Peachick

Just a quick one for now as we have Christmas book deadlines...that's the crazy world of kids books for you!

It's all go here at Peahen HQ. We've visited another two fab schools running creative workshops this year. I don't want to say 'creative writing' as the workshops are so much more than that. One classroom looked like the Blue Peter craft cupboard had exploded by the time we left but the teachers said how inspired the children were from our visit. We noticed a trend with the boys, there were a few stories involving Thanos (I had to look him up when I got home – must be getting old) and we had a lot of mermaid and unicorn/pug stories. One story an 8-year-old girl wrote about a young soldier completely bowled me over. That's the beauty of working with kids – they always surprise you!

So the school workshops and visits is one thing we've been doing more of this year and the Peachick Holiday Clubs which are fun. To have six hours to work on characters, play wordy and doodley games and then have the children leave with their mini stories is just brilliant. We always sleep well after a holiday club, honestly, I don't know how teachers do it!

And as well as the visits and holiday clubs we are really excited about our Peachick Books – Books for Kids by Kids. This is something we really want to do more of. Bringing children's stories to life using their words, their pictures and designing them into beautiful books is awesome for us but the best bit is when we get the messages back or photos (or both) and hear how proud they are of their published book. One mini author went on to do a book signing in her local bookshop and got invited to chat about her story at her library. Watch this space Booker Prize!

Signing off now as really need to get these Christmas books to the printer but will be back soon with more news. 

Enjoy the sunshine!

P.S. The picture of the Noisy Forest has got to be one of my favourite stories. Two friends worked together on this story and their little faces when they had their book was priceless. If you have a budding young author please get in touch. We're not scary and we'd love to bring their story to life.