Friday 11 December 2015

EXCLUSIVE COVER REVEAL

Sophy Henn's Pom Pom Panda first stomped and barged his way onto my life in early 2015, Pom Pom Get's the Grumps was an instant hit and became a firm favourite, since then we have added Pom Pom the Champion to the family with all the eager determination of the first book. It's such a refreshing delight to witness this beautifully observed, no added sugar tip top full of charm chap become such an instant hit.  

It is an incomparable delight to be able to present to you an exclusive first peek at the cover for Sophy's latest Pom Pom adventure Pom Pom is Super! And here is it in all it's glory, a bright, bold contemporary and utterly engaging addition to every young Sniffer's book shelf. You won't be able to get your hands on Pom Pom is Super until August 2016 (I KNOW, almost unbearable) but I have no doubt it will be worth every second of that wait! Great work Puffin Books keep them coming! 



Also one to watch Pass it On! Publishing in February 2016 A delicious uplifting picture book about finding joy in even the smallest of things! Find out more here





Saturday 21 November 2015

WELCOMING Cressida Cowell to Book Sniffer Towers




How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury by Cressida Cowell published this autumn and as illustrated Fiction goes it's pretty special.


We are very lucky to have been invited into Cressida's writing den to have a sneaky look at some of her trademark sketches for the latest and sadly last in the the How to Train Your Dragon series. 






BUY THE BOOK HERE 
"At the end of this day, either the humans or the dragons will face extinction. Can Hiccup save the dragons? First he must defeat the Dragon Guardians of Tomorrow, and then he faces the Dragon Furious and end the Rebellion… ALONE. The VERY beginning of the first book starts with a question: did dragons exist? You may have noticed that as the series has developed the question changed to: if dragons DID exist, what happened to them? I’ve known the answer for 15 years, now it’s time for you to find out…" - Cressida Cowell




The How To Train Your Dragon books have always been highly regarded in the Sniffer household, the charming and snortluagherous illustrations by Cressida Cowell herself really really add a great authentic quality to the story and a fantastic insight into Cressida's imagined world. 

With a mighty 12 books in the series there is no doubt it has ignited a passion for books in thousands and thousands of young readers and I would have no doubt inspired a great many to pick up a pen themselves. It just so happens Cressida's picture book 'That Rabbit Belongs To Emily Brown' (Illustrated by the delightful Neal Layton) was the very first book I worked on when I began my publishing career at Orchard Children's Books many years ago. 


Cressida's Studio
So here for your delectation and delight are a selection of illustrations from the very last book in the How to Train your Dragon series! Magical maps, Hilarious Hiccup and a myriad of monstrous dragons. Enjoy! 




"Here is a Map of Berk. I’ve always loved a good adventure story, such as Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. He started that story by drawing a map – the pirates and Long John Silver climbed out of that map and into his imagination. Like Robert Louis Stevenson, one of the things I did when thinking about How to Train Your Dragon was draw a map of Berk. This helped me start building the world and who would live there."




"In the first volume of Hiccup’s How to Train Your Dragon memoirs, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was an awesome sword-fighter and greatest Viking Hero who ever lived. But it wasn’t always like that. In the beginning, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was not loud enough to make himself heard at dinner with his father, Stoick the Vast and CERTAINLY not stupid enough to go into a cave full of dragons to find a pet. It was important to me that Hiccup wasn’t a classic big, strong Viking. I wanted to write about an ordinary, unimpressive-looking Viking, who shows everyone that he can STILL be a Hero."





We are very excited to hear what Cressida will be penning next! We anticipate something epic and fun filled ...

ABOUT CRESSIDA: 

Cressida Cowell grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland. She was convinced that there were dragons living on this island, and has been fascinated by dragons ever since. Cressida has written and illustrated twelve books in the popular How to Train Your Dragon series which has sold over 7 million copies worldwide, and is published in 37 languages. How to Train Your Dragon is also an award-winning Dreamworks film series, and a TV series shown on Netflix. Also the author of picture books, Cressida has won the Nestle Children's Book Prize and has been shortlisted for many others. She has been a proud Ambassador for the National Literacy Trust for almost ten years. Cressida lives in Hammersmith with her husband and three children. Check out Cressida's website: www.howtotrainyourdragonbooks.com

COMPETITION 



Why not take part in our Twitter competition! #WIN a complete set of How to Train Your Dragon books plus a copy of Cressida's beautiful Incomplete Book of Dragons kindly donated by Hodder Children's Books - Pop over to Twitter an RT and follow @maybeswabey  #HTTYDCOMP - Comp Closes 2/12/15 UK only - winner picked at random GOOD LUCK!

Wednesday 11 November 2015

Hide and Seek with David Barrow


REVIEW :
'Have You Seen Elephant?’ 
Published by Gecko Press 
£10.99 HB  



Here, right before your eyes (not hiding at all) is a bonefide pitch perfect laugh out loud picture book for all ages. Debut author David Barrow has created a brilliant celebration of the limitless nature of a child’s imagination wrapped up in a deliciously sophisticated and accessible package. 

https://picturebooksblogger.wordpress.com/2015/09/19/seen/ 

A joyful simple text perfectly compliments moments of complete hysteria in the accompanying illustrations. Beautifully immersive full page pictures draw the reader into the game of hide and seek played between a young boy and a cumbersome pachyderm.  Little readers will quite possibly burst at the seams desperately trying to help the young boy find the elephant on each page and the story’s punch line is a complete delight and the characters are utterly beguiling.  



I do hope you enjoy this picture book as much as I have and will do for years to come. Have You Seen Elephant? is a must have for every pre-school and home library and the perfect gift for little Book Sniffers this Christmas (and any other season for that matter) 

Promotes – Inclusivity / imagination play / friendship  



By some stroke of fantastical luck and the help of a dear friend David agreed to spend a little time answering some questions for us - here's the result!  



How long did it take for the initial concept for the book to become a real book? And did the idea change much along the way? 

I came up with the concept of the book as one of my projects when I was studying for my Children’s Book Illustration MA at Anglia Ruskin Uni and I developed a first draft dummy over one semester. Julia from Gecko was visiting the course one week and saw the image of Elephant under the standard lamp. Thankfully she liked it, asked to see some more and subsequently gave me the opportunity to develop the project into a “real-life” proper book! Pretty much all the hiding places I’d initially drawn stayed. We introduced the dog character and really worked on the look of Elephant (I looked back at my original Elephant the other day and he looked positively threatening!) Working with publishers and art directors is an amazing process as all everybody wants is to make the most of a book at the end of a day. All in all it was about a year before a box of lovely new books arrived on my doorstep. And boy did they smell good! 

Are there any authors or illustrators you would  like to collaborate with? 

I’d love to work with Jon Klassen and/or Benji Davies. Not so much to collaborate with them; more to sit behind them and nick their ideas. I’m a big fan of Gerry Turley’s work and I reckon he could teach me a thing or two about screen-printing. 
Also I’d gladly do a two way writing/illustrating swap with fellow Anglia Ruskin alumni (and thoroughly nice bloke) Steve Anthony! 



Do you work digitally or physically or a mixture of both?

 I create all my artwork and textures physically with ink, paints, pastels, pencils... whatever’s to hand really. Then I scan it all in and composite everything digitally. That way, you get both the spontaneity and energy of physical mark-making, and the control offered by working digitally. Most things I do are a result of accidents happening during both stages!


Which is your favourite spread?

Hmmm... I have a love/hate relationship with most of the spreads! I know you shouldn’t laugh at your own jokes but Elephant behind the TV still makes me chuckle (only a bit, and then I remember how long I battled with it and I shed a little tear). I guess an honourable mention to “Elephant under standard lamp” has to be made as that’s the image that ultimately led to the book actually happening.However, I can tell you exactly what piece of music I was listening to with every part of every image. I bet a lot of illustrators possess that skill!



Are the characters in the book inspired by people you know? Are there any special details we should look out for?

Elephant is actually inspired by my nieces’ hide and seek skills. Pretty much all of Elephant’s hiding places have been adopted by one or both of them at some point. Obviously, I’ve ever so slightly exaggerated the situations. Things to look out for; the dog plays a fairly significant role, cat makes a couple of appearances, the tortoise is hiding in a couple of spreads. Oh and Edward Lear’s in there somewhere.

You have kindly let us have a peek inside your beautiful sketch book (below)– If you could snoop in someone else's sketch book who would you choose?  

Whilst on the MA course, I’ve been lucky enough to have sneaky peeks in some fairly astounding sketchbooks over the last couple of years. Highlights include Axel Scheffler, Alexis Deacon, Jim Kay, Ronald Searle, Helen Stephens and Pam Smy. I find sketchbooks phenomenally exhilarating to behold and will gladly look through anybody’s!





What will you be working on next?

I’m very lucky in that I’ve got a few projects on the go. Due to the secretive nature of the publishing industry I can’t say too much, however I’m writing and illustrating my next book with Hodder which is massively exciting (also a development of a Uni project). I’ll be illustrating for some other authors as well. 

Can you recommend a good hiding place? 

A good hiding place? I can’t reveal my best one as then everybody will know where to find me!


Visit Davids website HERE ...
BUY THE BOOK HERE 
Follow David on Twitter @DaveBarrow3 


With Thanks to 
Bounce Marketing, 
Pip Johnson, Laura Smythe, 
Gecko Press and David!

Saturday 31 October 2015

Oliver Jeffers and Eoin Colfer - Imaginary Fred


A month or so ago a colleague at Little London Magazine asked if on the off chance I was free I could conduct an interview for the magazine, of course I was free but who would on earth would I be interviewing? 
A few weeks later it transpired I was being sent to meet two of the most successful names in Children's literature today, non-other than the deliciously debonair Eoin Colfer and the delightfully charming Oliver Jeffers

With the luck of the Irish.. (well I have an Irish surname at least) I made my way to The Soho Hotel, all be it a quivering wreck of nerves, to interview to them about their first ever picture book collaboration 'Imaginary Fred'



Time was tight but I just managed to sneak in a few exclusive questions for the Book Sniffer blog. 

NB: Suffice to say there was a lot of the interview which cannot and will not ever be published but let me tell you my sides were splitting and my cheeks were aching with laughter once my 30 golden minutes were up. 



What’s that strangest or funniest question you’ve been asked by a child during a school event?

Oliver: "Sometimes you get asked allsorts. One time I was asked “What does Batman do?” and I got a letter once, which I still have, saying “Dear Oliver Jeffers, What is your name?”

Eoin: "I got some fan mail and it was in a pink envelope with pretty pony stamps, all mail in the states gets checked but they must have seen it and thought it looks fine and it was from a guy on death row and he had a photograph of himself covered in God bless America with two machetes and it said “ I love your books” haha, but it was lovely and it was the sweetest letter, he obviously put it in that envelopes because he knew it would get through. He had a weird nickname which I can’t remember...

BS:  Like “Baby” or something?

Eoin: No I think it was “Hatchet”, there was no irony in there at all hahahaa.



You mentioned that Imaginary Fred had a different ending prior to starting work with Oliver. Which changes did you make?

Oliver: Originally the four of them stayed together and it seemed more natural as to how a group of friends are for them to basically split off so it wasn’t the foursome, the person that Fred had been dreaming of at the start was actually not Sam even though for the majority of the book it’s sets it up that it was Sam it was actually this other character that sets him up towards the end and that is actually how friendships can happen and how people partner up throughout life is introduction through friends and we hinted at that and it felt like that’s the way it should go rather than just the four of them being the statue. Lets bring it back to the beginning and bookend it right.

Eoin: It felt right and at the time I thought that changing the ending is a big thing but as soon as I read it I thought yeah that makes sense.

Oliver: I was nervous about saying that.



In Imaginary Fred Sam and Sammi create their own comics, Eoin you've spoken about your thoughts on writing comics yourself. How do you think we can make people more engaged with the graphic novel format and what’s the potential there?



Oliver: Truly good content. It’s as simple as that.

Eoin: Yes it’s always content. I think the movie world has helped a little bit but there’s always been a huge underground for graphic novels and there’s a really solid core of people who read them. There was a bit of snobbery about them about 15-20 years ago and in some cases teachers wouldn’t even let kids read comic books but now I think that’s changed a little bit and I think the same thing is true of fantasy literature until Game of Thrones came along and I think it’s more mainstream now and people like Frank Miller have really helped do that with comic books.

Oliver: Also away from the superhero/science fiction aspect people like Art Spiegelman who’s been around for a long time, and it’s come back with a bit of a resurgence, for example Persepolis, things like that which is real life not science fiction. I wasn’t really crazy about graphic novels growing up interestingly. You’d think that I was with how visual I am but I’ve never been that interested in making one but it’s not the way that I think. I don’t think about illustrating every moment of a sequence. I trying to breakdown lot of complicated things into ojust one very simple image rather than taking it and breaking it apart into fifty.



Eoin: That’s something I learnt from you actually. You don’t have to say so much. You don’t’ have to lead up to everything and then follow it.

Oliver:  It’s the power of suggestion really. That’s just my particular skill set and other people really do dominate that area where every single moment is shown.
I think with graphic novels I’m surprised that they ever get published because they are so inefficient. It takes so many people so long and you can only charge so much so unless it’s a mega seller it's not really cost effective. 

Oliver How do you feel the illustration world is represented by the visual arts world? Do they compliment each other? and how do you divide your time? 

Oliver: It’s becoming more so that it accepts illustration although illustration is still a dirty word and I was actually talking about this with my gallery recently and we were having a laugh about it . They are never called illustrations in the fine art world whether it’s on paper or ink drawing or whatever but it’s becoming okay because picture books are more popular and, dare I say it, more fashionable it’s more socially acceptable to be making picture books and be in the fine art world. Ten years ago that was not the case.
I divide my time with discipline and dedication and an exhausting schedule really. It’s not quite as formulaic as 50/50 or a week on a week off. Some years it’s more picture books than fine art and some years it’s the other way round.  It’s just a matter of what projects I have on the go and being pretty strict with myself around deadlines and if there aren’t any then I make self created deadlines.


WITH HUGE THANKS TO Vicki from Harper Collins and of course Oliver and Eoin. 


Imaginary Fred
By Eoin Colfer and Oliver Jeffers
Published by HarperCollins
£12.99

A beautifully observed story about an imaginary friend told with great humour and sensitivity. Beguiling Illustrations by the inimitable talent that is Oliver Jeffers make this a highly desirable future classic.

Check out the next issues of Little London and WRD magazines mid November for my full interviews and also a review of their FANTASTIC book.  


BUY A COPY HERE