Nosy Crow – Chicken and Frog Bookshop

Book Club – Adults Only!

Posted on January 11, 2019January 11, 2019 by chickenandfrog

Last Friday our book club for adults met up to discuss A.F.Harrold’s The Song from Somewhere Else.

SPOILERS, SWEETIE!

What follows is a very brief summary of our bookish chat, minus the tea and biscuits.

The poetic language certainly struck a chord with some members of the group. It’s very clear from this book that Ashley knows how to craft and manipulate language. Levi Pinfold’s illustrations are reminiscent of Jim Kay’s in A Monster Calls. The scratchy lines, blurred edges and dark depths brought Ashley’s words to life, adding a rich layer to the narrative.

The group were split with regards to Frank’s behaviour towards Nick, but all agreed that she and Nick were believable representations of children. Some wanted to know more about how Nick came into the world, and also find out more of Frank’s home life. Why was her mum absent so often?

All in all, we agreed that this novel tackles issues of friendship, bullying and other-worldliness in its own unique style.

On the 18th January we will be discussing this beauty:

And our February title is the latest novel from Karen McCombie:

Until next time, happy reading!

blog

Coming Up!

Posted on September 23, 2017September 23, 2017 by chickenandfrog

Can you believe that we are fast approaching the last quarter of the year? I have no idea where the time has gone, but I do know that we have lots of great events planned, just for you.

First up is #Bookshop Day . We will be celebrating with the gorgeous Franklin’s Flying Bookshop. There will be a free crafty activity, between 11:00am and 3:00pm, for children of all ages! Just drop in to create something dragony. And, if you follow the footprints successfully, we have lovely goodie bags to give away. Not enough? Well, there are also these beauties up for grabs:

Also, in October:

We run two book clubs, so that you can choose the title that interests you the most. Escape from Planet Bogey is an hilarious, illustrated novel for readers who like a good giggle, whereas Dragon’s Green is a twisty turny magic-fueled adventure.

Before you know it, the next half term break will be here. To keep you entertained, we have a Lego Challenge event booked in for the middle of the week. Numbers are limited, so you need to book and pay in advance. If you haven’t been before, it’s a chance to mess about with Lego, whilst parents have a little time off – however, under 6s must be accompanied!

At the end of the half term break, we will be joined by Sibeal Pounder. We can’t begin to explain how extremely excited we are that Sibeal is coming to Brentwood. Sibeal will be leading Creative Writing Club, so come along for some witch-themed inspiration. Just in time for Halloween!

Watch out for what else we’ve got planned – or pop over to our events page.

blog

Spring has Sprung

Posted on April 15, 2017April 15, 2017 by chickenandfrog

Can it be true, has Spring finally arrived? The blossom on the trees, the tweeting of birdsong and the inordinate amount of chocolate eggs/lambs/bunnies in the shops all point towards Spring. True, the weather is trying to cause confusion, but we have had the odd sunny day.

Also, the children are off school, so that must mean that Spring is here and that Easter is on the horizon. We have celebrated at Chicken and Frog, with various activities to keep the children entertained.

Our thanks to Bloomsbury for this great little competition:

Not least of all, because we get to eat the eggs once the competition is over. It’s a tough job, but we’re willing to take it on.

As with every school break, our infamous Lego Challenge made a welcome return. Who wouldn’t want to play with Lego for 2 hours? The children created a whole host of awesome builds. Here are just a few:

We also spent a day making origami book marks. I don’t think I have ever seen so many googly eyes in one place!

Even Handwriting received a Spring-treatment, as we used the very beautiful Press Out & Colour Easter Eggs, from Kate McLelland (Nosy Crow):

And last, but by no means least, our window display is also celebrating the changes of the seasons, with a beautiful flower, bunting and fox, courtesy of Penguin Random House and Britta Teckentrup’s stunning ‘Bee’.*

*Our thanks go to local beekeepers, Charlie and Helen, for kindly lending us a beekeeping suit, as well as real frames from their hive, with deliciously gooey honey inside!

Watch the window next week, as it is transformed into a glorious celebration of nature and Spring.

blog

Robyn Silver on Tour

Posted on December 10, 2016 by chickenandfrog

A few months ago the Book Club chose Robyn Silver: The Midnight Chimes, to read and report back on. Paula Harrison’s book proved a real hit, so we were very excited when Paula kindly offered to visit us.

And we weren’t disappointed by our afternoon of monster creating. From the ‘snigamog/pigadoodle’ to the ‘trifedog’, ideas were flowing! Paula was absolutely brilliant, helping the children to develop their ideas with a series of great questions, such as ‘What does its belly button do?’ or ‘What is it scared of?’

She was also happy to answer questions from the floor. We are jolly pleased to report that a sequel is on its way, as well as a re-boot of The Rescue Princesses series. Paula is certainly a very talented and prolific author.

Here are a few snaps from this afternoon: