[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-leeds-graphic-novel-award":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"I have so much to tell you about this weekend that I hardly know where to start! And I've splashed it all over the Internets, often \u003Ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/jabberworks\">on Twitter\u003C/a>, on \u003Ca href=\"http://sarahmcintyre.tumblr.com/\">Tumblr\u003C/a>, occasionally on \u003Ca href=\"http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=903715286&ref=tn_tnmn\">Facebook\u003C/a>. But I like to wrap up everything and put it here in one place, here, since this blog is part of the way I remember things, a sort of external hard-drive for my brain.\\r\n\\r\nLet's start in Yorkshire, with \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_Central_Library\">Leeds Central Library\u003C/a>. If you're outside of Britain and reading this, you should know that we're having a real battle in this country to keep our libraries and trained librarians, but it's good to know that the big, fancy library in Leeds has a very solid guard dog looking after it. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/tb11_leedscentrallibrary-7fe9b2d1e6.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>So the big news is, my book \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/vernlettuce-book.php\">\u003Ci>Vern and Lettuce\u003C/i>\u003C/a> won the \u003Ca href=\"http://thoughtbubblefestival.com/events/young-peoples-graphic-novel-awards/\">Leeds Graphic Novel Award\u003C/a>!!\u003C/b> \\r\n\\r\nI wasn't expecting to win it, because my sheep and rabbit were up against the tremendous powerhouse that is the \u003Ca href=\"http://theetheringtonbrothers.blogspot.com/\">Etherington Brothers\u003C/a>, with their \u003Ci>Monkey Nuts\u003C/i>, much-lauded John and Sandra of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.metaphrog.com/\">Metaphrog\u003C/a> with \u003Ci>Louis Night Salad\u003C/i> and several other fine contenders. Our former DFC colleague and friend \u003Ca href=\"http://daveshelton.com/\">Dave Shelton\u003C/a>, last year's winner for \u003Ci>Good Dog, Bad Dog\u003C/i>, presented the award. We had a laugh later, looking at the photos, because the trophy is made of glass, so you can't see it, and it looks like Dave and I are just holding hands or something.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/tb11_graphicnovaward4-886a78ecdd.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThe Etheringtons, Metaphrog and I all gave comics presentations to the kids gathered, who were part of the nine Leeds schools who had voted on the award. I did a bit of flip-chart drawing, of Vern and Lettuce with bubble gum, and I was so flustered that I forgot to draw Lettuce's tail. But never mind. One of the girls there copied my drawing and showed me her version afterward. Isn't it fabulous?\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/tb11_graphicnovaward5-6e26732796.jpg\" width=\"350\">\\r\n\\r\nIf you like \u003Ci>Vern and Lettuce\u003C/i> (and Leeds does, yay!), be sure to check out the other books in the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidficklingbooks.com/davidficklingbooks_dfclibrary.asp\">DFC Library series\u003C/a>; its books are a total hit with kids whenever they find them. And if you like those, think about subscribing to \u003Ca href=\"https://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/\">The Phoenix comic\u003C/a>, which is launching this January. (So a subscription would be a perfect Christmas gift.) Don't miss the first issue, it's going to be amazing! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"https://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/logo-957e20ed4c.gif\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here to read more under the cut-->\\r\nHere's the Metaphrog team, listening to the Etherington's dynamic talk about how to make comics:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/tb11_metaphrog-5ddf76d473.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here are some of the kids who took part in the competition. Thanks so much for your votes!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/tb11_graphicnovaward3-60f33e2ff5.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnother shot of the details in this amazing library. SNOGGING LIONS!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/tb11_graphicnovaward10-326eff2330.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIt was great to see the kids were busy making comics; here are a few they showed me on the day:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/tb11_graphicnovaward9-99e4b0b93c.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/tb11_graphicnovaward8-b97c7b5115.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThank you very much to my contact person and award coordinator \u003Cb>Deborah Moody\u003C/b> (third from the right). Debbie's doing loads of good things to bring comics, a love of reading, and visual and textual literacy to Leeds communities, and together with her library teams, deserves a big round of applause. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/tb11_graphicnovaward1-3f952aceeb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd look! That's my picture book writer, \u003Ca href=\"http://gillianrogerson.net/\">Gillian Rogerson\u003C/a>, there on the far left! More about her in the next blog post... \\r\nYou can read a bit more over on the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidficklingbooks.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/11/21/vern-lettuce-scoop-up-the-leeds-graphic-novel-award/\">David Fickling blog\u003C/a>!","2011-11-22T10:31:00.000Z","leeds-graphic-novel-award",[],"leeds graphic novel award",1776628720982]