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Hello! My name is Naomi Burman-Shine. Welcome to my blog!

Thursday 5 March 2015

IT'S TIME TO CELEBRATE ON WORLD BOOK DAY!


Its World Book Day today! To celebrate it, and the fact that Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur is a finalist in the pre-school picture book category of the 2014 The Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards,


I wanted to base my next blog post on the hatching and launch of my debut rhyming picture book for young children.  I hope you enjoy reading it.
  
Several years ago, I thought what a wonderful feeling it would be to know that young dinosaur fans everywhere were tucked up in their beds listening to or reading my book, just before lights out!  Right, I thought, I’m going to attempt to write a children’s picture book just like the ones that have captured the imagination of my two young sons.





My sons love reading factual books, and when they were pre-school age, they were instantly engaged by many a gripping dinosaur book.







Bedtime after bedtime, they loved to gaze at pictures of these incredibly cool prehistoric creatures.  My budding young palaeontologists adored asking questions and soaked up lots of fascinating facts about these big beasts. 


Also, at around the same age, my optimistic sons were forever trying to persuade me to buy them a pet: a hamster, a gerbil, a snoopy dog, a Cheshire cat, a red squirrel.  Dont all children?  Unfortunately, my husband is allergic to these furry friends, so I kept on telling the boys that I might get them a colourful clownfish like Nemo one day.  They are still patiently waiting...

Anyway, the boys interest in all things primeval, coupled with their repeated requests to own a pet, sparked in me the idea for Stonely's Pet Dinosaur, a prehistoric tale that stars a young, determined cave boy, Stonely, who longs to own a roaring red dinosaur.  Who wouldnt want to own such an awesome animal?

Well, after much hard graft, Stonely’s Pet Dinosaur hatched, over four years later, on 31st August 2014: a truly ROAR-SOME occasion in my life.


After all, its not every day that you get to see your own book come to life in splendid print!





I must just mention here that Im indebted to an awesome group of people for helping me realise my dream: my editor, the prolific Australian story-writer Robyn Opie Parnell, copy-editor and proofreader Jane Hammett, and a new Welsh indie publisher Rowanvale Books,which provided my talented illustrator, Callum Graham.  I certainly couldnt have achieved this glorious goal without their expert skill and knowledge.  Thank you, team!

After Stonely's Pet Dinosaur  had hatched, my husband asked me, Now that youre a published author, isnt it time to relax and reap the rewards?

Well, not quite yet, I retorted. I need to promote my new baby.

Already active on social media, my next marketing challenge was therefore to build a website: Stonelys Pet Dinosaur Books, which was a real learning curve, but a truly satisfying experience, I have to say, thanks to my new Arizonian friends across the pond at Go Daddy
With the website up and running, my next task was to make the all-important book trailer. Luckily, my talented film-maker friend Joshua Westbury from Sci-Fi Gene happily produced a roar-tastic book trailer for me, featuring our enthusiastic children as daring dinosaur wranglers!

They say you should never work with children and animals.  Well, fortunately for us, the filming went extremely smoothly, as the starring dinosaurs were of the plastic and plush kind and the kids were as good as gold, as they were so proud to be part of the prehistoric action!
 
The finished product can be viewed on my YouTube channel.  I hope you enjoy watching this sweet Stonely taster!  ROARRR!!!


With the book published, it was time to celebrate the birth by throwing a book launch party or two.  To my delight, two local indie bookshops were glad to support a local indie author and were more than happy to host an event each.  It was a daunting task, but Im proud to say that I relished organising these fun-filled events.

Can you spot Stonely?



The first event was held on 14th September at The Epping Bookshop in Epping, Essex (which, incidentally, is where rock legend Rod Stewart launched his autobiography Rod two years earlier!) 






Can you spot Stonely?




and the second event was held on 20th September at The Village Bookshop in Woodford Green, Essex.











At each launch event, I staged a book reading, aided by my two supportive sons, who were brilliant prop hands.


Stonely's 'big blue sack'






The audience of young children and adults were captivated by the sound of giggles, burps, bangs, hiccups, horns and ROARRRS!!!







The readings at each event were both followed by book signings and photos with the author.


 



Fantastic photos of the events were taken by Ashley Brett at The Epping Bookshop and by Andrew Williams at The Village Bookshop.  





 




Fabulous local face painter, Caroline Porter from Caroline's Creations Face Painting & Balloon Modelling, kept the excited children amused during the events. 




 






ROARRR!!!




Young Stonely fans loved colouring in stylish Stonely's Pet Dinosaur sheets.

 












All the guests enjoyed tasty snacks and drinks (including Stonely's Pet Dinosaur cupcakes provided by talented local baker Abigail Rapp from Cakes by Abi).

 


The energetic children also took delight in playing with colourful dinosaur balloons,



including inflatable model dinosaurs from Great Inflate and dinosaur characters from Stonely's Pet Dinosaur (made by the versatile Caroline Porter from Caroline's Creations Face Painting & Balloon Modelling).
Red, blue and purple dinosaurs from Stonely's Pet Dinosaur
Inflatable dinosaur from Great Inflate
Green dinosaur from Stonely's Pet Dinosaur


Im glad to say that the launch events, which were both covered by local newspapers (The Epping Forest Guardian and The Ilford Recorder), were a ROARING success.  The hatching of my new baby was certainly celebrated in style!



Im also excited to let you know that Ive created a Stonely's Pet Dinosaur activity book and two more Stonely's Pet Dinosaur books, Snore's Roar and Snore's Stinky Feet, which I hope will be published in the near future.

Thanks for reading.  Happy World Book Day.  

Naomi x



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