Advent Calendar Day One

 It's the festive season, so in the run up to Christmas we, and the other imprints that are part of Kings Road Publishing - Blink, Big Picture Press, Weldon Owen and Studio Press - are having an advent calendar across our social media imprints. With such treats as competitions and giveaways, sneak peaks at upcoming books or exclusive spreads and engaging videos, we hope you'll come back every day to see what goodies are behind the advent doors.

Today we have some of the spreads from Tom Clohosy Cole and Charlie Roscoe's The Red Prince. A fabulous tale of courage and friendship, don't miss Plugging Pictures' review video:

Now take a look at the first four spreads from this wondeful tale below:

Find out what happens next by picking up your copy from your local bookshop or online here:
Amazon, Wordery

Ever wondered what links penguins and polar bears?

Check out the latest video made in association with the WWF from Christiane Dorion, the author of the 'How...' series:

For more amazing information, and to try some activities, get Christiane's latest book here, How The World Works Sticker Activity Book.

We've moved!

An era has ended. Founded in 1978, Templar Publishing has been based in Dorking ever since, until now... This week has seen us re-locate to King's Road in London, to exciting new offices in The Plaza, where we'll be part of Kings Road Publishing. It's been a busy couple of weeks, and now we're all settling in to our new home in west London. Here are a couple of pictures of our move over the last few days:

The last morning in Dorking

Tidying up the Dorking office...

Setting up the new office on King's Road

The new office

Most importantly, welcome cake!

Ready for the start of a new era

 

The logo of the overall company (we'll still be Templar though!)

Thanks for a wonderful 37 years Dorking!

Christiane Dorion at Edinburgh International Book Festival - 18th and 19th August

August is turning out to be a very busy month for the team here at Templar Towers!

Several authors have been invited up to Edinburgh for this year’s International Book Festival, and this time it was the turn of picture book author and winner of the 2011 Royal Society Young People's Book Prize, Christiane Dorion.

 

For Christiane’s first event on Tuesday 18^th she was invited to be part of a panel discussion called Great Big Science Books. Christiane was joined by Mary Hoffman, Ros Asquith and Gill Arbuthnott to discuss her wonderful How it Works series, and how as authors they manage to make some of the most complex and fascinating science topics more accessible to children.

The event was packed with children and adults alike, all keen to know more about science and these authors’ beautiful and informative non-fiction books! After a discussion amongst the authors there was a wonderful opportunity for the children to ask Christiane some questions both about her books, and her role as an author. Some lucky children also got to meet Christiane and get their very own copy of her book signed!

Christiane’s second - and sold-out! - event was a more interactive event called Wonders of the Earth. Focussing on How Animals Live and How the World Began we learnt all about how animals fight for survival, how human civilisations have developed over the years, and what ‘The Big Bang’ really means.

Everyone, children and adults alike were enthralled and totally engrossed in Christiane’s talk. She had a wonderful question and answer session afterwards with some particularly inquisitive budding scientists. They were thrilled to have the opportunity afterwards to meet her and get their books signed, and also to ask any burning questions that we hadn’t quite had time for!

I for one learnt an awful lot! Did you know that many years ago sea snails were used as a means to dye clothes?  Edinburgh, we’ll see you next time!!

Yuval Zommer Book Launch in Idler Academy

On Saturday 15^th July we ventured across London to the fabulous Idler Academy in Notting Hill, to celebrate the official launch of Yuval Zommer’s glorious One Hundred Bones, the follow-up to The Big Blue Thing on the Hill.

The Idler had been transformed for the occasion with Scruff posters, a fabulous bone window display, and piles of homemade ‘dog biscuits’ for any hungry guests! Unfortunately, the star of the show ‘Scruff’ couldn’t join us this time – too busy digging no doubt – but we were in fact joined by one very lucky winner who had the chance to meet Yuval and get signed copies of his two books.

We were even treated to two wonderful live readings of One Hundred Bones from two lovely young guests, who are some of Yuval’s biggest fans.  We at Templar Towers had a really fantastic afternoon with biscuits and books aplenty, and we hope everyone else did too! 

One Hundred Bones - COMPETITION TIME!

Win the opportunity for you and your children to meet our wonderful author/illustrator Yuval Zommer!

We are giving away 2 signed sets of books by Yuval along with a chance to meet him at the launch of his brand new picture book, One Hundred Bones.

His follow up to The Big Blue Thing on the Hill, One Hundred Bones is a quirky and heart-warming story about underdog, Scruff, who makes a very exciting dinosaur discovery and comes out on top!

The launch will be held this Saturday 15^th August from 3-5pm at the gorgeous Idler Bookshop in Notting Hill, West London.  Our winners will have the chance to join us at the launch, meet Yuval and get their very own copies of both his books - signed in person!

To enter this competition and to be in with a chance of winning all you need to do is retweet this post. 

 Full terms and conditions can be found here 

Best of luck! 

The Best Bits - Summer Blog Tour

WOW! What a week! Our Summer blog tour is over and what a whirl it has been... 

We'd like to say a HUGE thank you to our four wonderful authors and illustrators, who took the time out of their busy schedules to write beautiful, amusing and inspiring posts for this tour. Thank you Helen Hancocks, Sam Lloyd, Yuval Zommer and Emma Yarlett - you're all wonderful and we love you.

Now, of course, we'd like to say a MASSIVE thank you to our four amazing bloggers. Thank you to your support and for joining in on this tour - we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! Thank you to the Booksniffer, PictureBooksBlogger, Library Mice and Read it Daddy! 

So, if you missed anything from this week, don't panic! Here are some highlights just for you...

Helen Hancocks on the BookSniffer

Helen told us how William ended up in Hollywood, inspired by a photo of lots of black cats queuing to audition for a film. Obviously William loved the idea of Hollywood, and couldn't wait to take his bow tie there, thus the idea was born...






Sam Lloyd on PictureBooksBlogger
Sam revealed how Boris and his monstery mates were born - from a scraggy little patch of orange fur and a bit of cutting and stitching! Boris, now ten years old, evolved from a makeshift monster to a famous book character - winning the Richard and Judy Children's book award no less!

Yuval Zommer on Library Mice
Having been asked about the inspiration for his story numerous times, Yuval tells us where the idea for each of the dogs in One Hundred Bones originated - and it involved a lot of window gazing. Although Scruff himself isn't real, Yuval has a dog-sized space under his desk and is seriously considering looking for his own little canine companion..



Emma Yarlett on Read it Daddy
Emma introduced us to Little Emma and revealed how she became the talented author-illustrator she is today! With a lot of reading, a bit of parental encouragement and some creative spark, Emma showed us what is possible when you dare to chase your dreams.





Inspired? Why not pick up a pen, and see what characters you can come up with...

'Welcome to Summer'

The long-awaited holidays are finally here and come rain or shine we have something to keep young minds entertained this summer!

Over the course of this week, you'll get a chance to learn more about the inspirations behind our latest books and the people who created them. We're THRILLED to be co-ordinating a blog tour this week with four of our talented authors and illustrators who will each be visiting one of four amazing blogs...

On Tuesday 4th, we'll be heading over to The Book Sniffer with Helen Hancocks, author and illustrator of Penguin in Peril, William and the Missing Masterpiece and William Heads to Hollywood. Helen (and William) will be writing about the inspirations for her latest title, where William heads to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to solve the mystery of the disappearing cuckoo awards. William was such a fan of the famous hills, we hear he almost didn't come back! 

On Wednesday 5th, the fantastic Sam Lloyd, creator and author behind Calm Down Boris! and many more crazy characters, will reveal on PictureBooksBlogger how the little orange monster was born and how he's changed her life ten years on! (Can you believe Boris is ten years old?!)  

On Thursday 6th, we'll take a trip to Library Mice with the creative Yuval Zommer, author and illustrator behind Big Blue Thing on the Hill and One Hundred Bones. Yuval will reveal how Scruff and all his canine friends were born. Is he a real dog? You'll have to read the blog to find out!

On Friday 7th, our last author and illustrator will make her appearance! Lovely Emma Yarlett, of Sidney, Stella and the Moon, Orion and the Dark and more recently Poppy Pickle,  will reveal a totally new short story on Read it Daddy - with the adorably cute 'little Emma'. Intrigued? You know what to do!

Finally on Saturday 8th we'll wrap the week up on , showcasing the highlights of the tour in a round-up style post - just in case you missed anything...

Happy Reading! 

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