[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-our-big-book-launch-plus-a-madcap-pirate-draw-off":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Last night my new piratey picture book with \u003Ca href=\"http://gillianrogerson.net/\">Gillian Rogerson\u003C/a>, \u003Ci>\u003Cb>You Can't Scare a Princess!\u003C/i>\u003C/b> officially set sail from The Princess of Shoreditch in London's east end. \u003Cb>\u003Cfont size=\"3\">ARRRRR!\u003C/font>\u003C/b> \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/gillian_sarah_pirates-caadc9e0f1.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nNot only was it our book launch party, but it was also International \u003Cb>Talk Like a Pirate\u003C/b> Day! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_gillian-ccb2e9c231.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here's the fabulous Scholastic Princess and Pirate Team that makes all things happen! From the left, that's publicists \u003Cb>Catherine Alport\u003C/b>, \u003Cb>Alexandra Sedgwick\u003C/b>, me, finance wizard \u003Cb>Alyx Price\u003C/b>, \u003Cb>Gillian\u003C/b>, editor \u003Cb>Fiz Osborne\u003C/b>, our editor \u003Cb>Ellie Parkin\u003C/b> and designer \u003Cb>Zoe Waring\u003C/b>. Thanks for all your hard work everyone! They really pulled out all the stops for this party, Gillian and I were totally gobsmacked.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/team_princess-1103401c3b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more pics under the cut!-->\\r\nScholastic's Publishing Director \u003Cb>Lisa Edwards\u003C/b> gave a great speech and surprised us by telling us that the first book, \u003Ci>You Can't Eat a Princess!\u003C/i> has sold over 30,000 copies in the UK, and even though the new book just came out three weeks ago, it's already sold over 10,000 copies! And lots of people have been downloading the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/princess-pirate.php\">free pirate activity sheets off my website\u003C/a>, I hope I'll get to see some of the pirates and treasure maps people have been creating!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/lisa_speech-9de5ed6b60.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThen my fab friends \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philipreeve.blogspot.com/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.garynorthfield.co.uk\">Gary Northfield\u003C/a> and I kicked off our swashbuckling Pirate Draw-Off! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/philip_sarah_gary-23c2600d5f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nGillian gave us a pirate category, and we had three minutes to see what kind of high-speed drawing we could bash out. Here's Gary's entry for 'Zombie Pirate'. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/drawoff_gary2-12a94a4a6e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nGary, Philip and I did a few rounds, then other illustrators in the room swung into action! Here are all our shipmates who wielded deadly pens. From the left, Philip, me, my studio mate \u003Ca href=\"http://www.littlewhitebird.com\">Ellen Lindner\u003C/a>, DFC colleague \u003Ca href=\"http://www.woodrowphoenix.co.uk/\">Woodrow Phoenix\u003C/a>, cartoonist and fellow Society of Authors member \u003Ca href=\"http://www.rosasquith.co.uk/\">Ros Asquith\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.scribblehound.com\">David O'Connell\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.alexisdeacon.co.uk\">Alexis Deacon\u003C/a>, Gary and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.alexmilway.com/\">Alex Milway\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/drawoff_team-18f3cbbf22.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Philip's Zombie Pirate...\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/drawoff_philip-b6344ce1e2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n...Ros's 'Pirate Dinosaur'...\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/drawoff_ros2-546f98756d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n...and Alexis drew a Pirate Dinosaur, too!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/drawoff_alexis-5c3ab9642d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWoodrow's getting started here on his 'Hairiest Pirate'.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/drawoff_wdz-02677bf9e7.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nScholastic provided lots of props, including princess tiaras and pirate hats, but some people brought bits and bobs of their own costumes. Thanks very much to writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.geraldinemccaughrean.co.uk/\">Geraldine McCaughrean\u003C/a> for lending me her fabulous Captain Hook hat! It's from the events she does for her official sequel to Peter Pan, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.geraldinemccaughrean.co.uk/ppisc.htm\">\u003Ci>Peter Pan in Scarlet\u003C/i>\u003C/a>. And Alex Milway brought along a fab pirate beard!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_alex_gary-f52ac3dd00.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOf course, we all had to try on the beard. Here's my husband Stuart looking ever so... hairy.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/pirate_stuart-f137d83c0f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nEveryone looks better in a pirate hat.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/pirate_wdz1-fbe64c21f4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAlthough the hat-beard combo can be a bit overwhelming...\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/pirate_alyx_gillian-0a6845c9dd.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nCap'n Phoenix:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/pirate_wdz2-23cb853fef.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBarbarossa Reeve:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/pirate_philip-d5d3751915.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nDeadly Beardshade:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_lauren-8008b6ef79.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's my most excellent \u003Ca href=\"http://www.discover.org.uk/whatson/event/welcome_to_monsterville/\">Monsterville team\u003C/a> from East London's Discover centre! Here we have \u003Cb>Eleanor Butler\u003C/b>, \u003Cb>Paul Callaghan\u003C/b>, \u003Cb>Racheal Brasier\u003C/b> and \u003Cb>Sally Goldsworthy\u003C/b>. (Do go visit the Monsterville monster village if you haven't already!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/discover_team-3d55335fcc.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nYou can just see Dave's 'Hairiest Pirate' over Catherine's shoulder, then there's publisher \u003Ca href=\"http://www5.scholastic.co.uk/zone/book_alison-green.htm\">Alison Green\u003C/a> (who runs her own imprint at Scholastic) and writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.candygourlay.com/\">Candy Gourlay\u003C/a> (author of \u003Ci>Tall Story\u003C/i>). I spent a couple of hours last month interviewing Alison for Ireland's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.inismagazine.ie/\">\u003Ci>Inis Magazine\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, so that will come out in the next issue. She told me so many amazing things that Inis let me have about 2,000 more words than they originally commissioned so we could include more cool stuff. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cath_alis_sarah_candy-59a51c8259.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's \u003Cb>Dylan Calder\u003C/b>, the lovely chappie who runs London's \u003Cb>Pop-Up Festival\u003C/b>. (See my earlier blog post about it \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/413244.html\">here\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cath_dylan_sarah-9a6e6b9b55.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOn the right, that's our fab designer, Zoe. We went through three editors on this book (baby-making is contagious in the children's book world), but Zoe was my solid anchor through it all. I was really having to work fast by the end of the book and she came up with a better back cover design that I did, for which I was immensely grateful.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cath_gillian_alex-0a17827085.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Philip with \u003Cb>Caroline Horn\u003C/b> from The Bookseller magazine. (If you're at The Bookseller Children's Conference on 29 Sept, you'll hear me speak about social media. \u003Ca href=\"https://www.eventsforce.net/bookseller/frontend/reg/thome.csp?pageID=7579&eventID=28&eventID=28\">Details here\u003C/a>.) And to her right is \u003Cb>Ann Lazim\u003C/b>, one of the key people organising next year's big conference of the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.ibby.org/\">International Board of Books for Young People\u003C/a> (IBBY).\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/philip_caroline_ann-34d5687fe4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks for coming along, Sainbury's children's book buyer \u003Cb>Mavis Sarfo\u003C/b> and \u003Cb>Toni Pelari\u003C/b>, Rights & Sales Director at Scholastic.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_mavis-817e8effa7.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nMy graffiti knitting studio mate \u003Ca href=\"http://www.whodunnknit.com/\">Lauren O'Farrell\u003C/a> with full-time book world partygoers \u003Cb>David and Jenny Blanch\u003C/b> from \u003Ca href=\"http://www.carouselguide.co.uk/\">Carousel magazine\u003C/a> and \u003Cb>Martin and Sinead Kromer\u003C/b> from the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.fcbg.org.uk/\">Federation of Children's Book Groups\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/lauren_blanches-35fccc9f40.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAlways great to see \u003Cb>Lucy Simmonds\u003C/b> (left), who's assistant to my agent \u003Ca href=\"http://unitedagents.co.uk/jodie-marsh\">Jodie Marsh\u003C/a> (right).\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/lucy_jodie-b62f12f48c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIllustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://heatherkilgour.com/\">Heather Kilgour\u003C/a>, editor \u003Cb>Bridget Hannigan\u003C/b>, Alexis and Ellen:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/heathr_brig_alex_el-1360a7cbf4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd \u003Ca href=\"http://mondoagogo.com/\">Anna Mondo\u003C/a> getting mauled by the pirate hordes.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/wdz_anna2-f3edbb72c5.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks so much to Gillian for her marvelous text, to Scholastic for their hard work and for throwing such a brilliant launch party, to our pirate artists, and to everyone who came along for being so much fun!\\r\n(\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/princess-pirate.php\">And do be sure to steer your pirate galleon along the shores of the \u003Ci>You Can't Scare a Princess!\u003C/i> website!\u003C/a>)","2011-09-20T22:16:00.000Z","our-big-book-launch-plus-a-madcap-pirate-draw-off",[],"our big book launch! plus a madcap pirate draw-off...",1776628720724]