Books & Biscuits (March 2023)

Hello and thanks for reading the March 2023 edition of Books & Biscuits!

For the benefit of new subscribers, my name’s Jen Carney and I’m a children’s author-illustrator. Like Billie Upton Green, the protagonist in my latest series, The Accidental Diary of B.U.G., I’m partial to the odd custard cream - hence the title and content of my newsletter: I start with books, add something biscuity and finish with details of a giveaway. Enjoy!

BOOKS…

World Book Day/Week/Fortnight 2023

I was lucky enough to visit lots of schools, both in person and virtually, to celebrate World Book Day 2023.

It was an honour to connect with so many enthusiastic pupils, help them to get creative and answer their many well-thought out (and occasionally quite random!) questions.

Thank you to all the schools who shared photos with me. Here’s one from Year Three at a school in Southport.

Don't forget to encourage your children to use their book tokens to claim a £1 book (or to it put it towards an alternative book of their choice at your local bookshop).

This time of year is always popular for author visits. If you work in a school, remember…authors are available all year round!

My regular workshops are suitable for KS2. They’re interactive and are all about seeing reading as a pleasure rather than a chore.

As an author, it’s always wonderful to see children dressing up as one of the characters you have created.

Thank you so much to all the parents and carers who shared photos of their children with me this year.

I just LOVE this Billie Upton Green costume inspired by the front cover of Basically Famous.

Fuelled by books!

How cool is this?

I spotted this photo on Twitter. Can you spot Sister Act amongst the books in this VENDING MACHINE at Marine Academy in Plymouth.

Apparently, the children there can earn raffle tickets and a raffle is drawn in their celebration assemblies.

Love it!

What’s Your Story, Chorley?

After making an interactive resource for Chorley Council to inspire school children to compose their own piece of writing, I was honoured to be asked to help judge entries to the ‘My Community’ writing competition organised by What’s Your Story, Chorley?

Every school in the Chorley area was invited to participate. The variety and quality of the entries was superb.

We had carton strips, information leaflets, stories, descriptive paragraphs, diary entries, journalistic writing, poems and more besides.

It was very difficult to select the winners, but (eventually) two children from each age category (from reception all the way through to year eight) were selected to receive certificates and book tokens at a special awards ceremony held at Chorley Library where the mayor of Chorley made the presentations. A special letter from the Queen Consort was shared with the children too!

Many of the entries will be displayed at Chorley Library (PR7 1EB) as part of the continuing What’s Your Story, Chorley? festival. Why not check them out if you are in the area.

Come and say hi…

This year, the main event day for What’s Your Story, Chorley? is on Saturday 25th March 2023. There will be lots going on for young and old in the town centre, including the wonderful book bench trail where you can go on a treasure hunt to find book-themed benches that have been painted by local schools and community groups.

I will be appearing in the Chorley Junior Library from 2pm until 2.45pm. My workshop is suitable for children from about age 7 to about age 11 and will include creating a thranimal - as per Billie Upton Green in Sister Act. If you can make it, I’d love to see you there. I'll gladly sign/dedicate any books and answer questions you may have too.

Further details of the other visiting speakers/events can be found here.

Diary-style book lovers

You might like this article from Book Trust if you have a lover of diary-style books at home/in your classroom.

I have been reading…

…My Name is Sunshine Simpson by G.M.Linton.

I really enjoyed this heart-warming story. Through Sunshine, G.M. Linton has perfectly captured childhood insecurities and wrapped them up in a huge, uplifting hug with a message that says: be yourself; be proud of who you are.

I particularly loved the story's celebration of the Windrush generation, the palpable sense of community, and the warmth I felt when reading about Sunshine's wonderful bond with her Grandad Bobby.

I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of this book which will be out on 11th May.

…& BISCUITS

Can we talk about Jaffa Cakes…

Cake or biscuit? Which camp are you in? It always causes a bit of debate in schools…

Arguments for biscuit:

They are always in the biscuit aisle.

They are biscuit sized.

Arguments for cake:

They’re soft, not snap-able.

They’re made of cake batter.

They go hard when left to go stale.*

*WHO WOULD LEAVE A JAFFA CAKE LONG ENOUGH TO GO STALE?

Argument from McVities:

They’re cakes.

This is for legal reasons. Apparently, VAT is payable on chocolate covered biscuits, but not chocolate covered cakes.

I stand firmly in the biscuit camp…and, up there, is a photo of a cake I once made for my son’s birthday…! Yes, a cake…made to look like a biscuit.

And, just in case you’re not familiar with The (very serious) Biscuit Laws in The Accidental Diary of B.U.G. books, here’s how you should be eating your Jaffa Cakes to avoid arrest…

GIVEAWAY!

I was delighted that last month’s giveaway was won by a member of staff at a primary school who has donated her prize (all three books in The Accidental Diary of B.U.G. series) to the children.

This month, I’m giving away…

A 40 minute Zoom event to a KS2 class. If you would like to be in the draw to win, please get in touch via this page of my website quoting ‘Books & Biscuits giveaway’ in your message.

Below you will see some links to my social media pages. I’d love to connect with you.

That’s all for this edition!