Wednesday 21 September 2016

New Vlog-Blog with Benji Davies - Introducing The Storm Whale in Winter



 Camera work and editing by Steven Lenton (@2dscrumptious
and squeaky voice C/O @maybeswabey



The Storm Whale in Winter 
By Benji Davies
Published by Simon and Schuster £6.99 PB

Bitter winter sets in and with a new season comes new adventure as Noi embarks on an epic rescue mission with the help of an old friend. A thoughtful, emotive and heart-warming story that will capture your imagination and thaw even the bleakest of winters. We can't think of a more perfect gift to find under the tree this Christmas. 
10/10 absolute perfection. 




Follow Benji Davies on Twitter @Benji_Davies 


If you think you could provide a 
loving home for your very own 
Storm Whale this Christmas 
then you can purchase one here
They are VERY limited edition SO HURRY. 





With HUGE thanks to the team at 
Simon & Schuster Kids 
for all their help with this 
and for inviting us to the party! 

Sunday 11 September 2016

TOTO'S Apple - BLOG TOUR

ORDER HERE 
Toto’s Apple has become a firm favorite in our house, an instant hit with reader and listener alike both barely able to stifle cheek aching laughs at the predicament of a poor (ambitious) worm and a large juicy apple in a valuable lesson in seizing the day.. no matter what… well almost!


With salutes to the likes of the great Eric Carle and Tomi Ungerer and more recently Jon Klassen and Chris Haughton this beautifully designed boldly illustrated tale is deliciously and unexpectedly subversive. 



A complete treasure of a book and one which little book worms will delight in sharing and taking a bite out of again and again. 







A Day in the Life with Toto’s Apple author-illustrator, Mathieu Lavoie.



This is a typical September day in my life. 7 am: the house is awake. By 8am we are all walking to school (the kids, the dad, the mum, the dog, a 13 year old Jack Russell Terrier named Camion [French for truck]). 8:01, Camion's first stop at a tree. 8:02, Camion's second stop at a lamp post. 8:03, Camion's third stop at a fire hydrant. By 8:06, the kids and their mum are in the school yard while I'm dragging the dog to get to school before the kids get in! 8:14, I’ve made it and kiss the kids goodbye.



The mum, the dog and I are heading back home where we both work and the dog sleeps. By 9am, we have had breakfast and are ready to start a fresh day. I founded Comme des Géants with Nadine Robert in 2014. Since then, we have both worked from our own house. Twice a week, we see each other, the rest of the time, we are magically connected via the internet! With Comme des Géants, I handle graphic design, press communications and a few other little things.


On a typical September day, I would probably be working on the layout of a book that would come out in the next winter season. That means collecting the illustrations done by an illustrator and putting them together with the text written by an author, in a layout program, on the computer. Since we publish around 8 titles a year, I work on one book at a time (most of the time). Nadine and I make the graphic decisions together (choice of fonts, size of the book, endpaper, cover design, etc.). When I'm not spending a full day on the layout of one book, I can be working on updating our website, taking photographs of advanced copies from an upcoming title, sending press releases, or working on my OWN upcoming title. And this is exactly what I will be doing tomorrow as I am writing these lines.


Back to the day schedule, come noon I have lunch with the mum (or a friend, or by myself) at home or at our favourite dumpling restaurant a few blocks away. If you ever come to Montreal ask me and I'll tell you the location. The food is amazing, cheap and the owner is very nice. We head back home and work (the mum writes and illustrates her own books, so that's probablywhat she's doing) until 3:30pm. 

By Marianne Dubuc 
At that time we go back to school to pick up the kids. They're happy, excited and we walk back home with friends and their parents. On beautiful September days, those moments are memorable.

I am back home around 4 where I keep working until 5 or 6. If we're in a crunch with deadlines, I could be working after supper, as late as 1 or 2 am. But in September, it would be most improbable. The kids are in bed at 7:30. We alternate daily, the mum and I, for the sleeping routine. After reading 2 or 3 books to kid #2 (kid #1 reads his own book unless I'm reading something very funny), we turn the lights off and I tell a made up story. And once in a hundred, I come up with something that can be made into a book, like Toto’s Apple for example. And then I'm very happy. If not, we laugh at the silly, boring story I’ve just told.

Well, that's typical!



www.mathieulavoie.blogspot.co.uk


With HUGE thanks to Phaidon and Lorraine Keating

Don't forget to visit https://picturebooksblogger.wordpress.com  
for the next stop on this blog tour! 

Thursday 8 September 2016

Introducing .......my new team mate!


DRUM ROLL PLEASE....



I'm thrilled to announce we have a new crew member on board the good ship Book Sniffer  

INTRODUCING 
(with an enormous tooty fanfare) 
our new 
London based 
roving reporter 
Steven Lenton! 
Here's a sneaky taster...



With up to the minute finger on the pulse news, The Book Sniffer blog will continue to be the one stop shop for picture book fanatics of all shapes and sizes.


Award-winning illustrator Steven will be providing much needed vlog content each month, delivered in his uniquely charming and enthusiastic style

His first assignment is to set about interviewing and interrogating the crème de la crème of the Illustration world, "no question too quizzical no delve too deep".
So look out for some of our favourites coming very soon. We hope you will enjoy watching this new content as much as we will making it.




You can find out more about Steven and his illustration work here  http://www.2dscrumptious.com 


you can also find Steven and an abundance of puns on Twitter @2dscrumptious


THREE CHEERS AND WELCOME ON BOARD BUDDY! Here's to many mischievous bookish adventures...