Today we're bringing you our top three #FridayReads - each one perfect to enjoy with your little ones this chilly weekend. So snuggle up under a blanket with a hot chocolate and enjoy these delightful reads:
Big Book of Little Stories is a collection of fifteen classic stories including the 'Gingerbread Man' and 'The Three Little Pigs'. Each charmingly retold and illustrated for very young children. Perfect to dip in-and-out of at bedtime.
This week, Look inside Space won the prestigious Royal Society Young People's Book Award. With over 60 flaps to lift, vibrant illustrations and simple explanations, you and your little one will have a great time exploring the stars and planets with award-winning board book.
They say laughter is the best medicine, so if you're feeling a bit under the weather, we prescribe a good dose of Joanna Nadin's Penny Dreadful series! The whole family will love reading about Penny's 'BRILLIANT IDEAS™' and the calamities, kerfuffles and disasters that follow.
Penny Dreadful and the Horrible Hoo-hah is the latest in the series, read the first chapter online now.
We promise it'll have the whole family in stitches!
A few months ago, we were delighted and honoured to discover that Look inside Space was shortlisted for this year’s Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize. Last night we went to the ceremony to find out if we had won... Usborne Editor Rob Lloyd Jones ends the suspense today on the blog!
Above: Look inside Space, written by Rob Lloyd Jones, designed by Suzie Harrison and illustrated by Benedetta Giaufret and Enrica Rusiná.
"First off - The Royal Society. The world’s oldest learned society, where Sir Isaac Newton presented his theory of gravity, and Charles Babbage demonstrated the first computer. Where Charles Darwin was recognised for his theory of evolution, and Francis Crick and James Watson presented the structure of DNA. Where Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud were fellows…They also serve tasty little fish-and-chip canapés, which I really recommend!
The team behind the book (myself, editor Jane Chisholm, designer Suzie Harrison, and publicist Carolyn Koussa) scuttled from the rain and into the Society’s extravagant headquarters beside St James’s Park, staring around grand marble columns and sweeping staircases. Nervously sipping champagne, we inspected the other shortlisted books, all of which looked fantastic. I was especially impressed with ‘Build the Human Body’, which included a fantastic model skeleton kit.
The award ceremony was great fun, with hilarious films by some of the 1,000 school children that selected the winner of the prize. A girl wearing an astronaut’s jetpack delightedly waggled Look inside Space in the air, as did three freaky characters dressed as spacemen and aliens, who sung a strange but great little song about the book.
Above: Aliens love Look inside Space, too!
A group of students from one of the schools that voted for the award then took to the stage to announce the winner. I thought I heard a drum roll, but it was just my heart beating faster as we waited to find out…
…that Look inside Space had won this year's prize!
Cue astonished stares and delighted chuckles from the Usborne team, as we accepted the award and posed for photos. We weren’t surprised that our book might win an award – it’s a lovely book, put together with the same craft and care as every title that we publish – but simply that someone would award us for making it, and for doing this job. For having fun.
Above: A very pleased Rob Lloyd Jones (R) and Suzie Harrison (L) with their trophy!
We stayed to chat with the other nominated authors, designers and illustrators as well as fellows of the Society, who do amazing things such as study black holes and count stars. Everyone was really pleased for us (despite that I managed to get astrology and astronomy mixed up). In particular, they were delighted that books such as Look inside Space inspire young minds and make science fun, which of course it is.
So a huge ‘thank you’ to the Royal Society for their generosity, their enthusiasm, and for recognising our book. The award itself – a hefty block of glass that reminds me of a murder weapon in a detective movie – now stands proudly on the reception desk at Usborne Towers. You’ll notice that it’s smudged with fingerprints. That’s because none of us wanted to let it go."
It's one week today until the announcement of the winner of this year's Royal Society Young People's Book Prize, so we've got all of our fingers and toes crossed for the brilliant Look Inside Space:
Today, Rob Lloyd Jones, the author behind this fascinating introduction to space, tells us all about what inspires him, from shooting stars to 'George's Marvellous Medicine':
Above: Rob Lloyd Jones, author of Look Inside Space
My interest in science really began when I started writing for children. Before that, the subject had always seemed a bit grown up; the sort of thing that only very clever people found fun. But children’s books have a way of making big concepts both understandable and really exciting.
What inspired you to start writing Look Inside Space?
A visit to India, and the Thar desert, where I camped for a few nights. I didn’t want to go into the tent – the night sky, away from all the lights of towns and cities, shivered with thousands and thousands of stars, unlike anything I’d ever seen. I watched shooting stars and gazed at the Milky Way, and realised that I didn’t really know what was out there. I decided to write something fun and interactive for young people that they could possibly look through with their parents, so that everyone can learn together.
What inspires you to write?
Other writers inspire me a lot. When I read something amazing I just kinda want to be in that gang. I’m a long way off yet.
Why did you decide to become a writer?
I didn’t plan to write at all. I wanted to be an archaeologist, but soon discovered that wet weekends in muddy fields didn’t suit me. But they did give me a lot of time staring at rain falling on canvas, and thinking of stories. So I started to write them down.
In the age of TV and the internet, why are books still important?
Books such as Look Inside Space can be wonderfully interactive – children reading together, or with their parents. That’s when discussions start and magic happens. Those other formats can be isolating, everyone just sitting and staring in silence.
Why is it important for young people to get involved in science?
I think young people want to get involved in science. It’s cool – things go bang, and fly into the air. Too often, though, it can be taught in a way that leaves children cold, or confused. So it’s important for adults to make sure that doesn’t happen.
What is exciting about science?
Mystery, unanswered questions. There is still so much to learn, so many discoveries yet to be made that could change how we live, save people, save the planet. It’s fun to think of scientists in 150 years looking back on us now and smiling about how ignorant we all were.
Why do you write for young people rather than adults?
I love the idea that something I write might inspire young people, or even inspire a life-long passion for the subject. Just to have sparked a fire inside someone, that’s all I hope for from anything I write.
What are your memories of science at school?
At my school we were almost encouraged, at a young age, to decide if we were ‘science people’ or ‘art people’. That’s a load of hogwash, and should never have happened. Because of that, I didn’t read science books until I was older – it almost felt as if I would be cheering for a rival football team. I wish my school had focused more on wonder – how you can experience wonder at so many different things, no matter what the subject. Music, paintings, science, space, stories…
What was your favourite book when you were young?
'George’s Marvellous Medicine' by Roald Dahl. To me, it was the ultimate science text book.
Tune in to the blog next Tuesday 12th November to find out if Look Inside Space won!
You may remember that Carolyn recently blogged about Look Inside Space, our interactive and intergalactic flap book, being shortisted for the Royal Society Young People's book prize. Well, we're back today with some more amazing news, as Look Inside Space has also been shortlisted for this year’s British Design and Production Awards! The awards recognise and promote the excellence of the British book design and production industry and the judges who award the prize look for books with exceptional design, particularly excellent layout and high standards of typography.
All this positive attention for Look Inside Space plus the great feedback we get from readers of both our See Inside and Look Inside series (like these brilliant reviews for See Inside Planet Earth) recently got us thinking about how we could expand our flap book offering.
The combination of simple, informative text and interactive illustrations makes flap books a great way to learn and here at Usborne, we believe that it's never too early to start learning. That's why this month we've published the first title in our brand new Peep Inside series, Peep Inside the Zoo.
Whereas the information in Usborne See Inside titles is just right for children in Key Stage 2 and our Look Inside series is perfectly pitched for ages 4 and up, Peep Inside books are designed with the very young in mind, introducing children aged 2 and up to their very first information books. Snippets of text are combined with beautiful, bold illustrations and lots of flaps and holes to lift and peep through, to make sure that little ones stay engaged.
Here's what you can expect to find under the flaps in Peep Inside the Zoo:
