Zippo the Super Hippo by Kes Gray and Nikki Dyson

Bums Away! 

When this larger than life chap with his more than generous buttocks landed on my doorstep I fell in love instantly, 

Zippo the Super Hippo is a 'cheeky' little picture book from author of 'Mum and Dad Glue' Kes Gray and the illustrator behind some of my favourite illustrated offerings including 'Mr Snappy's Travel Journal' Nikki Dyson. 

Zippo confides in his chum Roxi the Oxpicker that not having an obvious super power other than plodding and getting muddy is becoming something of a problem. As trusted 'life coach', Roxi takes it upon herself to help Zippo the Hippo realise that his big Butt may just be the making of him. 

With hilarious laugh-out-loud moments of utter indignity and potential chaos Zippo complete with cape and GIANT super-hero pants realises sometimes a large behind can come in handy! 

Zippo The Super Hippo is a triumphant and gregarious tale of having faith in your differences and celebrating them. 

Zippo The Super Hippo is released on the 16th July 

Pre-Order your copy HERE! 

VISIT NIKKI'S WEBSITE - HERE 

INTERVIEW WITH NIKKI DYSON and FANTASTIC 

'How to Draw a Hippo' competition  COMING SOON! 

Worst in Show written by William Bee, Illustrated by Kate Hidley

It's TRICK OR TREAT TIME BOOK SNIFFERS! 

The first picture book TREAT to be plucked out of the

sweetie bucket this weekend is 'Worst in Show' Written by

William Bee and Illustrated by Book Sniffer fave Kate

Hindley. 

Worst in Show, shouting loud a proud for flatulent flea

ridden monsters everywhere! A story about being proud of

who you are no matter how fruity tooty your farts are. An

anarchic talent show for monsters and their owners takes

an unexpected turn as we experience each gripping round

in the monster talent show. More tense than the x-factor

final and as bonkers as a fire juggling ballet dancing

stunt rider. Illustrated with enthusiasm and vigour by

awesome illustrator Kate Hindley, there are so many things

to spot on each page you'll be scurrying back and forth

from beginning to end over and over again.  

A MONSTER SIZED must have! 

Sloth Slept on By Frann Preston Gannon

Frann Preston Gannon is certainly proving herself to be the hot new illustrator on the block, recently signing with the CatBird agency founded by our good friend Agent K she is once again setting the picture book world alight with her latest illustrated offering.

Sloth Slept On published by Pavilion 

Dozing peacefully on the shelves of a bookshop near you from the 16th October! 

A delightfully dumpy and stupendously sedentary Sloth finds himself a long way from home (the zoo) when he is 'adopted' by a group of eager children who take it upon themselves to find out where he came from.

After much speculation about the origin of the sloth including the thought that he may even be a pirate returning from an adventure on the high seas the children discover that he is in fact from the rainforest (cleverly deduced by the smallest child).  

A page of Sloth facts integrated into the story beautifully highlights a subtle message about wildlife conservation. 
This book will delight readers of all ages, it's a book with carefully considered characterisation, an abundance of cuteness and a big spoonful of hope and heart. Congratulations Frann - We can't wait to see what you come up with next! 

IF YOU LIKE YOU'LL LOVE...

Sloth Slept On has delightfully reminiscent echoes of one of my all time favorite picture books (also by Frann) 'The Journey Home'  which I hope you will enjoy as much as I did. 

On Sudden Hill - An interview with it's creators Linda Sarah and Benji Davies

Ethereal and nostalgic in 'box' loads Benji and Sarah have created a magical environment set to ignite imaginations big and small...

On Sudden Hill is 'Stand By Me' for pre-schoolers, filled with emotion and stark scenery the reader is magnetically drawn to the three small boys and the intricacies of their beguiling friendship. The poetic lyrical text weaves a tender tale of innocence and explores the limitless nature of a child's imagination.

We are beyond thrilled to welcome the creators of
On Sudden Hill to Book Sniffer Towers to tell us a little more about the creation and development of the lead characters in this book, how they came to be and how Benji so deftly put a face to their names. 

Linda Sarah Author :

Hello Book Sniffer (I love your blog name by the way), thank you for having me here!

The names for the boys just tumbled out with the story - when that happens, I love it and usually they feel right - like the characters have been there all along, just waiting for the right moment to appear and say: Howdy - I've got something to tell you! 

It was originally written as a story for older readers, the boys were young teenagers - a much fiercer story, but when sifting through my chaotic piles of notebooks with ideas and story fragments, I thought it could maybe work for younger people as well - the idea of feeling left out, but also having nowhere to express those feelings, no one who is interested etc., - and re-writing it seemed simple and easy, which is a good sign I think.

I honestly can't remember how I first pictured Birt, Etho and Shu, but when I started to see Benji's sketches of them, I had a huge feeling of "Yes!" and I adore how he has brought them to life - they are totally as they should be (and so much better!). Their feelings, evoked by his tender expressions, gestures, reflected in surroundings etc. - just perfect and magical.

Benji Davies Illustrator :

                         

Characters I think are one of the hardest parts of illustrating a book.

The main characters, the starring roles of the book, need to be able to carry the story, to tell the story through their actions. And to do that they need to be believable, they need to hold within them some truth about the story. This all starts in the way that they look.

Of course each illustrator can come up with a vastly different character to the same text, so its by no means set in concrete by the words. That's where as the illustrator you get to tell the story how you see it, you get to shape the characters and the settings, design the place inside which the story unfolds.

First of all you need to know the function of the character, how do they relate to the other characters and elements in the story. In a well written text I think this just pops out at you and perhaps gets easier the more books you illustrate, as you hopefully get better at it.

You have to take their most important characteristics and make them embody those ideas. Are they vulnerable? Make them small. Do they need to be physically big enough to do something specific in the story, to reach on top of a wall perhaps? Make them tall. Or give them long arms. This sounds quite simple but actually can be quite a complex process of unravelling the text to get the right feel for the character. Its a bit like finding a missing piece of jigsaw that fits perfectly in the hole. All these choices have to feel right for the story. Even if they feel random I think there is something subconscious at work, guiding the choices - hair colour, posture, costume. All of these choices will be reflected in the atmosphere and tone of the book. 

For On Sudden Hill I felt that it was such an emotional text, that I couldn’t see the characters without visualising their world first. I thought it needed a more organic approach, to see the bigger picture and then start pulling the characters out.

First of all I started to draw silhouettes of some of the scenes in the text, or moments that I felt would evoke the atmosphere of the book. In animation they call these kind of sketches and drawings the ‘beats’.

 

These beats really helped me to start shaping the story, getting into the sense of place and the interaction between the three boys.

I then sort of hoped that their characters would start to filter through. I made more further sketches.

I was starting to get an idea of how a couple of them might look, very roughly. I think some of them were a bit too old looking, but that wasn’t important for this stage. It was better to just get something down than worry about specifics.  I would have loved to have been able to keep more of these silhouettes in the final book but I think it might have been too dark and moody.

Then I made some more detailed character sketches and also a design for the box-cart which I based on my previous silhouette drawings.

As I started to artwork, their individual personalities started to take shape. They still needed to be younger though, and I gave them more appeal by making their clothes brighter and more detailed.

Then at a late stage, we (my art director, editor and myself) realised that it wasn’t really working as well as it could. One of the characters was stealing the limelight - the wrong one! But rather than start the characters from scratch they suggested a straight swap of two of the characters. So Birt became Shu and Shu, Birt. It was completely contrary to how I had been thinking but the characters worked but it made complete sense. 

I think it shows that you can never be entirely sure what the right solution for a character is, but that when you get it right everything falls into place.

Vists Benji's website here 

Buy the book HERE

Follow Benji (Benji_Davies) 

& Sarah (@travelandsing) on Twitter

With HUGE thanks to the team at Simon and Schuster  (especially Jade)
for inviting us to kick off this blog tour!

Make sure you pop over to Wondrous Reads tomorrow for the next installment of the On Sudden Hill blog tour! 

Toodle Pip! 

A BOOK worth a LOOK - Oi Frog by Kes Gray and Jim Field

Ta-Da - Bravo and tooty fanfares! 'Oi Frog' is here - The long anticipated picture book imagined and created by the masterful award-winning minds of Kes Gray and  illustrator Jim Field.

Oi Frog is one of those rare and perfect books which literally leaps off the shelf onto your lap (or the nearest log) everything the cover promises in terms of humour is delivered in bucket loads and more. Such a brilliantly simple concept expertly executed to create a completely satisfying picture book which parents will read over and over and over again without complaint and which little people will sit though effortlessly.   

Inquisitive frog finds himself in a deep discussion with a finicky (some might say down right BOSSY) feline intent on things being done the way they should be (without compromise). Frog has his sights set on changing the rules and is yet to be convinced that as a frog he should always and without exception sit on a log, despite the painful botty splinters he might be subjected to!  

The omnipotent cat diligently explains to frog that each creature has its place and that is the way it has been and always will be.

Life’s rich pageant in all its various shapes and sizes are showcased as the story unfolds with deeply satisfying repetitive rhymes popping up throughout.  Such pure unadulterated joy with hilarious poetic flair. My personal favourites namely ‘Gibbons on ribbons’ and ‘Moles on Poles’ although I did also have a soft spot for the poor ‘Gorilla on a pillar’  

The bold graphic illustrations showcase Jim’s great talent in creating engaging and unique anthropomorphic animals. The characters have such expressive faces you can almost speaking themselves which lends itself very nicely to reading this book over and over, (for ref: Gophers from the deep south , mule from Blackpool, a cow from Somerset, etc etc) each creature could quite easily become a book in its own right, (especially the brogue sporting Hare)   

I am an enormous fan of Jim Fields work and had the great privilege of working with Kes Gray promoting his utterly tear jerking picture book Mum and Dad Glue, Including meeting legendary Bookaboo!

For me Field and Gray were an unexpected pairing which showed great vision on the part of the team at Hodder Children’s but which has proven to be 100% charismatic comedy gold.

This book is destined to be a huge success so buy a copy now, or two copies, or two and one for your best friend.

We give this book a huge Book Sniffer paw print of approval – an absolute Technicolor triumph.

If you like you’ll love...

My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes – by Eve Sutton and Lynley Dodd - Published by Puffin

A personal childhood favourite of mine…

Illustrator Spotlight

Jim Field

Visit Jims Website http://www.jimfield.co.uk/ or follow him on Twitter @_JimField

Author Spotlight

Kes Gray

Visit Kes Gray’s website www.kesgray.com Follow Kes on Twitter @kesgray

Also check out the chaps at Hodder Children's @hodderchildrens 

With HUGE thanks to the lovely folk at Hodder Children's Books for sending me a copy of Oi Frog! 

There's a Shark in the Bath - an interview with Sarah McIntyre

So you thought it was safe to dip your toe back in the picture book pool huh? 

Well think again, it's almost 2014 and we're back with an almighty flood of wonderful stories.

First up we have a huge idol of mine (not least because of her fabulous head gear) Sarah 'the scribble' McIntyre, with her latest picture book triumph 

There's a Shark in the Bath! 

(Published by Scholastic Jan 2014) 

Snap up a copy now!

Mild peril at it's very best, we find ourselves in a familiar domestic setting, as dynamic Dulcie a kid with cred, discovers not one... not two.. but a whole family of actual sharks in her bath tub, this comes as something of a surprise but Dulcie takes everything in her stride.

                                 

These ferocious toothy sharks are intent on gobbling her up in one bite but She's a gal with a plan and comes up with all manner of extraordinary ways to distract the fearsome beasties from mission munch. 

A myriad of kooky ocean critters including an octopus a crab and a hilarious lip stick embellished puffer fish join in the fun and the pages begin to fizz and bubble with the chaos that ensues. 

You'll be battling your way through swathes of frothy bubble bath and reams of toilet paper as the frenzy continues. Savvy Dulcie wraps up the crazy game of cat and mouse (almost literally) with a cunning episode of the ever-so popular 'Spick-and-Spanny' game! and just in the nick of time the fearsome sharks make a rapid retreat. But will that be the only surprise guest at Dulcie's house.. I fear not. 

There's a Shark in the Bath is an aquatic take on the boy who cried wolf with a modern twist. Sarah has a unique and unparalleled ability to create picture spreads which quite literally bounce and tumble out of the pages regardless of the boundaries of the pages (something which must come from such a great skill in adapting her work for comic strip formats), completely immersive and utterly engaging. The vibrant pallet and inclusive characterisations all work together perfectly in this winning combination.

Find FABULOUS Sharky activities HERE

We are utterly thrilled to welcome Sarah to Book Sniffer Towers for a spot of breakfast, here's our interview.  

Dulcie is a crazy-cool kid, How would you describe yourself as a child?

I wasn’t crazy-cool at all! But I was fascinated by sea life and I wanted to be a mermaid when I grew up. My family used to go on holiday to Canon Beach in Oregon every year and I loved staring into the tide pools, each one a magic little kingdom. And rather less magically, I liked to poke the anemones with a stick to watch them pucker up.

Do you have a shelf of special things? If so which are your top three faves?

My flat’s filled with STUFF. Stuff everywhere. But I think my favourite things are artwork. It’s hard to rank them, but I have a lino print of a Southwold beach by Chris Wormell, an original drawing of an ancient fortress by Philip Reeve from his Traction Codex...

and an oil painting my sister made of her friend sitting in a bar with sunlight coming through her beer glass.

Tells us about a detail on one of the pages we should look out for (I love the frog with the lipstick) And which is your favourite spread?

 Ha ha! That’s my favourite, too. The frog and blowfish really get stuck in with that makeup. They end up looking like drag queens in a car wreck. I also like Colin the crab, who makes an appearance from another book I’ve done. When I was nearly finished with the book, my husband spotted a page without Colin on it and got worried. (‘Where’s Colin?!’) So I painted him in.  I love the page where the sharks make silly wigs and ‘taches out of bubbles:

And I’m also proud of the final endpapers, where I’d really got up a good steam for painting those shark dudes. I think I best captured their joyous gaiety on those last pages.

                       

If you came face to face with a shark in a bath tub how would you feel?

Very surprised! But I’m quite practical about these things. I’d probably ring the RSPCA.  

Summarise your new book in 5 words

BIG TEETH! BUBBLES! BATHROOM CHAOS!

Do you have a book by your bed at the moment? What is it?

Three books! A wonderful little comic made of collage and photos by Philippa Rice, called We’re Out, and I’m just starting The Middle of Nowhere by Geraldine McCaughrean. 

                                 

And a picture book called Chester by Melanie Watt, that I keep meaning to give to my neighbours because they have a big bossy cat named Chester, just like the one in the book. But I like the book too much to give away, I really need to buy them another copy.

                                 

Tell us about your bath time essentials?

I LOVE my bath! It’s always been the one place where I can read a book and no one will disturb me. It was the same when I was a kid, but if I took too long, my sister would sometimes go outside to the window, reach through and dump a glass of cold water on my stomach. (We were awfully kind to each other.)  

What are you working in now? Will the cereal bowl elephant make an appearance in its own book? 

I did think that There’s an Elephant in my Cereal would make a great follow-up! But no, I’m working on another picture book with my fabulous editor, Pauliina Malinen-Teodoro and amazing designer, Rebecca Essilifie. Pauliina gave me two words and asked if I could come up with a book themed on those two words. It was a brilliant suggestion, I went away and wrote something and now we’re working together to get it ready to illustrate. My picture books are very much a team effort. Even my Oliver and the Seawigs writer, Philip Reeve, had a look over it and gave me some helpful suggestions.  I love bouncing ideas off people, that excitement when everyone’s in the zone and coming up with hilarious details.

Who should we look out for on Twitter?

Most of my co-authors are on Twitter: Gillian Rogerson - @gillianrogerson - Claire Freedman - @clairefreedman - Philip Reeve - @philipreeve1 and Anne Cottringer - @cantilupe. You can also follow my brilliantly talented studio mates: Gary Northfield - @gnorthfield - Elissa Elwick -@ElissaElwick - and Lauren O’Farrell - @deadlyknitshade. I’m also a big fan of the weekly Phoenix Comic - @phoenixcomicuk.

What would your top three tips be for budding young illustrators? 

1. Don’t just make pictures, make books. And don’t get bogged down in epic long books, make little ones that you can make in a short amount of time, possibly even in a day. There’s something so confidence-building about seeing a whole book through from start to finish. You can play around with different kinds of bookbinding. Just having to get the pages in order makes you discover a lot of little things about how books work. …Here’s one of the very first books I made, as a kid, called My Fish. I gotta say, the sharks in There’s a Shark in the Bath are way more exciting than that goldfish.

2. Set small projects for yourself. The comics community is great for this with its Internet memes. For example, there’s Hourly Comics Day (draw a comics panel about your day, every hour you’re awake) and 24-Hour Comics Day (make a whole comic book in 24 hours). It could be something as simple as posting a drawing on your blog every day.

3. Set up a blog. It’s not just to publicise yourself, it’s also good for keeping yourself accountable, so you can see what you’ve drawn, and what sort of activities you’ve been getting up to. If you think your life looks boring on your blog, you can go out and do things to make the blog more exciting and then discover that your life is getting more exciting, too.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given? 

Probably that last thing, to keep a blog. That was from my classmate Ellen Lindner at art college. It makes me feel like my life’s a story, that I’m living something exciting. And since I have a terrible memory, it helps me recall what I did last year, even last week. I feel like I’m turning into some sort of cyborg, with half my brain stored on the Internet.

You made it to the dizzying heights of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize judging panel, so tell us a joke! 

It’s hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs because they always take things literally.

You can find amazebubbles activity sheets from each of Sarah's books on her brilliant website: www.jabberworks.co.uk - the perfect entertaining antidote for the end of the school holidays. CLICK HERE for heaps of Sharky fun! 

With HUGE thanks to Sarah & the kind folk at Scholastic! TOOT TOOT

The Pirates Next Door - By Jonny Duddle

Well shiver me bloomin' timbers land lubbers, I appear to be the last to jump on board the jolly ship that is
 The Pirates Next Door! by Ship Mate Jonny Duddle
Here I am modelling a Johnny Depp style piratical moustache grown just for this very special occasion,

The Pirates Next Door is Jonny Duddles second Pirate book for Templar and one for which he has just scooped the very well deserved Waterstone's Children's Book Prize! TOOT TOOT!

Ever been to Dull-on-Sea? it's a bit like Dorking but with PIRATES!

Little Tilda a sassy small person with a taste for adventure befriends a pirate boy who just happens to have docked his family pirate ship just next door (as you do). This is quite possibly THE most exciting thing ever to happen in Dull-On-Sea (population 2227) A proper ropey old band of piratical types cause all sorts of havoc around town much to the dismay of the local residents all of who have taken umbridge at their new slightly unusual (for unusual read, hairy, smelly, peg leggy and rough as a gnats chuff) neighbours.

Jonny is a complete craftsman and master of characterisation and his illustrations require pouring over for may hours to spot all the little hidden treasures!

Things of note which I spotted included:

• A dog with a peg leg
• The exhaust from the back of the pirate car making plumes of skull shaped clouds
• The shaving cut on Tilda's dads chin complete with bloody tissue
• Skull shaped cereal - I wish that was real!
• Tilda's black cat making saucy eyes at the peg legged dog (an on going romance)

Eventually the Pirates decide to move on to Oceans new, much is the way of the Pirate but not before they leave behind something for the residents of Dull-On-Sea to remember them by! (revealed in a stonking fold out)

The clever rhyming text weaves and twirls and smashes though the pages with moments of sheer gigglesome joy.

A cracking unique piratical rumpus of a story which demands at cutlass point to be read over and over again!

We can't wait to find out what will happen next with these beardy reprobates. Where will they dock their pirate ship next...

We give The Pirates Next Door 5 gold coins out of 5!

Buy it NOW or walk the plank!

INTERVIEW WITH JONNY DUDDLE COMING SOON

YES we will be firing him out of the quick fire cannon! It would be rude not too!