Events Roundup - with cake and books galore!

 Grumbug - Templar

Last week was a very busy one for us at Templar HQ! On Tuesday 7th July we celebrated the official launch of Adam Stower’s Grumbug, his hilarious and gloriously illustrated follow up to The Troll and the Oliver.
Organised in conjunction with Arena Illustration, the launch was held at The Illustration Cupboard, Bury Street and guests included Axel Scheffler, Jonny Duddle, Caroline Horn from the Reading Zone and John Mclay from Bath Festival.
The walls were adorned with original artwork from both the Troll and the Oliver and Grumbug, all of which was on sale on the night. We had also organised a raffle in which three lucky winners had the chance to win signed copies of both books, and pieces of original artwork!
It wouldn’t have quite been a true Grumbug launch without Troll and Grumbug cupcakes direct from Trolliver’s Café and the most fabulous – and enormous! – carrot cake to satisfy even the hungriest of trolls!

 William Heads to Hollywood

 On Thursday 9th July, the Templar team braved the tube strike and ventured across London to Notting Hill to celebrate the launch of Helen Hancock’s latest book, William Heads to Hollywood, at the fabulous Book and Kitchen.
Sadly, William couldn’t tear himself away from the lure of Hollywood so we had to make-do with a cardboard cut-out and  black and white framed photograph!  He missed out though, as Helen Hancocks arrived armed with sugar mice and baked treats, courtesy of her cousin Kate. Among them were William themed orange spice biscuits and an incredible multi-coloured tiered cake – worthy of the most glamorous Hollywood party!  We then arrived with strange flavoured popcorn and pick ‘n’ mix style goody bags.
Book and Kitchen was transformed for the night to celebrate the release of the new book and everywhere you looked there were William posters, artwork or stickers. Three lucky fans also won tickets to the launch – a chance to meet Helen and get a signed copy of her new book. We also had author and illustrator Yuval Zommer in attendance as well as Helen’s agent, Louise Lamont.  Despite the travel complications, it was a wonderful event with books and cakes aplenty – a wonderful time was had by all!

COMPETITION OVER - Win a chance to come to the William Heads to Hollywood launch!

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.

Why not enter our Pictura colouring competition instead?

We've three pairs of tickets for you and your child to attend the exclusive launch of Helen Hancocks' new book, William Heads to Hollywood, to give away! One lucky winner will also win a signed copy of William Heads to Hollywood.

As a sequel to the hit picture book William and the Missing Masterpiece, the latest adventure of the cat detective sees him travel to Hollywood to track down the thief of the Golden Cuckoo statuettes before the awards ceremony in two days!

The launch for the book is next week on Thursday 9th July at Book and Kitchen in west London and there will be cake, sugar mice, popcorn, a red carpet and plenty of ‘Golden Cuckoo awards’. Our winners will have the chance to come to the launch, meet Helen and have a photo with William (well his model at least!)

We've two ways you can enter this competition. You can like and share this Facebook post: Facebook Link (entrants must like our Facebook page to be eligible)

Alternatively, you can enter by retweeting this tweet (make sure you're following us too to be eligible): Twitter Link

Full terms and conditions can be found here: Terms

Good luck!

Make your own seagull with Marc Martin!

Marc Martin's wonderful picture book Max is out on the first of July, and to celebrate we've got a special seagull mobile to cut out and play with.

Max is the story of a cheeky but charming seagull who loves two things - fish, and chips! So it's no surprise that his best friend is Bob, the owner of the local fish and chip shop. But one summer, everything changes...

Marc Martin's art is a joy to behold, and we especially love Max the Seagull. So we're very excited to be able to make our own mobile with these easy-to-follow instructions.

Here's us hard at work making our Max mobile:

And here's the finished seagull:

So get creative and show us what your seagulls look like and what they get up to!

Be careful whilst using scissors to make Max. Here are pdfs of the instruction sheets for easy printing:

Instructions

Mobile Cut Out

Pictura Competitions

To celebrate the release of some fantastic new titles in our Pictura range, we've two great new competitions with some wonderful prizes to give away.

The benefits of colouring in as a relaxation aid are now well-documented, and it's fun too! The Pictura titles have something for everyone, both in terms of subject and format. Following on from the hugely popular concertina titles, we've just released everything from Pictura Postcard books to Pictura Puzzle books. For art you can send to loved ones or keep for yourself, we've three new postcard books featuring landmarks from London, Paris and New York.

If you want to make your own art that looks as good on your wall as any poster, check out one of our two print books, featuring stunning designs just waiting for you to make them your own.

Finally, discover the fun of colouring with the Pictura Puzzle books - five awesome colouring books packed with stickers to colour and activities to undertake!

For your chance to win some of these entertaining titles, we've two competitions for you to enter so that whatever age you are you've a chance to win.

For over sixteens, colour in this William Morris print in whatever style you like and send it back to us:

For under sixteens, we want to see what you can do with this ancient Greek vase:

Dinosaur Week - Top ten dino-books and competition!

Twenty two years since the first Jurassic Park film, the third sequel opens in cinemas this week. Entitled Jurassic World, it has rekindled our love of dinosaurs and so we've decided to make this week dinosaur week here at Templar!

To celebrate, we've got our top ten dinosaur books you need to read, plus two competitions for you to enter to win a dino-book bundle.

1. Gigantosaurus  Jonny Duddle's fantastic story of Bonehead, the 'dinosaur who cries Gigantosaurus' is a must-have for all young dino-fans, for its awesome artwork and cast of characters.
2. Pictura Puzzle: A Walk With The Dinosaurs  The dinosaurs are all there, but only in black and white lines - it's up to you to colour them in! With puzzles and bits to fill in yourself, this will provide hours of fun as you create your own dinosaurs and more...
3. Fact Finders: Dinosaurs  Did you know the Brontosaurus never existed - the wrong neck and body were put together! Do you know why dinosaurs grew to such huge sizes or why they became extinct? If not, this Fact Finders book is the one for you - all the answers are there along with some great illustrations.
4. Insiders: Children's Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs  With over a thousand illustrations, plus maps and diagrams detailing everything you ever wanted to know about dinosaurs, this book is your comprehensive guide to all things dinosaur-related!
5. Build the T-Rex  Bring dinosaurs to life with this amazing book and model set. Read about the mighty tyrannosaurus and other dinosaurs of its era, then pretend you're a palaeontologist by putting the model together.
6. Pop Up Facts: Dinosaurs Find out about dinosaur record breakers, with information about the tallest and the smallest, the heaviest and the brainiest in this feast of dinosaur facts featuring astounding pop-ups!
7. Dinosaurology  Enter the Lost World of dinosaurs as discovered by the intrepid explorers of the 1900s. Follow in the footsteps of Percy Fawcett and explore his journals and sketches of living, breathing dinosaurs.
8. Sounds of the Wild: Dinosaurs  Step back in time with the Dinosaurs to experience the sights and sounds of these amazing creatures. Each pop-up scene is accompanied by an information page so readers can find out about the different species in each picture.
9. Adam Stower's Dinosaurs (Pictura)  This scene of dinosaurs playing and making mischief is begging to be coloured in! Why not create a purple T-rex, a pink Stegosaurus and an orange Diplodocus?
10. George and the Dinosaur  George likes digging. He finds some gems, a sword, a pirate's leg and, to top off the hoard, a dinosaur egg! When he cleans his treasure he finds that the gems are just stones, dirt and dust. The sword is a spoon all covered in rust. The leg is a root, cracked and dried, but the egg is an egg, with something inside...

Enter our second dinosaur giveaway using the widget below, and get on Twitter to tell us what you love about dinosaurs!

Dinosaur Giveaway 2