Find out what Anthony Browne has been doing in his role as Children's Laureate
-
Bear’s Magic Pencil – and a magical tea party celebration
Posted Tuesday August 24th 2010
by Katherine WoodfineEarlier this year, Anthony teamed up with The Sun newspaper and HarperCollins Children’s Books on a national competition to inspire children to be creative and use their imaginations. Children were invited to complete Anthony’s story of a bear who is constantly finding himself in peculiar situations, and uses his magic pencil to draw himself out of trouble.
Now the artwork of ten winners will be published alongside Anthony in a new book Bear’s Magic Pencil, due to hit bookshelves in September – and all royalties from sales of the book will be donated to Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity.
Last week, all 10 winners joined Anthony for a special tea party to celebrate the publication of this exciting new book at the HarperCollins offices in London.As well as meeting Anthony, the winning children had the chance to find out all about how the book was made, and received their own copies hot off the press, plus goody bags and £100 each of Waterstone’s vouchers.
Anthony said: "Thank you to all the children who entered this competition and proved that all youngsters…
-
Building Blocks: The Generate Exhibition 2010
Posted Friday August 20th 2010
by Katherine WoodfineLast week, Anthony Browne was the special guest at the opening of Building Blocks: The Generate Exhibition 2010, in Margate.
Generate is a dynamic artist-led project which explores and promotes creative exchange between generations. Working closely with Turner Contemporary, Generate are investigating how their artistic practice as adults can be influenced through the creativity of their children, with the results on display in this exhibition.
“This is one of the most exciting projects I’ve seen,” said Anthony, who was intrigued by the differences and similarities between the artworks by both children and adults. “With each family you can see a connection, but they are all still different as well – it’s fascinating to see... It’s a great idea for adults and children to work together.”
Listen to an audio interview with Anthony about the exhibition or visit the Turner Contemporary website to find out more. -
"Writing and illustrating picture books is the best job in the world!"
Posted Thursday August 5th 2010
by Katherine WoodfineAnthony recently joined Mumsnet for an intriguing online Q&A session, giving an insight into everything from the darker themes in his work, through to his enthusiasm for gorillas, and his love of writing and illustrating picture books.
The interview revealed some of the inspirations behind Anthony's work - which range from his dad's old dressing gown through to favourite books ranging from Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendack to Bram Stoker's Dracula and the work of other contemporary picture book makers, including Emily Gravett, Mini Grey, Oliver Jeffers, Lauren Child and Polly Dunbar.
Visit the Mumsnet website to read the Q&A in full.
Want to ask Anthony a question? CBBC's Newsround will also be putting Anthony in the hotseat for an online Q&A session - visit their website to find out how to submit your question, but be quick because the deadline is Friday at 9.00am!
-
And the grand total is...
Posted Tuesday August 3rd 2010
by Katherine WoodfineThe Shape Game online auction closed on Sunday - and we're thrilled to announce that a total of £11,535.65 has already been raised for children's charity Rainbow Trust!
Even if you didn't get chance to bid on an artwork, you can still support the charity, and take a look at all the artworks produced through the project with the new Play the Shape Game book published by Walker Books, and available in bookshops now. All profits from the book will be donated to Rainbow Trust.
Also if you fancy trying the Shape Game for yourself, why not enter The Observer's brilliant competition? Try transforming Anthony's shape yourself, and you could win a one-off print of Quentin Blake's fabulous Shape Game artwork, below.
Find out more about the competition and how to enter on the Guardian website here.
-
Booktrust play the Shape Game
Posted Tuesday August 3rd 2010
by Katherine WoodfineCelebrities, authors, illustrators and children aren't the only people to have been enjoying Anthony Browne's Shape Game in the last few weeks.
Booktrust's staff joined in with the Shape Game on a recent Staff Away Day at London Zoo, transforming shapes each other had drawn to create an imaginative array of Shape Game artworks of their own.
Bookstart Development Managers Janet Harrison and Natasha Baker with their Shape Game drawings
Some of the finished artworks
Francesca Beard chooses her favourites, with Booktrust CEO Viv Bird and Head of Education Projects Nikki Marsh.
Poet Francesca Beard, who joined the Booktrust team on the day to facilitate some creative poetry activities, chose Prizes Manager Claire Shanahan's camel drawing as her favourite artwork, making Claire the winner of Booktrust's very own Shape Game challenge!
Take a look at some of the artworks created by Booktrust staff below:
The winning artwork - by Prizes Manager Claire Shanahan and Liz Canning, Bookstart…
