Linton Zoo - Gruffalo competition

We are pleased to say that Linton Zoo will be offering prizes for the best "fantasy animal" illustrations. So please start thinking about sort of "Gruffalo" you'd like to see......and indeed what you would like call it.

Top prize will be sponsorship of an animal and the zoo are generously offering several family tickets as prizes for the best illustrations. All illustrations will be on display at the weekend.

Winning illustrations will be printed out as bookmarks by "Biddles Limited", professional book printers, who will be attending the book festival on Saturday 10th May.

Templates will be available on the website and through the schools in due course. Keep logging into the blog for further details.

Andrew Motion comes to Linton on 5 March

Poet Laureate Andrew Motion is coming to Linton next week. He will be reading from his works, and this will be followed by a question and answer session.

Where: Linton Village College
When: 5 March 2008, at 2.00pm
Cost: Tickets £3.00 (open to all)
Tickets available on the door and in advance.
Tel: 01223 891233 to book or for more information.

We will be running an information stall about our Festival so we very much look forward to meeting you there.

Garden Storytimes

Garden storytimes, organised and arranged by members of the Linton Gardening Club were a huge success in 2006. We are very pleased to announce they will be making a welcome return in 2008. On Tuesday 6th, Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th May, children will be invited to come and listen to a story after school in local gardens.

In 2006 we searched for insect stickers and made bookmarks after listening to 'Garden poems', made butterflies with sweet wrappers after listening to Katie the Caterpillar, and stomped around the garden searching for a Gruffalo.

The stories for 2008 have not yet been revealed......but keep your eye on this blog for further details.

And, keep your fingers crossed for the same beautiful weather as last time!

Independent's Top Ten Books for Teenagers

Published less than 3 weeks ago in February 2008 includes "Jimmy Coates: Sabotage", by Joe Craig. As Joe Craig points out in his blog http://turkeyonthehill.blogspot.com/ it is there nestled gently between Malorie Blackman and Siobhan Dowd, mingling with Dodie Smith, Anthony Horowitz, Jacqueline Wilson, Stella Gibbons and George Orwell.

Congratulations Joe!

Find out more at www.independent.co.uk/best


Joe's blog is really fun to follow and you can meet the author himself on Sunday 11th May at Linton Village College.

Axel Scheffler

We are absolutely delighted to confirm that Axel Scheffler – the illustrator of the Gruffalo books (and many others) has said he will come to our book festival on Saturday 10th May. We have been on tenterhooks after an initial discussion at the end of last year and then silence for a while.

Axel Scheffler was born in 1957 in Hamburg, Germany. At school, although always good at art, he never really considered a career in illustration. He began a course in History of Art in Hamburg and then moved to England to study illustration at the Bath Academy of Art where he acheived a first class degree.

Axel has achieved worldwide acclaim for his humorous illustrations, and his books have been translated into over 29 languages. He has enjoyed particular success in his award-winning picture book collaborations with Julia Donaldson. The Gruffalo, was published in March 1999 and has already become a modern classic, selling more than 2 million copies worldwide and translated into over 20 languages. It was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal, and it won the 1999 Smarties Gold Medal Award for picture books, and the 2000 Blue Peter Award for The Best Book to Read Aloud.

It was followed by Monkey Puzzle, also nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal, and Room on the Broom which was published September 2001, and also won the 2002 Blue Peter Award for The Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud.

Axel also continues to illustrate for other authors as well, including Ian Whybrow and David Henry Wilson. The Smartest Giant in Town was shortlisted for the Red House Children's Book Award, and the Snail and the Whale was published to great acclaim and won the 2005 Blue Peter Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud Award.

But he does other things too, the Christmas before last he designed Gordon Brown's annual Christmas card!

Axel has recently become a Dad so we are particularly thrilled that he is willing to fit us into his busy schedule. Don’t tell the children ............. but we are hoping that the Gruffalo himself will make an appearance in his honour!

For more information on Axel please look at www.gruffalo.com.

Extended bookfestival

Just to say that we have so much going on that we have decided to extend the Children's Bookfestival dates from 3rd - 11th May. We are going to start off with Garth Collard and a History Walk on 3rd May in the afternoon. Keep it free!

Playgroups - something for you

We were very keen to do something fo the pre-school children in 2008. So, Cindy Falkner who works at the Alternative Therapy Health Centre in Linton will be going into Chestnut Playgroup and Granta Playgroup to "Dance - a - Story" on Tuesday 6th May. She will be leading a session for 3-5 year olds which involve the children entering the world of imagination through mime, movement and dance. It all sounds very exciting.

Deborah Chancellor

Deborah Chancellor, is a prolific and versatile non-fiction writer, whose work ranges from Kingfisher's First Picture Atlas to Barrington Stoke's Escape from Colditz to the Dorling Kindersley Children's Everyday Bible. Just look up all that she has done on the internet!

On Sunday 11th May Deborah will explain how her work develops from an idea to a finished book. She will lead a writing workshop for 9-14 year-olds, focusing on how to plan and produce eye-catching non-fiction.

There will only be 10 places on this workshop so if your child is keen – you’d better be quick in booking a place.