World Book Day 2016: A few of our favourite things

We love World Book Day. We love the buzz and excitement created by authors going into schools, children dressing up as their favourite book characters, and the arrival of new titles by some of our favourite children's authors. Best of all, we love to see children coming in to bookshops - some of them for the very first time - clutching their £1 vouchers to exchange for a book - or to get £1 off any other children's book, don't forget.

(We also love the fact that, despite the name, the UK celebrates World Book Day on a totally different day from the rest of the world. How did that happen? Well, it's all a bit complicated, and some of the exact dates are disputed, but basically the Spanish started the tradition early in the 20th century to honour 'Don Quixote' author Miguel de Cervantes - who died on this day - and given the fact that Shakespeare died on this day too just seemed to make it doubly appropriate, but given that England celebrates St George's Day already, the UK decided to hold World Book Day on the first Thursday in March. All clear?)

Anyway, irrespective of how it started, who who it celebrates, World Book Day has become one of the big events in the bookselling calendar. We are involved in 11 (!) events with 17 schools (!!) over the coming two weeks - and there are thousands of events happening across the UK.

If you are lucky enough to find yourself with a World Book Day voucher, we thought you might like to know about some of the fantastic new children's book freshly arrived in the shop this week. We're excited about them - and we thought we'd share them with you!

(Mark appeared on BBC Radio Oxford on Friday to discuss these books with Alex Lester - you can listen to the interview by clicking on this link, and fast-forwarding to about 1 hour and 38 mins into the programme)

The Shadow Keeper - Abi Elphinstone
Trying to keep safe from their enemies, a group of gypsies are hiding out in seaside caves, but danger swirls out of the sky and the sea and Moll and her friends must find powerful ways to fight the terrifying magical creatures trying to hunt them. The only weapon powerful enough is an amulet and the friends set off facing certain danger to seek it out, with just their strong friendship and determination to help them.

This is thrilling, atmospheric writing, with wonderful imaginative baddies, a feisty heroine and a gripping sequel to 'The Dreamsnatcher' - one of our absolute favourite children's books of 2015. Abi Elphinstone has already become a firm favourite with children based on her storyteller heroics at schools, and this book looks set to cement her reputation as one of our most exciting new authors.

The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth - Katherine Woodfine

Another book we've been eagerly awaiting is Katherine Woodfine's follow up to her exciting mystery-adventure 'The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow'. The disappearance of a fabulous jewel sparks a thrilling investigation by Sophie and Lil - and it's another rip-roaring adventure featuring dastardly criminals, thrilling pursuits, and some extremely cunning disguises.

Stories featuring children foiling criminals among glamorous locations are doing really well at the moment - and this, a mystery set among Edwardian debutantes, will appeal to those tweens with the spirit of adventure.

The Astounding Broccoli Boy - Frank Cottrell Boyce

What can we say about Frank Cottrell Boyce. Almost unique in style, original, contemporary plots, with sophisticated humour and totally wild storytelling. His latest title has arrived in the shop fresh out in paperback, and it features killer kittens (well, not really), green children (that bit's true), superpowers (we think) and mysterious goings-on in the London capital which might just involve an alien invasion. Confused? Well, not as much as Rory Rooney and the doctors looking after him. Something's turned Rory green, but does this mean he has superpowers? One thing is for sure, his favourite book 'Don't Be Scared, Be Prepared' has given him plenty of preparation for finding out - but is the world ready for possibly its most unlikeliest superhero?

Oi Frog - Kes Grey

Here's a brilliantly witty, pitch-perfect picture book from another favourite author of ours, Kes Grey.

In 'Oi Frog' our green hero is expected to sit exactly where he's told - on a log. But Frog does not want to do this, oh no. Rhyming silliness ahoy as Frog learns that all animals have their special places to sit...

Books for Christmas Part 5 - Wild Wolves, Imaginary Friends and A Slice of the Moon - Middle Grade Grandeur for Christmas

At Mostly Books, we call them 'confident readers', the wider book world increasingly likes the phrase 'Middle Grade' (or 'MG' as it fights back against the downward-pressing, all-conquering, social media-fuelled 800-pound gorilla that is YA).

For everyone else though, it's the brilliant time in life when children are reading independently, flexing their individuality, and discovering the books that will have a profound effect on them for the rest of their lives.

(We're always a bit flexible in terms of age-guidance - so do take a look at our recommends for younger readers too.)

At Christmas we look for those gorgeous editions that combine the best writing with the best that publishers bring to the physical book. Beautiful, desirable and shouting out to be read - what more could we ask. Here's our favourites this year...

The Wolf Wilder - Katherine Rundell (£12.99)
Feodora and her mother live surrounded by the snowbound woods of Russia and with only wolves for company. In a world where there is a huge divide between rich and poor, the rich have taken to taking wild wolves as pets. But if they turn savage, they are brought to Feo and her mother - wolf wilders. But with such a divide between rich and poor, revolution is brewing and when Feo is unwittingly caught up in the fight, suddenly, having wolves on your side can make you very sought after – for good reasons and by bad people.

In Katherine's trademark style (which readers will know from Girl Savage and multi award-winning Rooftoppers), Feo is left with no option but to go on the run, finding friends and fighting foes, finding out what her skills and her strengths really are. What follows is a story of revolution and adventure, about standing up for the things you love and fighting back, rich in language and lore and with a spirited protagonist you will be rooting for all the way.

Published as a gorgeous hardback edition, complete with atmospheric illustrations, this is a book to treasure in every way.

An Eagle in the Snow - Michael Morpurgo (£12.99)
A brand new fiction title from Michael Morpurgo is always an exciting event, and in 'An Eagle in the Snow' Morpurgo again tells a dramatic and extraordinary tale - partly based on a true story - and painted onto the canvas of the Second World War.

Barney and his mother, their home destroyed by bombing, are travelling to the country when their train is forced to shelter in a tunnel from attacking German planes. There, in the darkness, a stranger on the train begins to tell them a story. A story about one of the most decorated soldier of WW1, who once had the chance to end the war before it even began, and how he tried to fix his mistake. But sometimes doing the right thing is hard to see - and even harder to live with. This will delight Morpurgo's legion of fans - and further cement his reputation as one of our finest living storytellers.

Little Stars - Jacqueline Wilson and Nick Sharratt (£12.99)
This is the wonderful new Hetty Feather story from the legendary author Jacqueline Wilson - the fifth book in the series. Hetty and her dearest friend Diamond, having escaped from Tanglefield's Travelling Circus, are determined to find positions as glamorous music hall artistes. Hetty and Diamond quickly become the 'Little Stars' of Mrs Ruby's show.

But the Cavalcade proves a dangerous place, and Hetty must fight to protect Diamond, whilst struggling to understand her feelings for Bertie - and for Jem, whom she has never forgotten. Hetty dreams of a glittering future for herself and Diamond. The bright lights of the London theatre world beckon - will Hetty become a true star?

Hetty is developing into a classic series, and with the foundling's tale having been turned into a West End production and serialised on CBBC, It's a beautiful, sparkly edition with bags of appeal to new readers and fans alike.

The Imaginary - AF Harrold and Emily Gravett (£7.99)
We recommended 'The Imaginary' when it came out as a beautiful hardback last year - and the paperback is just as stunning. It's an extraordinary tale of love, loss, imagination and not really being there, definitely for fans of Roald Dahl and Neil Gaiman, by the world's most famous bearded poet AF Harrold (and that award is up against stiffer competition than you might imagine).

Rudger is Amanda's best friend. He doesn't exist (but then nobody's perfect). Only Amanda can see her imaginary friend - until the sinister Mr Bunting arrives at Amanda's door. Mr Bunting hunts imaginaries. Rumour says that he eats them. And he's sniffed out Rudger...

It's funny, scary and moving, and gorgeously illustrated by the award-winning Emily Gravett. Highly recommended...

Mountwood School for Ghosts - Tony Ibbotson (£6.99)
Fredegonda, Goneril, and Drusilla are Great Hagges, much more important and much rarer than regular old hags. They think that ghosts these days are decidedly lacking and that people haven't been scared of ghosts for years. So one day they decide that something needs to change - it's time for these ghosts to learn a thing or two about being scary. And what better way to teach them than to set up their very own school for ghosts? A funny ghost story from Toby Ibbotson, son of award-winning author Eva Ibbotson, and based on an idea conceived by her. The cover is by Alex T. Smith.

Pathfinder - Angie Sage (£6.99)
Another book we raved about in hardback - now out in paperback.

Tod has grown up a PathFinder, one of an ancient seafaring tribe. Her mother, who died when Tod was young, had a very different history. She was from a mysterious magykal desert-dwelling family. When Tod's father disappears she is not only alone, but soon finds herself swept into the path of an evil sorcerer. Now Tod must choose which of her pasts will help her to survive: PathFinder or Magician. Magyk will allow her to fight like with like, but her PathFinder heritage gives Tod something special - the edge. Angie Sage's new book combines breathtaking action with fabulous plotting. The characters are instantly engaging, the tension is relentless and Angie's superlative storytelling weaves the threads seamlessly together for an utterly satisfying read.

The Seal's Fate - Eoin Colfer & Victor Ambrus (£7.99)
A stunning coming-of-age novella by international bestselling author and current Irish Children's Laureate Eoin Colfer (author of 'Artemis Fowl'), beautifully illustrated by Greenaway winner Victor Ambrus. School's out and Bobby Parrish is spending the summer on his dad's boat. Job number one is to deal with the seals infesting the peninsula. The money's good - but Bobby knows, deep down, that he hasn't got it in him. Eoin Colfer's trademark humour and lightness of touch and Victor Ambrus's classic artwork evoke a strong sense of place, character and vitality. An ideal gift for lovers of a fantastic artist and writing team, from reluctant-reader specialist Barrington Stoke, who bring all their experience in developing a love of reading for all children.

A Slice of the Moon - Sandi Toksvig (£9.99)
The brand-new action-packed story of one family's journey across the world from author Sandi Toksvig. Slim Hannigan and her family are poor but happy. Theirs is a life filled with love and laughter - and a pet pig called Hamlet. But things change overnight and suddenly they find themselves facing hunger and danger like they have never known. So they leave their village in Ireland to journey to America where, they hope, family and fortune await them. Can one brave girl keep her family together no matter what is thrown at them?

The delight of this book is the surprising amount of humour, and emotional depth Toksvig brings to a story full of danger and heartbreak. It's another beautiful hardback edition to treasure as well.

Top of the Class (nearly) - Liz Pichon (£10.99)
From the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, the Red House Children's Book Award, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and the Blue Peter Best Story Book Award 2013, comes the ninth (can you believe that?) amazing instalment of the Tom Gates adventures. Tom Gates is a superb, accessible voice for children of 9+, and great for reluctant readers who may struggle to get into reading.

Return to the Secret Garden - Holly Webb (£8.99)
Return to Frances Hodgson Burnett's timeless classic, 'The Secret Garden', in this magical sequel by bestselling author Holly Webb. It's 1939 and a group of children have been evacuated to Misselthwaite Hall. Emmie is far from happy to have been separated from her cat and sent to a huge old mansion. But soon she starts discovering the secrets of the house - a boy crying at night, a diary written by a girl named Mary, and a garden. A very secret garden... Holly Webb is the author of The Truffle Mouse and the Emily Feather series. 

The Astounding Broccoli Boy - Frank Cotterill Boyce (£10.99)
Frank Cottrell-Boyce is one of our favourite authors - his special genius is to tell stories that grip and unfold through the eyes of the children he's created, which allows him to generate incredible twists in perspective that are a totally delight.

After 'Cosmic' and 'Millions' this is another funny and wildly imaginative modern-day adventure. When Rory Rooney turns inexplicably green he is convinced he has super powers, but after being whisked off to a research facility, he must team up with his worst enemy - and some penguins - to find out what's happened. Why does London seem to be under attack from aliens? Will he ever be normal again? And will he be able to drive the bin lorry he's just stolen? Crazy, super-powered and just fantastic!

Turning Real-Life Stories into Books - with added imagination from Frank Cottrell Boyce

What if you had a car that could fly? What would you do if you found a bag full of money?

The imaginations of more than 200 schoolchildren from more than five Abingdon schools were given a jump start on Wednesday Nov 30 as they listened to multi award-winning children’s author Frank Cottrell Boyce talk about the inspiration behind his books.

Frank read from his latest novel ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again’ and told how the roots of the story grew from real life.

Ian Fleming is well known as being the creator of James Bond, but fewer people know that he was the creator of the original children’s story ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ . Even fewer would have known that the story was inspired by a real car.

Ian Fleming saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang race when he was a young boy – and that memory came back to him when - convalescing from a heart attack - it formed the inspiration behind his only children’s book.

Frank Cottrell Boyce told the amazing story of a rich count who came into his money very young and spent his money on things most children couldn’t even dream of. Things like a full-size train track in his grounds to race trains, and putting a zeppelin engine in a car - the original Chitty - to race it at Brooklands (it could go over 100mph).

Frank Cottrell Boyce’s first books are all based on what children would do when placed in extraordinary situations. ‘Millions’ is about what a couple of boys decide to do when they find a huge amount of money. And ‘Cosmic’ is about a 12-year-old boy who looks much older and gets mistaken for an adult.

These stories have been loved by children, turned into films, and means Frank Cottrell Boyce has been on every major award for children’s writing.

In Frank Cottrell Boyce’s ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again’ – the original Chitty’s engine is reassembled (without the family’s knowledge) inside a camper van. So when they set off, their trip around the world is like no other.

Frank also shared loads of stories and advice about how simple things can become stories if you add a lot of imagination and a little magic – and talked about all the things that inspired him to become a children’s writer.

He knew he wanted to be a writer from when he was at school and a teacher read out something he’d written to make a friend laugh – and he made the whole class laugh.

‘I learned that if you choose words in the right order people will laugh even if you’re not there in person. Someone could be laughing at the same thing even all the way in China. Writing is like having a superpower.’

His incredible talk ended with so many hands bristling with energetic questions for the author he could have been there all day.

Note to other booksellers: If you’re going to organise a big author event involving lots of schools – don’t organise it on a day when there is a big strike on and lots of schools are going to be closed.

But do organise it with author Frank Cottrell Boyce. Because even if the whole event has hung in the balance – it can still turn out to be a tremendous day that makes several sleepless nights truly worthwhile.

A huge thank you for all the schools and teachers who turned out in force to keep the event going.

And a big thank you to everyone who came to the shop to meet Frank at Mostly Books afterwards. Particularly to Jo and Rosie Caulkin who travelled from Birmingham to meet him.

Five questions with . . . Frank Cottrell Boyce's writing life
1.    What are you working on at the moment
'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 2' (looks nervously at his editor sitting across the table from us). No, of course, that's finished. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 3!

2.    What is the best writing tip you've ever been given?
Read, read, read.

3.    What's the best and worst thing about being a children's writer?
The best thing is the contact with children. Watching them meeting an author, getting questions. It's very real, very visceral. The worst thing is that, you do so many events that you end up having no time to write. You can't do events half-heartedly, every event I do I put everything into, I don't want to let anyone down.

4.    Do you have a writer's survival kit?
No - nothing. My house is so busy, and I am so busy, I write anywhere, at any opportunity. Edith Nesbit (and also PG Wodehouse) used to write at parties. In fact, that's a great tip for writers: learn to write at parties!

5.    What was your biggest breakthrough?
I had written the script for ‘Millions’, and Danny Boyle told me "I'll do the film, but you must write the book". And that was the nudge I needed. I think writers need to have other people give them a shove to get a book out there.

The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce

“We see the world clearly when we're children, and spend the rest of our lives trying to remember what it is we saw” – Garrison Keillor

Cosmic was the first book I read by Frank Cottrell Boyce. It was on the shortlist for the Carnegie award in 2009, and that year – for the first time ever – I read all the books on the list. It was a strong list that year: Eoin Colfer, Siobhan Dowd, Kevin Brooks, Patrick Ness. But for sheer comic exuberance, and a fantastically imagined story (and me being a sucker for anything to do with space flight), it was easily my favourite.

Cosmic features the exceptionally tall Liam Digby, who – through a series of unlikely events somehow rendered plausible in Boyce’s story – gets mistaken for an astronaut and sent into space.

The inspiration for the exceptionally tall Liam was a boy at a school in Bootle, Merseyside, near to where Frank lives, and the school where he first sat in front of children as part of an author event. The school has influenced Frank (and his stories) in other ways, but the subject of his latest book The Unforgotten Coat takes as its inspiration (clearly the wrong word) a sadder episode from the school.

The story centres around Julie, in her final year at primary school, full of confidence, and on the cusp of stepping out into a wider world. But into her class come two brothers, immigrants from Mongolia – Chingis and Nergui – who not so much turn her world upside down, but make her realise that she only has a grasp of a very small part of it. Wilful, intransigent and full of sinister stories of a demon trying to ‘vanish’ his younger brother (possibly by eating him), Chingis picks Julie to be their ‘Good Guide’ – and she in turns seeks to understand more about their country and culture.

Initially the strangeness of the boys actions put everyone on the wrong foot, including their nomadic wanderings around Bootle, and even turning up and demanding ‘emergency baking’ privileges at Julie’s house. Julie initially wants to assimilate elements of Chingis and Nergui’s world, and thereby enter a Xanadu of strange Mongolian myth and folklore. But when the truth of their lives becomes evident, and Julie starts sorting myth from reality, she is forced to intervene and act beyond her age, something which has dramatic consequences for everyone.

Whether or not you cotton on quickly to the reality of the boy’s lives, or even spot the heartbreaking twist towards the end, is immaterial – this is a book for young children after all. What Frank does so masterfully in The Unforgotten Coat is take you completely into a world as seen through the eyes of the child protagonists. The design of the book works completely to support this, looking and feeling like a school exercise book, complete with pasted-in polaroid photographs. The last aspect comes courtesy of a collaboration between photographers Carl Hunter and Clare Heney. The effect works beautifully, and I genuinely can't see this book having the same emotional impact in a digital format.

In all his writing – including his earlier books Framed and Millions – Boyce lets stories unravel through the eyes and imaginations of children. Crucially, he always explores the way imagination can influence reality in profound ways.

This is a theme Frank is passionate about, as anyone who has ever heard him speak or met him will testify. Last weekend, Boyce was (by all accounts) the star turn at the British SCWBI conference in Winchester, sharing anecdotes, inspiring writers and reading liberally from E Nesbit, quoting Richmal Crompton and other authors who bring this quality to their writing.

The Unforgotten Coat is a simple story, and although it is streaked through with sadness, it nevertheless ends on an uplifting note. The message is one of tolerance, mutual respect, and the importance of seeing the world in a different way. These messages can be found in plenty of other children's books, but not perhaps in such a simple and elegant way.

The book has been deservedly shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book of the Year - although my loyalties are slightly torn between this and Lissa Evans' Small Change for Stuart. Together with Morris Gleitzman's Too Small to Fail and Andy Briggs' Tarzan, these are my favourite children's books of the year.

Frank Cottrell Boyce has had a busy year - and 2012 will only get busier. Having also released Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again (the officially-commissioned sequel to Ian Fleming's original) Frank is also about to enter a two-month writing 'purdah' to script (together with filmmaker and long-time collaborator Danny Boyle) the entire opening ceremony of the London Olympics. No pressure then.

If you ever get a chance to meet Frank, or listen to him speak, please try to do so. He is truly inspirational, and already one of our greatest children's authors.

Frank will be at Mostly Books this Wednesday, 30th November at 1pm, for one hour only, to meet customers and sign copies of Chitty and The Unforgotten Coat. This will be his last public event before his Olympic writing duties, and our last public event of the year. It's a slightly crazy day on Wednesday, what with the possibility of disruption to the school timetable, but if - unexpectedly, at short notice - you find yourself able to come down to the the shop and give him a big welcome to Abingdon, we would be delighted to see you.

More details can be found here. And we would also be delighted to reserve a signed copy of his book if you cannot make it, and would like one as a gift. Please let us know.

Regards - Mark

P.S. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again is as much a sequel to the film as to the book, which is just as well, as this is a fun, frenetic romp of a story in which the Tooting family stick a huge engine into a VW Camper Van, which then develops a mind of its own. Flying (literally) between England, Paris, Egypt and Madagascar, and involving a truly sinister and scary baddy (Tiny Jack - a worthy equal to the childsnatcher) this is an action-packed thrilling story that I heartily recommend for ages 8-11. And a sequel is on its way...