Another London Calls review...

From the fabulous, the fantastical, the one and only Instagram sensation: @thereadingninja

Very much like that ninja picks up on London Calling/the Clash/punk vibe of the book. Nice one ninja.

#thereadingninja

WILL MESSY GET KIDS TO LOVE SCIENCE?

* "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about"

A super review of "Messy Goes to Okido" by Lucy Gill for the Huff Post parenting section!

I'm pretty chuffed that the Balloons episode gets a specific mention - and thrilled that it's in an albeit slightly contentious context. 

(See my mum's similar comments in an earlier post…)

"The legendary: Valley of the Lost Balloons"

The Okido magazine/Doodle production team should be delighted - reviews don't get much better than this!

Read the full review here: Will Messy Get Kids to Love Science?

This little monster has come a long way...

*Oscar Wilde

#OKIDO

#MESSYGOESTOOKIDO

#ART&SCIENCE

#STEM

OKIDO - the TV issue!

To celebrate Messy & the gang getting their own 52-part series on CBeebies the 37th issue of OKIDO magazine is all about…
...TV!

Messy blasts out of the cover of the TV issue!

1. Messy, Zoe & Felix watching the moon

2. Make a TV set & star in your very own TV show!

3. Cut out & make Messy goes to Okido characters!

4. Make a flip-o-rama? 

SO MANY THINGS TO MAKE AND DO IN EVERY ISSUE!

#OKIDO

#MESSYGOESTOOKIDO

#ART&SCIENCE

#STEM

Autumn

#colour

Jay feathers, sloes, oak leaves, lichen, acorns and blackberries

From Eden

Hooked.

Junior Hipster review...

Oh Alex is going to love this one… I myself am quite delighted by the unashamed embrace of this word and all that it suggests. Enough about the blog's name, this is a smashing little review of our little book.

Thank you Junior Hipster and rock on all you hipster kids out there!

JUNIOR HIPSTER BLOG REVIEW

And the latest ECO KIDS PLANET magazine…all about the Eastern Himalayas

The latest issue of Eco Kids has arrived! It's just as jam-packed with info, stories, games and activities as usual, plus two pull-out card sections, a quiz and an experiment!

The Eastern Himalayas issue 

The introduction...

…Incredible Animal Discoveries Trumps...

…and Interview with a Snow Leopard

Three pieces of mine in this issue (see above). 

And for a bit of unbiased background information, check out the reviews of Eco Kids Planet magazine on cool blogs:

Curious Mum and Mellow Mummy

Time for me to go and write an Interview a Bengal Tiger for the next issue…

A Possum's Tail hits China!

So, A Possum's tail continues its journey around the globe - next stop...CHINA! Received a delicious package this morning from Tate Publishing: a paper parcel that contained a plastic-wrapped twin-pack of books (one the Possum, the other a possibly alarming tale that involves a hunter with a gun trying to shoot animals) both enclosed in an activity sheet for each book). 
Altogether excellent…

A Possum's Tail, Chinese edition

What a wonderful package!

Here's the other book and the activity sheet…

Yahooooo!

What an amazing job Doodle productions/SquintOpera has done - I'm feeling so proud to be part of such a beautiful project. It hasn't been easy to adapt an arts and science printed magazine for kids that's so fresh, imaginative and visually remarkable as well as scientifically robust. How do you transfer the charm, character and energy of Okido into a completely different medium to reach a far broader market? But we've done it. And not only does it look great, but it's funny, smart, clear and has a cracking soundtrack and super-sticky theme song! Plus the simple science is all there, wrapped-up in an awesome adventure story every episode.

On that point, my mother was worried that children might think there really is a Valley of the Lost Balloons  - but is that such a bad thing? After all, there's Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny...

Messy's Lost Balloon

The legendary: "Valley of the Lost Balloons…"

Zoe & Felix chasing the escaped balloons

Giggling, lighter-than-air helium gas particles

Heavy air particles 

"Hello! My name's Messy & I'm a monster - but I'm not scary!"

IT'S ARRIVED!

MESSY GOES TO OKIDO IS ON CBEEBIES EVERY WEEK DAY AT 4.20pm

And today - Friday 11th September - is my 1st episode:

"MESSY'S LOST BALLOON"

& if you can't catch the show today, you can always watch it on iPlayer any time afterwards!