Happy World Book Day from Strand on the Green Infant School

Swapna HaddowRoosting With Dave

We celebrated World Book Day today with the brilliant pupils of Strand on the Green Infant School. Sheena and I battled our way through a snow blizzard and Arctic temperatures to get there and were greeted with the warmest smiles as one hundred and eighty children helped us create brand new pigeontastic characters and stories. Thank you so much to Polly Watkinson, the staff and the pupils at Strand on the Green for making our day so memorable. Here are a few snaps from our day:

We LOVE seeing your Dave Pigeon-inspired World Book Day costumes so please so keep sending them in. You can contact me here. Here are some particularly birdrilliant ones:

Dave Pigeon at St Edmund’s Primary School

Swapna HaddowRoosting With Dave

Sheena and I were invited to meet the pigeontastic pupils of St Edmund’s Primary School today. We were so excited to introduce the children to the Dave Pigeon characters and read from the brand new Dave Pigeon book, Dave Pigeon (Racer!).

The children helped us create brand new villains, including the terrifying Ibra Kozzie, a half-man half-beast monster who wanted to feast on the pigeons of New York, and the equally horrifying Bob, who was half-cow half-pig with a runny nose,  on the hunt for a tasty pigeon at the dump.

We had such a great time, creating new stories and seeing the pupil’s incredible artwork. Thank you so much to the pupils and staff, especially Vicky Juniper, who made us feel so welcome at St Edmund’s.

I’m in National Geographic Kids!

Swapna HaddowRoosting With Dave

Last month, I was thrilled to hear that National Geographic Kids were running a World Book Day themed ‘Wonderful Writers’ spread in their next issue. And flabbergasted that they wanted to feature me, alongside many other brilliant authors, as part of their collection of writers!

The magazine has just arrived and it looks fantastic. Thank you National Geographic Kids!

Dave Pigeon (Racer!) meets pupils in Plymouth

Swapna HaddowRoosting With Dave

Sheena and I visited Plymouth to meet pupils from The Cathedral School of St Mary, St. Andrew’s C of E Primary School and Laira Green Primary School. The Plymouth Schools Library Services team hosted an incredible event at the Guildhall and we couldn’t have been more pleased to debut Dave Pigeon (Racer!) to the brilliant pupils who joined us.

Along with their own designs, together, the pupils created a new villainous character who was brilliantly named ‘Pointy Crillon’.

The children went on to create a brand new story for Dave Pigeon and Skipper which saw the feathery duo in the Land of Dragons facing off against three dragons with just a marshmallow. Dave and Skipper then had to escape Pointy Crillon via a trapdoor. The pigeons arrived in Candy Land, thinking the coast was clear, only to be set upon by the trio of dragons again. They escaped the hungry dragons, dressed up as candy floss and made it all the way to The End.

Thank you so much to all the staff and pupils who came along and a HUGE thank you to Julia and Team Plymouth SLS who looked after us during our visit.