As part of a project they are doing, they've made an eBook of Lulu Loves Stories and it's on their website. You can read and listen in English AND in the 19 other languages from the CD. How amazing is that. Click here to check it out.
Bookstart are the latest Lulu fans!
As part of a project they are doing, they've made an eBook of Lulu Loves Stories and it's on their website. You can read and listen in English AND in the 19 other languages from the CD. How amazing is that. Click here to check it out.
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Finally adjusting to being back in the office after a writing retreat in the wilderness.
No phone, no internet, no emails, no TV, no car! Nothing to do but research and write. OK, so I did paint the gate and cleaned the windows and re-grouted the bathroom tiles before I finally knuckled down to it, but I got there in the end... Now it's back to working on current projects: the new Zeki book is developing beautifully and the text for the next Lulu book - Lulu Loves Flowers went off to the US for approval today before Ros starts the roughs very soon. Watch this space. On Saturday we went to cheer Team GB in their pre-Olympic warm up game against Portugal in Sheffield. The team played great and had a good win. I was thrilled to meet the team and especially Luol Deng after the game. When I wrote 'My Friend Jamal, I wanted to choose a fitting hero for Jamal to look up to and I thought Loul Deng would be the perfect role model. As a young boy he fled Sudan with his family and ended up in the UK. Deng played basketball in Brixton then won a scholarship to the USA and he now plays for the Chicago Bulls. When I wrote the story in 2006, Deng was in his first years as an NBA player. In 2007, he won the NBA's sportsmanship award in a vote by players. The award honors the player who best exemplifies ethical behavior, fair play, and integrity on the court. For that award, the league donated $25,000 on his behalf to Pacific Garden Mission, the oldest continuously operating rescue mission in the country. Deng also won the 2006–2007 Golden Icon Award for Best Sports Role Model and most recently, he won the 2008 UN Refugee Agency's Humanitarian of the Year Award as part of the UNHCR's ninemillion.org campaign to bring education and sports to millions of displaced children. You can see more about his on his website. I really admire his work and donate 10p from every Jamal book sold to his charaties (click on the pages about Luol Deng and 'giving back' for more information). Back in 2006, I would never have guessed that Loul would be back in the UK playing on Team GB for the Olympics, so you can understand what a thrill it was for me to meet him in person! I gave him a copy of the book and couldn't believe it when he said he'd already read it! Then he signed my copy - I will SO treasure it. After all that excitement, it was off to Matlock in Derbyshire to the Big Book Bash. Children all over Derbyshire have been reading 20 books by 11 authors and passing them on in a reading relay -travelling over 1,000 reading miles.
The event kicked off with an opening ceremony, Olympic style. Each author was led out by children carrying images of their books and flags to an hilarious commentary. My little champions were slightly scared of the Gruffalo (who was also present) but we got there in the end! Some of the picures are a bit blurry - but they capture the wild enthusiasm of the crowd! I made lots of new friends and ended the day signing some autographs myself! Lulu Loves Stories has won the Coventry Inspiration Book Award 2012!!
The shortlist was nominated by a panel of teachers, consultants and librarians.Then the short-listed titles were made available in every public library and in schools so the public could vote for their favourite book. Eliminations voted off the books with the least votes until Lulu Loves Stories emerged as the winner - beating off stiff competition including The Happy Book by Malachy Doyle, I Want a Mini Tiger by Joyce Dunbar, Blue Chamelion by Emily Gravett and the wonderful Snug by Carol Thompson. I'll be in Coventry on June 13th and 14th to take part in the Coventry Literary Festival and to accept my award at a ceremony in the beautiful medieval Guildhall - how exciting! Kirkus Review (USA)*
Bibliophile Lulu has no trouble adjusting to her role as big sister in this warm slice-of-life story about a little girl welcoming her new baby brother. While many new baby books are dominated by an older sibling’s jealousy over an attention-hogging infant, Lulu delights in Zeki’s arrival. Prior titles about this book-loving child (Lulu Loves Stories and Lulu Loves the Library) set the stage for how she engages with Zeki —through books, of course. She brings him a “soft book for his crib” when she meets him at the hospital, reads to him when he cries “to cheer him up” and shares theme-appropriate titles during nappy changes (a potty book), baths (a duck story) and naptime (a sleepy story). Although busy adjusting to parenting two children instead of just one, Lulu’s mother and father reward her with a story at the end of each day since she is “the best big sister of all.” It’s refreshing to see this time-worn theme addressed in a story that just happens to be about a family comprised of people of color, as warm, acrylic portraits depict mother, father, Lulu and Zeki as a book-loving, close-knit joyful crew. A welcome edition about a welcome addition. * Kirkus is reviewing the USA edition, Lola Reads to Leo but I've changed the names to avoid confusing my UK readers. Following our recent review mailing, reviews and selections have started appearing. Lulu Reads to Zeki was Book of the Week at Peters Library Services and will be Book of the Week next week at Books for Keeps.
The Parents-in-touch website says this: "Lulu has a new baby brother and she reads him stories when he gets upset. But Lulu still finds plenty of time for her own reading as luckily Zeki sleeps a lot. Lulu is a wonderful advocate for the joy of reading - she absolutely adores books and hopefully will inspire lots of other young children to do the same. We see a loving family and a delightful toddler through the colourful illustrations. Every library and school should have a copy to encourage young readers to love books." Just been alerted to Picture Book Month - an international initiative to designate November as Picture Book Month, encouraging everyone to celebrate literacy with picture books.
Every day in November, there is be a new post from a picture book champion explaining why he/she thinks picture books are important - check out Suzanne Bloom's post here. They are doing this because in this digital age where people are predicting the coming death of print books, picture books (the print kind) need love. And the world needs picture books. There’s nothing like the physical page turn of a beautifully crafted picture book. Join the celebration and party with a picture book! Tough week this last one... developed a sore throat and cough Saturday night last, had to work hard not to scream during the Guilford v Plymouth game...
We had OFSTEAD inspectors due at the Sure Start project on Wednesday so I didn't feel I could cry off and went in for my usual Tuesday sessions - trying to not use my voice too much - which is quite hard when you lead two singing sessions! Big day Wednesday - called into the Children's Centre to check in, then off to the library. The Family Group was wonderful as always, then inspector arrived for Baby Club. The Babies were their usual spectacular selves and the inspector was very complimentary and chatted to all the mums. Said my session was very calm. Went for a coffee, then packed my bags with all the stuff I needed to take home for the Cheltenham Festival on Sunday (including my guitar and picked up my amp at Oaktree Centre). Then lugging my five bags, headed to my car only to find I'd somehow mislaid my keys. Of course, never had I been to so many venues in one day, so my little sick self spent the next 4 hours walking between library, Oaktree and SACC looking for them - to no avail. (Of course, don't have a spare set since my bag was stolen at Christmas party - what is it with my keys and Sure Start?) With all my gear, I couldn't take a train, so I had to wait for wonderful Brian to come and collect me after work. Initially it looked like we'd have to get the car towed but it seems we can get replacement keys and a locksmith - if we pay enough money... Took it easy, voice wise, Thursday and had to miss the Barefoot party on Friday which was very disappointing. headed off for Cheltenham on Saturday morning. Booked into the Queens Hotel - lovely, looked in at the venue, checked in with the organisers etc - all very helpful and nice (though I was in quite a state of nerves by then as my voice had almost completely packed up). Got to see an incredible interview with Gareth Pierce and a fun one with Frank Skinner before supper and early bed - except that my hotel thought it was a good idea to rent out their function room to a huge group of young people for a club night. We were right over and the word loud doesn't describe the music - it was excruciating! We asked to move rooms but were told that the hotel was fully booked with people for the Literary Festival - DUH! Which would make it seem pretty dim to me to book the loudest sound system in Christendom to play in the hotel, you would think? We were assured that the music would be over by midnight in a tone that implied that anyone boring enough to want to sleep before midnight shouldn't really be allowed out at all... so we headed back to the festival and hung around the Times hospitality area until we were thrown out. Sunday morning and I slugged down my latest discovery - Robitussin (a great decongestant) and some panadol and honey and Ricola and headed off to the venue. Great staff set it up exactly as I wanted and I got miked up. The session went pretty well from what I could tell through my haze of painkillers and decongestants! 50 under 4s and their parents! All the kids made animal hats and 'If You're Happy' pictures and I managed 20 minutes of singing! Then off to sign some books, listen to Michael Portillo and head for home. This was my first time going to Cheltenham and I'd HIGHLY recommend it. There was a great line up of speakers for children and adults, literati and politicos. There were music acts and good food... it's already in my diary for next year. I hope they'll have me back to do an event, but I'm going anyway! (And there's still time to go this year - click here for a link: Cheltenham) |
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