A roaring year!!!

Successful Stonely!

What an exciting year it has been for Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur since its release last August.  In April, the book won the silver medal in the pre-school picture book category of The Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards,

and now I’m thrilled to announce that Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur is a finalist in The People’s Book Prize 2015/2016!

I’d like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all those who voted and helped Stonely reach the finals!  I am now looking forward to wearing my posh red frock at the black-tie ceremony which takes place on 27 May 2016 at Stationers’ Hall in London, where the five winners will be announced!  The general public can vote for their winner(s) between 15-27 May 2016.  All votes for Stonely will be most welcome.  Please click on the logo below to vote.  It only takes a few minutes, and is free!

Dino-tastic delights!

Over the August bank holiday weekend, my family and I visited the Isle of Wight. The picturesque island has an abundance of dinosaur fossils in its cliffs and quarries. 

The coloured cliffs of Alum Bay were mesmerising!   

During our stay, we visited Dinosaur Isle - a marvellous, child-friendly museum in Sandown at the south of the island.

Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur is being sold in the gift shop of the museum,

and it was fabulous to see my book sitting comfortably on the shelf with lots of well-known dinosaur books for children! 

My sons enjoyed learning about the bones

and fossils found on the island. 

                        

They also enjoyed dressing up as cuddly dinosaurs in the museum’s Education Room.  ROARRR!!!

Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur is also available to buy from the gift shops of Dan-yr-Ogof (the National Showcaves Centre for Wales) and Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge.


Raucous roars!

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting one of my local libraries, Fullwell Cross Library in Barkingside, where I performed a reading of Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur to a captivated audience who enjoyed belting out their best dinosaur ROARRRS.

My sons enjoyed being my loyal prop hands!  

After the reading, I signed books

                         

and the young dinosaur fans coloured in Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur activity sheets

and played with bright balloons and inflatable dinosaurs!

Much fun was had by all.

Thank you to everyone who has supported Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur this year.

Keep on roaring!!!

Naomi x

Roaring Times!

Voting ends soon!

Regular readers of my blog will know that Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur, my debut rhyming picture book for young children, has been nominated for The People’s Book Prize 2015/2016.  This wonderful award, which promotes new authors, is judged exclusively by the general public.  Voting ends on 31^st August.  To help Stonely reach the finals, I would be delighted if you could click on the logo below to register and vote.  It only takes a few minutes, and is free!

A roaring time!

Last Saturday, on a sweltering summer's day, the charming Chicken & Frog Independent Children’s Bookshop in Brentwood, Essex, happily hosted my latest children’s book event. 

I performed a staged reading of my book aided by my trusty prop hands (my sons)

and afterwards I signed books.

There were big colourful balloons, mouth-watering chocolate chip muffins, inflatable dinosaurs

and dinosaur colouring sheets to keep the children amused.

A roaring time was had by all!

Date for your diary!

Please join me for another dino-tastic children's book event at Fullwell Cross Library, Barkingside, Essex, on Thursday 27^th August at 2.30 pm.

Keep on roaring and voting!

Naomi x

Family Fun in the Sizzling Sun!

Cast your vote now!

The sizzling summer is speeding by in England, but there is still time to help Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur reach the final of The People’s Book Prize 2015/2016.  Voting continues until the end of August, and therefore more votes - and lovely comments - would be most welcome! To register and vote, please click on the logo below.  It only takes a few minutes, and is free!

Theatre treats!

A few weeks ago, thanks to Kids Week, where kids go free to London theatres, I took my family to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at London’s Drury Lane Theatre.  The mighty musical, which is based on Roald Dahl’s classic chocolate book, was full of spectacular effects and did not disappoint!

This week, we were transported to deprived Victorian England when we visited the theatre again to celebrate my younger son’s 8^th birthday.  We were captivated by the mesmerising musical Hetty Feather at the Duke of York Theatre in London.

The spellbinding show, which was nominated for an Olivier Award, is based on the book of the same name by Dame Jacqueline Wilson.  It tells the story of a fiery, imaginative red-headed young girl, who, as a baby, is left by her destitute mother at London’s Foundling Hospital in 1876.

Jacqueline Wilson, who was one of the first Fellows of the Foundling Museum, often attends performances of Hetty Feather, and my sons were thrilled when they spotted her during the interval.  

At the end of the show, the author, who also wrote the much-loved Tracy Beaker series which was dramatised by the BBC, happily signed books 

                    

                                         

                                  and programmes











and posed for photos with her young fans, including my sons!

Stonely has landed in the libraries!

I’m delighted to let you know that Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur can now be borrowed from the London Borough of Redbridge Libraries!  The book is shortly coming to Essex libraries too, so watch this space!

My boys love visiting their local library, and they are enjoying taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge to read six library books over the summer holidays and then write short reviews of them!

Dates for your diary! 

Over the coming few weeks, I will be taking part in the following book events for young children:

On Saturday 22^nd August at 3 p.m., I will be performing a staged-reading of Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur and signing books at the Chicken and Frog Independent Children’s Bookshop in Brentwood, Essex. 

On Thursday 27^th August at 2.30 p.m., I will be reading my book at Fullwell Cross Library, Barkingside, Essex.

I would be delighted if you could join me!

Thanks to all my Stonely fans for your continued support.  Keep on roaring! 

Naomi x

PLENTY OF VOTING, COLOURING AND ROARRRING!!!

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur, my debut rhyming picture book for young children, is currently being showcased in the 2015/16 summer collection of The People’s Book Prize, where the winners are picked exclusively by the general public.

Thank you to everyone who has voted for Stonely so far! Your support for a new children’s author is much appreciated. I have received some super comments. Here are a few examples:

‘A really popular book with children at our dinosaur museum.’

‘This is a lovely book for children – it captures their attention and they really enjoyed it. I thoroughly recommend this book.’

‘Problem-solving skills! A must for our kiddos. Stonely is a perfect book for that task.’

‘My young son and daughter absolutely loved this book. The story is exciting to read and the illustrations are wonderful, complementing each part of the story. A superb book and a real must-read for all dino fans! Yabba dabba doo!’

‘Go, red dinosaur! Colourful, exciting and fantastic fun for kids. Ideal for bedtime reading and learning purposes. Recommended book.’

The general public can cast their votes until 31st August 2015. To help Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur become a finalist, I would be thrilled if you could click on the logo below to register and vote. It only takes a few minutes, and it’s free!

I’m also really excited to let you know that a Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur colouring competition is currently being featured in the Kids’ Corner section of the summer 2015 edition of the South West Wales Primary Times!

The competition closes on  Monday 17th August.

There were plenty of ferocious ROARRRS! last Wednesday when I visited Little Green Man Nursery in Leytonstone, East London, to do a staged reading of Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur.

It was an absolute pleasure to introduce Stonely and his pet dinosaur to such an attentive class of forty three- and four- year-olds! I was very impressed with the little learners, who happily listened to the story and interacted fabulously when required.

After the reading, the children were eager to take turns to bang the ‘wooden drum’ that Stonely uses in the story to wake up the snoring dinosaur

To my delight, the children all said they wanted to own a roaring, red dinosaur, just like Stonely! How wonderful is that?

After the reading session, the boys and girls enthusiastically coloured in drawings of the main dinosaur characters from the story.

                  

Thank you for inviting me, Little Green Man Nursery – I had a lovely time!

Please keep voting, colouring and roaring, everyone!!

xx

It’s time to celebrate again!

I’m very excited to announce that Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur, my debut rhyming picture book for young children, has been nominated for the UK’s prestigious annual book award, The People’s Book Prize 2015/2016. HURRAY! (Or should I say ROARRR?!) 

The People’s Book Prize winners are voted for exclusively by the public. The national competition was set up to discover new talent and encourage reading. The founding patron was Dame Beryl Bainbridge, and the current patron is internationally renowned author Frederick Forsyth CBE, who has written multiple bestsellers including The Day of the Jackal and The Odessa File. 

The general public can cast their votes from 1st June to 31st August 2015. To help Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur become a finalist, I would be thrilled if you could click on the logo below to register and vote. It only takes a few minutes, and is free!

Thanks for your support!

Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur is already a winner! 

Soon after the release of Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur in August 2014, I decided that it would be a good – as well as daunting – idea to enter my book into a book competition, to see what a wider audience thought of it, rather than just my own family and friends. I searched the internet and found The Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards website. The annual awards are run by the prize-winning author Edward Trayer, aka Billy Bob Buttons.

 

Nervously, I sent a PDF of the book plus JPEGs of the covers to Edward. To my delight, the book was accepted into the pre-school picture book category. In order to promote excellence in independent publishing, many books that are entered are turned down, often due to poor grammar, covers or formatting, and so I was pretty chuffed to be accepted.  

There are six categories in The Wishing Shelf Awards, including four children's categories.  The judges of the pre-school picture book cateogry are UK primary school children, which I think is fantastic.  The children, assisted by their teachers, assess the books and decide on the finalists, based on which books they enjoyed the most and why.  A smaller group of children then read the chosen top books and pick the gold, silver and bronze winners. The books are marked according to their editing, theme, style, cover and illustrations.

 

On 1^st March I found out that Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur had reached the finals of the pre-school picture book category. I was extremely happy – it was a fabulous feeling to know that my book was being enjoyed by children and their teachers.

On 1^st April, the winners of each category were announced. I was amazed, and over the moon, when I found out that Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur was the silver medal winner of the pre-school picture book category! As the silver medallist, I received lovely reviews on Amazon.co.uk and Goodreads from The Wishing Shelf Awards, a smart certificate, a silver medal logo (which I’ve added to the back cover of my book!) and a catchy quote: ‘Colourful! Exciting! Fabulous fun for kids’ to help promote my book.

 

The People’s Book Prize 2014/2015 awards ceremony for all finalists was broadcast on Sky News on Wednesday 27^th May, and I enjoyed watching it, thinking that perhaps I could be there next year! Well done to all the winners.

I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I get enough votes for Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur to reach the finals of The People’s Book Prize 2015/2016. It is my dream to wear a posh frock (which will be red, of course) and attend next year’s awards ceremony as a finalist, so please please support me and vote now!

Thank you.

Naomi x