[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-winter-tree":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Here's a new winter version of the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.justimaginestorycentre.co.uk/\">Just Imagine\u003C/a> logo I created for the story centre in Chelmsford, Essex, last year. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/justimagine_winterlogo-1acf085e90.gif\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Just Imagine\u003C/b> (\u003Ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/Chelmsfordbooks\">@Chelmsfordbooks\u003C/a> on Twitter, where you can see the original logo) is a real hub for creators and for people of all ages who love books, run by the powerhouse that is \u003Cb>Nikki Gamble\u003C/b>. I've written about fifty reviews of picture books and graphic novels for her children's book database, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.justimaginestorycentre.co.uk/advanced-search?title=&field_author_value=&field_illustrator_value=&field_genre_value=&field_agerange_value=&field_curriculum_subject_value=&field_theme_value=&field_publisher_value=&field_isbn_value=&field_reviewer_value=sarah+mcintyre\">which you can read here\u003C/a> (be sure to scroll down below the search engine part of the page.) There's everything from my review of Shaun Tan's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.justimaginestorycentre.co.uk/content/TheArrival\">\u003Ci>The Arrival\u003C/i>\u003C/a> to Darryl Cunningham's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.justimaginestorycentre.co.uk/node/1265349628\">\u003Ci>Psychiatric Tales\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, a very strange book by Chris van Allsburg called \u003Ca href=\"http://www.justimaginestorycentre.co.uk/content/probuditi\">\u003Ci>Probuditi\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, and one where I went off on a wild comparison essay for \u003Ca href=\"http://www.justimaginestorycentre.co.uk/content/beware-frog-0\">\u003Ci>Beware of the Frog\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by William Bee. \\r\n\\r\nReviewing picture books was very helpful for me, it made me slow down and think, not just 'are the pictures attractive?' but try to figure out what makes text and picture work well together. (So yes, in answer to \u003Ca href=\"http://www.inismagazine.ie/blog/entry/should-writers-review-books\">\u003Ci>Inis\u003C/i> magazine's question, \u003Ci>should writers review books?\u003C/i>\u003C/a>.) And illustrators, too. I tend to skip books that are badly illustrated, and not even give the text a chance, and I'm sure a lot of writers don't give enough attention to illustrations. Speaking of \u003Ci>Inis\u003C/i> magazine, I recently interviewed publisher \u003Cb>Alison Green\u003C/b> for a big article, so keep an eye out for the Autumn issue. (Now there's a woman who loves pairing texts and pictures and does it brilliantly. And she's a natural-born storyteller, we ended up chatting for two hours and afterward, I had a mega-load of stuff to sort through on my dictaphone.)\\r\n\\r\nBut I love getting reviews and responses from very young readers, too! Here's a smashing reading of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/morris.php\">\u003Ci>Morris the Mankiest Monster\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by \u003Cb>Tess\u003C/b> in Wisconsin. (Ha ha... \u003Ci>He got poop on himself.\u003C/i> Well said, Tess!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"1260\"/>\\r\n\\r\nI'm feeling a bit under the weather this week, and I drew this picture to make me feel better, while my studio mate was setting up protest camp at St Paul's. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sick_ferret-8633e0b962.gif\">","2011-10-18T11:55:00.000Z","winter-tree",[],"winter tree",1776628720837]