Sophie Smiley

What a lovely name!

We are looking forward to meeting Sophie Smiley and excited that she is going to be part of our Linton Children’s Bookfestival.

Sophie was born in a Dominican monastery near Cambridge - she says she had a very happy childhood surrounded by Fra Angelicos and Ethopian priests! She now teaches English and is also a staff member of Forest School Camps, working with both the able and those with learning difficulties. She is married, and has two sons. They all live in Cambridge.

As well as non- fiction, Sophie’s writes books for younger children and tells stories of a family with a Down’s Syndrome child.

Her books include:

Team Trouble
Man of the Match
Bobby, Charlton And The Mountain

Sophie will be reading from her books and answering questions on Saturday 10th May.

Spymaster

Since there are so many children’s books about spies and adventure, and since Joe Craig writes about such things, we thought we’d see if the children would like a real hands on experience.

And who better to advise us than the Spymaster himself? Bob Richardson started writing “missions” for his children 8 years ago and they became so popular he began writing for other people’s children. He now has an activity centre in Bar Hill, Cambridge, where teams of spies have to decipher codes and collect top secret information in order to free the world!

To see for yourself please look at the website: http://www.spymasters.co.uk/

We are very excited that Bob has agreed to set up a mission in Linton Village College on Sunday 11th May where you and your team will have to return to the spymaster the answers to a series of puzzles that will take you all over the college. As you might expect some of the puzzles will have a literary feel and it will be worth your while reading the books of the authors taking part in the book festival!

The mission briefing will be in the Pegasus Room and teams will set off 10 minutes apart. You will need to keep your wits about you and observe your surroundings carefully – just like a real spy.

The winning team will receive prizes galore and everyone will get a Spymaster pen and notepad.

Fairyland Trust

Fairyland Trust Workshop - waiting for the Wand Makers

When we asked what they wanted to see in this year’s Book Festival, one of the things the children wanted was some magic. Lots of children’s stories are written about dragons, castles, kings and queens and fairies and it’s a great way to stimulate a child’s imagination. Some parents have mentioned to us the Rainbow Magic Fairy series and the lovely pop-up books by Maggie Bateson and Louise Comfort.

Once upon a time the countryside was ancient, magical and natural. Today agribusiness and development have robbed our children of this inheritance. The Fairyland Trust exists to turn back this tide of destruction, rekindle ancient countryside and re-create habitats and make the land fit for fairies again.

Well, what could be more magical that some visitors from the Fairyland Trust?

We have managed to persuade some people in the know to come and tell us magical stories, and then run a workshop. The emphasis in on the magical aspect and will appeal to boys as well as girls. We have a choice of making wands, wings, animal shields, crowns, gardens, lanterns, potions and jewels, even dragons.

What would your children like to do?

Please look at the Fairyland Trust website www.fairylandtrust.org and let us know.

Tony Mitton

During the course of planning this festival TONY MITTON’s name has come up several times. Tony lives in Cambridge with his wife and two children. He gives performances as a children's poet and picture-book writer in primary schools, libraries and at literary festival, and it seemed silly not to involve such local talent.

Lazy little alligator

lying in my lap,

let me sit and stroke you

as you take a little nap.

Hungry little alligator

waking in my lap,

wonder what's for breakfast:

SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

Tony was born in Tripoli, North Africa and spent his childhood in Africa, Germany and Hong Kong. After graduating from Cambridge University, he trained as an English teacher, but went on to work instead as a primary school teacher. He has now given up teaching to concentrate entirely on being a children's poet and storywriter.

He is a prolific writer of poems, stories and picture books for children. His raps series (rhymes which retell well-known stories and myths in a highly original way) are popular with adults and children alike. His Royal Raps won the 1997 Nottinghamshire Libraries/Dillons Children's Book Award. Scholastic published Tony Mitton's first poetry anthology Plum, The Seal Hunter part of the Everystory series of stories and most recently The Red & White Spotted Handkerchief which has won a silver award at the 2000 Nestle Smarties Book Prize

Tony only began writing for children around the age of 40. We are really excited to have him come to the Infant School on Saturday 10th May……. with his hat.

Here’s my hat.

It holds my head,

the thoughts I’ve had

and the things I’ve read.

It keeps out the wind.

It keeps off the rain.

It hugs my hair

and warms my brain.

There’s me below it,

the sky above it.

It’s my lid.

And I love it.

Joe Craig

We are really thrilled to have got JOE CRAIG to come to our next Linton Children’s bookfest. Joe writes stories about a boy called Jimmy Coates which are aimed at children aged 8 and above.

The books are action thrillers of the same genre as the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, but with a slight sci-fi twist and the series consists of:

Jimmy Coates: Killer (March 2005)
Jimmy Coates: Target (May 2006)
Jimmy Coates: Revenge (January 2007)
Jimmy Coates: Sabotage (October 2007)
Jimmy Coates: Survival (due April 2008)

Shortly after the UK publication, Craig's first book was released in the United States under the title Jimmy Coates: Assassin It was a finalist for the 2006 Manchester Book Award, and won the Bolton Children's Book Award 2006.

Joe contacted us in 2006 as he liked the sound of our small friendly bookfestival and has Cambridge connections, having studied philosophy at Emmanuel College and written for the Cambridge Footlights. Indeed, he named a character in his first book after nearby Saffron Walden.

However, since then Joe’s books have become increasingly admired. In May 2007 the third book in the Jimmy Coates series was included on the Government's 'Boys into Books' list of all the best books that boys will enjoy, according to the School Libraries Association, and you just have to check out the reviews on Amazon to see how popular they are. So, we feel extremely lucky that Joe, with all his other commitments, is still able and willing to come to Linton.

Joe does high-energy and highly interactive workshops on story-writing, and although we haven’t yet talked about what exactly he will be doing in Linton on Sunday 11th May it is sure to be fun. To get us all in the right creative mood we are also hoping to have spy – influenced activities running during the day………. but more on that later.

To find out about the books, and Joe please look at his website, http://www.joecraig.co.uk/, and for those of you who know about such things, you will find him on Facebook and Myspace.com too.