Rupert and Mark Radcliffe

Broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 11th October 2011, we've just re discovered the link 

to Mark Radcliffe's excellent programme about Rupert the Bear.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0167qpt

 Mark Radcliffe is an English broadcaster who has worked in various
roles for the BBC since the 1980s 

and remains one of Britain's most recognised DJs.

To read more about Mark....

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Radcliffe 

Happy Christmas!

Rockpool Children's Books would like 

to wish everyone 

a Happy Christmas

& a prosperous New Year!

Marton Night Out - 2012

For 30+ years, the village I live in has staged a yearly review show

called Marton Night Out. For many of those years I have had the honour

of drawing and designing the cover for the programme.

I choose an event, relevant to the village, that has occurred during the year.

This year, I chose the installation of a toilet in the Church of St. Esprit...

here it is.

Boomerang Bear - Bish Bash Books

 More Mail Chimp marketing from Bish Bash Books

to promote the newly released ebook, Boomerang Bear

written and illustrated by Stuart Trotter, published

by Rockpool Children's Books.

 http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e913596140ea242fe720041d3&id=d0317906c8&e=2516aad452

and also book of the week here

http://melissanorthway.com/2012/12/book-of-the-week-boomerang-bear/

Happy Christmas From Sam and Maisey!

 Maisey (the real one) and I would like to wish everyone 

a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!

 Sam and Maisey Walshaw
  
I look forward to working with

Rockpool Children's Books again in 2013,

in January of which two of my 

Maisey and the Pirates books are published,

The Sea Monster and Ghost Ship!

 Available in all good bookshops!  

http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Books/Paperback/Sam-Walshaw/Maisey-and-the-Pirates-The-Sea-Monster/product.html?product=E11129809 

http://samwalshawillustration.blogspot.co.uk/

Book of the Week - Boomerang Bear!

  

Huge thanks once again to Melissa Northway

for featuring yet another Rockpool Children's Books - Bish Bash Books

title as book of the week. This time it's Boomerang Bear!

The article features a synopsis and some

very kind praise, for which we're/I'm very very grateful.
Stuart - Publisher and Creative Director - Rockpool Children's Books

http://melissanorthway.com/2012/12/book-of-the-week-boomerang-bear/

Bish Bash Books - Riding on an Elephant

  Here's another cracking bit of marketing from Bish Bash Books

using Mail Chimp, to promote the newly released ebook

from Heather Heyworth, Riding on an Elephant, published

by Rockpool Children's Books.

http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=e913596140ea242fe720041d3&id=73c0e16aff&e=e9dce4e21b

Telegraph - Best Annuals

 Great news, the 2012 Rupert Annual is featured in the Daily Telegraph.

Thank you to Toby Clements for writing

the article and here's the link, please have a read.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9726705/Christmas-Books-Annuals.html

Bish Bash Books - Scaredy Cat - Book of the week.

Delighted to see Bish Bash Books Scaredy Cat is Book of the Week 

on Melissa Northway's site.

Melissa is the writer and creator of the Penelope series 

along with many other unique stories.

To see and explore Melissa's wonderful website, go to

http://melissanorthway.com/

to go directly to see Scaredy Cat, here's the link.

http://melissanorthway.com/2012/10/book-of-the-week-scaredy-cat/ 

Many thanks Melissa, from Rockpool Children's Books,

and Scaredy Cat author illustrator

Stuart Trotter!

Sam Walshaw - Maisey in Sainsbury's!

 

Available for pre order at Sainsbury's, 

Sam Walshaw's wonderful Maisey and the Pirates series 

published by Rockpool Children's Books. 

Two titles available at the beginning of 2013 are

'Maisey and the Pirates - The Sea Monster'

and 'Maisey and the Pirates - Ghost Ship'.

Summer 2013 will see two further Maisey and the Pirates

adventures...

'Maisey and the Pirates and Grandpa's Treasure'

and 'Maisey and the Pirates and the Noisy Parrot'.

http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Books/Paperback/Sam-Walshaw/Maisey-and-the-Pirates-The-Sea-Monster/product.html?product=E11129809

Author/Illustrator: Sam Walshaw

Publisher: Rockpool Children's Books Ltd 

ISBN: 9781906081430  

Release Year: 2013 Genre: Children's  

Number of Pages: 32

                                                 Pre-order at Sainsbury's Now

 

Heather Heyworth - Riding on an Elephant

 

 "Riding on an elephant, what can I see?"

asks the little girl...quite a lot as it happens, as she 

rides through the jungle accompanied 

by Heather Heyworths gentle rhyme.

Another collaboration of Rockpool Children's Books,

Bish Bash Books, and Inkebooks brings another high

quality picture book to life.

As with all of Rockpool Children's Books, it's a delightful

reading experience, and now one, through the alliance

with Bish Bash Books, brought to life for 

a shared reading experience on the iPad.

Delightful!

Sam Walshaw - Neandersmall

 

Rockpool Children's Books were delighted when Sam Walshaws

wonderful children's book Neandersmall was chosen by 

Bish Bash Books for their eBook programme. 

The eBook conversion was done to a very

high standard by Inkebooks. The book is a literary delight combining

Sam's fabulous storytelling and illustration with subtle animation,

read along, background music, and to cap it all a song, featured at the end

written and sung by the books narrator, Matt Marshak.

You can hear the song as it's featured on my previous blog.

More Neandersmall books are planned. 

 

 Author illustrator, Stuart Trotter, and owner of Rockpool Children's Books, 

and the current storyteller and illustrator for Rupert Bear, 

is now publishing fixed format ePub3, read out loud, picture books, 

in the iBookstore, allied with Bish Bash Books in New York. 

Neandersmall Song

Rockpool Children's Books and Bish Bash Books

Rockpool Children's Books have formed a literary alliance 

with Bish Bash Books, in the US, and are co-publishing 

a series of Rockpool Children's Books initially in eBook format 

for the iPad, from author/ illustrators 

Stuart Trotter, Sam Walshaw and Heather Heyworth.

Books Available in the iBookstore:

• Neandersmall and the Egg - Sam Walshaw
• Scaredy Cat - Stuart Trotter
• My Perfect Pet - Stuart Trotter
• Riding on an Elephant - Heather Heyworth
• Boomerang Bear - Stuart Trotter
• What am I asked the Butterfly - Stuart Trotter

 

Maisey and the Pirates - Publishing January 2013

Little Fairies

The Little Fairies,
written and illustrated by Sam Walshaw,
is a concept inspired by the folklore and mystery of fairies in the garden.
Whereas urban tales and heroes abound,
The Little Fairies take tiny viewers into their own tiny world
 where vibrantly coloured flowers and ferns
scramble towards the sunlight high overhead.
Insects and other small creatures go about their daily business
among iridescent blades of grass, and the slightest change
in the weather can have a big impact.
 As exciting as it is, the fairies don’t just stay in the garden.
Sometimes they go to the beach or the countryside too – in fact they will go
as far as their little wings will carry them!
Wherever they go, they encounter nature’s special dangers, threats, and problems.
 But the fairies never give up – they know there is always a way!

Four years of Rupert

Matilda

 

Rockpool Children’s Books 

has placed an ad in the

Matilda programme, for July and August.

Matilda The Musical 

was splashed across the headlines following 

the prestigious Laurence Olivier Awards. 

It won a record-breaking seven Oliviers,

The four Matildas jointly scooped the Best Actress in a Musical Award.

Writers by Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin 

were on hand to pick up the coveted 

Best New Musical Award and 

Matthew Warchus picked up the Best Director Award. 

The other awards were Best Actor for Bertie Carvel, 

Best Choreography for Peter Darling, 

Best Set Design for Rob Howell and 

Best Sound Design for Simon Baker.

Written by Roald Dahl,

it was published in 1988 by Jonathan Cape in London,

with illustrations by Quentin Blake

 Matilda is the story of a wonderful little girl,

who happens to be a genius,

and her wonderful teacher against the worst parents ever,

and the worst school principal imaginable!

Rockpool's Book Apps

Rockpool Children’s Bedtime Books
are available on the App Store.
BedtimeBook1...or 2...or 3...up to
the wonderful BedtimeBook11, Neandersmall.
Fantastic book Apps! Simple, nice stories, to be enjoyed
as a quiet iPad reading experience with your children.
If you want 'bells and whistles', buy a video game.   

We will be adding more books on an ongoing basis.
If you’d like to discuss the development of your own
e-book or App, contact us,
it’s a service we can offer you with our developers,
inkebooks & Fingers‘n’thumbs.

Rupert rough

Thought this might be of interest?

This is the initial pencil rough, that lead 

to the finished illustration to be raffled

at this years Rupert AGM.

Mars Technico clutch pencil, HB lead,

90gsm tracing paper.

Rupert - AGM Warwick 2012

An original Rupert illustration, 

by Stuart Trotter, for you to win

in the Followers of Nutwood AGM raffle 

at Warwick School, 25th August 2012.

Forms for tickets will accompany the next newsletter. 

Black line, inks and body colour,

 Cotman cold pressed, 

90lbs/190gsm watercolour paper.

Initialled, signed and dated on the back.

 - Rockpool Children’s Books are proud to present

The Little Football Fan© by first time author, Mark Williams.

We're publishing high quality picture books that 

encourage football fans of a young age to read and be read to.  

The Little Football Fan© series embraces the ethics

of the FA of fair play, respect and responsibility,

both in the game and as supporters.

We’ve designed the books in two ways. 

For general release, the format is 210mm x 210mm.

The books to be sold through club shops and at games,

are child and match friendly,  and are 150mm x 150mm so

are a manageable ‘pocket’ size. 

The extent is 32 pages, and full colour throughout. 

They are also a robust quality product, section sewn and perfect bound.

The books have strong story lines, and illustration, 

are educational, portable, collectable, affordable,

and we believe they will appeal to it’s target audience.

- As well as The Little Football Fan© picture books,
we are developing other books such as 'LFF Football Skills',
and a comprehensive LFF teachers resource pack.
Also, the strong characters and branding will,
we're sure lend themselves to quality merchandise.

Jane Winton

 A refresher blog to show the fantastic work of Jane Winton. 

These two wonderfully dark 

children's picture books, hark back to the stories

of the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson,

and are beautifully illustrated with acrylics on board.

Looking for partnership with publishers to 

print these books. PDF's are available for consideration.

Catalogue update...nearly there!

 After a couple of years of neglect I'm now in the

process of updating and rejuvenating the full fat catalogue!

Rockpool Children's Books produces a new catalogue for

each new book fair, but in a more practical format, and
will continue to do so. But if you wish to see more
details about the books we've done, or about to do,
you can refer to, or download, the big catalogue
from our website or blog.
Here's the cover...the rest will follow in a week or so!

Elaine's Tulip

Elaine is born into a world
ruled by an all powerful dragon that subdues the population and
demands of it, riches mined from the Earth itself.
The dragon is empowered by these riches,
and as it's strength grows,
so the Earth is drained of much of it's life and colour!

Then one day, young Elaine finds something curious

in the dust of her back yard!

This fantastic picture book is currently being illustrated.
A labour of love, publication will occur
in the not too distant future.

I was delighted to be commissioned by Giovanna Mantegazza, from

La Coccinella, Italy, to write and 

illustrate two stories for their Libri Coi Buchi series.

La Coccinella publish fantastic books, and this series

is very long running. Only one book

got through though, as my other story was a little close

to one of the originals...these things happen.

'Mamma dove sei?' is a 12 spread board book, and La Coccinella 

use inventive and imaginative decreasing holes

as part of the story to entice the reader through the book.

'Mamma, dove sei?' or 'Where's my mummy',

accompany's our little fish through a fantastic array

of sea creatures, and holes, as he searches for his mum!

Rockpool Children's Books are looking to publish this
and one other in the UK, probably in 2013.

Robbie the Roach

Cockroaches were the topic
on Vic Minnets show on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire,

one day in May...

so I got a call from her producer Sarah, requesting a drawing.

The result, Robbie the Roach!

The Little Welsh Rugby Fan

Mae Gareth yn hoff iawn o rygbi a thîm Cymru, ond mae'n drist. 
Nid yw'n gallu mynd i wylio'r gemau oherwydd fod ei dad yn gweithio i ffwrdd. 
Yna, un dydd yn y parc ... 

Stori i blant 3-5 oed.

YLolfa, based in Talybont, Aberystwyth, are the excellent

Welsh publishers who published the Little Welsh Rugby Fan  
and from all accounts it's selling well!

Many thanks to Lefi Gruffudd for taking the book, and we

look forward to hopefully working with YLolfa on

other books in the future. 

If you need a very good publisher in Wales...

http://www.ylolfa.com/index.php

Maisey and the Pirates

Delighted to announce Rockpool Children's Books will be
publishing Sam Walshaw's fantastic Maisey and the pirates and
Maisey and the pirates - Ghost Ship in the autumn.
The books were bought by a South African publisher and
we're publishing with them. Also pleased to say that
Barnes and Noble also took Maisey and the pirates, so American
children will be enjoying the adventures of our merry band too!
Two more titles will follow,
Maisey and the pirates - Grandpa's Treasure
and Maisey and the pirates - and a title to be decided!

Bologna 2012

The Bologna Children's Book Fair 2012 was back in March,
and I'm pleased to say it turned out to be a very good one. 

Rockpool Children's Books increased it's sales into China,
through our agents Christiane Janssen and Daniel Doglioli! 

We're incredibly grateful to them for their

hard work and long may our association with them continue.

Our new series of Rockpool Board Books - 'I love my....' series
was well received, and may I take the opportunity 

to thank Phuong Thao and Michael Brand of Starprint, Vietnam,
for getting the books done in time for the fair. 

They were delivered to my hotel, I Portici, in good time for the opening day! 

On the UK Publishers Association stand again and I would like to thank Gloria
for making it such an enjoyable experience. 

One almost feels part of a family. Gloria organised the

PA dinner at a restaurant just off Piazza Maggiore, and it was a wonderful evening.

Booked my seat for next year already! Great to see Rosie Brooks and her dad Terry

on the stand again. She takes self promotion to a new level!

Very talented illustrator, and her book we're promoting, Vince the Vampire

has attracted a lot of interest. 

Great to see Sam Walshaw at the Bologna Children's Book Fair again,

and her fabulous books continue to sell, and attract much interest.

The two Lulubell books sold into China, as well as 

the fantastically colourful Minnie the Minnow and

Minnie the Minnow and Jasper the Jumping Jellyfish.

Two Chinese publishers are currently interested in the Little Fairies series.

Sam's work on the 'I love my...' series received a lot

of praise and this could be a series that will run and run.

It has endless possibilities, and we're looking for co edition partners so 

should you be interested please contact me through our website.

Rupert Annual 2012

Lots of Bologna blog, but the Rupert annual is well underway too.

Cover done and approved, story approved and illustration on going!

Bologna 2012 - The Potty Book

No long words, or boring diagrams in this fun, potty training by example book!

Bright funny pictures of potties in use 

by dinosaurs, cowboys, elephants....

will encourage the very young to do just the same!

32 pages, 236mm x 236mm, softcover.

Wipeable paper (in case of accidents) and re usable stickers 

to personalise your potty!

Bologna 2012 - Dribble

Poor little Dribble has an unfortunate start in life, 

but he has a talent that makes him a star!

But what he really wants is to be loved, have his tummy tickled,

and do doggy things!

Another fantastic picture book from Rockpool Children's Books!

32 pages, 290mm x 236mm, softcover.

Cover design might change.

Bologna 2012 - I love my books©

This delightful series, I love my books©...are simple board books 

aimed at very young children.

Beautiful illustrations, bright colours, fun imagination, and simple rhyme 

will enchant children time and again!

160mm x 160mm, 5 spreads, board book, simple rhyming text.

Copyright © Rockpool Children's Books Ltd 2012
Illustrations Copyright © Sam Walshaw 2012

Bologna - 2012

A book packed with people and animals all

going somewhere, in or on machines of all

persuasions, in this busiest of books!

Rich in content, a visual feast for the eyes,

it will have children coming back to study it's fun

detail, time after time!

Bologna - 2012

Bologna - 2012

Vince is not your average vampire! 

In fact, at the end of the day ( and the beginning of the night ),

he's just...toooo nice!!

Fabulous new title by brilliant illustrator/author, Rosie Brooks.

A delightfully charming book! 

 To compliment Rosies book, Rockpool Children's Books would

like to present it's second 'scary' book!

From the prolific pen of Sam Walshaw, comes

'The Tiny Monster'...

a book of discovery and friendship found

unexpectedly!