As you will have undoubtedly noticed, blog posts and reviews have been sparse lately. This is mainly because I have been doing a lot of this:

I am literally juggling lots of stuff at the moment, all to do with books and all really enjoyable, but  sadly, with only 24 hours in a day, a family to look after, and a "regular" job to go to as well (albeit part-time!) , the blog is suffering.

So I am taking time off blogging for the rest of May,  so I can come back with a bang. I might even have managed to migrate the blog to a new platform by then (here's for hoping ... or dreaming, rather!)

I will see you in June, lovely readers.

Today I am delighted to be part of the book tour for the launch of Anne-Marie Conway's latest book, .

Forbidden Friends

Here is a bit more about the book:

Don’t be fooled by the sun and summer atmosphere, there’s a dark mystery at the heart of Forbidden Friends. When Lizzie and Bee meet on holiday, it feels as if they were always meant to be friends.

Yes, this wonderful illustration by the great and much-loved Axel Scheffler could be yours for just £2. But how?!?

This year, Macmillan Children’s Books celebrates twenty years of publishing the no.1 best-selling picture book duo in the UK,  Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, a collaboration which started with A Squash and a Squeeze.

To mark the occasion, Axel Scheffler has created a piece of 20th Anniversary artwork, which has been used across commemorative material.

ILLUSTRATION COMPETITION:

DESIGN A LOGO FOR

THE FEDERATION OF CHILDREN'S BOOK GROUPS' 

FESTIVAL OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

The Federation of Children’s Book Groups (FCBG), a registered charity which is run entirely by volunteers and reaches children across the country to aspire a love of books and reading, called today 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.

This year, publisher Miles Kelly will publish new books, ebooks and interactive ebooks to raise enough money to buy The Book Bus a new bus that will be stationed in Malawi. Miles Kelly’s vision is to support The Book Bus in both their short- and long-term goals. £22,000 will not only buy a new bus to visit 1000 pupils a year, it will also fund teacher training workshops for local adults, benefiting another 1500 pupils a year.

Have you got children interested in writing or drawing?

Here are a few opportunities for them to get involved in:

Make Your Own Comic Book

Children aged between 7 and 17 are invited to participate in a nationwide contest and stand the chance to win some amazing prizes.

All they need to do is design a comic book (as a group or individually)  full of creativity in which the food they love, or hate, is the hero. What happens after that is entirely up to the artist(s).

Catalina Echeverri's debut picture Lion and Mouse was published earlier this month (see my review here) and I am delighted to welcome her to a Library Mice for our latest Fabulous Five feature.

Catalina is originally from Bogota, Colombia, and she speaks English, Spanish and Italian. She studied graphic design in Milan, Italy and completed an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Arts (ARU). She loves to draw all of the time, and takes her sketchbook everywhere she goes.

Catalina Echeverri 

(Jonathan Cape)

Lion and Mouse are the best of friends, who do everything together. But Lion thinks he is better than Mouse in every way, and spends a lot of time boasting about it. When Mouse finally has enough and disappears, Lion does not even notice at first. Until he needs Mouse's help, and Mouse is nowhere to be found.

Lately, I have come across two beautiful little novels, both with a magical, mystical atmosphere, and both set in Australia.

The Naming of Tishkin Silk

Glenda Millard, with artwork by Caroline Magerl

(Phoenix Yard Books)

Griffin Silk is an uncommon little boy, and it becomes quite obvious to him as he soon as he starts school and  other pupils see consider him as odd, with his long hair and his family's bohemian lifestyle.

Today I am chuffed to welcome Marion Billet to Library Mice.

As a French national I am always  to see French illustrators being published in the UK, and was delighted when Nosy Crow published first the Noodle series (see my review of the first two titles here)  and now the brand new Littleland (see my review here).

Hi Marion, thank you so much for agreeing to answer a few questions for Library Mice.
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