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The Power of the Page

The Federation of Childrens’ Book Groups annual conference was a great event held over the weekend of March 23rd and 24th.

Not the usual Spring like feel as the snow blew in from the east and in Suffolk, that means cold!

The engaging authors,publishers stalls,splendid array of books for sale(Norfolk Children’s Book Centre) made it a weekend of books, stories and illustrations.

Saturday was the busiest day and authors enlivened the discussions with slides and talks about their writing, their books and all the things that just makes their books special.

Authors we especially connected with;

Marcus Sedgewick, Annabel Pitcher,Liz Pichon, Emma Chichester Clark, Gill Lewis, Adele Geras and Colin Mulhern. Worth looking at their websites and following their work. Brilliant stuff!

But especially the work of Gill Lewis,

Sky Hawk, White Dolphin and Moon Bear. Her work as a vet has a big influence. Her childhood of hating books and librarians must have turned her into a great writer!

‘I turned my back on books, but other children got lost in the magic of books, I couldn’t get lost in that world.’

You can buy more books from the pages of Dolphin Booksellers, and we will make a donation to supporting Kalpana to get to school in Nepal.

Sue Martin

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What on Earth Books!

At the Federation of Children’s Book Groups conference we were blown away with this new concept.

The What on Earth Wallbook, from the Big Bang to present day.

A whole wall book of facts! It’s a book with no spine, that doesn’t mean it has no real bite, this book will give you all the facts and information you need to know about the whole history of the world for billions of years.

It’s dynamic and creative and is just amazingly brilliant.

It goes on to become a whole wall display or even larger…. an outside huge wall covering for passers by.

It’s a treasure hunt of learning, it’s a story on a time line, and it changes scale like a telescope, especially as humans start to appear on the world scene.

On Monday April 30th Chris is launching the Wallbook of Sport on London’s South Bank. a great event if you can make it, or find visit World of Books.

Definitely worth finding out more and you could even make a discovery about this wonderful world.

This is clear view thinking!

How Chris made this journey himself is fascinating and resonates with all who feel that the National Curriculum is a barrier to active learning.

Or, as Chris expressed it, ” It makes discovery feel like looking through a pane of shattered glass”.

pictures courtesy of Chris Lloyd

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers- the best in children’s books always on line.

3 Illustrators and a woolly armadillo….

3 Illustrators in conversation and a woolly armadillo, that took central stage!

Jackie Morris, Petr Horacek and Jan Fearnley were talking about their illustrations at the Federation of Children’s Book Groups conference.

Then out of Jan’s bag appeared not a canvas with the latest drawing but a woolly armadillo called Milo. Brightly coloured in a stripy outfit he was the answer to Jan’s problems . Find out more about Jan’s books, a very successful author and illustrator.

Petr’s, Suzy Goose, just wants to be different to all the other ducks. On her adventures she finds herself in front of a very scary lion.

There’s a fantastic video on Petr’s website that’s well worth a look. Plus his other books, like Elephant,who went inside. Petr started out in Prague,working in communist Czechoslovakia and also studying at the Academy of Fine Art, that was until the revolution and student strike!

Jackie Morris, with her amazingly beautiful illustrations and huge range of books, both illustrated and written. The Snow Leopard, published by Frances Lincoln and The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems, published by Barefoot Books are two of our favourites. Her web site is full of interest,things to buy and blogs to read!

I love the shots of her studio and the walks by the sea. It makes me feel better about having lots of stuff around me, helps with the creativity, or at least that’s my excuse.

Milo Armadillo – Amazon Link

Silly Suzy Goose – Amazon link

Elephant – Amazon link

The Snow Leopard – Amazon link

Barefoot Book of Classic Poems – Amazon link

You can visit our home page of Dolphin Booksellers. Bringing information about the best in children’s books direct to you. Working with authors and illustrators in schools and book events.

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