Ant Clancy Cover Reveal

Today we have the pleasure of revealing the cover to the fantastic new novel from Ruth Morgan. Published with Firefly Press, Ant Clancy Games Detective promises to be a compelling MG adventure story suitable for ages 8+. This Virtual Reality thriller is a lead title for Firefly this summer and will be published on July 11.

Drum roll please… here’s the cover…

Illustrated by Sernur Işık, the cover features Ant with Pradahl, a VR dragon of his own creation. The cover designer is Izzy Ashford.

Ray-Chay is the new virtual reality game that everyone’s playing, except Ant, who can’t get into it. He prefers his old game, where he’s created his extraordinary dragon Pradahl, even when he’s mocked for his old headset. So when something strange starts happening to the people playing Ray-Chay, Ant is the first person to notice. What’s going on? Can Ant and his friends work out who is playing a deadly game behind the game?

Ruth is an experienced author, writing for radio, television and a wide range of books for children of all ages in English and Welsh. She told us, “Ant Clancy is the perfect summer read if you love gaming and real-life mystery. Sernur’s amazing cover captures the special relationship between Ant and his ace fighting dragon, Pradahl.”

Ruth’s previous book for Firefly, Alien Rain, was a sophisticated, well-crafted, YA thriller, so we’re naturally looking forward to Ruth bringing the action to this new MG story. Watch this space for the first review!

Huge thanks to Ruth Morgan and Firefly Press for inviting us to reveal the cover to Ant Clancy Games Detective.

On Twitter you can follow Ruth Morgan, Firefly Press, and illustrator Sernur Işık. Go on – we promise it’s worth it.

For a chance to win a signed copy of Ant Clancy on publication, see our Twitter feed.

An A to Z of Welsh Authors and Illustrators

On this page, we list published authors and illustrators from Wales. These brilliant folk are either born in Wales, raised in Wales or established in Wales. If there’s anyone missing, please let us know.

Daddy Worm thought that an A to Z of Welsh authors would be a great way to develop knowledge of children’s writers – particularly as he is a teacher and is now better informed in those all-important discussions at Book Club.

Research by the Open University has shown that a teacher’s knowledge of children’s literature is highly significant in developing children as readers who can and DO choose to read. You can read more at this link.

A Huw Aaron
Lauren Ace
Sophie Anderson
Dan Anthony

B Laura Baker
P.G. Bell
Zillah Bethell
Jon Blake
Karla Brading
Stephanie Burgis

C Anne Cakebread
Elen Caldecott
Phil Carradice
Karin Celestine
Lucy Christopher
Horatio Clare
Nathan Collins
Tracey Corderoy

D Huw Davies
James Davies
Karl Davies
Nicola Davies
Helen Docherty
Thomas Docherty
Diane Doona
Jonny Duddle
Heather Dyer

E Fran Evans
John Evans
Mark Llewelyn Evans

F Claire Fayers
Catherine Fisher
Helen Flook

G G.R. Gemin
Maria Grace
Robert Graves

H Maggie Harcourt
Rebecca Harry
Sam Hay
Eric Heyman
Graham Howells

I Rhian Ivory

J Gilly John
Catherine Johnson
Cynan Jones
Jac Jones
Tudur Dylan Jones

K Sarah Kilbride

L Valériane Leblond
Emma Levey
Caryl Lewis
Gill Lewis
Rob Lewis
Siân Lewis
Helen Liscombe
T Llew Jones
Jenny Løvlie
Max Low

M Paul Manship
Sharon Marie-Jones
Wendy Meddour
Elin Meek
Daniel Morden
Ruth Morgan
Jackie Morris

N Jenny Nimmo

O Lucy Owens

P Julie Pike
Gavin Puckett

R Shoo Rayner
Emma Rea

S Laura Sheldon
Jenny Sullivan

T Frances Thomas
Sarah Todd Taylor

V William Vaughan

W Wendy White
Eloise Williams
Justine Windsor

Ceri & Deri

Build a Birdhouse / The Treasure Map

Max Low

Graffeg

“Ceri is a cat, and Deri is a dog. Ceri has stripes and Deri has spots. They live in a small town near a big hill and they do everything together. They are best friends.”

So begins each of the four Ceri and Deri books by Max Low – an opening reminiscent of the comforting familiarity of Lauren Child’s Charlie and Lola series. Across the four books, Max, a graduate of Hereford School of Art, ensures that friendship and fun is at the heart of the duo’s adventures. The latest two titles have just been published by Graffeg and they are beautifully produced.

There is an immediacy and vibrancy to Max’s illustrations that radiates so much joy and youthful energy I want to hang the pages on every wall in the house. It’s fresh and fun and I love the way Max plays with shape and line and limits his palette to shades of the same colours. He makes some bold choices too – a favourite page has to be the illustration of the sea in The Treasure Map.

https://twitter.com/bookwormswales/status/1124655984348102661

The stories have an educational edge too – not that these are text books, but reading these books with young children will support their understanding of directions (Treasure Map), time (No Time for Clocks), counting, sharing and design. The emphasis, though, is most definitely on fun.

In The Treasure Map, the two friends follow directions in search of pirate treasure, helped along the way by their companions. In Build a Birdhouse, we see Max at his imaginative and creative best as Ceri and Deri design a perfect (read: wacky and wonderfully weird) house for a homeless bird. It’s in this book that Max hits on a universal truth: “No one actually uses dining rooms do they? So let’s fill it full of balloons!”

Playful, engaging and full of humour, the Ceri and Deri books are fabulous picture books made for sharing. Max Low is an extremely talented illustrator and we can’t wait to see what comes next – which is another book, ‘My Friends’ due to be published by Otter Barry in July!

Photograph from Max’s Instagram

To buy the Ceri and Deri books, visit Graffeg’s website. You can follow Max on Twitter.

Helping Hedgehog Home

Celestine and the Hare

Graffeg

Helping Hedgehog Home is the ninth book in this wonderful series of tales about the felted creatures undertaking simple acts of kindness. In this installment, Hedgehog is locked out of her home when a fence is erected. In an attempt to make a return, she builds a hot-air balloon to sail over the garden obstacle. Unfortunately, she crash lands into Grandpa Burdock’s domain who then tries to ‘help her home’.

All of Celestine’s books overflow with kindness, but this one is extra special. I think it has something to do with the character of Grandpa Burdock – he is keen, talkative, enthusiastic and ever so lovable. Hedgehog is fed (freshly baked bramble biscuits and a cup of tea!) and taken care of while Grandpa thinks of ways to overcome the fence. Karin Celestine has a wicked sense of fun and mischief – seen in the inventive drawings of Grandpa’s suggestions. Hedgehog is naturally concerned when she hears of the ‘hedgehogapult’. Thankfully, Granny Burdock returns at the right moment with a far more sensible solution for returning Hedgehog to her home.

Helping Hedgehog Home made us giggle; it made us fall in love with Grandpa Burdock; it encourages us to show warmth and kindness to neighbours; it tells us of the importance of taking time to sit and stare; and, thanks to the informative pages at the back, taught us some groovy facts about hedgehogs.

Helping Hedgehog Home was enjoyed by the whole family and we were delighted to meet Karin at a workshop as part of the Cardiff Kids Literature Festival a few weeks ago. She kindly gave us some time to ask her some questions. We began by asking about the name ‘Celestine and the Hare’:

“Celestine was my great grandmother – I come from a line of strong Swedish women – Karin is my mother and her mother was also Karin, and her mother was Celestine. I have a bust of Celestine in my studio, which I inherited from my mum, and she’s always looked over me as a matriarch – reminding me of the line of strong, adventurous and very creative women. I was looking for a name for my business so Celestine appealed and I also like hares – they are magical and I particularly love the mythology associated with women shape-shifting into hares. I’d also made a hare which sits next to Celestine and it was as simple as that – Celestine and the hare.”

Karin also uses a pen name (we’re not quite sure what her real name is!), which came about by mistake. She explains, “I had been dithering over what to call myself and I went to an event where they had mistakenly made a name badge for me saying ‘Karin Celestine’ and I thought ‘That’s quite nice!’

The Karin Celestine books came about after Karin had been making the felt animals and selling them, but as she was making the characters she gave them backstories and invented silly narratives. “I did a calendar and cards for Graffeg and they asked if I had considered writing a story. I was also encouraged by Jackie (Morris) to have a go. It was strange because I had never been encouraged in school to write – in fact I was told I couldn’t write and was the worst at crafts! So I wrote ‘Paper Boat for Panda’ and cried as I submitted it.”

Whilst the felted creatures get up to all sorts of hijinks and tomfoolery (especially in the films and photos Karin shares on social media), the books turned out with added empathy, “I have a huge thing about kindness – it is so important; kindness and mischief – that’s my strapline and the books turned out gentler. And because I’d been a teacher there are messages – I’ve slipped things in that I know children need to hear.”

Nine books on, and Karin brings us her new story about Hedgehog. She told us, “There is more humour in this one, but still with an ecological message.”

“A lot of the environmental issues in the news can be too big and too frightening for young children – as a child you can feel completely helpless to do anything about it. I remember the ‘Save the Tiger’ campaign from when I was younger, and short of buying a membership to the World Wildlife Fund there was nothing I could do – and for me, that’s not very positive. I want everybody to feel they are able to do something to help.”

In the back of all of Karin’s books there are some craft activities, many with an ecological theme – building bug houses, weaving, making suncatchers. “We should all be back garden eco warriors – the activities are something that any child can do and feel good about. They then grow up thinking they can make a difference.”

Making a difference is exactly what Karin’s books inspire through the actions of Grandpa, Grandma, Bert, Bertram, Emily, Small, Panda, King Norty, Baby Weasus and all the tribe. Kindness and mischief and making a difference.

To buy copies of Karin’s books with personalised dedications, visit her website where you can find lots of other information and activities. Huge thanks to Karin for giving her time so generously and thank you to Graffeg for the copy of Helping Hedgehog Home, given in return for an honest review.

For more Weasel Wednesday and Choklit stealing, follow Karin on Twitter or Facebook.

Tir na n-Og Award Shortlist 2019

Every day this week we’ll be publishing a video for each of the shortlisted titles in this year’s English language Tir na n-Og Award.

Seaglass by Eloise Williams

The Clockwork Crow by Catherine Fisher

The Storm Child by Gill Lewis

Wales on the Map
by Elin Meek and Valériane Leblond