Laureate's na nÓgs first week!

The first week has been a bit of a whirlwind... but it has been brilliant fun. The messages and warm reaction to my new role as Laureate na nÓg have been really welcoming and I am looking forward to the next two years. Children's Books Ireland has gathered all the coverage here.

And I have been busy! Here's what day 2 was like:

6am-Wake up

7am- Taxi to RTE

9am- Interview on RTE John Murray's Radio Show

10am- Taxi to Brown Bag Films

12.30 Collected by the lovely Nessa who is the Laureates assistant. Fancy that!

1.30 First official event as Laureate na nÓg speaking at Barnardo's Literacy event.

2.30 Back to Brown Bag Films to work on visuals for The Hugglemonster show.

4.30- Interview Newstalk

5 pm- Attend actor records with director for The Hugglemonsters

11.30pm- Last train home and sleep. Phew!

Tomorrow, I will be giving the keynote address at The Children's Books Ireland Conference Weaving a Shared Story, which is taking place this weekend, Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th May. I've been collecting lots of old and new images to show there. The conference is always jammed packed with inspirational writers and illustrators and this year is no exception. On Saturday there is a talk by Jutter Bauer winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Medal. And Sundays line up includes one of my heroes Ed Emberley, we adore his drawing books in our house! Hope to see you there. 

Monsters Monsters Everywhere!!!!

I keep coming back to monsters in my own work, partly because I grew up glued to the Muppet Show before bedtime every Sunday night and with monsters you can really explore strong emotions and feelings, really important in picture books. I’ve written a picture book about a very hungry Ravenous Beast and a picture book about family of Hugglewug Monsters.

I really can’t seem to get away from them!

So I was really delighted to be asked to pick my top five Picture Books that feature Monsters for Library Mice Blog. Before you click can you guess who the monsters are?

1 Who has a bluish-greenish nose, sharp white teeth, and big yellow eyes?

2 This monster likes to lick up the darkness?

3 Who has potatoes growing out of his pants?

4 Who wants to “scare the tuna salad” out of a boy named Sam?

5 Who does Max tame?

Monsters books give children stories with teeth that they really can hold on to. Want to see how many you got right? Find the answers here.

What are your top five Monster picture books?