Blog

My blog includes news and reviews of books and events.

It also features some interviews with authors and illustrators and other musings on the world of children’s publishing.

 

Pottering with Peter at the palace

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18 Jul 2022    

It’s been nine months since I wrote my last blog piece. But it’s 120 years since the focus of this entry – a small rabbit in a ‘blue ...



Escape rooms

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10 Oct 2021    

I found myself in Oxford this week on an October day when the real sky was as blue as the one painted on a courtyard wall in

Sowing seeds of imagination

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23 Apr 2021    

Like many venues, the Eden Project in Cornwall is planning to reopen on the 17 May. It will be the new home for the National Wildflower ...



The MOST Zommerful time . . . of the year!

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18 Nov 2020    

In the news recently we discovered that La Niña could bring colder conditions this winter. But, whatever the weather, a guaranteed way ...



A little bravery goes a long way

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02 Nov 2020    

This November I’m delighted that Bravery, one of the first titles in the ‘Big Words for Little People’ series, has been selected ...



Well-red squirrels

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23 Sep 2020    

I have just returned from a week in the Lake District. The weather was glorious: misty mornings giving way to beautiful all-day ...



A picture-book walk (part two)

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12 May 2020    

This blog entry continues my picture-book walk through the grounds of Blenheim ...



A picture-book walk (part one)

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14 Apr 2020    

Yesterday evening I followed a circular route through the grounds of Blenheim ...



(Not) the London Book Fair

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10 Mar 2020    

Today I would have been attending the London Book Fair and had planned to blog about my visit. Unfortunately, coronavirus has thwarted ...



A website for Wildsmith

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22 Jan 2020    

Today would have been Brian Wildsmith’s 90th birthday. As a lasting birthday tribute, his children have launched a website that ...



A tree is not just for Christmas

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21 Dec 2019    

While trees are being felled for the festive season and organisations such as Network Rail are pledging to plant them, Yuval Zommer ...



Unruly in the library

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14 Nov 2019    

If you’re brave enough, descend a few stairs in a corner of the British Library to meet some of the most rebellious characters in ...



Wildlife caught on paper

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23 Oct 2019    

Catherine Rayner’s third solo exhibition at the Sarah Wiseman Gallery in Oxford has just opened and runs until 2nd November. Named ...



Season of mists and kids’ lit festivals . . .

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09 Oct 2019    

If John Keats were alive today, perhaps he would have included in his ode ‘To Autumn’ the crop of children’s book festivals to pick ...