Yorkshire Fat Rascals in Ilkley

Alan Titchmarsh
...glowing as ever.

The Crescent Inn
hotel in Ilkley 
where I stayed, 
had a few well known 
faces on display 
(and some not so..)




At the Ilkley 
Literature Festival,
Zoe from Scholastic
took me to
BETTY'S TEA ROOM a 
proper old fashioned
tea shop. With silver
teapots and cake trolleys.
I took a Yorkshire Fat
Rascal back on the train.
Which was DELICIOUS! 
Betty's needs to come 
to Brighton please. 
Had a great time meeting
everyone at the Playhouse where my event was. We had a proper theatrical dressing room and everything. Got some good questions from the audience.
One about the band DUDE3 in the book, I had to think
quickly!

I look like an iphone
sales person here..

OMG..Yorkshire Fat Rascals
are insanely delicious

Me, Gillian and cakes.

 Fellow author Gillian Rogerson who wrote "You can't scare a Princess"  had just finished her event and I met her at Betty's along with Zoe. 
We'd met before at the Bishops Sortford Awards so it 
was great to get a chance to chat more.
Here's a link to her blog where we have the same
pictures up!

Zoe (from Scholastic) and Gillian   

I'm not Tom Gates.. but you get the idea.

Everything's AMAZING...(sort of.)

I've a bit rubbish at keeping up with the blogs.
This mostly because 
Tom Gates Everything's AMAZING (sort of) 
needed to be written (which I have done..now)
Just editing it and doing the artwork and drawings.
Nearly finished.


Also went and visited two
schools in BARROW AND GRANTHAM.
Long Bennington Primary school first.

 Fina Martinez who helps run
the Barrow and Grantham
Book group helping me.

 

Fantastic dogs.

BRILLIANT super heros... 

I LOVE Wonder Woman!

  




















Then went to GREAT PONTON SCHOOL. 
It's a small school where the head master
Jon Clack is a SO enthusiastic about 
getting the children to read all kinds 
of books.They had read book one already,
so I read from book two and we 
did lot's of drawing.

Then they presented me with book of 
drawings and letters telling me what they liked about the books. 
Amazing!
How nice was that?

ROALD DAHL FUNNY BOOK PRIZE and SLUGS.

Am so excited! 
The Brilliant World Of Tom Gates 
just got shortlisted for the ROALD DAHL FUNNY BOOK PRIZE.
Here's the review they gave it on the Book Trusted site:

 Judges are Grace Dent, Michael Rosen

Tony Ross, Francesca Simon and Danny Wallace.

And this year children will have a 

say in the winners too.

The ceremony is 8th November in London and 

there are some fantastic books 

on the shortlist.

There are two categories:

The Funniest Book for Children Aged Six and Under

• Bedtime for Monsters by Ed Vere 
• (Puffin)
• Cats Ahoy! by Peter Bently, illustrated by Jim Field (Macmillan Children’s Books)
• First Week at Cow School by Andy Cutbill, illustrated by Russell Ayto (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• Limelight Larry by Leigh Hodgkinson (Orchard)
• Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School by David  Mackintosh (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• A Place to Call Home by Alexis Deacon, illustrated by Viviane Schwarz (Walker)

The Funniest Book for Children Aged Seven to Fourteen

• Animal Tales by Terry Jones, illustrated by Michael Foreman (Pavilion Children's Books)
• The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon (Scholastic) 
• The Get Rich Quick Club by Rose Impey (Orchard)
• Letters from an Alien Schoolboy by Ros Asquith (Piccadilly Press)
• Penny Dreadful is a Magnet for Disaster by Joanna Nadin, illustrated by Jess Mikhail (Usborne)
• The Wrong Pong by Steven Butler, illustrated by Chris Fisher (Puffin)

I still can't believe I'm on the list!

Just to bring me BACK down to earth.

I walked into ANOTHER 

spider web this morning 

which 

made me behave like I was being attacked 

by an invisible 

swarm of bees.

Then I looked down AND this slug 

was by my feet.

DISGUSTING! It was MASSIVE. 

It shrunk back when I put the 

ruler next to it.. 

but you get the picture.

The whole garden seems to be 

(or should I say WAS 

being

) 

attacked 

by the most 

ENORMOUS slugs have ever seen 

in 

my life. 

They are (were) truly revolting.

Back to writing Tom Gates Book Three now.

(Which might include a chapter on monster slugs?)

 

LOOK WHAT'S ARRIVED!

FRONT

 YEAH!

Got two my 
early copies 
of: 
TOM GATES
EXCELLENT EXCUSES
(and other good stuff)
Out officially 
September the 1st.


Hope it goes down
well (fingers crossed
and all that.)

BACK

BIG BOOK BASH

 Original rough for the cover.

Been a busy old few weeks.
Signed off on Tom Gates Book Two 
"EXCELLENT EXCUSES 
(and other good stuff.)"
Out September 1st 2011.
Did two events this week. 
One at Heathfield Library
and the other in Matlock Bath- 
THE BIG BOOK BASH.
Enjoyed them both. 
At Heathfield most of the 
kids had already read 
Tom Gates..and knew everything!
It's the first time 
that's happened.


Met lots of really great Authors/illustators too.
Steve Feasey told me his 
son liked Tom Gates! 
Here's his blog link where I get a mention (v.honored). 
STEVE FEASEY BLOG.
Star billing was the hugely successful 
Francesca Simon who wrote all the HORRID HENRY books.
She was VERY popular with all the children.
Talked to Phil Earl- who's book BEING BILLY is getting 
amazing reviews. And the illustrator TONY De SAULLES 
who does the fantastic HORRIBLE SCIENCE books.


Here's a few pics from Big Book Bash
(will add pictures from Heathfield later.)

Gruffalo turned up too.

Lovely Helen and Olivia who
looked after me all day.

Tiny balcony

Matlock Bath

Hodgkinson Hotel
FULL of Victorian stuff!

Soda bottles

Victorian dinning room

My rather lovely table.

Scary stuffed bird

Fairy tale key

Big Book Bash Authors spread!

Trinity Warriors dancing
(they came second in a SKY competition)

This is LILYS wining flower bed design. 
Brighton Council runs a competition 
every year and hers is in Hove Park.