Today is World Book Day!  Hurray!

And I’m not running any events!  Boo!

I was supposed to be at Coleshill Heath School yesterday, Alcott Hall School today and Starbank Primary School tomorrow – but I’ve had to postpone all three visits because I’ve got a throat infection.  Yes, yours truly is completely mute.  I can’t even whisper.  And my throat hurts.  A lot.

Thanks for the sympathy.

Still, I’ve got a couple of (silent) treats up my sleeve for today – the first being a pdf file of spooktacular Scream Street activities that you can download from the World Book Day website here: http://www.worldbookday.com/assets_cm/files/pdf/10webA1P_Vampire_Activity_Sheets.pdf

You should also find some fun Scream Street information in your school’s World Book Day pack.

Have a great day!

Tommy

Knowing that I have a tendency to get swept away by life, this bunch of keen readers at St Francis School in Hampshire organised an author stabilizing raft and made themselves boat shaped all around me just to give me a sense of safety.

Book Week is always a whirl of slightly surreal madness, as my fellow TBMers will testify, so this kind of help is greatly appreciated, especially as I cannot, currently, stop pointing at my Blue Peter badge and going ‘Loooook – oooh – looook!’ to anyone who’ll stand still long enough.

It’ll wear off eventually. Well, if I keep dribbling on it like that it will…

What a great start to the week – first of all, we managed a mass breakout from the caves by digging a secret tunnel and hiding the molten earth in Tommy’s trousers (although I thought he was supposed to let the soil dribble from the bottom of his trouser leg when we exercised around the puke grass?  Instead, Tommy just has swollen trousers).  Anyway, this enabled us to start visiting schools for World Book Day… Week… whatever… and I had a terrific time at Icknield Community College in Watlington (where, apparently, Jeremy Irons and Captain Birdseye live).

My second exciting discovery was that HERO.COM 1: RISE OF THE HEROES had won the Weald Book Award!  Hurrah!

I must dash, the monsters are searching for me and I have to reach Thomas Bennett School in Crawley before dawn!

Andy and I were both dozing in a pile of ogre dung (look – it’s warm, alright?!) when the Monsters suddenly seized us, hosed us down, put us in normal person clothes (and insisted I wear That Badge) and dragged us through the network of tunnels down to the south coast and out into Portsmouth. Then, under cover of weeping Pompey footballers and agitated accountants, they led us into Fratton Park where The 2010 Portsmouth Literature Quiz (seniors) was taking place.

Here we met free-range author Craig Simpson who, having been in the real world for many more days than Andy and I this past year, shored up our patchy knowledge of literature and led us to a… not entirely shameful score.

Hosts of Portsmouth school teams were there to show off their considerable knowledge and St Edmunds School supplied the victors. A shame about the trophy getting superglued to one pupil’s eye. It came off later. The trophy, not the eye.

The photographer has cleverly airbrushed out all fangs, claws and dribble-soaked fur from the minders posted just behind us, and photoshopped in some normal looking Hampshire book fans. Also managed to make me look less virusy (anyone who reads my website musings will know I’ve been embarrassingly feeble recently) and Andy quite friendly. Craig’s expression, however, cannot be mistaken. His thought? ‘Which one of these two smells more ogre dungy?’

Check out what top reviewer, Ella McKenzie, had to say about Scream Street 1: Fang of the Vampire…

I can’t remember the last time I read an animal story. It seems I’ve been missing out. If The Tygrine Cat is a typical example of this genre, then I’ll have to look out some more.

Mati is a cat, but he’s no ordinary cat. He is special – the last of his race. Young and unaware of his heritage, Mati is sent away by his Amma (mother) on a ship to a faraway land for his own safety. When the ship makes dock, he must not only escape without notice, but make a new home in the foreign land in which he finds himself.

Inbali Iserles has done a great job in this story of demonstrating the relationships between the cats in a local territory (Cressida Lock). From the dominant tom cat, Pangur, down to the lowest kittens, she shows how cat courtesy and hierarchy works in the neighbourhood that young Mati finds himself in. This is a book of adventure and magic, as Mati has certain abilities that appear strange to the local cats, marking him as different – an alien in the community. Then there’s the Kank’s, a rival territory run by Hanratty, a trouble-making tom cat who’s keen to take control of Cressida Lock.

Throughout the story stalks a mysterious assassin cat, Mithos the Destroyer, sent across the world by the Suzerain to kill Mati and end the line of the Tygrine cats. I found this story fascinating and it will no doubt delight young people who have an interest in animals and their behaviour, but also those who like a little magic in their stories. This story has been added to my list of recommended books for younger readers who have an advanced reading age, as there is nothing unsuitable in the story for anyone aged about seven and up, although I’d say it is more written for nine to twelve-ish. The Tyrine Cat will make great bedtime reading for my son in a couple of years, so I will no doubt return to it. In the meantime, I’ve passed it on to my ten year old daughter, who will no doubt devour it with relish (normally Picallily – strange child!) A great read.

Coming soon – review of Hunger by Michael Grant.

Ever since my brother and sister, Adam and Nicki, got one each for their brilliant poster entry, I’ve nursed a brooding need. Where was MY Blue Peter badge, eh? How had I failed to achieve this dream when they had succeeded?!!

30 odd years (and they have been odd) later, it’s all been set right. I got a badge this week. And – ahem – an award. Frozen In Time won the Blue Peter Children’s Book Award – Book I Couldn’t Put Down category.

Hard to describe my delight, but cold flannels and rubber bands have since been employed in a bid to get the grin off my face (it gets scary after a while). If you’d like to see the point at which the grin arrives, go here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00r4xcv/Blue_Peter_23_02_2010/ – to about the last six minutes of the show.

I’ve been getting a big kick lately out of the novels of Graham Joyce. He’s often considered a Fantasy/SF type of author, and it’s true that his books almost always contain supernatural elements such as ghosts, demons and curses. In most of the books I read and love, those elements tend to result in things like fights, chases, terror, blood and explosions! But Graham Joyce’s style is rather different…

In TWOC, fifteen-year-old joyriding addict Matt is horribly haunted by the ghost of his dead brother Jake…

In DO THE CREEPY THING, a late night dare leaves teenager Caz believing she has been cursed, stalked by a shadowy figure that seems to have granted her extraordinary powers…

…But neither of these stories turn out quite the way you expect. In both TWOC and DO THE CREEPY THING – as in all of Joyce’s books that I’ve read so far – the supernatural elements, while important, aren’t the main thing in the story. The focus, instead, is on the characters – their lives, and the powerful changes to them that the characters’ encounters with the supernatural will cause.

Now: as you’ve probably figured out already(!) I’m not the world’s biggest fan of stories in which people talk out their problems over cups of tea. But Graham Joyce’s low-key approach never fails to keep me absolutely riveted. Make no mistake: these books have their moments of full shiver-down-the-spine terror. But what makes them linger in the mind is the author’s masterful characterisation: the voices of the people in these stories are so real, so wonderfully caught and put across, that you can’t help but engage with your heart as well as your nerves.

Graham Joyce’s books will haunt you in more ways than one. Both TWOC and DO THE CREEPY THING are terrific, and his books for adults (particularly INDIGO) are thoroughly excellent too. If you’re looking for something unusual, look no further.

Sam

I stumbled across an old notebook at the back of the cave the other day, in which I’d written a few quick stories, poems and book ideas.  Most of them weren’t really useful for future projects, but one silly poem was fun to read back – so I thought I’d post it here and give you the chance to add to it.

—

How Do You Sleep?
by Tommy Donbavand & you!

How do you sleep?

Igor the boar does nothing but snore

Drake the snake simply can’t stay awake

Mark the shark likes to snooze in the dark

Sandeep the sheep sometimes sings in his sleep

Honey the bunny sleeps with carrots – how funny!

Pat the rat watches out for the cat

Mog the dog always sleeps like a log

Gayle the whale tucks up under her tale

Bruce the goose dreams of cranberry juice!

Zack the yak sleeps with birds on his back

Claire the bear snuggles up in her fur

How do you sleep?

—

Now, it’s over to you.  Feel free to add to this silly little poem in the comments thread…