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!