Hey! Oi! Beep! Beep! Woof! Woof! They're on their way! Listen out for The QUIET WOMAN And The NOISY DOG on Thursday 5th February 2009
In a quiet house, in a noisy town,
Lived a quiet woman, and a noisy dog. Woof! Woof!
The quiet woman went out of her quiet house
With her noisy dog and went into the noisy town. Vroom! Vroom! Hey! Oi! Beep! Beep! Woof! Woof!
By Sue Eves, illustrated by Ailie Busby.
It took a bit of courage to stand in the middle of the busy Natural History Museum , London, drawing these animals. The giraffe was a bit tricky for a short artist!
I'm so excited because my old printer stuttered to a halt and my new brilliant bargain printer/scanner/copier from the very lovely Viking people is up and running in no time at all - Oh, Brother!
I was so excited I had to scan the watercolour of my preliminary artwork for my first picture book Hic
published by Bodley Head. Infact it was the only colour artwork I produced in the end as I did the pen and ink line drawing and the designer coloured it in based on our collaborative digital palette - ah, technology!
Now, back to preparations for the picture book critique group at British SCBWI Conference...
Ursula Jones and Russell Ayto win the under 6 category of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize with The Witch's Children Go to School (The Witch's Children)
This is the third of The Witch's Children stories. The first one was published in 2001, I remember it well as I'd just written a picture book about witch children but I dropped it after I saw THE WITCH CHILDREN in my local library...ah well. Still, Mildred Hubbard and Harry Potter co-exist, so maybe there is room for my witch children in future!
Congratulations to the winners!
The winner of the Funniest Book for Children Aged 7 to 14 was Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear
Stick Man is my predicted winner for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize aged 6 and under. It may be obvious to choose a Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler book but it is funny!
The Stick Man, who falls into the wrong hands(and mouth), protests that he is not a stick but a Stick Man and he wants to get back to his family tree! Rhythm, rhyme and repetition propel him on his, almost fatal journey, seasonally and safely home. Julia Donaldson continues to prove that rhyming text, can work brilliantly to heighten humour in picture books and make for a more compelling story.
I'm glad I'm not judging this one. How can you decide which is the funniest from such a brilliant shortlist?
Elephant Wellyphant by Nick Sharratt
The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers
Stick Man by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
The Witch's Children Go to School by Ursula Jones, illustrated by Russell Ayto
There's an Ouch in My Pouch! by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Garry Parsons
Manfred the Baddie by John Fardell
I am not being totally fair, as I didn't find the last title in any bookshops while I made my choice a few weeks ago.
There are two categories for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize -
Funniest Book for children aged six and under.
Funniest Book for children aged seven to fourteen.
The winners are announced on 13th November.
Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Books illustrated by Dave McKean(left) and Chris Riddell(right)
Neil Gaiman says it all began 20 something years ago when he used to take his son to the nearest open space to ride his tricycle between the gravestones - he had an idea for a Rudyard Kipling Jungle Book adventure, a story about a boy raised by ghosts - THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. Nobody Owens is a true match for Mowgli.
550 fans met to hear Neil Gaiman talk about his new children's book The Graveyard Book at the London School of Economics off the Aldwych last night. The lights were up in the auditorium while he read aloud Chapter 5 Dance Macabre about the living dancing with the dead, to his 'most entertaining audience ever' a mix of the living and the apparently dead in fancy dress for the night.
Neil Gaiman signed my copies and as Dave McKean was sitting in the second row, he kindly signed the copy he illustrated. I had to buy Chris Riddell's edition too as his illustrations are equally stunning.
Click on Cow to visit my website!
