GETTING READY FOR BOOK WEEK

It’s August and with this misty month comes two fun bookish events.  The first is Love Your Bookshop Day , August 12 and Book Week, the last week in August.

Love Your Bookshop Day is going to be loads of fun for young and old. Local bookshops will be holding different events. There will be character dress ups, continuous reading, special author and illustrator appearances, fun activities and more. Please support your local bookshop and go along to these events. Imagine how it would be if we could only buy books on line. Those wonderful rainy Sunday’s spent huddled in the bookshop, touching, smelling and looking through books wouldn’t exist.

I will be visiting my local bookshop, Farrells, in Main Street Mornington to join into their Love Your Bookshop Day events.

Please come along if you are in the area and chat with me about all things books and bring the little ones for story reading and colouring in activities from 11-12. After me there’ll be lots more things to do.

Book Week is an exciting time, especially for primary school children. It’s a time where young people’s books and children’s books take centre stage and dressing up and immersing mind, body and spirit into books is the norm.

I love seeing the costumes especially because there are classic characters like Pippy Longstocking and lots of Cats in Hats along with the contemporary. Sometimes a child or two will dress up as one of my own characters. One year best friends went as Princess and Fairy complete with fairy wings, tiaras and wands. That was a day I won’t forget.

This year during Book Week I’ll be a “living book” in the Padua College library. I’ll be showing groups of young teens storyboards and finished art and talking about how a picture book evolves. Answering questions is always fun! I remember on one school visit a tiny prep, after listening to my talk very intently, asked if I lived in an ordinary house and what I liked having for lunch!

Maybe someone would like to dress up as my Agatha. If so, then here’s  a very simple way to make an Agatha face…..

 

YOU NEED

1x white paper or plastic plate

black wool

permanent marker

glue

sticky tape

pencil

pink pencil or crayon

one of your hair clips or a piece of gingham type material

white felt or thick white paper

scissors

a lollipop or ice cream stick

 

With pencil draw Agatha’s face in simple lines on your plate, eyes, nose , smile etc. When you are happy with them simply go over the lines with your marker.

Colour in tiny cheeks with pink and slightly shade around Agatha’s face and top of nose with pencil then smudge with your finger so you have a kind of grey effect.

Decide how much wool you need for the hair, arrange, cut and glue down.

Cut a pair of ears out of either your paper or felt . Outline in marker and shade a little bit with the pencil to add grey like before.

Glue ears onto the back.

If you’re using material to make Agatha’s hair clip cut a piece out of the gingham that matches Agatha’s and glue to hair otherwise just clip on your favourite hair clip.

Lastly, sticky tape a lollipop or ice cream stick(or a couple ) onto the back  of plate so you can hold it up.

Now  you’re ready to be Agatha for BOOK WEEK!

If you would like to wear the clothes too then maybe you have a spotty top or dress, white socks and Agatha wears red shoes but any colour will do!

OR if you would like to go as ….

PRINCESS

white bunny ears

a tiara

a pink dress and a blue ribbon if you have it!

 

OR FAIRY

brown bunny ears

a wand

fairy wings

a purple or yellow dress, or sparkly yellow tutu and red stripy socks if you have them!

If you do dress up as one of my book characters please email me pics through my CONTACT page. I’d really love to see them.

 

I HAVE A BRAND NEW NEWSLETTER COMING OUT IN SPRING.

To celebrate one lucky subscriber will WIN a personally signed copy of my new release book.

If you would like to subscribe please go to my contact page.

 

NEW BOOKS THIS MONTH are…..

Scholastic Australia

Five Mile

What’s the book that made a huge impact on you, that changed your life in some way.

Mine is Wuthering Heights.

Happy Book Week Everyone

anna x