Last week was very busy. I spent a day and a half in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, talking to children from three schools as part of the Tower Hamlets Book Award (the awards ceremony is this Friday). On the Tuesday, I had a gap of a couple of hours in between schools, so … More Visiting schools and meeting Electrigirl!
Last week I received a message from a school librarian. This kind of message is exactly why I keep writing for children: “We have a girl in Y3 with severe Asperger traits. It’s incredibly hard to get her to stay in a class room let alone settle with a book. Any books she looks at … More Making a difference – message from a school librarian
Yesterday I did an Electrigirl event for the fantastic Bookfeast festival, a four-day schools’ extravaganza here in Oxford, organised by the Bookfeast charity. Several schools brought children from Years 4 to 6, and I had a blast! Thanks to Hannah, OUP publicist, for the photos! And an extra big thank you to the organisers of … More Bounding around at Bookfeast!
The third Electrigirl book is here! ELECTRIGIRL AND THE INVISIBLE THIEVES sees our three intrepid heroes, Holly, Joe and Imogen, facing a peculiar spate of thefts in their home town of Bluehaven. Someone is nicking small items from shops and playing pranks on people – in broad daylight! How are they getting away with it? … More Electrigirl and the Invisible Launch Party!
How cool is this?! Grace Sargent, aged 7, read ELECTRIGIRL AND THE DEADLY SWARM recently and decided to make her own piskie out of craft materials! Awesome work, Grace!
Wheeee! *flump* That’s the sound of me coming back down to earth after an AMAZING two weeks visiting schools. Today is the first day I’ve been at my desk for ten days, so there’s a whole pile of stuff for me to catch up on, but here is a quick round-up of where I’ve been … More My World Book Day Whirlwind!
Really thrilled to announce that ELECTRIGIRL has been shortlisted for the Leicester Libraries Our Best Book award, for primary schools! Look at this fantastic shortlist (my daughter is a HUGE Evil Emperor Penguin fan; her allegiance will be split!). Congratulations to all my fellow nominees Joseph Delaney, Laura Ellen Anderson, Tom McLaughlin, Swapna Haddow and … More Electrigirl is shortlisted!
In many ways, 2016 was a real stinker. But on a personal level, I had a good one, with lots of writing work, and fun with my family. 2017 is going to be my busiest publishing year to date, however, and this is what kept me so busy in 2016, writing all of these…! This … More Hello 2017! and new books out this year!
Here we go again! And I LOVE it! On Tuesday, Cathy Brett and I met up with our fab editors Kathy and Gill and our super designer Holly for…duh, duh, DUUUUUHH: the layout design meeting on ELECTRIGIRL 3! Because the comic strip sections are such an integral part of the Electrigirl stories, it’s very important … More Designing Electrigirl 3!
It would have been a packed six weeks anyway: a family holiday, three festivals, holiday courses for the kids…but this summer has been extra packed because I’ve had a mountain of writing to do! Just before the end of the summer term, I delivered the manuscript of ELECTRIGIRL 3 (title still under wraps for now!) … More What I Did On My Summer Holidays #3: Writing
Jo Cotterill 