Child's Play Newsreel 2015

OCTOBER 2015

NEW and out now! Pardon me! Infectiously funny puppet books illustrated by Maxine Lee and Emma Trithart introduce children to the noises our bodies make!

NEW! Tom Thumb, Snow White, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and more now on ITV Signed Stories app. More titles from our range of classic fairy tales "come to life in exciting animation and expressive sign language" in BSL and ASL on ITV's fantastic app.

Great news! Ice in the Jungle wins Silver in the Moonbeam Children's Book Awards! Congratulations to author Ariane Hofmann-Maniyar.

Events: We sing praises on World Teachers Day with posts and tweets featuring illustrations from our First Time series; celebrate National Poetry Day with a competition on social media; counting fun on World Maths Day; and Books Are My Bag with some great illustrations from some of our authors.

We are here: We're at Frankfurt Book Fair, Hall 6.1 Stand B39, with the usual warm welcome and chance to see the Child's Play (International) Ltd range, new titles, plus sneak peeks!

Child's Play USA returns to The Dempsey Challenge, excited to be a part of the KidZone again this year. Many thanks to all who stopped by to participate in the fun read-along and book prize competition to keep the reading going at home. See you again next year! Meanwhile, we donated and received a quilt square in memory of Child's Play founder Michael Twinn, now on display at the Dempsey Center.

Author events: Crunch! author Carolina Rabei visits 52 Stories for storytime and activities; and Trudi Esberger brings her bumble storytelling and activities to the Ramsey Ram Jam, Cambridge. Jessica Shepherd shows her original Grandma artwork at Crown St Gallery Darlington as part of the Boo! Telling Tales illustration exhibition. In the US, Airlie Anderson takes Momo and Snap to Hunterdon Art Museum for a super-fun workshop.

Scottish Book Trust Author Spotlight: Jess Stockham interview. "What's your top tip for sharing 'Feeling Great' with little ones? Try and make this book a real sharing event - a chance to engage, relax, play, imagine, and cuddle up! The phrase 'Just like me' under the flap makes a great catch-phrase!" Read on HERE.

Competition time at Grandparents.com and chance to win Grandma by Jessica Shepherd Illustration! "This lovely picture book about the friendship between Oscar and his Grandma is a warm, comforting story that provides touch points for conversation about dementia. Families coping with memory loss will find it a helpful way to discuss the topic with young children, who may not fully understand what is happening to a loved one."

Many thanks to the Toy Family who sent us sensational photos inspired by My New Baby by Annie Kubler. "It's a wonderful example of life in transition when words alone did not have as much impact. My wife and I would like to credit it with our son eagerly welcoming his new baby sister. We thought it would be a fun family project to reenact scenes from the book." Awesome and the inspiration for a competition… Check out the fabulous photos HERE.

Twitter talk...
@julia_patton "@ChildsPlayBooks @Readitdaddy @AilsaBurrows Look how many beautiful books Child's Play are creating -BRAVO!"

@AilsaBurrows "Proud to see The Jar of Happiness has nearly sold old in my hometown @Waterstones! @WStonesNorthal @ChildsPlayBooks"

Pinterest: Spooky, kooky, booky… a collection of Halloween theme reads.

Blog pick: Check out Magpie That, with not only a selection of our titles in the Picture Book section, but also a few magpies designed specially by some of our illustrators, see if you can spot them: http://magpiethat.com/2015/06/02/magpie-by-carolina-rabei/

JUNE 2015

NEW! Seasons board book series by Ailie Busby. Each season has something special about it, and in these books we explore each one. What shall we wear, where shall we go and what will we see? New sensations, noises and tastes; so much that is new! Follow the children as they spend time discovering the joys of indoor and outdoor play. Creative and inventive, interesting and funny, you will find lots of things to inspire you.

Hear! (Annie Kubler) gets noticed for inclusive illustrations and theme by Auditory Verbal Center of Wheaton. "A board book all about our sense of hearing. Includes images of a child with an eye patch and a child with a hearing aid."

Craigmillar Books for Babies parent panel selects two Child's Play books for the Myra Robertson Book of the Year. I'm A Dingle-Dangle Scarecrow (Annie Kubler) and Taking It Easy! Just Like Us (Jess Stockham) have both made it onto this year's shortlist. Winning books will go into a bag gifted to all one-year-olds in the area for a year.

Little Jungle Explorers (Anthony Lewis) is Book Trust's National Bookstart Week Thursday pick, an interactive book great for helping to grow young minds. This year's event is a jungle adventure theme as we go wild for reading books!

Congratulations to Marta Altés as the fabulous NON! wins Prix Des Incorruptibles! Another big yes for NO!

New to the ITV Signed Stories app is The Golden Goose. Meanwhile, The Gingerbread Man is highlighted on National Gingerbread Day! Also on the app, discover what's happened to The Lost Stars by Hannah Cumming, who is making beautiful boots in The Elves and the Shoemaker, and will The Talkative Tortoise ever stop talking?

Book Trust research says fathers not reading enough to their children, so we ask the dads on Facebook and Twitter to share their favourite story-time moments and experiences. #DadsDoRead #ReadEveryDay

The Big Book Launch at The Learning Hub, University of Reading, welcomed more than 600 visitors and the treasure hunt, featuring Child's Play books, went down a storm!

Courtney Dicmas title selected for the Summer Reading Challenge 2015. Can Stella catch legendary fish the Great Googly Moogly? And what will she do if she does? Find out in this fantastic adventure, part of the Reading Agency's 'Record Breakers' theme event.

Feeling Great! Just Like Me features on a gorgeous Scottish Book Trust Bookbug video, watch mummy and little one enjoying our book HERE

Crunch! by Carolina Rabei up for People's Book Prize! To vote please visit http://www.peoplesbookprize.com/book.php?id=1303 Yum!

Neil's Diary: Child's Play publisher is a dad - and grandad - who reads
"Story time was the best time of the day for me when the children were little. It made time stop still at the end of a chaotic day, and it gave words and framework to that impulse to hug and cuddle. I remember evenings when neither of us wanted to stop, and I fell asleep in the middle of a book. Now that I've got a grandson, I'm getting story time back!" #DadsDoRead

'Where are the children's books with girls in trousers?' a Guardian Books feature asks in June…Why, they're in our books of course. From the intrepid Stella in The Great Googly Moogly by Courtney Dicmas, a The Reading Agency Summer Reading Challenge book for 2015, to the school playground in The Cloud and The Red Boat, Fix It! and Recycling, I Am the Music Man and Round the Mulberry Bush, to girls and boys in trousers and dresses in Winter by Ailie Busby, to mention but a few. Always including all children.

Cook It! from our Helping Hands series, features in a bumper bedtime story time collection from Culture Baby.

Child's Play in Scottish Book Trust Breastfeeding-Friendly Books
'Top picks from Breastfeeding Network and mums across Scotland' include Tucking In! Just Like Me and My New Baby. "Breastfeeding is a part of everyday life with a new baby for many families, here is a list of our favourite breastfeeding friendly books as voted for by Breastfeeding Network volunteers and mums across Scotland, we hope you enjoy reading them with your little one!" SBT, more HERE

Author events: Ice in the Jungle author Ariane Hofmann-Maniyar visits London's Kensington Central Library for story time fun and showing the kids how to draw Ice. Trudi Esberger takes the Boy Who Lost His Bumble to Wanstead Library for bumbly reading and craft activities, like making bee-ly boppers!

We are here: Child's Play USA is at the ALA, American Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition in San Francisco, Booth 1410.

Competitions this month come from Zurine Aguirre with copies of Sardines of Love and also a plush Sardine Stuffie by Atelier Caroline; while Bookbag gives away Crunch!

Guest post: Dementia Book Club, June Pick: Grandma by Jessica Shepherd
"Friday was Care Open Day, when care homes open their homes to the public to discover and mark all that is good about residential care. Organised by Care Open Day, this year's theme covers the arts and creativity. The online Dementia Bookclub (@Dembkclub) via Twitter has been focusing on books that take an intergenerational approach to care. This is so important when it comes to dementia and helping children understand what it is and how they can make a difference to a person living with it. GRANDMA by Jess Shepherd is such a book. Set in a residential care home, it is the story of a child who not only has fun with his Grandma, who is living with dementia, but the other residents and staff too. It's a great book, with good visuals, and talking points for all. It's the perfect choice for Care Open Day, highlighting the themes and the perfect June @Dembkclub pick. Come and chat about it on 28th June at 8pm via @Dembkclub #dembkclub" Dementia Bookclub

Twitter talk... Crunch!
Playing by the book @playbythebook This illustration by @CarolinaRabei really made me smile yesterday. What an expression! (from 'Crunch')

ReadItDaddy @Readitdaddy Do you like Guinea Pigs? Then you really REALLY need "Crunch!" by Carolina Rabei and @ChildsPlayBooks in your life!

Library Mice @librarymice @CarolinaRabei such a great book, I do love the artwork

Playing by the book @playbythebook @librarymice and the characterization - just so good

@RaeSnape Wonderful! @CarolinaRabei's illustrations are so engaging! The children were mesmerised when she read @52StoryBooks

Pinterest: You can now enjoy our new Pinterest Playlist, featuring book trailers, interviews, reviews, events, fantastic book-inspired activities and more! Movies and animations from us and from you reading and enjoying Child's Play books HERE

MAY 2015

See you later, Alligator! (Annie Kubler) selected for Bookbuzz 2015 booklist. Visit Book Trust's website to find out more www.bookbuzz.org.uk

Child's Play visits The Learning Hub in Reading and enjoys a fantastic 'hands-on' session... "We strive to present the 'real world' to children," said Neil Burden, Child's Play publisher. Off to the Park! is "a real process about learning and the way we depict things."

Director of The Learning Hub writes for The Federation of Children's Book Groups National Share-a-Story Month... Hear her roar! "I found Don't You Dare, Dragon! by Annie Kubler; the front cover convinced me this was the perfect book for Toddler Time [at Museum of English Rural Life]." More HERE

This year's Little Rebels Award for radical children's fiction has been exciting! Certainly gets our vote. Featuring the wonderful shortlisted book Grandma by Jessica Shepherd, who was at the London Radical Bookfair with Letterbox Library and other shortlisted Little Rebels, you can enjoy a taste of the enthusiasm for this award HERE

Airlie Anderson, 2014 Gold Independent Publisher Book Awards winner with Momo and Snap, is interviewed by new champions of children's books, Kinderlit. "I loved lining them up so their shiny spines were all in a row in the book shelf." Find out more HERE

Rabbityness makes it onto Culture Baby's bedtime reads...

Grandma in Book Trust 'Heart-to-heart picture books'. Author Jessica Shepherd talks about helping children to understand dementia through picture books and provides worksheets for you to download HERE

Jo Empson in The Guardian with not one but two books selected for Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava awards! 'The best British children's illustrators in the Bratislava awards - in pictures' by illustrator Piet Grobler: Rabbityness "is a book encouraging creativity - and its legacy. Jo Empson has created such a happy and wacky book in vibrant colours", while Never Ever "is simply packed full of humour and playfulness". For more please head HERE

Trudi Esberger's The Boy Who Lost His Bumble activity of making bee-ly boppers makes the papers as inspiring children with words and pictures… The Hunts Post features Trudi and others at the St Ives Book Jam annual literary event.

One, Two, Three... Crawl! by Carol Thompson, and The Wheels On The Bus by Annie Kubler selected by The New York Public Library for 2015 Summer Reading Challenge! The books appear in the Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers summer reading list and will be available in the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library.

Missed our live Twitter interview with Grandma author Jessica Shepherd? We've got it all HERE
Unmissable!
Grandma also joins our printable activities collection available on our website HERE
Many thanks to Jessica Shepherd for sharing her thoughts and ideas with us in our live Twitter Q&A for Dementia Awareness Week.

GRANDMA wins Silver IPPY! Jessica Shepherd's fabulous and innovative book about a boy's relationship with his grandma when she gets dementia has been recognised by the Independent Publisher Book Awards 2015, a Silver winner in the Aging / Death & Dying category. Congratulations Jessica!

Great Googly Moogly! Another IPPY! Courtney Dicmas' fun and exciting picture book about the intrepid Stella's mission to catch a legend and a look our place in the natural world has won Silver in the Children's Picture Books U7 category of the Independent Publisher Book Awards 2015! Congratulations Courtney!

Waterstones Cambridge shares our excitement for two new titles for 2015… "What's that we hear? CRUNCH! The scrumptious NEW picture book by Carolina Rabei in our bookshop NOW!"
"This NEW picture book about a polar bear in the jungle is a DELIGHT! A very good reason indeed to visit our store:) ICE IN THE JUNGLE by Ariane Hofmann-Maniyar..."

Goody! Another classic fairy tale, this time Hansel and Gretel, in ASL on the ITV Signed Stories app! Also on the app are First Time: Nursery, Chicken Licken, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Aladdin, Jack and the Beanstalk and a very fine Ugly Duckling.

Child's Play is at Book Expo America Stand 1563, you can see pics of all the gang from HQs UK and USA in our Facebook album, featuring Momo and Snapauthor Airlie Anderson…

New! Crunch! out now… "Now this is one Bobby dazzling book jacket! Bravo Carolina Rabei" says Booksniffer. The tale of a guinea pig who loves food and a mouse who'd like to share also makes it into Culture Baby's bedtime selection. You can also vote for this scrummy picture book to win The People's Book Prize! Just follow the link HERE

Rabbityness by Jo Empson features in Seven Stories' 'Top Ten Tips for Sharing Stories at Home'. The National Centre for Children's Books tip no 4 says: Use your voice! Make stories exciting by changing the way you speak. Give a giant a deep, loud voice, and a mouse a tiny, squeaky one. More HERE

Twitter talk... Crunch! and Grandma
The Book Sniffer @maybeswabey
I [heart] Crunch! Absolutely THE most adorable grumpy Guinea Pig EVER! [lots of fruit...]

Read It Daddy! @Readitdaddy @ChildsPlayBooks @gill_lewis @LetterboxLib @JesSSShepherd Huge congrats! 'Grandma' has been a huge help to us, v awesome book and so needed

Letterbox Library @LetterboxLib Grandma by @JesSSShepherd based on her knowledge of working in a care home. Another perfect big rebel on the #littlerebels shortlist

YouTube… What does Crunch love? Nom nom! Watch the video below!