• Me and Mount Fuji - A lifetime achievement.
    Me and Mount Fuji – A lifetime achievement.

    I hardly know where to begin, so I’ll start with the picture above, me and Mount Fuji. I never really thought that I would get there but I did and it was all thanks to the wonderful people at the Guam Council of the International Reading Association, who invited me to go all the way out to the Pacific Tropical Paradise that is the tiny island of Guam, which allowed me to add a couple of days in Japan on the way home. I’m still jet-lagged and very tired, so more will appear here later as my head clears, but the abiding memory will be of an island full of the friendliest, most welcoming people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.

    I visited 17 elementary schools. Each gave me the most amazing reception. I was treated like a rock star! More to follow…

  • This week I’ve been up to Glasgow for the Aye Write Book festival. On Monday I managed to remember to photograph my co-conspirators: Andy Stanton, Damien Harvey, David Bedford, John Fardell and Anne Havant.
    mitchellAs ever it was a meticulously well organised event. I was in the main hall with about 200 children at each of four events. I had a microphone on my lapel. This made my voice boom around the enormous room. I had to slow down my delivery to give the echoes time to catch up. It was like the room could only cope with one speed of performance! We did lots of fabulous drawing and had a really great time. In the afternoon I managed to get to the Burrell Collection – something I’ve wanted to do for some time. It was wonderful. I made a lot of sketches and got lots of ideas.

    my audience arrives at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow
    my audience arrives at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow

    After my session on Tuesday, I flew down to Birmingham where I picked up my car and drove on to Monks Risborough for my day with the Primary School on Wednesday (It can be a busy life being a children’s author!)

    I had a great day but forgot to take pictures. I was amazed at how the Red Kites have taken over the area. Everywhere I looked pairs of Kites were dancing around in the sky. There are almost too many of them! It’s an un-naturally large population, but the locals seem very fond of them all the same. They must be feeding them!

    Each year are trying to do illustrations in the style of different Illustrators. Year Six are trying to be me. I tried to explain how I do my computer drawings, but it was a bit difficult without my laptop. It will be interesting to see how they get on – Good luck Year Six!

  • It was actually warm this afternoon and I got out into the garden to clear up the autumn leaves and start tidying up for spring. So nice to be out in the sun.

    Next month, I’ve been invited to visit Guam, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I’m now starting to get quite excited about it. A week on a island paradise sounds very nice at this time of year, but even better, I’m getting a couple of days in Tokyo on the way home.

    I’ve wanted to visit Japan since I was about nine years old and did a geography project on the country. I wrote to the Japanese Embassy and they not only sent me the usual tourist stuff, but also a large folder of the most beautiful photographs of landscapes and cityscapes. I’ve always harboured a desire to go see myself, but have always thought it a pipe dream. This week I booked my hotel worked out the Metro routes from the airport and also booked a day trip to Mount Fuji returning on the Bullet Train. What is even better, the day I arrive is the average date for the start of Blossom Time.

    I have a half finished collection of lullabies that I began work on nearly ten years ago, which seems to have ground to a halt. One of them is about blossom time in Japan. It needs anbother verse. Maybe this is what I need to kick start the project again.

    Cherry blossom petals falling through the night.
    Orchards fill with drifting clouds of pink and white.
    The moon above is shining bright,
    Floating like a paper kite,
    Silver shines the night.

    Melting snow, as water, falls down the mountainside –
    Flows into the lake below, where Earth and sky divide.
    Mirror-like, reflect the sky,
    A million diamonds shine on high,
    Silver shines the night.