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.

The story of a story

19 Aug 2024

When not in Oxfordshire, I am often in Liverpool. My favourite gallery in the city is the Walker Art Gallery, facing St George’s Hall. ...

Blake’s heaven

13 Jul 2024

The title of this post is not a vague homophone for the seventies BBC sci-fi show but rather an assessment of the glorious exhibition ...

Pottering with Peter at the palace

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

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

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!

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

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

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)

12 May 2020

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

A picture-book walk (part one)

14 Apr 2020

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

(Not) the London Book Fair

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

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

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

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

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 . . .

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 ...