Bryn & I were London bound on Wednesday, playing ‘explorer adventurers’ as we headed towards the Southbank for the Imagine Children’s Festival.

Our first stop was the book shop to stock up on more picture books including Walk in London by Salvatore Rubbino who’s workshop we attended. Bryn has been fascinated by this book ever since we borrowed it from the library & often talks about creating his own map or insisting we have a day out in London to follow the same walk. In the workshop Bryn made a paper bridge to add with the other bridges over the material Thames on the floor. While I helped with the initial folding Bryn was happy cutting out different shaped arches, adding a bus, lorry & a traffic light. He enjoyed showing his work to the author who provided Bryn with more ideas of other things to draw.

Next up was Bruce Ingman who talked about his childhood & some of the books he’s collaborated on including a reading of the latest Hooray for Bread, which is such a lovely story. Bruce Ingman got the children to copy him as he drew a bicycle & encouraged them to invent their own character to ride the cycle. Bryn decided on a carrot which he named Plop Prip Patpis. Proud of his drawing he gamely went to show it to Bruce Ingman who kindly added a little sausage.

After lunch we explored the area walking to Jubilee Gardens to see the London Eye (which apparently was not as big as he thought it would be) & Big Ben. It’s was fantastic being able to show him these landmarks & share in his excitement at seeing some of the things he had read about in his book.

We headed back to the festival to see Chris Haughton, having bought along out copy of Oh George Bryn thought it would be nice for us to buy A Bit Lost for Freya, who likes to call all birds owls. Chris Haughton read both books & showed some of his earlier drafts for some of the spreads. Watching the author read the story out loud has given Bryn the confidence to read it to his little sister including all the actions. The day ended with drawing a picture of George chasing a fly and about to fall into a large hole, which according to Bryn leads to an underground city full of amazing cafes.

‘A Bit Lost’ has been an instant hit with both kids. I think the fact that Bryn chose it especially for Freya & now he sees how much she enjoys it makes it pretty special. It’s a sweet & funny tale of a lost Owl looking for his mum aided by the other animals in the wood. We read the story using the same actions as the author mimicking the pointy ears & big eyes. Both the children like to shout ‘No’ in a ‘don’t be silly’ kind of way as the squirrel presents the animals who he thinks might be the Owls mummy & then dissolve into giggles.

For me I love the illustrative style & gorgeous palette of colours so striking & sophisticated, a treat to look at & read aloud.