BookTastic Adventuremice 2023

Big thanks to the BookTastic BookFest team in Bedford for hosting a big Adventuremice stage event last weekend! Here you can see the view to the stage at Bedford Academy as the hall began to fill: Photo tweeted by @MariaFadget My co-author Philip Reeve and I had performed in July for BookTastic for the wider festival and they'd had such good feedback - children with their noses in books as soon as they left the auditorium, quiet on buses as children kept reading - that organiser Rachael Rogan invited us back again for a one-off festival event! Like last time, festival photographer Chiara Mac Call took some incredible photos of the audience taking part. (Thank you so much, Chiara!!) Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest We even had a famous children's book author-illustrator in the audience with her family, Harriet Muncaster of the Isadora Moon books! (Great to see you, Harriet!) Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo from Harriet Muncaster's Instagram stories You can see lots more photos over on the BookTastic Facebook page or Instagram, but here are some more photos of children holding the portraits I drew of them after they waited so patiently in the signing queue. Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Here's a selfie I took of the incredible team who made this all happen, with books, snacks, a great venue, entertainment for people queuing, the works! That's the photographer Chiara in front, holding the Adventuremice books, on the other side of the camera! And just to the right of her, Rachael Rogan. This time we were able to have dinner with Rachael the evening before (yummy Kerala food at The Cochin!) and have a fabulous proper catch-up. Huge, HUGE thanks to everyone on the team who worked so hard!!! And to the sponsors, including the headline sponsors, The Harpur Trust. You managed to reach so many people, and hopefully inspire the children to read, write, draw and invent their own stories. What a day!! Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest\ Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest Photo by Chiara Mac Call for BookTastic BookFest