Christmas Countdown: 5

It’s Christmas in a mere five days so I decided to do a quick advent calendar with some Christmassy things I like.

First up is this brilliantly deranged poem by Ogden Nash. I first read it in a book of Christmas poems I got as a boy and I soon learned it off by heart (I was that kind of kid!) It’s such a funny little poem that it deserves to be shared. Stick with it till the grisly end.

 

THE BOY WHO LAUGHED AT SANTA CLAUS

By Ogden Nash

Copyright Linell Nash Smith and Isabel Nash Eberstadt

In Baltimore there lived a boy,
He wasn’t anybody’s joy.
Although his name was Jabez Dawes,
His character was full of flaws.
In school he never led his classes,
He hid old ladies’ reading glasses,
His mouth was open when he chewed,
And elbows to the table glued.

 

He stole the milk of hungry kittens,
And walked through doors marked No Admittance.
He said he acted thus because
There wasn’t any Santa Claus.
Another trick that tickled Jabez
Was crying “Boo!” at little babies.
He brushed his teeth, they said in town,
Sideways instead of up and down.

 

Yet people pardoned every sin,
And viewed his antics with a grin,
Till they were told by Jabez Dawes,
“There isn’t any Santa Claus!”
Deploring how he did behave,
His parents swiftly sought their grave.
They hurried through the portals pearly,
And Jabez left the funeral early. Read the rest of this entry »

Arthur needs YOU

ARTHUR QUINN NEEDS YOU TO SAVE THE WORLD!

How would you like to have a character named after you in the final Arthur Quinn book?


Well you can! The competition opens Monday (10th December) and closes the following Friday morning (14th). All the details of how to enter are above and Alan will reveal the winner on Elev8 on the 14th.

Remember, the competition is only open from the 10th to the 14th so get your entries in straight away!

Matilda: the Musical

I’m often asked what my favourite book as a kid was and I’ll always answer: ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl. I love the dark humour, the tenderness of Miss Honey and Matilda’s friendship and I love how scary it is in the final ‘blackboard’ scene. So, also being partial to the odd musical, I was very excited by the prospect of Matilda: the Musical.

The show managed to exceed my already high expectations.

It’s running in the West End of London now (and is opening on Broadway in 2013) and won a record breaking number of awards in the short year it’s been there. If you’ve read the book or seen the film, you’ll know the story already. But the writing team of Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin (yes, the comedian musician Tim Minchin) took the fantastic novel and expanded on it in all the right places. I won’t give too much away but they added a really ingenious subplot between Matilda and her favourite librarian. Read the rest of this entry »

CBF Round-up

HELLO OUT THERE!!

 

Believe it or not, I’m still here.

 

I was really busy all of October between finishing a draft of Arthur Quinn 3 (more on that in the next couple weeks!) and the Childrens Book Festival. You can read more about some of my CBF fun here. But I just wanted to write a quick message to thank every single librarian, staff member, teacher, bookseller and reader who came along to hear me prattle about my books. THANK YOU!!

Ellie & Ex

Three weeks into CBF2012 which means three weeks of visits which means three weeks of readers telling me what they thought of the new book.

And I’m delighted to say that many of the questions surround Ellie & Ex, the newest additions to Arthur’s world. Both boys and girls seem equally interested in the pair and a couple have even said that they want to read more about the Lavender siblings!

I’m really thrilled with the reaction to them. From the moment they appeared in my mind, I thought (and hoped!) that people would like them.

So have you read Arthur Quinn and the Fenris Wolf? And if so, what do you think of Ellie & Ex Lavender?

 

Arthur Quinn 3

When I’m not visiting schools/libraries/bookshops for CBF2012, I’m working on some re-writes for Arthur Quinn 3. I’ve just completed a really big (and really fun) scene today. I won’t say much about it but I will say that the things that Arthur has to face in this book is unlike anything he’s done before.

Children’s Book Festival 2012

As I type these words, I’m on a train to Ennis. (I’m working on an Android tablet connected to a fiddly little keyboard that’s smaller than my hand and I have to slam each key to get the character up on the screen.) Anyway… I’m right in the middle of the glorious insanity that is Children’s Book Festival. Last week, I met ten different classes alone – in South Dublin Libraries, Meath County Libraries and my local bookshop, Dubray Rathmines. Over the next few days, I’ll be visiting Clare Libraries and, as the month progresses, I’ll be in various locations in Dublin, Cork, Longford and more. And all the while I’m working on Arthur Quinn 3 re-writes. I’d be lying if I said October isn’t tiring. But I’d also be lying if I said it isn’t LOADS of fun. Hopefully I’ll see you as part of CBF! If not, check out www.chrildrensbooksireland.ie for full listings.