Our Hay Festival Adventure 2014 - Part 2: Plastic and Pooches

Sadly Hay Festival ended - but what an amazing time we had! Yes, there was lots and lots of rain, but we had some great events and learnt a lot about books. In fact, the last two Templar authors gave great talks about the environment, animals and the First World War. 

Have you ever wanted to know where burgers and rubber ducks come from? Or the best way to recycle your rubbish? Christiane Dorion, author of  the fantastic How it Works series of books hosted a wonderful workshop with answers to this and so much more. 

From creative design where the audience was encouraged to draw something that could help the environment in the future to a fascinating talk about animals, how they survive and what we can do to protect them and their habitats. At the end of the event Christiane encouraged people to take a look at some of the exotic things she had brought along with her (including ivory tusks and leopard fur) which had been confiscated by customs at airports around the world for being illegal items. We all left the event feeling much more informed about what we can do to help preserve the wonderful planet we live on.

Our Hay Festival Adventure 2014 - Part 1

Anticipating glorious sunshine and countryside, Templar Publishing embarked on a journey to a very wet Wales last weekend for Hay Festival; a truly exciting celebration of literature and the arts, with very special children’s authors and events.

We were lucky to have five authors and illustrators invited this year, with the first of two sold-out events on Saturday hosted by Jonny Duddle, creator of The Pirate Cruncher and Gigantosaurus.

Dressed as a swashbuckling pirate, Jonny read excerpts from his fantastic adventures into children’s books to a captivated audience. Breaking the spell, he then went on to demonstrate his artistic talent for drawing pirates amid plenty of piratey ‘arrrrghhhhhhs’ from the crowd.

Aaron Blecha – Ten Monsters In The Bed

Ten Monsters in The Bed, illustrated by the super Aaron Blecha, is a humorous play on 10 Green Bottles/10 in a Bed, where 10 monsters are squished together on a bunk bed.

On each spread, a monster gets pushed out and tumbles to the floor. Readers can press the characters to hear the fun sounds they make; plenty of snoring, burping, sniffing and farting!

Aaron invited us to have a sneaky peek at a few early stages of the Ten Monsters in The Bed book design, check these out!

Character Development:

Templar Publishing celebrate 10 Year Anniversary of Classics with Robert Ingpen

After 10 years and several beautiful editions of classic children's books, Templar Publishing are pleased to announce the release of the stunning new illustrated edition of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. 

With over 70 unique illustrations, the original artwork is from multi-award winning illustrator Robert Ingpen. 

A classic tale, beautifully told, Pinocchio joins other popular titles in the list such as The Jungle Book, The Secret Garden and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Over 130 years old, the story of a wooden puppet full of tricks and mischief who wants more than anything to be a real boy has transcended time to become a true classic in children’s literature. Turned into the hugely popular Disney film in 1940, there is also a live-action film adaptation in production from Tim Burton and Guillermo del Toro starring Robert Downey Jr, proving that Pinocchio is an enduring classic with ongoing appeal for all.

Robert Ingpen is a prolific writer and illustrator who has contributed to over 100 books. He has received the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Medal for illustration, and has previously worked for the United Nations. He lives in Australia with his wife Angela and has four children and four grandchildren.

*WIN* To celebrate the release of this stunning new edition of Pinocchio and celebrate 10 years of Templar Classics, we are giving away 5 copies of the book. 

For your chance to win, answer the question below as a comment:

What does the word Pinocchio actually mean?

A. Pinenut/kernel

B. Wooden Puppet

C. Real Boy

D. Chocolate Pudding

Entries must be made by 5pm on Sunday 9th March - Good luck!

Click HERE to order Pinocchio now...

Whizz your way through the Summer Reading Challenge with Fleeced!

Templar Publishing are thrilled to announce that Fleeced! by Julia Wills has been selected for this year's Summer Reading Challenge.

Set up by The Reading Agency charity, The Summer Reading Challenge takes place every year during the summer holidays. It is completely FREE and allows children to read six library books of their choice, collecting stickers and other rewards along the way.

In addition, children can now track their reading all year round, find new books and take part in competitions and games. There is also advice for parents and carers alongside videos from authors and celebrity recommendations. 2013 saw a record 780,000 children participate with the challenge hoping to improve on this in 2014 by at least 50,000. 

The theme this year is Mythical Maze, perfect for Julia's fantastic novel about a heroic ram called Aries. 

Here she tells us a little bit about her inspiration behind the book...