[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-daunt-books-childrens-short-story-anthology-2017":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Yesterday evening, I frocked up to go to lovely \u003Ca href=\"http://www.burghhouse.org.uk/\">Burgh House & Museum \u003C/a>in Hampstead, northeast London, for a celebration with independent bookseller \u003Ca href=\"https://www.dauntbooks.co.uk/\">Daunt Books\u003C/a>. They'd run a children's short story competition and compiled the stories by the winners into this lovely book! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/253904_original-ae4d341e00.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jimfield.co.uk/\">Jim Field\u003C/a>, who created the cover! I'm a massive fangirl of Jim's work; if you don't know it, check out his books, he's brilliant. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/252698_original-8c9044c376.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more under the cut!-->\\r\nI love the way the front cover gives hints at how each story begins:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/252248_original-01982807aa.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd ends! (Without giving actual spoilers.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/252553_original-0066e43e5e.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThe stories were great; this one in particular, by five-year-old James, made me laugh. And another one by 10-year-old Isaac called \u003Ci>The Efficient Elf\u003C/i>, from the point of view of a high-strung officious Santa's helper who knows how things at the North Pole could be run much better. At the end of the event, Jim and I got all the authors to sign our copies of the book! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/253513_original-9862247816.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a> wrote the introduction and would have been there but his plane had only just landed from two weeks in New Zealand, working on the set where his \u003Ci>Mortal Engines\u003C/i> is being made into a big film. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/253980_original-26570f2ea6.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nKudos to Daunt and the team for a lovely evening - Jethrow Smith, Bethany Hocken and illustrator \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/EmmaShoard\">Emma Shoard\u003C/a> - and for making sure the book was so beautifully printed. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/253430_original-ec6bdae5e0.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks to \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/LoisNina\">Philippa Perry\u003C/a> for her help, and thanks to Daunt for including Jim and me! Congratulations to all the winners, and to people who entered but didn't get included, keep writing anyway! Be sure to pop by one of Daunt bookshops when you're in London, they're some of the most beautiful you'll ever see, with a well-chosen selection of books. (You can follow them on Twitter: \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Dauntbooks\">@dauntbooks\u003C/a>, Jim:\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/_JimField\"> @_JimField\u003C/a>, Philip: \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/philipreeve1\">@philipreeve1\u003C/a> and Burgh House: \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BurghHouse1704\">@BurghHouse1704\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/252994_original-1d7b9cb01d.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">","2017-05-23T11:35:00.000Z","daunt-books-childrens-short-story-anthology-2017",[],"daunt books children's short story anthology 2017",1776628729054]