May. 1st, 2023 at 9:00 AM
Nottingham: Page 45 & Granby Junior School
The past week was a bit of a blur with all the activity, and I didn't get many chances to take photos. So I'll post this as a series of tweets intead! On Tuesday, my co-author Philip Reeve and I went to the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border to celebrate the winning of a short story competition by a pupil, Gracie Curtis, from Granby Junior School in Ilkeston. We were glad for the chance to pass through Nottingham because it had been AGES since I last visited Page 45 bookshop and saw its fabulous owners, Stephen Holland and Jonathan Rigby.
So see them, we did! They had SO many of our books on display, it was really very moving, and we signed lots of stock and had a good look at the lovely new refit they'd made to the shop, post-Covid. We were able to have dinner with Stephen, something I've wanted to do forever, and catch up on him, the shop, and his work as Comics Laureate.
And Stephen's staying on a bit longer as Comics Laureate; you can read more about that here. (Hey, that's The New Neighbours in the background!)
Our next stop was Granby Junior School, where representatives from the competition's sponsor, Moto, met us and helped us present a big cheque to the school for playground equipment, books for the school and the winner, and lead two Kevin vs the Unicorns assemblies.
We chose Gracie's story because it had so much liveliness, play and humour in it; little word games, jokes, and creative chaos. We know Gracie's going to go far!
Big thanks to the team from Moto, Marnay Dudley and Mrs Rees from the school, Gracie, Gracie's dad, and all the children who made our day so much fun! And thanks to Cathy Booker and Grace Evans from Oxford Children's Books for coordinating our visit.
So see them, we did! They had SO many of our books on display, it was really very moving, and we signed lots of stock and had a good look at the lovely new refit they'd made to the shop, post-Covid. We were able to have dinner with Stephen, something I've wanted to do forever, and catch up on him, the shop, and his work as Comics Laureate.
And Stephen's staying on a bit longer as Comics Laureate; you can read more about that here. (Hey, that's The New Neighbours in the background!)
Our next stop was Granby Junior School, where representatives from the competition's sponsor, Moto, met us and helped us present a big cheque to the school for playground equipment, books for the school and the winner, and lead two Kevin vs the Unicorns assemblies.
We chose Gracie's story because it had so much liveliness, play and humour in it; little word games, jokes, and creative chaos. We know Gracie's going to go far!
Big thanks to the team from Moto, Marnay Dudley and Mrs Rees from the school, Gracie, Gracie's dad, and all the children who made our day so much fun! And thanks to Cathy Booker and Grace Evans from Oxford Children's Books for coordinating our visit.