Find out what Anthony Browne has been doing in his role as Children's Laureate
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"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!
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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.
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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…
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Behind the scenes at Walker Books: the making of Play the Shape Game
Posted Thursday July 29th 2010
by Helen Thomas and Andrew WatsonWe're delighted to welcome two of our colleagues from Walker Books, Editor Helen Thomas and Designer Andrew Watson, for a special guest post about the making of Play the Shape Game.
We’ve done fast-track schedules before – where’s the fun if you don’t have at least a few days of caffeine-fuelled panic before a book goes to print, only then to chase it back from the printing press to change the glaring error on the back cover? But five months to design, edit and print a full-colour book in an unknown format, with an unknown number of pages, packed with dozens of contributions from not-yet-approached celebrities (of some sort)? Really? Isn’t that about a year (or five) less than we need?
Cue total denial for two months.
And then there were three months…
But we at Walker Books like a challenge; we like a good cause (and Rainbow Trust is a very good cause); and we love Anthony Browne…
And for a few months this year, when the phone rang, it had the potential not to be about an ISBN or retail price, but to be a Literary Giant, calling from his luxury pad in Europe, wanting to chat about…
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Celebrating the Summer Reading Challenge
Posted Tuesday July 27th 2010
by Katherine WoodfineWhilst Anthony was busy with the launch of the Play the Shape Game book and charity auction this week, former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen was toasting the launch of the 2010 Summer Reading Challenge at a special event at the House of Commons.
Members of Parliament joined Michael, who is patron of the Summer Reading Challenge, as well as Culture Minister Ed Vaizey and Chair of Arts Council England Alan Davey to celebrate the Summer Reading Challenge and to find out more about the project, which is run by The Reading Agency.
The Summer Reading Challenge runs in libraries throughout the summer holidays, with incentives, activities and events designed to create a buzz around children’s reading. The challenge is simple – to read six or more library books over the summer. This year’s theme is Space Hop and young participants will be invited to help the young crew of the Ex Libris to set up the first library on the Moon!
All the MPs who came to the event took away a signed copy of Anthony’s book Into…
