[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-guardian-childrens-literature-festival-2015":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"For London's very first Guardian Children's Lit Fest, it seemed important to make an effort... \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/gdn_kidlitfest_bungee1_zpsub2itdqk-9395a28c07.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n...or at least to  \u003Cfont size=\"4\">MAKE AN ENTRANCE\u003C/font>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/gdn_kidlitfest_bungee2_zpsyk2tgje5-a8dc02d5a2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nMy co-author \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/philipreeve1\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a> and I were thrilled to be part of it. The \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site\">Guardian Children's Book website\u003C/a> hosts loads of amazing material in a time when children's book journalism in the major newspapers is very scarce. \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/EmilyDrabs\">Emily Drabble\u003C/a> and her team have been doing a great job of getting the word out. You can follow them on Twitter at \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/GdnChildrensBks\">@GdnChildrensBks\u003C/a>. (I've done several \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/series/how-to-draw\">how-to-draw\u003C/a> tutorials for them, including how to draw a \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2015/jun/13/how-to-draw-a-hungry-t-rex-sarah-mcintyre\">Hungry T-Rex\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2014/sep/07/how-to-draw-jampires-sarah-mcintyre\">Jampires\u003C/a> and a \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2014/jul/30/how-to-draw-a-unicorn-summer-reading-challenge-sarah-mcintyre\">Silly Unicorn\u003C/a>.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/guardianfest_poster_zpsikyrpslc-1106e3b154.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSo Philip and I brought along our brand new book, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/pugs-of-the-frozen-north/\">\u003Ci>Pugs of the Frozen North\u003C/i>\u003C/a>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/gdn_kidlitfest_reading_zpstksexgcg-4aa60a3c55.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd encountered several PERILS along the way:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/gdn_kidlitfest_yeti_zpspl1wchcj-a64dbb3de4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBut together with the audience's help, we plotted our way through them to reach the North Pole. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/gdn_kidlitfest_phildraw_zpsjyd6m8zz-5b54e4ad1c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's a picture we drew right before the event: I drew Philip and he drew me! (It's fun working with a writer who's also an illustrator.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/gdn_kidlitfest_flipchart_zpsswpn8ace-d0a831e291.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\nWith the addiction of a giant die, things got awfully exciting:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/gdn_kidlitfest_dice_zpssx15mc2f-f0a28b9ff6.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSadly, I didn't get a chance to go to any of the other events, but they looked ace. On the way to our book signing, I passed \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Poetryjoe\">Joseph Coehlo\u003C/a> in poetry mid-flow:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/joseph_coehlo_zpse9mhn8ti-e6ee555f67.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd I'd seen on social media that \u003Ca href=\"http://www.paulstickland.co.uk/\">Paul Stickland\u003C/a> had been preparing to paint a giant dinosaur:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/paulstrickland1_zpsxtrskiuu-169853ecb4.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Photo by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.paulstickland.co.uk/\">Paul Stickland\u003C/a>\u003C/font>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nAnd I was just about to jump in and paint with him...\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/paulstrickland2_zpsgaiimwqq-f5c8db29e8.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Photo by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.paulstickland.co.uk/\">Paul Stickland\u003C/a>\u003C/font>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n... but then I was whisked away, back into the sky. (Thanks for the photo, Paul!) I think Paul's posted a video somewhere of the giant T-Rex he drew; it was pretty awesome.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/gdn_kidlitfest_paulstrickland_zpsc1535uny-044d06efcb.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Photo by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.paulstickland.co.uk/\">Paul Stickland\u003C/a>\u003C/font>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n...Back in the sky, where I was met by my trusty steed, the Dartmoor Pegasus. Ha ha, I just had to share this one, posted by \u003Cb>Mathew Tobin\u003C/b> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Mat_at_Brookes\">@Mat_at_Brookes\u003C/a> on Twitter, \u003Ca href=\"http://imgur.com/yTDR7Pn\">GrimResistance\u003C/a> on Reddit):\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/Mat_at_Brookes_zpsjnmir1u8-688eb2be54.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBig thanks to the Guardian team, to Emily, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/michellepauli\">Michelle Pauli\u003C/a>, Ginny, to everyone in the audience who came along, to OUP publicist \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SarahAnnHowells\">Sarah Howells\u003C/a>, and to Stuart for carrying ukuleles, blowing up the giant die and being generally fabulous. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/gdn_kidlitfest_stu_zpsh06ithbd-b1b44066ef.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>EDIT: Here's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/low-flying-illustrator-buzzes-book-fest/\">Philip Reeve's blog post!\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/low-flying-illustrator-buzzes-book-fest/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/reeve_blog_gdnlitfest_zpsmcgyztp2-c2e7a1bfc3.jpg\">\u003C/a>","2015-08-30T09:45:00.000Z","guardian-childrens-literature-festival-2015",[],"guardian children's literature festival 2015",1776628727778]