. They take years of planning and, if you’re sensible, saving, redrafting and then a little bit more planning. Shops were given a face lift for the t.v. Lovely, but how much would that cost in real life?

Here’s an example for you. Now that the sun has finally arrived, we need an awning to shade our window. Our poor books are getting changed on an hourly basis to stop them curling up like old sandwiches! No problem we thought, there was an awning there before, so we’ll just get a new one. Ideally we would like to restore the original, but it looks like the fixings have been painted over a few too many times.

The Highways Agency want a fee of £795, because and I quote ‘it will overhang the pavement, so you will need their permission’. Really? Of course it will overhang the pavement, otherwise it would be a curtain! Plus an additional ‘planning permission’ fee to the Council, which makes the seemingly straightforward solution an impossibility. If this is how new businesses are being supported by local and national Government, we are not amused.

Rant over.

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And relax…

Posted on April 27, 2013 by chickenandfrog

This week has been a bit crazy. From dinner at the House of Lords (very fancy), to supporting Year 6 in their mock SATs week, to purchasing awesome Alice in Wonderland costumes (for the shop, honest).

We were asked to write a 500 word piece for Archant Life (regional magazine publisher) all about being an indie bookseller, linked to Independent Booksellers Week, which takes place from 29th June to 6th July this year. It was a welcome surprise to have been asked, but I could ramble on for pages about what and why we do what we do, so 500 words was a bit of a challenge!

Ooh, we signed up for the Booksellers Association/ Saatchi & Saatchi ‘Books are my bag’ initiative. From September you’ll be able to pick up one of these cool bags, with our name printed underneath the main tagline. This is a superb way of promoting the importance of books and we are delighted to be a part of it.

What else? Well, Horrible Histories have confirmed that illustrator extraordinaire, Martin Brown, will be with little old us on Friday 7th June. He’ll be visiting us after school kicks out, so we are inviting you horrible lot to come in and be gruesome. Fancy dress is encouraged (although not compulsory!), with a prize for the most ghastly. I’m not excited at all.*

*That is a huge lie.

As well as all of that, we have met lots of lovely new customers, read stories, sold books, booked in baby massage classes, tutored, sorted out lots of beautiful new titles, organised a song writing workshop for the summer…phew. No wonder I’m tired! Not enough for you? You are a demanding bunch. Ok, last thing then. As of June (I think), you will be able to get a 10% voucher off of all books when you book a ticket to see a show at the fantastic Brentwood Theatre. So get booking!

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What a difference a year makes

Posted on April 17, 2013 by chickenandfrog

This time last year myself and Mr Frog were seriously considering opening a children’s bookshop. Crazy I know, but that’s us. We scurried off to the marvellous London Book Fair for the first time ever and let me tell you, we were completely overwhelmed by the experience.

We met with publishers, authors and wholesalers. It was a complete whirlwind, but it didn’t put us off. Within six months we had taken the daunting and very exciting step to open our very own bookshop. Chicken and Frog went from a ridiculous daydream (and an accountant’s nightmare) to reality.

We opened our doors to the public six months ago this Saturday. I can’t believe where the time has gone or how well (touches wood, thumbs a lucky rabbit foot etc) it is all going. We’re paying our bills, feeding all three of our children every day and even selling books. Hurrah!

To celebrate our first six months we will be taking 20% off of everything (books, not clothing, don’t be scared), reading lots of stories and generally enjoying owning the coolest bookshop in town. Yeah, I can say that. It’s good to be proud of your achievements. Working with Mr Frog has been super duper. We feel like we are a part of the community and have got to make some good friends. Our customers are the best customers ever.

I’m going to get slightly mushy now – sorry. This would not be possible without the support of our beautiful children, who have had to change their lifestyle considerably. Also, my long suffering parents for manning the shop, tutoring (daddy) and being brilliant grandparents. Same goes for Mr Frog Senior when it comes to Grandad duties and general support. And, last but not least, our lovely friend Claire Mackaness who started the journey with us and now has her own beautiful nest in Ingrave.

In the past six months we have held a writing competition with the fabby Julie D Irwin, been visited by Julie (she must be sick of us), Tamsyn Murray, Lucy Coats, Michelle Robinson and J.N.Paquet. We’ve hosted parties, set up a very busy tuition centre, told stories, run a FairTrade event, secured funding for the Family Learning Project, hosted a huge range of school holiday events, hired our room out to baby massage therapists, an OT, a home-school group…and lots more. Many apologies if I have left you off of the list. It’s all been rather exhausting and jolly good fun.

Here’s to the next part of the journey. Keep on reading!

We have been set a challenge by some of the parents and it is this:

‘would it not be possible to arrange a writing competition for all the schools in Brentwood and print a book that is available for parents to buy in aid of a local charity or good cause?’

It is potentially a huge project, but we don’t like an easy life, so we if we can get the backing from all relevant parties, we’ll take it on.

This is what we will need before we can embark on the project:

willing schools, who will guarantee their participation

a local, reliable printing service

a small amount of funding for publicity and printing costs

If you would like to get involved, or know someone who would, let us know! Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could produce a book every year which celebrates children’s writing?

Warning: This post contains some ranting.

This week has been a bit crazy. From dinner at the House of Lords (very fancy), to supporting Year 6 in their mock SATs week, to purchasing awesome Alice in Wonderland costumes (for the shop, honest).

*That is a huge lie.