On Tuesday this week I had the pleasure of reading my latest Captain Sillyvoice adventure to over 50 children at a series of workshops held at Marston Vale Country Park. The children were absolutely brilliant and joined in with all the actions and singing, including -

Learning to speak in a silly voice like the Captain
Pretending to be like Captain Fiercy-Fidget
Singing a lullaby to the sea monster
Finding lots of different animals in the pictures

As part of the sessions the children were also given the opportunity to make their own pirate hats. There were stickers, glitter, glue and crayons everywhere and some really super hats emerged.

One group of children were at the session as part of a birthday party treat, and that made it even more special. 

I would like to thank Sam Hayden (Events and Marketing Manager) for inviting me and organising the sessions and also to David and Elaine who were the volunteers at the Park who helped with the craft activities.

Parents had the opportunity to purchase books from the gift shop and I enjoyed signing copies and answering questions about being an author. The children had been asked to think about pirate names and I was asked to inscribe two of the books to Dangerous Daniel and Mechanical Matthew (a robotic pirate apparently!).

Sam has told me that she’s received really positive feedback about the sessions and I am looking forward to returning to do more in the future.

I will be back at Marston Vale Country Park for some storytelling sessions on Tuesday 18 March. Here are the details you need to know if you want to come along.

• Sessions will last approximately 45 minutes, starting at 10.00 am, 11.00 am (SOLD OUT), 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm

• Book reading (with audience participation of course!) - Captain Sillyvoice and the Sea Monster
  
• Make a pirate hat to take home
  
• All my books will be available to purchase in the gift shop and I will be very happy to sign books and answer questions at the end of each session.
  

• Sessions cost £2 per child and children must be accompanied by a adult. Booking essential. Here is the link to the Marston Vale website if you would like to find out more or to make a booking - 
  

• http://marstonvale.org/events/captain-sillyvoice-pirate-hat-making
  

My Crazy Purple Pen was available free for kindle on Amazon for a few days earlier this week and I reached the no.1 spot on the Amazon Best Sellers list for children's picture books. Such a lot of downloads - it was very exciting! 

Thank you to everyone who helped to support my promotion.

If you enjoyed the book then please do add your reviews to Amazon or Goodreads. Reviews are very important to authors.

And, if you enjoyed My Crazy Purple Pen then you might like to try one of my other books. Take a look here.

I enjoyed a lovely day at Marston Vale Forest Centre, storytelling and answering questions about my books. All the children I met came across as enthusiastic readers and were more than happy to participate in the ‘find the ...’ activities and also have a go at speaking like Captain Sillyvoice. The one thing I hadn't expected was that some of the children would want to read the stories out loud to the other children. At least six children (aged from 5 – 10 years) took turns at reading a story. I think the novelty of being able to sit at a computer connected to a projector and large screen, rather like a teacher, was the main appeal. Fortunately my books vary in length and complexity and there was something suitable for each child’s reading ability. I was so impressed with how patiently and attentively the children sat and listened to each other. They worked their way through most of my book collection.

It was fun being able to sit with the audience, and interesting to be able to view the storytelling through the eyes of the other children.  One thing is for sure, children love to have things to look for within the illustrations, and they don’t take in any of the story until they’ve found what they are looking for! I now know that it is always best to get that out of the way first, then begin reading the text! Secondly, children notice different things to adults and sometimes laugh at different times too. For example, the children thought that the spider in ‘The Day My Teacher Came to Tea’ was very funny and wanted to see what his expression was or what he was doing on each page. I think the adults focus more on the storyline, for example in this story, the trouble the boy is getting himself into trying to repair the piece of cake. Of course, once one child starts giggling then others usually follow!

My books are still available to buy in the Forest Centre gift shop, and it looks like I will be back there again in August.

Thank you to Sam Hayden for organising the event and to Sue Harrison, who provided assistance with setting up the room on the day.

I am officially an award winning author, with a finalist medal winner logo to prove it! This award was judged by children, teachers and parents from across 8 primary schools. The feedback received has been lovely to read. Here are a few snippets.

Readers’ Comments

‘I loved the fact it was narrated in verse, always the best in a young children’s book.’ Parent

‘A funny book, not too long, well illustrated.’ Teacher 

‘This book is not too difficult and the idea of a naughty pen is appealing to children and adults. It’s amusing too.' Parent 

‘The pen’s silly but funny.’ Girl, aged 3.5

Stats

Of the 28 readers, all 28 would like to read another book by this author. 

9 thought the pen was the best. 16 thought the rhyming text was the best.

One-line quote to sum up all the feedback

‘My Crazy Purple Pen is a fun-filled story. Perfect for young children.’ The Wishing Shelf Awards

Star Rating

5 stars

Very excited to announce that 'My Crazy Purple Pen' has been selected as one of the finalists in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards. The overall winners will be announced in one month but even to make it this far is fantastic.

The way in which this Award is judged is unique and brilliant! All the children’s books are read and judged by children in 8 UK primary and secondary schools, mostly in London. They are then marked, with the help of their teachers, according to editing, theme, style, cover and illustrations.

A smaller, select group of children will now be asked to look at the chosen top books (of which I am one!) and pick the gold, silver and bronze winners.  The winners will be announced in April.

Here is the link to the website if you want to find out more!

The sequel to My Crazy Purple Pen has been taking me a while to write but I think it's finally starting to take shape.

Local stockists have started to stock the Ruth Whenham book collection and sales have been very encouraging.

And lastly, news just in!

‘Captain Sillyvoice and the Pirate Band’ is now available from Bedfordshire Libraries. It is notoriously difficult for independent publishers to get their books on library shelves and so this feels like a real breakthrough.