By Parents for Children

We had a fantastic time at Jabberwockie in Islington a few weeks ago.

 There were helium-filled Millie/Jabberwockie balloons floating around everywhere; colouring pictures of Millie and her friends; divine little organic cupcakes by Foodilicious: each in a tugboat colour - yellow for Millie, red for Maya, orange for Tiggy and green for Tara.

All the kids had a great time and sat very still whilst ‘Millie’s Mayday’ was being read (which can only be a good sign!) There were three (count ‘em) readings which were well-attended with lots of special signed copies sold. So a big THANK YOU to Naoko and the team who did such a brilliant job organising everything and especially to all the children and parents who came on the day.

Well, it’s been a while since we last put a post up but we have some great news…we are going to be part of Jabberwockie’s 1st Birthday Celebrations on 21st November.

Along with readings of ‘Millie’s Mayday’ at 12pm, 2pm & 4pm there will be a pinata, treasure fishing, colouring in your own tugboat to take home and scrumptious cupcakes from Foodilicious.

So come along to the lovely Jabberwockie store at No.8 Shillingford St., Islington, London N1 2DP, Tel. 020 7359 2584 http://www.jabberwockielondon.com/news.html

See you there!

This week, Thames & Hudson released a facsimile of a book written by Ted Hughes back in the mid-fifties, to accompany his friend Jim Downer’s illustrations. It is absolutely beautiful in so many ways. Firstly, the binding is a beautiful pale blue textured paper (I love a bit of texture!) and then you immediately open onto Jim Downer’s hand-drawn title page with his address at the time, 18 Rugby Street WC1.

Here’s where things get really interesting…Annabel’s husband, Jon lived at the very same address back in the late-eighties. Little did he know the home’s illustrious past. In Jim Downer’s lovely afterword, he describes how Rugby Street was a hive of creative activity, with residents such as Peter O’Toole, Albert Finney, Lucie Rie & Hans Coper all regularly meeting at No.18 to share ideas and hopes for their post-war futures. The most fascinating couple linked to the address were Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes. Jim showed some of his illustrations to Ted, who offered to write something to accompany them and that was the last Jim saw of them. In 2008, Ted’s widow, Carol Hughes, found the manuscript and illustrations carefully bound together with string.

Now, Ted and me go way back. Ever since I heard ‘The Crow’ in my first year at secondary school, I was hooked.Then I saw a photograph of him and that was it – my first literary crush. So, for me personally, the fact that he wrote a book about a little tug boat called Timmy has particular resonance. Also, there is some semblance of Jim Downer’s wonderfully graphic, pared down illustrations in our own, dear book , which just adds to the parallels between our venture and theirs. Of course, Jon’s connection with the house where it all started is the icing on the cake! When I found out about this extraordinary coincidence, I referred back to Ted Hughes’ poem, ’18 Rugby Street’ (incidentally, all about the first night he spent there with Sylvia Plath) which says:

‘Whoever enters it enters a labyrinth -

A Knossos of coincidence! And now you’re in it’

You said it, Ted.

Millie has sailed across La Manche and ended up at Colette, Paris – the amazing department store that has all you’ve ever wished for…and now, Millie’s Mayday.

www.colette.fr

Here’s Millie’s Mayday, nestled amongst all the other wonderful titles at the Tate Modern bookshop. We think it is a great addition and would love you to all go and visit Tate Modern this Summer holiday and buy a copy! Tate Modern is great for a family day out – We have been taking our kids from an early age and the building alone is incredible for a little person to experience. There’s also Family Trails to help children explore the gallery and if you are quick, there are some holiday events too. http://www.tate.org.uk/families/events/modern/

Here is the box of books now making its way to Tate Modern. We are so happy that Millie’s Mayday is soon to appear in their brilliant Children’s Section of the gallery shop. We always make a beeline for it when we are at the gallery – they stock a really great selection of well designed books, it’s always difficult to know what to choose. But now you can head straight to Millie’s Mayday on the shelves and buy one as a souvenir of your visit!

Brighton’s finest newspaper, The Argus, published a great review of Millie’s Mayday in their 1st August edition. The review featured Sussex authors handpicked by Vanessa Lewis, of The Book Nook. As you can see, our book had pride of place on the page:

 ’This is a delightful and highly original new book…The bright, bold illustrations involve you immediately, and you can’t help but engage with Millie, the new tug boat, as she eagerly learns about the arrival of the big ship Li from China. In the centre of the book, children will love the fold-out map of the world that charts Li’s course to Haven Harbour. The explosive finish displays the original quality of the artwork and the descriptive language is perfect for reading aloud and expanding a child’s vocabulary’.

Sorry, but couldn’t help putting the whole review in as we are feeling flushed with pride!

 - Here’s us at The Book Nook in Hove on 18th July. We had a great turn-out, considering it was a sunny day and The Book Nook is only 100 yards from the lovely Hove seafront (so much more civilised than Brighton on a Saturday afternoon!) It was a great experience for us to see the childrens’ response to the adventures in Haven Harbour. The Map Of The World went down very well – Annabel had the genius idea of blowing it up on a separate piece of paper so we could take turns being a magician-style assistant and hold it up (we did two readings, so both had a go!)

Can you see the cut-outs of the tugs in the pic. as well? We are so happy with the way they turned out – they have really taken on a life of their own! PS. That’s our little friend Ava helping out with the reading. A budding author, perhaps?

Esther, one of the cool girls at Babyccino, posted a delightful review of MM on their blog (20 July 2009). They have also added MM to their bookshop which features a hand-picked selection of the best in children’s books. There’s a few on there that I have added to my wish list at Amazon. Check it out.
Babyccino is a must-visit site for all that’s good in the world of kids: Courtney in London, Esther in Amsterdam, Emilie in Paris and Michela in Milan post blogs on everything from recipes, clothes and parenting to (of course), books. The best thing is, everything they feature has been personally tested, so we are very pleased to have passed Babyccino quality-control! www.babyccinoblog.com
P.S – Do you like the nail polish? Thought I’d get it on camera before it comes off in the washing up!

We will be at The Book Nook, a lovely independent bookshop especially for children, next weekend. We will be reading ‘Millie’s Mayday’ at 11am & 2pm on Saturday 18th July.

The Book Nook is in First Avenue, Hove and has a wide range of interesting and inspiring books (including ours!).The shop also has a café where parents can relax and chat over coffee whilst their children play safely or enjoy their latest read. We hope to see you there…

Here’s some pictures of our special window – it’s good to see Millie, Maya, Tiggy and Tara in 3D!