By Another year has come and gone and I have had the honour to share my books with more pre-school and infant school children – and a few juniors too. It is notable that as my own children are outgrowing my books, new cohorts of youngsters are being introduced to my brand of anarchic rhyming fun and responding in the same way – screaming “no” as they laugh uncontrollably at such notions as pizzas covered in fleas and swimming in an apple tree.
The first major event of 2024 was reading A Zoo In My Shoe at a local primary school for World Book Day, after which I helped the teachers lead the children in a range of activities based on the book. It was here that I learned the concept of a “Whoosh,” which I understand to be a quiet and controlled way for a large group to show their appreciation, rather than a traditional round of applause or cheer – but I stand to be corrected.Other events during the year included returning to the wonderful Book Buzz event at one of north London’s main cultural centres, the Arts Depot, where organisers put together book related activities to engage young readers – from author readings, fancy dress, story-telling through puppets to my own activity sheets.
I was also delighted to mark the anniversary of the publication of A Zoo In My Shoe by returning to the festival where I launched it; being part of the East Finchley Festival is always a joy, because the mix of music, culture, craft and community is so welcoming.As the year drew to a close, I also returned to the Barnet Christmas Fayre, which was better prepared for the poor weather this year – rather than being in a small gazebo, open to the elements, the story-telling took place inside the main tent – directly after a meet-and-greet with Elsa and Olaf from Frozen – well, if everyone else was getting their photo taken with them, why shouldn’t I?
As well as working with organisations I had worked with before, I connected with some new ones, such as Babyzone Barnet, which provides a range of facilities and activities to children in the borough. I took part in their summer family event, alongside other local services such as the libraries.And much of my work this year was with the local libraries, expanding from the usual 3 branches to 7 across the borough, and broadening out the offering from What Can You See? being part of the weekly Rhyme Time to having holiday craft events built around my books – with a member of library staff creating giant cardboard cut-outs of the Max Low’s characters from A Zoo In My Shoe, which then followed me around the borough from event to event. As much fun as it is to share my books with children, it’s always fascinating to see how others – whether teachers or library staff – interpret my words and see what activities they come up with. But whatever they come up with, I always have my own activity sheets for each book available.
One of the more surprising elements of 2024 was the publication of a 2nd edition of A Zoo In My Shoe, a little over a year after the first edition. It was all the same anarchic rhyming fun, but squeezed into a slightly smaller package – more manageable for little hands and easier for grown-ups to fit in their bags. Everyone’s a winner.A central point of the publishing years is the London Book Fair, where I had what i hope might become useful conversations with my publisher, Graffeg, and met some of the team from Book Trust who have popped my book, I Like To Put Food In My Welly in several of the recommendations lists, including their Life-Changing Libraries List, the best books of 2020 list and most recently, their “Fun Books To Share List.”
Other highlights included being the warm-up act for the head teacher’s bedtime story at a school summer camp, being named the author of the week by a primary school in the Peak District and reconnecting with an old colleague from my first job, about 30 years ago – it turns out that Chris Smith is writing children’s books too, now!
So, what’s coming up in 2025? The new Famous Five book – from Chris Smith. From me, we will have to wait to see what the book gods bring. There are several projects I’ve been discussing with Graffeg, but none has yet come to fruition, so if not something new, perhaps there will be a 2nd edition of I Like To Put Food In My Welly, so that at least my name will be spelled correctly on the spine!
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