What a bearilliant start to 2022! Not only were Bad Panda AND My Dad is a Grizzly Bear shortlisted for the Books for Topics Books of the Year 2021 but My Dad is a Grizzly Bear WON it’s category for EYFS Best Classroom Read-Aloud. Thank you to Books for Topics for all your support. I’m chuffed to bits for both …
See you in 2022!
It’s been a bumper crop this year! I’m so thankful to be supported by the best publishing teams but also by the BEST readers. That’s you! A huge THANK YOU to all the brilliant booksellers, bloggers, librarians, school staff, fellow authors and illustrators and AWESOME readers, like you, who continue to support my books – big Christmas hugs to you …
Bad Panda with Neobael
It’s my final event of 2021! Thank you to everyone who has adapted to virtual visits during the pandemic – you’ve made this technophobe’s year! I know these events are not the same as in-person events but I’ve been thrilled to see how engaged and interactive pupils have been so THANK YOU very much to all who have come along …
Happy Diwali!
It’s Diwali! Thank you so much to everyone who joined Scholastic School Live and took part in the ‘All About Diwali’ event. I had such a great time sharing Diwali stories and activities with you and I know my dog, Archie, did too! Please do get in touch and share your Diwali makes and bakes with me. I’d love to …
Talking about Series Fiction
Today, Maisie Chan, Tọlá Okogwu and I were invited to talk about our experience writing Series Fiction. Jasmine Richards hosted the panel and it was so great to share our mutual love for writing for younger readers and find out what got us writing for the age group. Tọlá shared her feelings of the pressure to be ‘perfect’ as a …
The Blue Peter Book Awards 2022
Bad Panda has been longlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2022! I’m pleased as punch that Bad Panda is on such a fantastic longlist alongside some of my absolute favourite books of the year – a total honour!
Bad Panda at Wokingham Children’s Book Festival
I was flying solo without my partner-in-books, Sheena Dempsey, at Wokingham Children’s Book Festival today. Despite a couple of Powerpoint hitches, I had a fantastic time, ably assisted by Gemma and Sally from Wokingham Town Council. I talked about the inspiration behind Bad Panda and shared some tricks and tips for planning stories. We heard about pandas in orchards, pandas …
Bad Panda at Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Libraries Children’s Book Festival
Thank you so much to all the schools who joined Sheena and I for Bad Panda fun today with dlr Libraries. We were asked heaps of brilliant questions about making Bad Panda and were so impressed with the pupils drawings of Lin after their drawalong tutorial with Sheena.
Bad Panda at the International School of Paris
Today, I dropped in an author Zoom to see Grade 2 at the International School of Paris in France. We spoke about Bad Panda and I gave them my top tips on planning a story using objects in the classroom. The pupils had heaps of questions for me and I told them all about where ideas come from and how …
University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence
I’m thrilled to announce that I will be the University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence 2022. I’m so honoured (and a little bit daunted) to follow in the footsteps of previous fellows – all of whom are my writing heroes. I’ll be blogging about my experience so stay tuned next year to hear what …