We really enjoyed "No!" by Tracey Corderoy and Tim Warnes. But it got us thinking. What would life be like if you could only ever answer questions with "YES!" or "NO!".

It'd be fun to do an interview with someone and just have them hold up speech bubbles that said either yes or no, so who better to interview than the tiny teeny powerhouse behind this very blog - Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Charlotte, the busiest little bookworm on the planet.

ReadItDaddy: Hello Charlotte. We're really grateful that you agreed to an interview with, er, me. So did you really enjoy "NO!" by Tracey Corderoy and Tim Warnes?


Great! So do you think Archie was a really good little rhino for most of this book?

Oh dear, but he was great at the end wasn't he once he'd discovered his new favourite word...now what was it, it's on the tip of my tongue...


Ahh of course. That was it. So this is definitely not a book to end up in the charity shop pile then?


OK. Would you like to see more adventures with Archie in them if Tracey and Tim did another Archie book?

Now I'm confused. Is that a yes or a no?


Aha! Great! So do you think I've got what it takes to be a real interviewer?


Oh poo! I thought I've found my niche at last. Anyway, thank you for the interview Charlotte. Do you think we should sneak downstairs and raid mum's secret chocolate biscuit stash now?

Awesome! Let's do it!

"No!" by Tracey Corderoy and Tim Warnes (Little Tiger Press) is out now! Thank you for joining us as part of Little Tiger Press's awesome "Reading Rocks" Summer!

Don't forget to visit the other blogs on the tour too!

The Loop Issue #4 and its eye-catching cover. Cat-Copter-Tastic!

We've been taking a look at a fantastic new children's magazine called "The Loop", a quarterly magazine that looks a bit like a newspaper - but is absolutely crammed from cover to cover with brilliant illustrations, activities, facts and stories. 

Devise your own museum displays and help label the others.

Fantastic facts served up in brilliant graphical spreads like this. Awesome for inquiring minds!

Joanna Gray and her Children's Picture Book debut "The Little Raindrop" - Awesome smile, Joanna!

Ever since a rather mysterious little raindrop started appearing in our Twitter feed we've wondered who it was and what it was all about. Now we know! Welcome to first time author Joanna Gray as she stops by ReadItDaddy for an interview and to talk about her debut, "The Little Raindrop" from Top That! Publishing, which is out today, Hooray!


ReadItDaddy: Congratulations on your first book "The Little Raindrop" coming from Top That on March 1st. Tell us a little bit about yourself!

Joanna: I live in Leeds with my husband, our three children; Nathan (6), Will (4) and Karin (4) – yes they are twins, and our dog, Buster. I work in the Head Office of a Bank where my day job is analysing numbers. It is about as far away from what people expect from an author as possible!

I’m a very energetic, happy person and I love to live life to the full. I love spending time with my family and friends, usually outside running around with the children having fun.

When I’m not being a Mum, working in my day job, or writing, I like to read. I have also recently become quite addicted to Twitter (Yep, us too :)


ReadItDaddy: What was the inspiration for "The Little Raindrop" ? (apart from the - er - interesting weather we've had recently :)

Joanna: Ever since I was a little girl I’ve wanted to write a book but as I grew up and became more mathematically focussed I put that dream aside. However, after having my eldest son and spending countless hours enjoying reading books to him I began to start thinking about writing again. The Little Raindrop was an idea that came to me as I was trying to get to sleep one night. I had to get out of bed and write it all down before I could get to sleep.


ReaditDaddy: We're a bit green when it comes to how books come together but are fascinated by the ties between author, illustrator and publisher. How closely did you get to work with Top That and Dubravka Kolanovic (the illustrator) while the book was in the early stages before going to print?

Joanna: I didn’t at all. I had done my research, and I knew that first time authors very rarely have any say in the illustrator of their book, unless they have arranged it themselves first and submitted the finished book to the publisher. I was quite nervous seeing The Little Raindrop pictures for the first time, but Dubravka has done such an amazing job and Little Raindrop is everything I hoped he would be.

Working with Top That! around the promotion of the Little Raindrop has been a fantastic experience. They are really helpful and have offered me great support for my various ideas.


ReadItDaddy: Tell us a little bit about your influences - what children's books, authors and illustrators do you admire?

Joanna: I am a huge Julia Donaldson fan. I think my favourite of her books is “Tiddler, The Story Telling Fish”, although “Night Monkey Day Monkey” is also really good. I always enjoy reading the Little Wombat books by Angela McAllister, and my children love Giles Andreae’s “Morris the Mankiest Monster”. I admire him very much, but that particular book makes me feel quite ill, it is that well written and illustrated!

When it comes to illustrations I have quite a traditional taste. One of my favourite pictures from a book is drawn by Caroline Pedler in “Bedtime for Little Bears!”. I love the soft pastel drawings, so Top That!’s choice of Dubravka as The Little Raindrop’s illustrator fit in extremely well with my ideas of how I wanted the book to look.


Charlotte: Who is your favourite Princess? (Mine's Snow White but I like Mulan too!)


Joanna: That’s a tough question. I think I will have to say Belle, but Rapunzel is a close second.


Charlotte: Do you have any pets? I love Rabbits and Guinea Pigs but mummy and daddy won't let me have one (yet!)

Joanna: We have a dog called Buster. He is a mongrel, and he is 10 years old. He’s a very special part of our family, and we love to take him on long walks in the woods. He isn’t very good at hide and seek though, he usually stands next to me when I’m hiding and barks at me to tell me to throw his ball for him!

Our thanks to Joanna Gray and Top That! Publishing for the interview opportunity! "The Little Raindrop" is out today.  Look out for our full review (just above this post!)

We were wowed by Debbie Fox's book 'Quiet Kid' with its sumptuous illustrations and weighty themes, so we were honoured when Debbie agreed to an interview with us. We're still novices at the interview game but with two kids (one 44, one 4) scrabbling to think up some interesting questions, we think we came up with some corkers. So over to Debbie..


ReadItDaddy: Here at ReadItDaddy we're interested in how artists work so
describe how your typical 'creative' day gets under way.

Debbie Fox: What a great question! All of my days are creative because I work in an elementary school. Being around kids is inspiring and just so much fun. I have created many handmade books for my work at school- some that even have puppets- and a few of these books have gone on to be published.

I always get my book ideas from interesting classroom conversations about social concerns children face. When I get home, I think about these talks, grab a pencil and sketchbook and just start drawing and scribbling notes. This is how my books get their start.


ReadItDaddy: What do you think you'd describe as your essential 'tools' as an artist?

Debbie Fox: I've been drawing and painting since I was a little kid. I started formal oil painting lessons-three hours long- when I was seven. When I went to art college in Toronto, Canada, I studied experimental painting. I painted large abstract and colorful works. Over the years, I have tried many different art mediums.

I learned that I especially like to work with cut paper collage. I enjoy the challenge of searching for my colors mostly in magazines, but also old letters, postcards, etc. A lot of luck is involved in finding just the right colors. I sort these bits of paper into piles of reds, grays, blues, etc., and store them in a large cabinet with lots of drawers. This is my palette. Besides lots of paper colors, a collage artist needs sharp scissors and very good glue. I have tried many kinds of glues and finally found the one I like best. Recently I have been experimenting with a kind of watercolor called gouache (which rhymes with squash).  Painting the gouache over some of the collage gives it a dreamy kind of feeling. Most of the artwork in Quiet Kid was created this watercolor/collage technique.

Quiet Kid Cover Art

ReadItDaddy: Many writers produce their own art for their children's books, do
you think there's a balance to be kept or do you tend to prefer
writing over illustration or vice versa?

Debbie Fox: Actually, I think it's the other way around- that some artists can find the words that live quite nicely with their pictures. And it's really hard to do both of them well. I never thought as a child that I could be a writer because I have always been such a terrible speller. My teachers certainly reminded me of this every time I turned in a paper- lots of red circles and corrections. But with good editors and spell-checking on computers, this is not really a big problem. I try to let my students know that it is their ideas that matter to me; we'll fix the spelling and grammar details later. For me, the artwork is where I find the heart of my books, but I will always stop and jot down writing ideas while I'm creating the art.



ReadItDaddy: We love the themes of your books, it seems there are very few
writers / illustrators that are 'brave' enough to tackle emotive
issues in Children's Books, why do you think this is?

Debbie Fox: As an educator, I am always looking for books that might spark much-needed conversations. I feel children's picture books should visually reflect the tone of their subject matter. And when the subject is both serious and important, I have a problem with books that use cartoonish imagery and flip language. It just seems sort of insulting and disrespectful.to me. I choose to tackle the serious, important subjects in the way I do because I believe kids don't want to be talked down to. Growing up is tough at times, and kids have a lot on their minds. They are so concerned about being accepted and fitting in. I wish that more children's authors would create books that really speak to what worries kids without making it seem lighthearted. There are plenty of lighthearted books out there already.


ReadItDaddy: We particularly loved "Quiet Kid" as this is definitely something
that both of us identify with (I was a very quiet withdrawn kid and
loved escaping to books. Charlotte is also very quiet and quite shy
but does come out of her shell from time to time). Have you had
contact with any parents / children who have been particularly touched
by Quiet Kid's core themes and ideas?


Debbie Fox: I have been amazed by the number of adults who have read Quiet Kid and discovered that they are in fact introverted and never knew it. They see their childhood selves right there in the pages. I had one mother tell me that she didn't realize her daughter was an introvert because she is always so talkative: at home. Well, that is such an interesting aspect of quiet kids; at home or with a close friend they can talk up a storm, especially if the topic is something very meaningful to them. I have read Quiet Kid aloud in some of my classes, and was both honored and pleased by the overall reaction the book received. And when I get those hugs after class, I know I must be on to something.

ReadItDaddy: Questions from Charlotte: "Do you have a pet? If so what do you have?"

Debbie Fox: Hi, Charlotte! I do not have a pet right now, but am really thinking a lot about getting a cat. I used to have a cat named Ben, a big, gentle fellow who loved to watch me paint. He had gray stripey fur and when he laid down on one side, the patterns in his stripes seemed to spell the word 'WoW'. It might be hard to find another cat like that!.


ReadItDaddy:  Charlotte also asks "What's your favourite place to be?" (A bit of
an ambiguous question but hey, let's go with it!)

Debbie Fox: Another really great question! I think my favorite place of all is in my home, which is very lucky for me. I have a large, rumply stuffed chair in the corner of a room filled with books and a large picture window. This is actually where I sit and dream up my books. I do other things there, too, like cuddle and read with my three year-old granddaughter Olivia, sew and look around on my laptop. I drink my morning coffee there, and it is a great place for an afternoon nap. Sometimes when I'm away from home and very busy, I think about going home to my favorite chair.


ReadItDaddy: We're truly in a golden age of children's picture books at the
moment. What do you think goes towards defining a particular book as
'a classic' these days?

Debbie Fox: I like books that seem timeless. Books that I imagine my grandmother would have liked as a young girl. Books that I imagine my granddaughter's someday-children would also like. Ones that don't make a big, loud fuss. Quiet books.


ReadItDaddy:  Who are your favourite inspirations artist / author wise?

Debbie Fox: Some of the artist/author's I loved as a child include Leo Lionni, Ann and Paul Rand,  Bruno Munari, Arnold Lobel, Mary Blair and Maurice Sendak. Their work was and is still incredibly good. Some contemporary artist/authors whose work I really admire .include Shaun Tan, Barbara Lehman (who creates beautiful wordless books), Lois Ehlert, and discarded-object collage artist Gusti.


ReadItDaddy: Last but not least and this is a question we always ask (for obvious reasons!) - how
important do you think online communities and social networking / bloggers are to your work? Do they help or hinder?

Debbie Fox: I don't spend a lot of time on social networking sites but I am a huge fan of the blogging world- it is a great way for many introverted creative types to find their voice. It's perfect, actually; blogs allow their author the time and space to deeply think through what to say, there's no direct in-your-face interaction, and it's visual. I really believe in the power good blogs have to educate and enlighten. One of the best things about the internet.

Thanks for a great interview and some brilliant answers Debbie. We wish you all the best with Quiet Kid.

Quiet Kid by Debbie Fox is available via Amazon

Jane Hissey, Author and Illustrator of "Old Bear" and "Ruby, Blue and Blanket". Wow, that's a lot of pencil sharpening!

For our first article taking a closer look at Illustration in children's picture books for the #readitmummiesanddaddies2013 campaign we have been very fortunate to be able to interview a true legend.

Jane Hissey, author and extremely talented illustrator behind the much-loved "Old Bear" series of books, and a new title for 2013 - "Ruby, Blue and Blanket" has kindly agreed to an interview. We thought long and hard what we'd love to ask, so here's a fascinating insight into writing and illustration from Jane herself.




ReadItDaddy (Daddy):
'Old Bear' is now deservedly deemed a true classic (and is a book I read to my brother and sister when they were tiddlers). How does it make you feel to know that whole new generations (including my daughter, of course!) still enjoy it today?


Jane Hissey: 
It is a wonderful feeling to see a whole new generation of children discovering Old Bear and all his friends. We have recently redesigned the books to allow more space for the illustrations. This has given them a fresh, modern look so they stand comfortably alongside all the wonderful children's books available today. I love it when I visit schools and introduce the characters only to find that children already regard them as part of the family!



ReadItDaddy (Daddy): 
Out of all the wonderful characters you've created for children's books, who is your particular favourite? (other than old bear himself, of course! Charlotte absolutely loves Rabbit and I've always liked Ruff the Dog)

Jane: 
I have different favourites depending on what I am doing! Little Bear is my favourite to write about because he is adventurous and fun. Duck is my favourite to draw because he is a lovely shape and, with his orange beak and legs, he is bright and colourful. Bramwell Brown has always been a favourite because he was made for my son Owen, when he was born) by a lovely, kind friend, but Old Bear was my teddy bear when I was a baby so he is a very special bear.


ReadItDaddy (Daddy): 
Ruby, Blue and Blanket  continues the brilliant theme of toys playing together and having adventures. What was the inspiration for the book? (we love it and truly believe that children are becoming less and less enamoured with technology and more and more into 'lo fi' toys so your timing is spot on!)

Jane:
I have always wanted to do a book about dressing up because I knew it would be great fun to illustrate. I wanted the dressing up costumes to be fun and home-made because I have noticed a tendency for children to just step into a Disney costume or mass produced one and have no imput creatively when asked to dress up for a party or school event. At the last World Book Day event I attended, there must have been at least 20 identical Snow Whites and Supermen!
I made the characters for the book so they would look just how I wanted them and I wrote in verse so I could have a lot of fun with silly rhyming words!


ReadItDaddy (Daddy): 
We're running a campaign to get more parents reading to their children in 2013 and have been amazed by the positive response and support. What do you feel that parents get from reading to their children?

Jane:
I am a grandmother now and have rediscovered the joys of bedtime reading with my little Granddaughter, Isabelle. My son says he loves reading to her as she so obviously sees books as a source of fun and pleasure. Her favourite birthday and Christmas presents were definitely the books she was given! 

I think most parents find it a calming, peaceful time to be close to their children, to see their day to day development as they get involved in the books; first looking at the pictures, then understanding the story and then sharing the reading. I think parents should go on reading to their children until those children are fluent readers themselves. It gives parents a chance to fill in gaps in their own childhood reading, experience new books for themselves and rediscover that wonderful feeling of 'living a story' and not being able to wait to see what happens next!


ReadItDaddy (Charlotte):
What's your favourite cuddly toy that lives at your house?

Jane:
My new little mouse, Ruby, is my favourite cuddly toy at the moment. She has a pink nose and a long curly tail. I made her myself but a friend of mine knitted her little red jumper.


ReaditDaddy (Charlotte): 
What's your favourite colour? (Mine's pink!)

Jane:
I think green is my favourite colour. When I look out of my studio window everything I can see is green; trees, grass, fields and pond. Only the rabbits are not green and there are plenty of those bouncing around eating all my plants!

Ludo, Ollie, Digit and Nicholas on the lookout! (Image © Michelle Vinall)

Ben H. Winters. Looking very relaxed for a man who brought about the end of the world

 Here at ReadItDaddy we've loved Ben H. Winters' "The Last Policeman" books (and you can check out our reviews of Book 1 and Book 2 here). So we were delighted when the man himself agreed to an interview.

ReaditDaddy: Hi Ben and congratulations on the success of "The Last Policeman" and on the publication of the next book in the trilogy "Countdown City" - Tell us a little bit about yourself and your books.

Ben H. Winters: A little bit about myself: I’m your basic bassist-turned comedian-turned-journalist-turned-playwright-turned-novelist. I’ve lived all over the United States (and, during college, in Oxford, England, for a year) and have landed for now in Indianapolis, Indiana. My wife is a law professor, and we’ve got three small kids.
Ben H. Winters: I always wish I had a more interesting answer to this question, and I think the problem is I’m just not that interesting of a person—I mean, hopefully my work is interesting, but I have no secret desire to do daredevil tricks or fight a polar bear. If I was suddenly on this limited time frame, I think I would hunker down with my family, probably keep some sort of diary and then go bury it in the yard before the big day, on the off chance that humanity survives (which it probably would not), I can have contributed in some way to the slow rebuilding of the species.

ReaditDaddy: Fantastic stuff, and thank you very much for a fascinating interview and insight into what you do. We absolutely cannot wait for Book 3 :)

Update: Massive congratulations to Ben for his recent Edgar win for 'The Last Policeman' - Well done and great acceptance speech! 

Don't get me wrong! It was nice to be asked!

A weird thing happened this week when a lovely PR person wanted to get in touch by phone to arrange an appearance on BBC's "The One Show".

Let that sentence trickle down into your visual imagination for a second if you will...

A portly potato-headed mumbling scruffbag of a dad sitting on a very uncomfortable-looking sofa with Matt Baker and er...wotsherface on live TV in front of, oh, dozens of viewers.

I've known sheer terror. I've been in a car crash and experienced what it's like to be trapped in a glorified tin box rolling along an ice-covered road, tumbling over and over like a demented arctic roll before landing - completely wrecked - on its wheels (I only remember one thing about the aftermath of the crash. Quietly turning off the ignition and stepping out of the wreck, somehow miraculously escaping with a scratch on one ear and a bitten tongue).

The noise is one of the most terrifying aspects of a car crash as well as the anticipation of injury or death, and I heard that noise again as I read the short paragraph and pictured the scene if A) I was crazy enough to do this and B) more practically, if I had TIME to do this. Thankfully B meant A never really spun up its motors and so I politely declined.

The lovely PR person persisted, offering an interview on Radio Oxford to talk about books. Now, this is slightly closer to being a possibility but again potato-headed mumbling scruffbag dad (with the perfect face for radio, I think even my mum would agree) would have to somehow turn wildly enthusiastic "talking ten to the dozen" speech into something coherent that explains to the listeners just why we love books so much that we can't stop writing about them, and why reading with your children (even at Charlotte's age) is vitally important.

When writing about books, I can stop and think about the point I'm trying to make. Blogging offers a comfortable buffer between the idle thought processes of a forty-something bird brain and the imparting of experience or (meagre) knowledge about the subject at hand.

It also goes without saying that this isn't a one-man show either. Doing any sort of interview or press without Charlotte would feel a bit of a cheat, because this blog comes from her as much as it does from me. Her reaction to books, her choices for book of the week, her changing tastes and views on what we see and most importantly her view on why she loves books so much and has come to think of reading as a pleasurable pursuit rather than a chore.

I wonder if it's even at all possible to distil and summarise why reading with your children is important, without sounding like some twee smug middle-class idiot.

It seems so obvious to me, that I can't even begin to put myself in the mindset of someone who doesn't feel it's important and doesn't understand why it's important. I just can't do it.

I don't think I know anyone who could fail to grasp the link between children who are engaged in reading for pleasure from an early age, and a rapid development in their language skills, comprehension or knowledge of the world around them, not to mention having one of the coolest ways to spend a few hours that doesn't involve mindlessly grinding through some poxy free-to-play tablet game or getting your brain sucked out of your ear by some worthless slice of televisual entertainment.

How could I possibly sit in front of anyone (whether it's a TV audience, a radio audience and presenter or you standing in front of me) and put it any better than that in mumble-o-speak? I doubt I could. But heck, it was very nice to be asked.

Meet Raymond, the fabulous superstar dog who is guaranteed to win you over the minute you flip open the covers of this brilliant book...