Maudie Smith (aka Amanda, Mands, Moobag)

Yay! Me too😉 (.... hoping I was one of them ☺️)

The Map of Me — Through the Bookshelf When a little girl moves home, everything feels strange and unfamiliar. With her mother’s help, she creates a map of the new area, but some important things are still missing so she makes the map bigg...

Today's review...'The Map of me' by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Olga Shtonda #KidLitUK
Out on the 29th January, this is a very special book.
throughthebookshelf.com/reviews/the-...

Stylish

It's definitely porridge season. Dry Greying Stilton Moon? Bit long I guess

My Brain:
"Psst, here's a great idea for your book."

Me:
"I'm busy. I'll write it down later. I'll remember it."

Morgan Freeman:
"But he did not remember it, for his brain soon moved on to wonder how cottage cheese gets made."

#WritingCommunity #BookSky #WriteSky

Indeed. Also the best Augustus Gloop evers

Also, I was at uni with Peter Ettedgui. You could not hope to meet someone kinder or with more integrity.

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

You must seize today's x

Are you out yet? Stuck in a jar of lingo berry jam?

📢FELLOW AUTHORS📢
I've seen several social media posts from authors who have replied to AI phishing emails, either with responses along the lines of “Please remove me from your contact list or I'll report you for fraud" or more humorously.

Here's why REPLYING TO SCAM EMAILS IS A BAD IDEA.
…
🧵

For Armistice Day, here's a letter my great uncle wrote to his old school in 1914 about the Christmas truce

Swanfall — Through the Bookshelf Pip lives with his family at Keeper’s Cottage on the wetlands where his mum works on environmental conservation. He particularly enjoys the swanfall every autumn where Arctic swans return home and wat...

Today's review...'Swanfall' by Sophie Kirtley @kidsbloomsbury.bsky.social A fabulous read!
www.throughthebookshelf.com/reviews/swanfall

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Jane Ray from Anya‘s Quest, the story, based on Hindu mythology, of a girl trying to save the planet. By Jasbinder Bilan, Walker Books 6 Nov. Ravishing and magical use of colour and decoration and fantastical Hindu imagery. @walkerbooksuk.bsky.social @janeray.bsky.social

'Book swap with stranger saved me from the streets' Rob Toon says he turned to reading after his phone was stolen while homeless in Nottingham.

A great story about the ability of reading to transform lives, from my hometown of Nottingham.
#ReadingForPleasure
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I'd watch breathless marathon runners as a kid & thought you just had to gather enough air beforehand. I loved feeling the wind through the open window when driving. My father said if I kept my mouth open I'd get enough air to run a marathon. Great way to quieten a talkative child on a family drive.

A lovely giveaway!

YouTube video by Oxford Education The Dressing-Up Dad | Oxford Children’s Books

Do you have a dad that needs a story read to him today? Here's an oldie but I like to think a goodie, read by me www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr4g...

Thank you for including My Must-Have Mum! 💕

I’m not seeing much about this book but it’s easily one of the most uplifting and compassionate poetry books for children and adults that I’ve read. It should be winning the prizes and selling like crazy @graffegbooks.bsky.social

No pudding for Russia then. Or there probably will be... they know you're just bluffing

This is really good. Quotes my mate Ali, who produced the brilliant Phoenix Rise just a couple of years ago. It's absolutely desperate out here

First school visit this week. Waiting to go into the class, a child turned round and shouted, ARTHUR! I turned round too, but... no one was there...

Professional soccer player holding up a new sports shoe. The shoe is dark beige, the base pink, then green. It looks like a sandwich with tomatoes and lettuce

All I saw was sandwich for at least 15 seconds

Protestors met JD Vance in Vermont when he went to vacation there today. This is a good one:

It's been obvious since January 6 that he was an enemy of the USA, the UK & the whole of the free world. Everybody still in his camp understands this as completely as everybody against it. They just prioritise personal interest over the national & international. And they know it. They all know it.

The Appletree Animal Agency — Through the Bookshelf Wishing on a shooting star for the puppy she desperately wants, Mattie knows it won’t happen as her Dad just doesn’t believe she is responsible enough yet to properly look after one. However, when she...

oday's review...'The Appletree Animal Agency' by Katya Balen, illustrated by Gill Smith
@walkerbooksuk.bsky.social
A little bit of joy for a rainy day!
throughthebookshelf.com/reviews/the-...

A drawing of a woman in a pink minidress holding onto to a lamppost against a green background. The title of the book is Birdy Arbuthnot’s Year of Yes. The tagline is ‘In Soho anything can happen, and frequently does.’

Back cover blurb reads: ‘1960 is knocking on the door, and eighteen-year-old Margaret ‘Birdy’ Arbuthnot, presently of Surbiton, wants more than her current existence in the dull suburbs. She wants to LIVE – in capital letters! Could Soho, with its bright lights and dark corridors, hold the key to a life more novel-like and less… Surrey? (Even if Mummy thinks it is a square mile of vice, full of men with overly shiny shoes.) At the cusp of the new year, Birdy resolves to only say ‘yes’ to everything for the next twelve months. She can’t possibly realise that her biggest ‘yes’ will launch her directly into the London orbit of the aristocratic Mannering family, and transform her life into one worth writing novels about.’

Can’t tell you how thrilled I am about this cover, by Anna Morrison who did Anne Enright’s The Wren, The Wren. Out May 15th but you can preorder a signed and dedicated copy from @mrbsemporium.bsky.social mrbsemporium.com/shop/uncateg...

1 WEEK UNTIL PETERS CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR! 🎉

If you work at a school or library and haven't yet cast your vote, you've got until the end of Friday this week to choose your favourite. Whoever is crowned, it will be because of you!

Vote before 28 Feb: peters.co.uk/pboty2025-vote

M G Leonard reading with her young son.

Reading is such a wonderful thing to do with your children. It gives me great pleasure to celebrate it on @worldbookdayuk.bsky.social which is next week! 😃