On Thursday this week...

... I'm visiting schools in Bolton with the Bolton School Library Service so here's a HUGE HELLO to everyone at Cherry Tree Primary School, The Ferns Primary Academy and Sharples Primary School. This time last year when I went round with the SLS it was hottest day of they year PHEW!!! Looks like tomorrow will be a little cooler and a whole lot wetter...

Saturday was beautiful and warm so we called in at Woodfest in Caerwys to see some of the events that were going on there - like carving with chainsaws... this bear was done very quickly.

Vicky got to hold a little Chaco Owl and we looked at the other rescue owls that had been brought along by Owl Rescue Just click on the link and you can visit their site to find out more about what they do.

We spent a few hours looking at the other exhibits and watching lots of interesting things that were going on - including pole climbing and different sorts of wood carving. Pole climbing looks like great fun as long as you aren't afraid of heights. 

We spotted quite a few interesting characters around too.  

New Books

I'm very excited to be able to tell you a bit about three new books that are going to be published later this year with Franklin Watts...

The first book, "The Awful Astronaut" is published on 22nd September, illustrated by Davide Ortu, and is about two thousand words in length (five little chapters). The book tells the story of Sam Jones - probably the worst astronaut in the world and soon to be the worst astronaut in space. Ever since he was a little boy, Sam has wanted to be an astronaut. But when he finally gets the chance he discovers that being an astronaut isn't as easy as he had imagined.

The 10th November sees the publication of the second book. "The Disastrous Dentist" is in the same series as The Awful Astronaut and is all about (you've guessed it!) a dentist. Oliver Payne isn't a normal dentist though - Oliver wants to be a dentist for people and their beloved pets. If you think that things are bound to go wrong - you're right again. This is a very silly story and I loved writing it. This book is being illustrated by Ben Scruton and it's looking really good.

"Farmer Finns' Silly Sheep", a short story illustrated by the excellent Steve Brown is also going to be published on the 10th November. This is the second book that I've done with Steve but he's used a different style of illustration for this and I think it's great. (Steve also illustrated Meerkat's Marathon).

It's a wet and windy day on the farm and Farmer Finn would like nothing better than to sit by the fire; but there's work to be done. He feeds the hens and milks the cows but when it comes to feeding the sheep there's a problem... there's no sign of the sheep anywhere. Where could have gone?

I will be adding a web page for each of these three books very soon so keep coming back to take a look. Each page will include information about the books as well as fun things to do; word searches, mazes and more...