Available for
Workshop, Talk, Interview, Commission a bookAudiences
Age 3 to 5, Age 5 to 7, Age 7 to 11, AdultGenres
Humour, Novelty, Picture book, Science fictionBook types
Picture bookAwards
- Ten Little Bookworms was created specially as one of the World Book Day books 2019.
- Ten Little Pirates has won the Nottingham Children's Book Awards
- and the Lancashire Share a Story Award
- Shortlisted for the Sheffield Children's Book Awards 2014 and for the Evening Standard Picture Book Awards -- Oscar's First Book Awards.
- Time Out's Children's Book of the Week and World Book Day UK's Best Christmas Books for 0-5s.
- Picked for the Guardian's Best Children's Book Guide
Organisations
- Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
- Society of Authors
- National Association of Writers in Education
Details
A bit about me:
I write and illustrate picture books for children, and have over 40 titles to my name, many of which have been published all over the world. I've had the honour of being chosen as one of the WORLD BOOK DAY 2019 authors, and have created TEN LITTLE BOOKWORMS with Simon Rickerty specially for the occasion.
The 'Ten Little' books have become very popular best sellers. 'Ten Little Pirates', which I wrote first, was soon followed by 'Ten Little Princesses', 'Ten Little Dinosaurs', 'Ten Little Monsters', 'Ten Little Elves', and Ten Little Superheroes', which went straight to the top of Waterstone's Best Selling Picture Books list on its release in August 2017.
'Ten Little Robots' is the latest, not to be confused with 'LITTLE ROBOTS', which was one of my first books, and was made into a 65 episode, animated TV series for the BBC, shown in over 70 countries. I helped to develop and design the series, and wrote several of the shows.
School Visits:
As both a writer and an illustrator, my talks include live drawing. School visits can contain any of the following: lively, interactive book readings with audience participation, drawing sessions such as how to draw a particular character and how to draw different facial expressions, craft sessions, a Powerpoint/Keynote talk about how a book can develop from a simple doodle to a book and a TV series, developing your own characters and writing your own picture books.
Talks can be for individual classes or whole year groups, mainly aimed at Key Stage 1 (including Nursery and Reception ages), though I sometimes give talks for Key Stage 2 students as well.
I will need:
A flipchart.
An empty table near the flipchart for the display of artwork and other objects to show the children.
For the Powerpoint element, I'll bring a memory-stick, but will need you to provide the usual Audio/Visual equipment.
Book signings:
It's nice to do book signings (complete with individual drawings!) at the end of sessions, but this is not obligatory. I can provide instructions on how to involve local, independent bookshops and template letters to inform parents of the event. Provided I can drive to your school I could alternatively bring my own supply of books to sell if that would be easier.
Fees:
I live in Somerset, but am happy to travel to other parts of the country. I usually adhere to the Society of Authors guidelines on pricing -- £250 for a half day and £350 for a full day, plus travel expenses and accommodation where necessary.
Event feedback
We had the most amazing session with Mike. The children learnt to draw robots and penguins and we had a world premiere of '10 Little Unicorns.' The children absolutely loved it and the staff were so grateful for his creative ideas and inspiration. We can't thank him enough for his time and his effort putting this all together.