MICHELLE ROBINSON - CHILDREN'S AUTHOR
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All the latest updates from me.

SHE-REX!

7/29/2020

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SHE REX is romping and stomping into book stores from 6 August 2020! Written by me, illustrated brilliantly by Deborah Allwright and published by the magnificent team at Bloomsbury Children's.

It's basically a story about mansplaining, and if you've ever been on the receiving end of that, I suspect you'll be delighted by the ending...
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You can find SHE REX anywhere you normally buy books. I heartily recommend buying one from your nearest book store. Most can get you a copy by the very next day if they don't already have one in stock, and some of them are even hand-delivering to anyone who's currently shielding. Alternatively you can buy direct from the publisher here. Stay safe and shop happy! 

Here's the back cover blurb:-

​Maisy's brother's Ed won't let her play with his toys. He says, 'Dinos are for boys!'
But Ed hasn't met T. Rex's BIGGER sister …
She Rex is a big and burly, multi-coloured dino girly.

Maisy is about to show her brother that stomping, chomping She Rex is as fierce and as loud as any boy dinosaur. Watch out, Ed, you may just discover that dino toys are for girls and boys!
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DO NOT DISTURB THE DRAGONS!

6/19/2020

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It's been a long time coming, but my first chapter book, DO NOT DISTURB THE DRAGONS is about to hit the shelves - and I couldn't be more proud of the end result.

It's illustrated brilliantly by Sharon Davey, who is extremely talented, has a cracking sense of humour and is a warm-hearted, generous person - all of which makes her a dream to work with. Just like the rest of the team at our publishers, Bloomsbury.

Huge thanks to the whole team who all deserve so much credit - it always seems wrong to me that books don't have a big list at the end like movies do. 

Hannah Sandford - editor and my right hand throughout umpteen drafts Juliette Rechatin - in-house designer
Emily Marples - publicity
Mattea Barnes - marketing
Jessica Bellman - desk editor
Patrick Knowles - lettering designer
Jess White - copy-editor
Sarah Taylor-Fergusson - proofreader 
Pari Thomson - assistant editor
And of course our agents, The Catchpole Agency and Plum Pudding, who had our backs throughout.

THANK YOU ALL. I hope everyone is as delighted with the book as I am -- especially the young readers who are about to discover the realm of Wondermere with Grace on her first epic quest. Yes, her first - we're all busy working on Book 2!

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'The World Made a Rainbow' publishing September 2020

5/16/2020

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Illustration © Emily Hamilton 2020
I'm finally allowed to share the news! Shortly after lockdown began, I woke up at 3am one morning and wrote a poem about all the rainbows children are making - and it's going to be a book. Very soon!

'THE WORLD MADE A RAINBOW' is designed to bring comfort to young children, and to the child inside all of us. Right now we're all seeking reassurance, but it's hard to come by. I hope that this book will help families discuss the changes to our lives in an honest and yet encouraging way.

I'm hugely grateful to Bloomsbury for embracing and supporting this project. They're currently in talks to partner with a children's charity so that proceeds can have as positive an impact as possible. 

Meanwhile, illustrator Emily Hamilton and designer Goldy Broad are bringing the art into beautiful shape in a very short amount of time, under the eagle eye of my editor Elaine Connolly. (Thanks, too, to Emma Blackburn for getting the ball rolling. What a lovely final book to be making with you after all the ones we've made during your time at Bloomsbury!)

With any luck 'THE WORLD MADE A RAINBOW' will quickly become a piece of social history - a time capsule for children in classrooms to study, to help discuss their personal experiences of lockdown - rather than a mirror held up to reflect our current situations. 

I'm really missing working with children (apart from my own, of course!) and visiting schools to promote reading for pleasure. I'm very glad to have found some small way to put my limited skills to use during the pandemic. 

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Booktrust Storytime Prize 2020

5/13/2020

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1,2,3 DO THE DINOSAUR, written by me and illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw, has been shortlisted for the Booktrust Storytime Prize 2020! 

Booktrust are an amazing charity. They give millions of children access to books and help them develop a love of reading. It's always an honour when Booktrust give my books their seal of approval. I'm super thrilled that me and Ros's book made the grade.


​You can watch me and the other authors reading the stories for you here. EAR WORM ALERT! My video features a crazily catchy song, performed by me and my good friend, David Gibb. 
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The Day the Banana Went Bad - with Kevin Bishop!

4/18/2020

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Check out this super cool reading of THE DAY THE BANANA WENT BAD by Kevin Bishop in aid of Save The Children!

Save The Children say:

"Every donation to Save with Stories will help the children and families who’ve been hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, both in the UK and around the world, providing the most vulnerable families with the food they need, as well as access to early learning resources and simple household goods. .

If you can, please donate to Save the Children by visiting  savethechildren.org.uk/savewithstories. Or you can text STORIES to 70008 to give a one-off donation of £5.
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Together, we can help families get through this. 

You’ll be billed £5 plus standard rate text message. We receive 100% of your donation. By texting STORIES you agree to calls about fundraising appeals, campaigns, events and other ways to support. Include NO PHONE to opt out of calls. Queries? 02070126400. Read our Privacy Policy savethechildren.org.uk/privacy The Save the Children Fund is a charity registered in England and Wales (213890) and Scotland (SC039570)"

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Peter H. Reynolds reads 'What to do if an Elephant Stands on Your Foot'!

4/2/2020

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Here's Peter reading our book and showing you how to draw a flying pig! Thank you, Peter. You made my day!


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​Only the luckiest of ducks gets to collaborate with an absolute master on their debut. My very first picture book, 'What to do if an Elephant Stands on Your Foot' came out way back in 2012, illustrated perfectly by Peter H. Reynolds. 

Peter has a studio and a lovely book shop in his hometown of Dedham, Massachusetts, and fans all over the world. He's live streaming story times on his Facebook page. If you can't catch Peter live, they're all stored on his page so you can enjoy them in your own time, over and over again!

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Stay home, have fun

3/25/2020

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I hope you are well and finding plenty of things to do to keep you happy and distracted during these strange times. If, like me, you're looking for content to help keep your kids busy, my RESOURCES PAGE has 50 printable activity sheets as well as several play-along audio games to keep kids active in a small home. My YouTube channel is full of fun video challenges to help your kids develop their literacy skills. Please share, subscribe and have fun!

Lots of love,
Michelle xox
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World Book Day with Bad Banana!

3/10/2020

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Thanks for having me, Stockport Grammar and Simply Books!
What a couple of weeks! I've been all over the place having an absolutely wonderful time with booksellers, librarians, teachers and KIDS GALORE. Five thousand, is my best estimate, and I loved meeting each and every one of you! I hope you had fun hearing about THE DAY THE BANANA WENT BAD, and that you're still buzzing with ideas for playing, telling and writing stories of your own.

Our society treats children as lesser beings, but kids are the BEST - and they deserve the best. Whatever you got up to on World Book Day - whether you had an author visit, or you all dressed up, or you decorated your classroom, or painted a spud - I hope you had loads of fun celebrating the joy of reading. 
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A bunch of bananas at Cleeve Primary!
!​Below are a few pictures from my recent travels to Stockport, Andover and Hull. Thanks to: Louisa Danquah at Scholastic for keeping me organised; Sue and Andrew at Simply Books for the warmest of welcomes; Authors Aloud for super admin support and Hull Schools Library Service - Joyce, the JOY bit of your name is spot on! You were the best company and you made my visits loads more fun.

And a HUGE THANKS to all of the schools who welcomed a big, bonkers banana: Stockport Grammar, Cale Green Primary, Anton Infants, Pearson Primary, Sidmouth Primary, Ganton School, Cleeve Primary, Northcott Community Special School, St Mary Queen of Martyrs, Wheeler Primary, Eastfield Primary and Newington Academy. 
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Alternative World Book Day ideas for schools

2/20/2020

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PictureSeriously, Sainsburys? This is beyond crap. Pic via Chris Mould.
As well intentioned as it is, World Book Day has begun to wear thin with parents who are strapped for cash. Even teachers  have come to loathe this time of year thanks to the backlash they get when the kids go home begging for a costume to be made or bought.

​What's meant to be a celebration of books has become an excuse for supermarkets to leech money from strapped families as they flood the aisles with a horribly limited and generally non-reading-related range of plastic-laden costumes.

​​Playing make believe can absolutely enhance a child's experience of a story. But, to the best of my knowledge, unlike READING or BEING READ TO, it's not going to improve your chances in life. It's just going to hurt your back pocket and the planet. Disgraceful really, from a cause that is supposed to exist to get books into every kids' hands.


​I stress that I'm not blaming World Book Day. I love World Book Day! But I'm really fed up with books and reading for pleasure becoming demonised. I know lots of schools and families still want to celebrate, and teachers and busy parents and guardians don't always have time to dream up alternative methods. So I thought it was worth compiling some cool alternatives I've seen at schools when I've visited over the years. Thanks to the reading community online for being so generous in sharing ideas. It's a goldmine! You can find so much more just with a bit of a dig around.

BOOK HATS

School sends home a strip of sugar paper for each kid to decorate. It goes home for half term, giving the kids plenty of time to create something. Cheap, recyclable - and leaves you with money to spend on a book.
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BOOK POTATOES

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I found these ones on Pinterest - if you'd like to me to credit your phenomenal spud art, please holler!
Yes, book potatoes! The kids dress a spud up as a favourite book character. Beware conflicting messages about food wastage.

VISIT THE LOCAL LIBRARY

Sadly not all regions are lucky enough to have a School Library Service. Many aren't even lucky enough to still have a local library, or even a school library. If you do have a local library, why not organise a trip there on World Book Day? Get sorted far enough in advance (and make sure you give them fair warning!) and you can send home consent forms to make sure each kid has a library card. What better gift on World Book Day than the gift of lifelong access to free books? Librarians are often happy to visit schools and talk to children about how the library works. ​

BOOK IN A BOX

Kids make a mini-scene from a book inside a shoe box or similar. In the school I visited, they gave out book tokens to the class winners.
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via Percy Hedley School.

BOOK SHOW AND TELL

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Fan art via Hilton Primary.
Kids bring in a favourite read, or a book they'd like to read to school. Where book ownership is low, children can draw covers instead and share these. Books are about stories. If they'd like to talk about a favourite movie instead, that's fine - but follow it up by asking them to write a story of their own featuring the movie characters.

BOOK AN AUTHOR AND/OR ILLUSTRATOR VISIT

Meeting someone who's truly passionate about reading has a lasting impact on young minds. Consider clubbing together with other local schools and arrange multiple visits if it's hard to drum up the funds. Popular presenters can get booked up a year in advance, so try to plan ahead. And remember, books and their creators are for life, not just for World Book Day. ​

DECORATE THE DOORS

​BOOK WORLD CUP

The whole class works to dress their classroom door up as a particular book they're enjoying. The whole school gets to see their creation. You can also plan child-led presentations about the book for assembly.
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via Our Lady Abingdon's school.
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Work your way through a pre-selected league of books with your class in the run up to World Book Day. Hold the final on the day. This works particularly well with picture books, but it  you're using longer fiction you can stick to first chapters and base it on which book the kids most want to carry on reading.
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via Jonathan Emmett and Picture Book Den.

BOOK QUIZ

Hold a quiz in class. You can find plenty online, or make up your own if you can find the time. Can kids guess the author or illustrator based on a book title or cover? Can they guess the character's name based on a description lifted from the text? Can they guess what happens next after you read the first page? 

CHECK OUT THE WORLD BOOK DAY WEBSITE

The World Book Day website is a brilliant place to go for more ideas and fabulous free resources. The possibilities really are endless when you centre the fun around the act of READING. Check out the videos you can use in school, as well as live broadcasts with famous authors on the day. It's always super inspiring for children to feel like they're part of something that's happening in other schools across the country - and it's why World Book Day deserves to be loved and observed every year, whatever you end up wearing.
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Ten Fat Sausages wins at the 2020 LOLLIES Awards!

2/7/2020

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Sausage Number 2 is guarding the award. We're both ansious someone's going to knock on the door and say it was all a big mistake...
BLIMEY. I consider myself a very lucky person - I always dreamed of becoming a children's author, and my dream came true. I get to do what I love, every day. I get to work with the most incredibly lovely, talented people. It's ridiculous. I genuinely wake up most days and wonder if the last twelve years have all been an actual dream. And then yesterday, ANOTHER dream came true.

It feels greedy to even have other dreams when my big wish has already been granted, but I do still have a few goals and ambitions. One of them has always been to be shortlisted for a funny prize. Just shortlisted, mind you, to win was another dream entirely. But it happened!
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Do check out the other books that were shortlisted, they're a guaranteed way of making a kid's day.
​TEN FAT SAUSAGES by me and Tor Freeman won Best Laugh Out Loud Picture Book in the 2020 LOLLIES Awards! I know!!! Honestly!!! Tor is in America at the minute, pursuing a dream of her own, so me and Sausage Number 2 attended the super fun awards ceremony in London.
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Slightly surreal, eh?
I caught up with lots of friends in the publishing world and met loads of very excited children. It was a wonderful day, and a bit of a dream in itself. I was handed the award by JULIA DONALDSON, for crying out loud! Surreal or what?! I'm only sorry I had to shoot off early to catch a train. (Another dream of mine is an underground high speed travelator between Somerset and EVERYWHERE. Still working on that one.)
PictureHow am I even amongst this group of splendid human beings?! It's nuts! All the best people were there, or else represented by cut out faces on sticks and toy sausages.
BRAVO to all the other authors and illustrators whose hilarious books made the shortlist. Reading your books at home with my kids is a delight, sharing them with my Patron of Reading school is an easy win and your excellent creations always inspire me in my own.

Thank you to Tor for being a brilliant and incredibly funny co-creator. Thank you to Andersen Press for backing such a daft book. Thank you to James Catchpole for (eventually) seeing the joy in slaying pork products. Thank you to Scholastic for a truly fantastic day. And THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to vote for our book. I'm truly staggered - and still waiting to wake up...
​🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭

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    Michelle Robinson is a
    UK-based, best-selling, major award-winning, sausage-wearing children's author.

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