Frances McKay Illustration

The People's Book Prize 2011/12

Bee Willey's The Mouse who saved Egypt written by Karim Alrawi and published by Tradewind Books has been entered into the children's books section of  The People's Book Prize.

 

Small Change for Stuart

Last February I finished illustrating a book by author Lissa Evans called Small Change for Stuart. I drew on A4 drawing paper, a pad of which I bought from Trago Mills (a department shop in Falmouth) about 4 years ago. It was going slightly yellow, and I spilt Ribena on it a while back. I used a pen also bought from the same shop – I stockpiled, as they were going really cheap at the time.

?Nichts fuer Weicheier?.

In September my latest book (cover) is going to be released. This is my first book cover for 10-year-old boys. When Maya Geis, my editor from Oetinger Publishing House called me on the phone I was very surprised. She had only seen my illustrations for small children and my newspaper illustrations. But she said she thought I would do a good job on this bookcover, so I felt encouraged to do my best on it.

Jack and Jill

 
Having completed my first book while pregnant, eight weeks after Alfie was born it was time to tackle book number two, 'Jack and Jill'. I'm not sure how I managed to do this. My candle was thoroughly burnt at both ends, but somehow a little waxy blob of sanity survived to pull everything together; nappies were changed and spreads were painted. I connect the imagery in this book with my late (and lovely) mother in law, Pat, who must have spent hundreds of hours walking her dog on Clapham Common; she had recently died and was often in my thoughts as I worked. It's dedicated to her memory; hope she'd have liked it.

 

Kate Willis-Crowley

 

Jack and Jill is published by Hodder Children's Books. 

School for Princes, and the Mouse Who Saved Egypt

The Mouse who saved Egypt will be published by Tradewind Books in July 2011 in the US and Canada, September 2011 in the UK. Tradewind are small but publish interesting stuff and have a fab typographer!

Donough and The World of Norm

Who remembers what it was like to be a young lad? Well maybe if you are of the Lady persuasion it might be a stretch to do so, but if you are a man/boy like me(and we are many) it can all seem far far too close to recall. Someone else who seems to have a perfect insight into the world of the pre-teen boy is the writer, comedian, actor and all round creative type Jonathan Meres.

Spindlewood Tales UK Tour

 
Well, I’ve been on my travels again publicising SPINDLEWOOD TALES.

Pip and the Twilight Seekers is the second instalment in the series and so, assisted by Victoria Roberts from Publicity we took to the road in the Spindlewood Carriage and headed for our first stop.

Little Rex and the Big Roar

 

 
‘Little Rex and the Big Roar’ is now out!

 

The long awaited and eagerly anticipated sequel to the warmly received picture book ‘Little Rex’, is now out in all shrewd bookshops.