• How many more children’s books are you reading?

    Posted Thursday August 27th 2009 by Natasha Worswick

    According to the news, more and more of us are doing “staycation” holidays – instead of going abroad, we’re staying put and doing something local for our holidays.

    And while we may not have the cash to splash out on exotic trips, we do have that little bit left in our pockets to spend on small luxuries like books.

    My family is definitely staycationing, and we do have some extra books laying around Milo’s bedroom as a result. Apparently it’s a record-breaking summer for sales children’s books, with shops like Waterstone’s noticing their stock fly off the shelves. 

    So I was wondering: have you noticed an increase in the number of children’s books that you’re buying, or borrowing from the library?

    Do you have any book recommendations that you’d care to share? Or tips on how you decide which books to buy or borrow?

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  • Come explore Booky's world in our magical new area for families

    Posted Wednesday August 26th 2009 by Emma Campbell

    Our new web pages especially for families are coming soon to www.booktime.org.uk.

    Join the Booktime mascot, Booky, to explore a whole book-inspired world of giant robots, interactive stories, castles, dinosaurs and fun activities for families.

    We’re very, very excited about all the great new games, stories and activities you’ll find online, so we thought we’d share a sneak preview of them with you here.

    Story creator

    Booktime blog story creator

    The story creator lets you build your own adventure, starring Booky or the hero of this time's Booktime book, Mr Big. Let your imagination run wild with a whole host of characters and backgrounds!

    Interactive story book

    Booktime blog page flip

    Join this year's Booktime author Ed Vere for an amazing, interactive read-through of the Mr Big story book. With animation, music and sound effects, and Ed himself to read the story with you, it's a great way to bring Mr Big to life.

    There's much more to play with on the site, and we can't wait until it launches in September. In the meantime, as…

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  • He really doesn’t look that old!

    Posted Wednesday August 26th 2009 by Natasha Worswick

    Would you believe it? Spot the dog is turning 30 next year.

    Yes, the very first Spot book, called Where’s Spot?, was published in 1980. Since then his author, Eric Hill, has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide, establishing Spot as one of the classic characters of modern children’s books.

    That’s why Penguin, his publisher, is planning to reissue a special edition of the title alongside a few others.

    In fact, there’s a whole list of stuff they are planning to celebrate. When you pop along to your local library or bookshop in 2010, you might find them celebrating with all sorts of posters, stickers, balloons, activity sheets, hand puppets and more!

    If you’d like to find out more about Spot and the things he gets up to, try his website, www.funwithspot.com.

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  • Booktime author nominated for Early Years prize

    Posted Monday August 24th 2009 by Natasha Worswick

    In case you missed the news, Booktime’s book for this year is Mr Big by Ed Vere. So everyone here was particularly excited that another book of Ed’s has been nominated for the Early Years Award.

    Chick uses Ed Vere’s trademark bold, vibrant colours and thick, chunky lines – a style you’ll surely recognise from Mr Big. It’s also a fun pop-up, with lots of fun stuff to explore! The book tells the story of a little chick as it hatches from an egg, learns from its mother and finds its own way in the world.

    You can read a great review for Chick on The Bookbag, or you could just hurtle along to your local library or bookshop for your own copy now!

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  • Film adaptations of books – what do you think?

    Posted Friday August 7th 2009 by book time

    My other half sent this trailer my way earlier this week – it’s a film of Roald Dahl’s The Fantastic Mr Fox!

    Click here to watch the official theatrical trailer on YouTube.

    I think it looks great – I especially love the way it looks like it has been brought to life with real figures. It feels old-fashioned somehow – like it’s been updated for a modern world but without relying too much on computers or something.

    But it’s also one of a slew of film adaptations of great children’s books – the other prime example being Where the Wild Things Are. I feel quite differently about that one, I’m really scared they won’t be able to do it justice!

    I was talking about this with my neighbour the other day, and she said something interesting. When her son was growing up, she would always make sure he had read a book before going to see the film of the same name. She thought that books were much more about your imagination, whereas films take some of that away.

    So I wondered, what do you think – film adaptations of books, a great or a…

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  • Not long to go now!

    Posted Friday August 7th 2009 by Natasha Worswick

    At the moment the Booktime team are busily preparing for the delivery across England and Scotland of every child's free gift book pack.

    The activities and resources have all been written and produced, the gift books are being printed, and we're just in the process of working out how it all gets sent out, from country to country, county to county, and then local authority to local authority. It's no small feat, we can assure you!

    It takes a lot of hard work. But when you hear people describe our work as a 'fantastic project' you know it's all worthwhile. Last year was our most successful year yet. A whole 90% of teachers who had read the book with their class said their pupils had 'really enjoyed it'. And lots of children seemed to love their packs, especially if the gallery is anything to go by.

    It's not like us to rest on our laurels, so we plan to make 2009 an even more successful year. However, we won't know how inspired to read your children and/or pupils are unless you tell us - so as usual we'd love to know what you think. Anything…
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  • Check out Booktrust's top 10 summer reads

    Posted Friday August 7th 2009 by Natasha Worswick

    If you hadn't already spotted it, Booktime and the other Booktrust initiatives are falling over themselves to give you and your family reviews of all the best reads there are for you to enjoy.

    That's why we've just published our top ten books about summer. The list caters for all ages up to young adults, but it's well worth a look if you're in need of something to keep you occupied during the hours spent indoors, or even something to remind you of what summer's supposed to look like!

    For younger ones specifically there's Beep Beep, Let's Go and Melrose and Croc by the Sea.

    I'd love to know which other books put you especially in mind of summer and the supposedly hot and sunny weather. And don't forget, you can find a book review on any page of the Booktime site - just look over there on the right.

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