Pandamonium at Peek Zoo by Kevin Waldron

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Pandamonium at Peek Zoo brings the return of the fabulous Mr Peek and his son Jimmy. Mr Peek plans an animal parade to celebrate the arrival of a new baby panda. The preparations however are not plain sailing, with Mr Peek being the main obstacle.

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Like Mr Peek I too have been daydreaming about organising a parade in honour of this fantastic book (although not in such stylish pyjamas)

The head of the parade would be Mr Peek, a fantastic character. He brings an enormous amount of humour to the story as in his oblivious state he generates chaos.

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Followed closely behind by Jimmy the true hero of the story fixing Mr Peeks mistakes & avoiding “pandamonium”

The adorable baby panda Lulu adds cuteness to the parade

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At the rear of the parade we have the charming language in the story with beautifully quaint phrases such as “Tickety Boo” & “apple pie order”. Bryn loved these phrases & was even inspired to create his own for one of the many disasters in the story which he described as “apple crumble”

Adding fireworks to the parade are the stylish illustrations containing key plot developments helping pace the story. Bryn eagerly poured over the illustrations keen to point out what was about to happen next, being actively part of the storytelling.

The much talked about Mr Whiskerwitz pads in front of the big finale, the endpapers which contains hints of another possible Mr Peek story (or perhaps it’s just my wishful thinking)

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This is a fantastically funny story, a beautifully crafted book & thoroughly enjoyed by all the family.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I was not asked to write this post, nor was I given any money for doing so, and the review represents my own honest opinion.

Illustration Competition: Federation of Children’s Book Group

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The Federation of Children’s Book Groups (FCBG) is calling for entries to its competition to design a logo for its Festival of Children’s Literature, to be held in Birmingham on November 9th 2013.

Illustrators, established or aspiring, are invited to submit a logo by May 17th.

The winning design will be used for all advertising for the festival, not only online, but in print.

The winner will be interviewed for the FCBG blog and newsletter with a opportunity to showcase a selection of their illustration portfolio. The FCBG blog and newsletter are widely read by those based in the UK with links to the children’s book industry; the newsletter goes to more than 1000 people. The online and print interviews will offer an amazing opportunity for the winning illustrator to raise his/her profile within the (UK’s) children’s book world.

Logo specification:
The logo should capture the excitement of books and the joy of stories, and appeal to all ages. The aim of the Federation, and this festival in particular, is to bring children and books together for enjoyment and fun, whilst celebrating 45 years of the Federation.

The logo will need to work well both on screen and in print (on A5 flyers, in addition to text about the festival). The logo should be submitted by email to:
web@fcbg.org.uk by 6pm Friday May 17, as either a TIFF or JPEG, at 300dpi. It should be no larger than 100mm x 100mm. It must include some colour, but it is up to you whether it is full colour (4 colour) or uses a limited palette.

The final design of the adverts for the festival will include full details about the festival, including details of speakers, venue, sponsors and ticket details, but these are not to be included in your logo design.

Any individual aged 16 years or over may submit up to three entries to the competition.

The winning logo will be chosen by the FCBG Executive and their decision (which includes the possibility of no winner being chosen) will be final.

The winner will be notified by email by May 20th.

Shortlisted entries will be shown on the FCBG blog in early June.

The winner will be interviewed for the FCBG blog and the newsletter about their illustration work in general, and will have the opportunity to showcase a selection of their portfolio, if they wish, in addition to the logo as part of the blog and newsletter interview. The interviews will take place via email at the end of May, and will appear online and in the newsletter in June /July.

Copyright for each submission will remain with the submitting illustrator but the Federation of Children’s Book Groups will be able to use the winning logo for all publicity surrounding the Festival of Children’s Literature.

For more information please contact Zoe Toft zoe.toft@kuvik.net

Zoe and Beans by Chloe & Mick Inkpen

We were lucky enough to be sent a couple of Zoe and Beans books to review.

The first was Zoe and Beans Look at me! – one of a new series of board books.

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Zoe & her friend Oscar are playing dressing up. The book is full of completely adorable, gorgeous scenes of two children having fun dressing up, as pirates, robots & more. The last spread is a real delight bringing a huge grin to my face.

Freya loves looking at the illustrations while insisting that Zoe & Oscar are actually Bryn & Freya. I find Zoe a fantastically funny & feisty character, characteristics she shares with Freya.

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The next book we looked at was Zoe and Beans Hello Oscar.

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In this story Zoe finds a guinea pig at the bottom of her garden, then another, then a tortoise followed by a menagerie of animals till eventually she meets their owner, Oscar.
Bryn’s only complaint was he didn’t want the story to end & I could understand why, having been introduced to Oscar we were keen to find out more about him & his animals.

As with other Zoe and Beans books we loved the illustrations & the humour in the story, the chameleon camaflouging as Zoe’s dress made us smile. Zoe’s independent spirit and her willingness to look after all these animals made this an enjoyable read. We look forward to more adventures from Zoe and Beans. (and hopefully Oscar)

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Disclaimer: I received these book from the publisher. I was not asked to write this post, nor was I given any money for doing so, and the review represents my own honest opinion.