[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-nottingham-page-45-granby-junior-school":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"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, \u003Cb>Gracie Curtis\u003C/b>, from \u003Ca href=\"https://www.granbyjuniorschool.co.uk/\">Granby Junior School\u003C/a> in Ilkeston. We were glad for the chance to pass through Nottingham because it had been AGES since I last visited \u003Ca href=\"https://www.page45.com/store/Philip-Reeve-And-Sarah-McIntyre.html\">Page 45 bookshop\u003C/a> and saw its fabulous owners, \u003Cb>Stephen Holland\u003C/b> and \u003Cb>Jonathan Rigby\u003C/b>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1263915_original-e7a8a10a95.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\nSo 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. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1264351_original-18191a9cab.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd Stephen's \u003Ca href=\"https://www.comicartfestival.com/news/stephen-l-holland-continues-comics-laureate-until-october-2023\">staying on a bit longer as Comics Laureate; you can read more about that here\u003C/a>. (Hey, that's \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"https://jabberworks.co.uk/the-new-neighbours/\">The New Neighbours\u003C/a>\u003C/i> in the background!) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1264623_original-89609276b0.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nOur 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 \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"https://jabberworks.co.uk/kevin-vs-the-unicorns/\">Kevin vs the Unicorns\u003C/a>\u003C/i> assemblies. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1264768_original-a2ba2f2dad.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nWe 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! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1265141_original-941da5eec3.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nBig 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. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1265300_original-60b52cfe6b.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">","2023-05-01T09:00:00.000Z","nottingham-page-45-granby-junior-school",[],"Nottingham: Page 45 & Granby Junior School",1776628731761]