Red Pandas

Let me start off by saying a BIG HELLO to everyone at New Longton All Saints C.E. Primary School... I can't wait to meet you all. And also a Big Hello to Jasper - our Red Panda who we visited last week.

Since before Christmas, I've been busy working on a series of non-fiction books for one of my publishers - Franklin Watts (and lovely people they are too). I've written the first three books and am a good way through book four. I'm also busy researching the next four books which will be about Tim Berners-Lee, William Caxton, and the artists L.S. Lowry and Pieter Bruegel. I'm really enjoying writing the stories and it's fantastic seeing them being brought to life by the wonderful artwork. Right now I'm waiting to see the final colour artwork for Christopher Columbus and the rough artwork for Neil Armstrong. So far they are looking great.

As well as writing it's important to get out and about every now and then to see things in the real world... a good way of getting ideas for new books. Last week Vicky and I went to visit Chester Zoo to see Jasper, the red panda that I adopted for her last birthday. I'm sure that nobody else calls him Jasper but we thought it was a good name for a red panda, so that's what we decided to name him. Of course, when you adopt an animal at the zoo you can't actually bring them home with you  (probably a good job really as I'm sure that Polly, our cat, wouldn't be too happy) but you do get a nice adoption pack through the post and your name on a plaque by the animal's area.

We wanted to go back to the zoo on a nice, quiet day so we would have lots of time to spend looking at the animals - and especially the red pandas - without crowds of other people around. Apart from it being f-f-f-freezing, it was a perfect day. When we arrived at the Red Panda area, they were all curled up in the branches of the trees snoozing but when we came back round later, they were wide awake and wandering around as you can see in the picture above.

As well as seeing the red pandas wandering around, we also managed to catch the Two-Toed Sloth, also wide awake for a change...

It's good to be able to spend time looking at some of the more unusual birds and animals too, instead of spending all the time peering at the lions, tigers and elephants. The Pelicans were enjoying a good wash as you can see here - and at the bottom of the page you can see a picture of an African Grey Crowned Crane...

 

This crane shared an area with the pelicans and a few other birds. They have quite a large area to walk around in but as we walked around the outside, this crane followed us all the way. We couldn't make up our mind whether it liked us or wanted to chase us. 

 

 

St Anne's RC Primary School - Coventry

Here's a BIG HELLO to everyone at St Anne's RC Primary School in Coventry... Looking forward to seeing you all in the morning.

Since I last wrote in my diary I've been busy, busy, busy - working on my History Heroes books. I've just finished the first draft of the 3rd book - all about Queen Elizabeth I, and I'm on with book 4 - Queen Victoria. The books are due to be published later this year so I'd better get a move on.

Last week I received a large envelope through the post containing the first completed roughs of the Columbus book... It's looking really good and I can't wait to see more.

Happy New Year

Here's a BIG HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone reading my diary... We've had a lovely Christmas and hope you have too. 

I haven't made any New Year resolutions (have you?) but I am planning to be far more organised with my writing work. I've got quite a few things on the go at the moment, including a longer novel for older readers - Year 4 and above I think. So far I think it will be at least 17,000 words in length - so a lot longer than anything I've written before. I've written a few chapters of the book but the rest is on hold at the moment as I'm busy working on a little series of non-fiction books. I've written the first two in the series - one about Christopher Columbus and one about Neil Armstrong... I will tell you more about those and show you some picture as soon as I can. Right now the pictures are still being drawn so I haven't even seen them myself. Today I'm busy writing book 3 which is all about Queen Elizabeth I.

Today sees the publication of my very latest book - Smelly Socks and Terrible Tangles. HURRAH! I haven't seen the finished book yet but I'm hoping the postman will be delivering a couple of copies to me very soon.

Next week I will be visiting Minera Primary School in Wrexham - my first visit of the New Year and I can't wait... See you all soon... 

Preparing for Christmas

Even though we're still busy working it really feels like Christmas is getting closer now. On Sunday we put up our Christmas Tree and decorated the house. It's starting to feel nice and cosy and Christmassy. We've even managed to do most of our Christmas shopping, which makes a change - we're normally running around on the last minute.


We love our Christmas tree with it's mixture of special decorations that we've picked up here and there. This little house was bought from Harrods last year when we visited London for the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park...

And we just couldn't resist getting this little Owl - one of Boofle's friends. We still need to make a start on writing our Christmas cards and between now and Christmas I want to get the first draft of the next book in my History Heroes completed - it needs to go to my editor at the beginning of the New Year - and I don't want to be working on it over Christmas if I can help it.

The books are going well so far and I'm really pleased with the way the first two - Christopher Columbus, and Neil Armstrong - are coming along.  

That's all for now... I will write more soon and let you know what we're up too...

Smelly Socks and Terrible Tangles

According to Amazon.co.uk my little book - Smelly Socks and Terrible Tangles (part of Oxford University Press's Treetops Series for schools) will be published on the 9th January 2014. A good start to the New Year I think..
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The book contains two funny stories - The Sock Eater, and Nellie's Nest.

The Sock Eater is all about a strange little creature that Yan finds living beneath his bed, and Nellie's Nest is about a stubborn young girl that refuses to brush her hair - even though it's as tangled and messy as a bird's nest. The illustrations have been done by the wonderful Dutch illustrator Marijke van Veldhoven - you can read a little interview with Marijke by clicking HERE.

I've not seen a finished copy of the book but can't wait to get one through the post...

Our Wedding Anniversary

On the 27th October 2013, Vicky and I were married (you can see some wedding pictures by visiting the Our Wedding section of my website), and it's just amazing how quickly the last year has flown by... it seems like only yesterday that we were walking hand in hand down the aisle.

To celebrate our Anniversary we spent a night in the same hotel that we visited for our Honeymoon - The Wild Pheasant in Llangollen. The Dee Valley Suit in the hotel is perfect - and what makes it even better is that there's a hot tub out on the balcony - protected from the weather by a roof so you can just sit and relax even if its rains or snows...

The day after our evening away I went to visit Elizabeth Woodville Primary School in Leicestershire - I had a great time at the school but couldn't wait to get back home as we were going to spend a few days together in a Log Cabin/Lodge not far from Alton.

It's nice to get away so we just spent our time relaxing and forgetting about work and everything else. You can't just sit in a hot tub day after day though so we also went to visit the Blue John Caverns in the Peak District. Blue John is the semi-precious stone coloured stone that you can see in the rock above. It's used to make decorative jewellery, vases and other ornaments.

The guide for our tour of the Caverns was a man that obviously spends a lot of time down there - probably on his own with very little light and no one to speak to. It was an interesting day out and I'd recommend it to anyone. 

Since then I've been busy visiting schools and working hard on my writing. As well as working on my longer book I am also busy working on a series of non-fiction books called History Heroes. I'll tell you more about those tomorrow.

On the way home from lodge we called in at Snugbury's Ice Cream Shop for some of their delicious Ice-Cream and also to take a look at the Straw Sculpture... Last year they had made a huge sculpture of a cyclist for the Olympic Games - this year a huge golden Dalek stands in the field threatening to EXTERMINATE passers by... It looks impressive during the daytime but even more impressive when you drive past at night and see it illuminated in the dark field.

Lunar Eclipse

Tonight there will be a Lunar Eclipse... This happens when the Earth comes directly between the Sun and our Moon. This should block out the sun's light entirely, making the moon complexly dark,  but because of the Earth's atmosphere, the sun's rays are refracted (bent) causing them to hit the dark part of the moon and making it appear red. If you were on the moon it would look like the sun was rising or setting behind the earth.

Unlike a solar Eclipse that you can only view through special glasses, a Lunar Eclipse can be safely viewed with the naked eye from anywhere on the night side of the Earth. The Lunar eclipse lasts much longer than the Solar Eclipse so there's a good chance you will get see it. Unless it's cloudy of course.

I've been busy working on a new book which I'll be sending to my Publisher next week. Hopefully I'll be able to tell you about it soon - but until everything's been given the thumbs up I have to keep quite.