Story is a young man who travels the world meeting new people and being welcomed into their homes, Truth is a wise and elderly lady who carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. When the two meet, Truth asks why it is that she is never welcomed into peoples homes, Story doesn’t know why, but he does know that people will always welcome a Story if it is well told.
Ian Douglas is a Storyteller and Theatre Maker who works extensively across the British Isles. With over 20 years of experience delivering storytelling, performance and theatre activities he has developed a practised approach which mixes sensitivity, comedic energy and wit leading to a style all of his own.
Ben Javens is a freelance illustrator originally from West Yorkshire, he now lives and works in Birmingham. Amongst other illustration jobs he works as a designer and illustrator for children’s magazines Anorak and dot.
This book was brought to life by the generous donations of many amazing people, through a crowdfunding campaign.
Story & Truth Activity
As a special holiday treat the brilliant Lets Make Art duo have created this Story & Truth related activity, create your own story cubes to help you invent your own wierd and wonderful tales! Watch the video here And download the instruction sheet here
If you make something that you want to share with us, either tag us into a post on instagram
or email it to me [email protected]All submissions will be in with a chance of winning a copy of Story & Truth. Offer ends 31st Jan 2022.
Do you ever feel frustrated by people looking down all the time? mostly looking at their phones? well thats exactly how Rocket feels, she’s knows that she’ll be the greatest astronaut, star-catcher space-traveller that has ever lived! but she REALLY wants to get her brothers attention, surely he can stop looking down at his phone just for a short while and start LOOKING UP at the all the stars?
Rocket is the most enthusiastic science and space explorer you’re likely to meet let this heart-warming picture book be the inspiration to switch off your phone and start exploring the mysteries of the night skies with your small folk. Rocket will certainly be very impressed!
*Winner of the UKLA Awards 2021**Shortlisted for the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards 2019*”Outstanding – a breath of fresh air, just like Rocket herself” – Kirkus Reviews
“Energetic and with a wry, sweet take on family dynamics, it will alert readers to the mysteries of the night skies” – The Guardian
One snowy night Little Hare is bored and hungry and tired of being told what to do, so he goes off on his own to adventure, he certainly doesn’t come back empty handed, having discovered a pure silver calf, born under the light of the moon and he knows instantly that this is Mooncalf. A legendary calf whose arrival has been foretold since the dawn of time, through a dream passed down from animal to animal The Calf must stay alive and Little Hare must protect it, otherwise, as the dream has told, a great terribleness will come – rising seas, a plague, skies raining down fire…
A stunning prequel to the award-winning, bestselling The Last Wild trilogy, encompassing themes of friendship, climte change and hope. This hardback edition has been beautifully designed and produced with sustainability considered at every step. The Last Wild trilogy was one of the first sets of contemporary childrens books we ever read with our first daughter when she reached chapter book age, we’ve been Piers Torday fans ever since!
One snowy night Little Hare is bored and hungry and tired of being told what to do, so he goes off on his own to adventure, he certainly doesn’t come back empty handed, having discovered a pure silver calf, born under the light of the moon and he knows instantly that this is Mooncalf. A legendary calf whose arrival has been foretold since the dawn of time, through a dream passed down from animal to animal The Calf must stay alive and Little Hare must protect it, otherwise, as the dream has told, a great terribleness will come – rising seas, a plague, skies raining down fire…
A stunning prequel to the award-winning, bestselling The Last Wild trilogy, encompassing themes of friendship, climte change and hope.
This book is a pre-order for Piers Torday’s author visit to Colemore Junior School, it will be delivered to the school for the author to sign at the event.
Please put in the notes your child first name and class number so we can deliver it to the correct person.
One snowy night Little Hare is bored and hungry and tired of being told what to do, so he goes off on his own to adventure, he certainly doesn’t come back empty handed, having discovered a pure silver calf, born under the light of the moon and he knows instantly that this is Mooncalf. A legendary calf whose arrival has been foretold since the dawn of time, through a dream passed down from animal to animal The Calf must stay alive and Little Hare must protect it, otherwise, as the dream has told, a great terribleness will come – rising seas, a plague, skies raining down fire…
A stunning prequel to the award-winning, bestselling The Last Wild trilogy, encompassing themes of friendship, climte change and hope.
This book is a pre-order for Piers Torday’s author visit to Hall Green Junior School, it will be delivered to the school for the author to sign at the event.
Please put in the notes your child first name and class number so we can deliver it to the correct person.
Hector has been getting into trouble for as long as he can remember, he doesn’t mind so much though because most of his best ideas come to him when he’s on detention. But it seems as though this name he’s getting as a trouble maker is starting to stick, and lately no-one believes him about anything, even when he’s telling the truth.
Things take a definite turn for the worse when he executes one of his pranks, only this time he realises he needs to make a change and sets out to prove everyone wrong.
Told from the perspective of a bully The Night Bus Hero explores the themes of homelessness while celebrating kindess, friendship and the potential everyone has to change for good.
Onjali Q. Raúf is a children’s author and human rights activist, the founder of two charities Making Herstory and O’ Refugee Aid Team. She has written several award winning books including Boy at The Back of The Class, The Star Outside My Window and The Night Bus Hero.
A young girl and her fox campanion travel together through uncertain times towards the hope of colour, light and life. Finding friends and support along the way as they travel towards the rainbow that they know will come after the rain.
A lovely picture book about friendship and finding your way, beautifully illustrated by David Lichfield
Smriti Halls is an award-winning children’s author. With a cast of characters as varied as mischievous monsters and disgruntled geese, she explores relationship and identity; the personal and the political; how it feels to be in your own skin — and in someone else’s. Her books, often fast-paced and funny or lyrical and tender, are always full of hope and heart and speak to the child in all of us.
Meet 4B the WORST CLASS IN THE WORLD, or at least thats what their teacher Mrs Bottomley-Blunt thinks. School should not be fun it is only about learning and everyone knows you can’t have fun and learn at the same time!!
But perhaps, as sometimes happens, these children aren’t the worst, perhaps they’re just misunderstood? I’m sure that Stanley and Manjit didn’t really mean to make their whole class sick in their efforts to be crowned Biscuit King of 4B. And I’m sure Manjit didn’t think that his dog (named Killer) was going to eat Mr Nidjets shoes, I mean sometimes these things just happen don’t they, however it seems like they happen in unexpected doses to this class.
Have a read and see what you think! All of these hilarious escapades are all brilliantly accompanied by Rikin Parekh’s illustrations!!
“Children are interested in everything adults are interested in. You must explain things to them, even if it requires effort.”
This was the understanding of the author Equipo Plantel when This Is A Dictatorship was first published 40 years ago in Spain soon after the end of the Franco dictatorship. He set out to explain what dictatorship is, what it looks and feels like to those affected by it. Forty years later the book has been revised with stunning illustrations by Mikel Casal (who himself grew up under Franco’s regime) translated into English by Lawrence Schimel and published by the fabulous Book Island. Its message is still as important today as it was 40 years ago!
“A brilliant introduction to the need for democracy, for readers of all ages”
“In the summer of 1981, Chiara and her family join their father in Tehran. He has been made Italian ambassador to Iran, and their home is a palace with a wild walled garden where princes and princesses used to live. Real ones, not the sort you find in made-up stories.
Inside the garden walls, there are pomegranate trees, tall grasses hiding all kinds of insects, and a pond with a carp that is one hundred years old. Outside, where the city monster breathes darkly, there are bombs and soldiers with heavy boots and big beards. One day, a boy called Massoud climbs over the wall and makes friends with Chiara. They don’t speak the same language, but together they invent the kingdoms of Outside-Inside and Inside-Outside. Is their secret safe, though?”
This junior graphic novel is inspired by the authors childhood experience and tells a story of an unexpected friendship between two children on either side of war and peace, strikingly illustrated by Régis Lejonc and translated by Sarah Ardizzone.
NB this book is on pre-order it is published 18th Feb 2021 and will be sent out to you as soon as we receive it
James Campbell to the rescue, his latest book Write Your Own Funny Stories provides a step by step guide towards becoming the funniest author ever.. hopefully he won’t have done himself out of a job?
The book takes you through how to plan story ideas and plots, how to create brilliant characters and settings, and, of course, ‘finding the funny’, there are spaces throughout the book for you to try out ideas and some pages at the back for you to get started.
For anyone who’s had the pleasure of attending Just So Festival in “sunny” cheshire, you’re sure to be familiar with James Campbell, he’s definitely one of the stars of the show presenting his stand up comedy show for kids and more recently That Was The Week For Kids, alongside all of this he’s also had some time to write some very funny books.
Recently he’s been hosting The Accidental Show, a weekly chat show on Zoom for children who are allowed to skip school for an hour to do some learning disguised as fun, if you found this page and you’ve not been redirected from the show then join up NOW!! follow thislink.Alternatively email bookings for more info
Watch out teachers!!! all your secrets are about to be uncovered, now everyone will know what you get up to when you’re not being a teacher, or at least what James Campbell imagines you get up to, so it may be better for you to just tell your class now, unless you really do just go home and hang out with your 576 cats?
For anyone who’s had the pleasure of attending Just So Festival in “sunny” cheshire, you’re sure to be familiar with James Campbell, he’s definitely one of the stars of the show presenting his stand up comedy show for kids and more recently That Was The Week For Kids, alongside all of this he’s also had some time to write some very funny books.
Following on from Jame’s insightful exposé of the life of Pets, this hillarious book teaches you why you should carry an emergency banana with you at all times, how to fart in class silently without anyone knowing it was you and how to catapult yourself to school by building a medieval style catapult in your back garden, all accompanied of course by amazing illustrations from Rob Jones.
For anyone who’s had the pleasure of attending Just So Festival in “sunny” cheshire, you’re sure to be familiar with James Campbell, he’s definitely one of the stars of the show presenting his stand up comedy show for kids and more recently That Was The Week For Kids, alongside all of this he’s also had some time to write some very funny books.
Any book that starts off by telling you its NOT a normal book has got to be good, surely? this first instruction lets you know that this is not a book to be read the BORING old way that most books are read, this one must be read forwards backwards, sideways and apparently in approximately 861,000 different ways in between.. according to its author.
Once you’ve figured out how exactly you’re going to read it you’ll find out that its full of answers to all the big questions, such as how can i persaude my parents to get me a pet? and do sausage dogs eat sausages? A fantastic mix of real and made up facts about pets with fantastic illustrations by Rob Jones.
For anyone who’s had the pleasure of attending Just So Festival in “sunny” cheshire, you’re sure to be familiar with James Campbell, he’s definitely one of the stars of the show presenting his stand up comedy show for kids and more recently That Was The Week For Kids, alongside all of this he’s also had some time to write some very funny books.
If you’ve ever wondered why sharks have such a bad reputation? or if they are actually dangerous, human-munching monsters? Or whether infact we’ve all got it wrong then this is the book for you. James Campbell’s book explores in great depth the ridiculous life of sharks, along with the humour you may also learn something about the many different types of sharks and why its so important that we look after them. All accompanied by fantastic illustrations by Rob Jones
Prepare to roll around the floor laughing with the snot-inducingly brilliant
A beautifully written adventure set on top of a super volcano, about coming to terms with grief, letting go of anger at the world and finding hope and joy in the most unexpected of places. Vivi and Seb live halfway across the world from each other, living completely separate lives, until a terrible event unexpectedly makes their paths collide.
Jess Butterworth tells stories of adventures set in places of wilderness, inspired by real events. Jess grew up hearing stories about the Himalaya’s told by her Granny and as soon as she was old enough she set off on her own adventures in search of stories. She has written many books including Where The Wilderness Lives, Swimming Against The Storm, When The Mountains Roared,
Meet Skig, who’s meant to be a warrior (but is really more of a worrier). Meet a giddy comet, skidding across the sky with her tail on fire. Put a marvellous new machine in your pocket and maybe you’ll be able to fix all your life’s problems? find all of these characters and more inside Moon Juice a book of poems for children, full of curious characters and strange situations.
Kate Wakeling is a poet and ethnomusicologist. Her poetry has appeared in magazines and anthologies including Oxford Poetry, Magma, The Guardian, The Best British Poetry 2014 (Salt) and The Forward Book of Poetry 2016 (Faber & Faber). Moon Juice is her first poetry collection for children.
Kate is writer-in-residence with Aurora Orchestra where her scripts, stories and verse for family audiences have featured at Kings Place, the Melbourne Festival, the bOing! Festival and on BBC Radio 3. She also writes and performs with chamber ensemble TROUPE (‘concerts that tell stories’), with recent performances at Wigmore Hall and the Spitalfields Summer Music Festival. The poems Kate writes are always musical, sometimes magical, and full of wonder at the weirdness of the world.
El?na Brasli?a studied Printmaking and Graphic Arts at the Art Academy of Latvia and is one of the leading children’s illustrators in Latvia.