Snatchabook steals all the books in Rosendale Nursery!

All the books in this Lambeth Nursery class have disappeared – who could have taken them?

Click on the poster to visit the Nursery Blog and find out! Scroll down to the week ending April 15 and take a look at some of the brilliant Snatchabook-inspired work the children have done. Don’t forget to watch the video of them investigating the crime scene!

The Snatchabook Pops Up in Hackney

The Snatchabook and I had lots of fun visiting Harrington Hill and Orchard Primary Schools in Hackney last week through Pop Up. We acted out the story to music composed by Gerry Smith (see the Resources page of my website), and pretended to be Eliza Brown and the Snatchabook. There were lots of great dragons, witches, pirates and princesses, too!

Inspiring Reading in Young Children: Lambeth Early Years Conference

Last week, I was invited to give the keynote speech at an Early Years conference on reading at the Oval, London. The theme of my talk was the importance of reading aloud to children every day – in my opinion, the best way to inspire in them a lifelong love of stories, and to motivate them to read. I started by reading The Snatchabook, and many of the delegates (all teachers and Early Years practitioners) told me how nice it was to be read to, for a change! My talk also touched on another subject that is close to my heart: diversity in picture books. In the afternoon, I led workshops on practical ideas for using books in the classroom, and how to build a classroom library.
I had a wonderful time meeting so many committed teachers who share my passion for reading and for books. Infant school teachers (and librarians) have such an important job: inspiring the next generation of readers.

Do You Remember? comes out!

My new book, Do You Remember?  was launched in half term week in Oystermouth Library, Mumbles, with the support of Cover to Cover bookshop. It was brilliant to hear everyone’s stories of the first time they did different things – from riding a bike to sleeping in a campervan!

Later in the week, I had lots of fun reading and signing books in Griffin Books, Penarth.

Fantastic Abracazebra wall display by Ruby Class at Braybrook Primary, Peterborough

I had a wonderful time visiting Braybrook and Woodston primary schools in Peterborough through Pop Up Projects. This beautiful wall picture had been created by Ruby Class (Year 1) at Braybrook primary, bringing Abracazebra to life. The children (and staff!) in both schools had put in a lot of work before my visit, creating invitations to Abraczebra’s magic show and profiles of Goat and Abracazebra. We all had lots of fun on the day, too!