Rosie Rushton

Last night I went to Thornton library with Laura to see Rosie Rushton who was Shouting About Books in Lancashire. Rosie is the wonderful author of the What a Week series of books as well as Last seen Wearing Trainers and loads of other great books for teens and young adults. It was great meeting up with Rosie again and very interesting hearing her talk about her books and the way she writes.

Today I'm going to visit Flakefleet Primary School in Fleetwood to see Yr 4 and then back home to get some writing done.

Heyhouses Endowed C of E Primary School

On Tuesday I was in visited back to Heyhouses Endowed C of E Primary School in Lytham St Annes... Every couple of years they have a MAD (Music Arts and Drama) festival at the school and it is wonderful. This is the third time I've been invited along and each year seems to get better and better. Everyone is so interested in books and stores that it makes each visit an absolute pleasure. We had lots of fun sharing stories and working together writing new stories and I'm looking forward to going back on Thursday to work with year 1 and year 2 again.

On Tuesday I worked with Year Two who were busy working on some Fantastic Stories... Here's a couple of amazing pieces of artwork that year 2 had been doing... amazing isn't it -

Cindy Jefferies

On Monday evening two of my good friends - Cindy Jefferies and her husband, Paul - came to visit the Harvey mansion. Cindy is the fabulous author of the wonderful Fame School series.

I sent our butler, Squibnocket to pick Cindy and her husband up from their hotel in Blackpool but he refused to go - saying that it was his day off or something... Ridiculous... I never said he could have a day off.

Anyway... I went to pick up Cindy and Paul myself.

We had a wonderful evening sat talking about books, writing and lots of other things...

Cindy was also telling us about a brand new series that she has written with Seb, her son. The new series is about football - I'll say more about those when they come out.

Paul Cookson

Today I went to the National Football Museum ion Preston for the launch of Shout About Books... Even though I've already done a day's event, today was the official launch of the festival. It was a real privilege to be asked to take part in the launch day along with the Wonderful Poet PAUL COOKSON... I've been a fan of Paul's work for quite some time - and not just because he includes some of my poems in his books (though that's pretty good too) but because he's such a great children's poet, entertainer and all round good guy.

My wife, Lorraine, and two of our daughters - Laura and Deanna - came along for the day too. Laura was really thrilled when Paul taught her how to play a few chords on his ukulele - and when he wasn't looking I had a little go too... (pictures coming soon)

There was another author there too - Tom Palmer - Tom writes football books, and even though I had never met him before I can tell you that he was a great guy too and his latest book "Foul Play" sounds excellent. I know that everyone that went to his sessions had a great time and I'm sure you will be hearing the name Tom Palmer much more in the future.

Shout About Books

June is the time when Lancashire Libraries hold their Shout About Books literature festival and lots of writers and illustrators come to Lancashire to visit schools and libraries.

It was great to be asked to take part in the festival again this year. Today I have been at Clayton Le Moors Library near Accrington and have met children from Mount Pleasant Primary School, All Saints CE Primary School and St Mary's RC Primary School. I did my usual jumping around, sharing stories and poems, talking about me and writing... and also got to talk about my new Robo-Runners books.

Thanks very much to Jane Woods and all the Librarians for looking after me during the day.... it was wonderful.

Somersham Primary School

Yesterday afternoon I drove down to Cambridgeshire so that I'd be ready to visit Somersham Primary School today. I love the South East of England and always feel very happy when I visit there... I think it's because I like water and there is a lot of water in the South East - especially around the Fens area.

I stayed the night in a very old in called The Old Ferry Boat Inn - in fact, it is the oldest inn/hotel in England. It was very cloudy when I arrived and Squibnocket, my butler, only just had time to unload the car before it started to rain... it rained very heavily all night though I slept very soundly through it all in my lovely room. Fortunately, the sound of the rain was loud enough to drown out the noise of Squibnocket's snoring (though he sleeps under the car so I probably wouldn't have heard him anyway).

On Tuesday morning I woke up bright and early and we set off for Somersham Primary School - only 10 minutes drive from where I'd stayed. The reception classroom had been flooded so I didn't get to meet them but it was great to see everyone else in school. Everyone was really enthusiastic and asked lots of questions. It was great meeting everyone and I had a wonderful time in the school and hope everyone else did too.

Camping Trip

On Friday morning we loaded up the car and headed up to the Lake District for a weekend camping at the edge of Ullswater. It was a bit of a squeeze in the car with my wife, our three daughters and myself, so Squibnocket - our butler - and Jarvis - the cook, had to be towed behind in a trailer with our tents and bags.
The weather was wonderful and we had a great time - though Squibnocket and Jarvis complained that it was a bit chilly at night. Of course, if they'd brought there own tent they wouldn't have had to sleep on the damp grass... They'll learn next time.
There's something really great about waking up and finding yourself at the edge of a lake - much better than finding yourself in the middle of the lake of course - but also very beautiful.
I had a couple of days away from my computer so didn't do any writing at all - or did I? Well... yes I did but it was all in my head, which is a very important place for your writing to take place. It gave me time to think about a couple of stories that I'm working on and unravel some of the knots in them. This week I'll have to get on with putting my thoughts down on paper or in my computer's memory.

I've also got a few school and library visits this week - so here's a big hello to everyone at Somersham Primary School in Cambridgeshire, everyone that I'll see in Lancashire for the Shouts about Books festival and to everyone at Coppull Parish School.