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The Federation of Children’s Book Groups Blog
Portable Magic How to Catch a Reader, The Annual Conference
Every April, we host our conference that draws in book loving parents, school staff, teachers, librarians, publishers, booksellers and professionals from across the UK. This past weekend, we all gathered in Rugby School for a jam packed weekend of books, cake, panels, seminars and author presentations. Plus so much more! Our theme was Portable Magic, […]
My Love Life and the Apocalypse by Melissa Welliver
We welcome, to the blog, Melissa Welliver today who shares some insight into writing her book amidst lockdown. Writing a love story in the apocalypse I had never written a romance storyline before I wrote My Love Life and the Apocalypse. It wasn’t my first book, more like my fifth, so that’s sort of surprising, […]
Q&A with Aoife Dooley
Finding My Voice by Aoife Dooley is the sequel to Frankie’s World, published last year with Scholastic. Featuring an autistic main character, these graphic novels follow Frankie as she navigates life. The team at Scholastic have shared this super Q&A with Aoife! Tell us about FINDING YOUR VOICE, the sequel to FRANKIE’S WORLD Finding My […]
The Big Breakout by Burhana Islam
Burhana Islam is a secondary school teacher and the author of Muslims Who Changed the World and the My Laugh-Out-Loud Life series of chapter books. She is a storyteller who is passionate about exploring themes of heritage, belonging, identity and faith in her work. This side-splitting illustrated trilogy for readers aged 7+ has been featured […]
Wendington Jones and The Missing Tree
Wendington Jones had always wanted to be an adventurer. But adventures, and let’s be clear by that we mean old school, globe-trotting, seat-of-your-pants thrill rides, were a thing of the past. Lost to both time and wandering interest to something new. But if there’s anything that Wendington can teach us, it’s that just because something […]
Emerald by Harriet Muncaster
Harriet Muncaster has expanded her Isadora Moon world to include a new character, Emerald. Published earlier this year, young readers can dive into an underwater adventure with another unique character. Check out the guest blog from author-illustrator, Harriet Muncaster. I have always loved creating (drawing, writing, crafting!) but it wasn’t until I was fifteen that […]
Children’s Book Award Round Up
It has been a whirlwind month of the Children’s Book Award blog tour. We have had ten dedicated bloggers hosting content from the entire shortlist of books. We are truly grateful for the time, effort and energy of the bloggers, publishers, publicists and authors in getting this blog tour up and running. This is your […]
Setting up an FCBG Local Children’s Book Group
Ever wondered more about our local children’s book groups? Keen to set up one in your local community to promote a love of reading? Check out today’s blog written by committee member, Sara Sumner about her experiences! I was a complete novice to the Children’s Book world when I happened upon the FCBG when discussing […]
Books for Older Readers Category Round Up
We are drawing to a close on this year’s Children’s Book Award blog tour. Today is a chance to catch up on the Books for Older readers category. Three brilliant bloggers offered their time and space on their blogs to host content from the three shortlisted authors. A huge thank you to Anne, Rich and […]
Q&A with Peter Bunzl
Peter Bunzl has written a book for Barrington Stoke entitled Dragonracers and it features plenty of history mingled with a sense of awe in the form of a found dragon! Read on for our Q&A with Peter about this book. Peter, can you tell us a bit about Dragonracers and where the inspiration came from? […]
Lies we Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood
Author Sarah Underwood questions society’s love and return to the classics year after year in a fascinating glimpse into re-tellings and classic stories. Between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, I spent every Saturday morning volunteering at my local library. It was genuinely one of the best ‘jobs’ I’ve ever had. I was entrusted with […]
Children’s Book Award,Books for Younger Readers Round Up
We have successfully wrapped up the second part of the Children’s Book Award blog tour, featuring the three titles from the Books for Younger Readers Category! Three amazing bloggers hosted content from the shortlisted authors and you can check them out via the links below. First up this week, we had Tom Griffiths host a […]
Bridging the gap between picture books and middle grade stories by Esi Merleh
Esi Merleh has written a brilliant blog about bridging the gap between picture books and longer chapter books. Her series, Magic Faces is ideal for younger readers making the move into longer fiction. When I was approached by inclusive fiction studio Storymix to write Magic Faces, I had previously experimented with writing middle grade and […]
Q&A with Jenny McLachlan
Jenny McLachlan is widely known for her Land of Roar series! Her latest book, Stink is her author-illustrator debut. We had an early read of Stink so we could ask Jenny a few questions! Please see her answers below! Stink is the world’s naughtiest fairy…where did the idea come from to make her naughty instead […]
Mind and Me by Sunita Chawdhary
Author Sunita Chawdhary has written a brilliant blog about the power of the mind and how her main character learns to navigate life using her mind, understanding of emotions and her senses. I have always marvelled at the way our brains and minds work. As a child, travelling the world and growing up withmulticultural influences, […]
The Weather Weaver Trilogy, Writing Backwards by Tamsin Mori
We have an excellent blog post from Tamsin Mori about her Weather Weaver Trilogy and writing backwards! How do you write a story? One word in front of the other? If only stories arrived like that – neatly formed, one idea leading inevitably to the next. I do know authors who plot in great detail […]
Children’s Book Award Round Up!
It has been an incredible first week in the blog tour celebrating the top ten titles as chosen by children for the FCBG Children’s Book Award. This week was all about the 4 shortlisted picture books! Each of our brilliant bloggers was sent a guest blog from a shortlisted author or illustrator to share a bit […]
I, Spy by Rhian Tracey
Bletchley Park is the setting for this war time adventure and there are still so many mysteries and events that took place there that capture the imaginations of writers such as Rhian Tracey. Read on for her blog about writing a middle grade novel set in Bletchley Park. Before I had children of my own, […]