Many of you will be aware of, or have taken part in World Book Day before - but now older readers are gearing up for World Book Night!  World Book Night is a Charity dedicated to the promotion of books and reading. Which is brilliant in our book!! Events of this scale and consequence rely on the support, energy and passion of thousands of readers, so raising awareness is essential. And this is the perfect opportunity to have your say and tell everyone about a book that you love! So we’re thrilled that two DFB authors have had titles chosen for the event – Mark Haddon’s Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights. Hooray! To read an extract of Curious Incident, click here , and to visit the Northern Lights page click here.. We think that they’re both fantastic books, but I wonder how many titles you have read from the shortlist..

 Here is a little more about the event:-

World Book Night represents the most ambitious and far-reaching celebration of adult books and reading ever attempted in the UK and Ireland.

On Saturday, 5 March 2011, two days after World Book Day, with the full support of the Publishers Association, the Booksellers Association, the Independent Publishers Guild, the Reading Agency with libraries, World Book Day, the BBC and RTE, one million books will be given away by an army of passionate readers to members of the public across the UK and Ireland.

The book give-away will comprise 40,000 copies of each of the 25 carefully selected titles, to be given away by 20,000 ‘givers’, who will each distribute 48 copies of their chosen title to whomever they choose on World Book Night. The remaining books will be distributed by World Book Night itself in places that might otherwise be difficult to reach, such as prisons and hospitals.

David Fickling, Publisher, David Fickling Books: “I love the idea of World Book Night. There is something of the moon in reading and it is a great honour to have books that we’ve edited chosen. So here’s what we at DFB think: sign up, sign up to the silvery moonlight and become a giver this Christmas!”

(As the shortlist is made up of adult titles, you have to be 18 or over to apply as a supporter - so if you’re old enough and you’d like to, follow the link here!)

Gail Rebuck, CEO, The Random House Group says:

“We launched World Book Day to give children across the UK a special day on which to celebrate books and reading. It is terrific that World Book Night now gives adults an opportunity to join the celebration by sharing their passion for their favourite book or by being the lucky recipient of one of the million books to be given away. It is a truly innovative campaign with industry-wide support and we at Random House are proud to have five terrific books selected and will be doing everything we can in collaboration with our authors and staff to make WBN the resounding success it deserves to be.   The publicity to date has already started a nationwide book conversation and March 5^th will remind everyone of the unique power of books and passionate recommendation.” 

Jamie Byng, Chair, World Book Night says:

“The response to the initiative has been overwhelming.  Not only have we been inundated with heartfelt and creative applications from members of the public wanting to be givers but these have come from an incredibly wide range of people and places. We may have reached a half way point, but we still need thousands of passionate readers to continue to apply to participate. The deadline for applications is January 4^th 2011 and I would encourage everyone to spread the word with us.” 

Mark Bell, BBC Commissioning Editor, Arts says:

“I am proud on behalf of the BBC to be associated with this remarkable project. It is wonderful that World Book Night has already struck a chord with so many people and we look forward to helping make the event on 5th March a great success all around the country.”

So I thought I would do this instead…

First, I have a promise to redeem. Lili, who has posted two questions on the blog, asked after my dog, and I told her I would include a picture for her the next time I put a post on the page. So here, for Lili, is a picture of Spanner.

As I write this Spanner is asleep and snoring. Her snoring can be something of a distraction and I fear it is getting more pronounced the older she gets.

It’s only a week now before school ends for the term, and I can’t wait. Getting up and getting everyone out in the morning is horrid at this time of year – the mornings are so dark, and everyone is so fed up and has colds and just wants the end of term to come. But, we haven’t got long to wait. We’ve only got to get through next week.

The Christmas crowns that I abandoned last year have been picked up again. I’ve nearly finished the bell tower, and this weekend I’ll try to assemble the bowl of fruit, though how I’m going to do that I don’t know, as I seem to remember there was a really complicated way of putting it all together, and I’ve forgotten what it was.

A nice treat early in the New Year will be a trip to Brighton. The Toymaker has been short listed for The Southern School’s Book Award, and there is to be a presentation on the 14th, so whatever the outcome, I’m looking forward to that – a nice long train journey down to the south coast. I love travelling on trains. I like looking out of the windows and watching the world slip by, all those corners and hedgerows, back gardens and swings, people caught just in the moment of letting the dog out or crossing the street with their shopping. And then there are the special things to sometimes see, like a hare sitting in a field. I watch it all. And I’ll enjoy meeting everyone down there too. It will be fun.

But today, I need get on, because next week everything of a writing kind is going to have to grind to a halt, as there will be shopping to do and secrets to keep, and a house to get ready.

And a pineapple, a bunch of grapes, a banana, two cherries, an apple and a pear to somehow stick onto a crown.

And, probably, a mouse or two to evict. They should have got back by then.

Last Friday, to celebrate the launch of Neill Cameron’s DFC Library title, Mo-Bot High, Blackwell’s Children’s Dept played host to a GIANT MO-BOT PARTY!

….Needless to say, it was awesome.

Neill had prepared some fantastic mo-bot activity sheets and  a ‘card-bot’ that was collectivly decorated by his fans, friends and family. Bot-tastic! He even led a comic drawing session that involved lots of audience input, with some pretty hilarious results..

The MO-BOT HIGH dedication includes ‘anyone who’s ever daydreamed of having a giant robot to smash up their school.’  Enough said.

1. Buy your copy of MO-BOT HIGH here.

2. Investigate all the extras and juice on the MO-BOT HIGH website here!

3. Check out Neill’s post about the evening(and generally snoop around his blog – it’s always chocker full of sparkling ideas, insights and illustration..) here!!

It was the RHCB Christmas party yesterday, somewhat depleted due to the snowy conditions as well as wintry illnesses… but all who managed to make it were in festive spirits. It was lovely to see stalwarts such as Candy Gourlay, Sarah Macintye (celebrating her Sheffield Award win) and Philip Pullman. And yesterday’s other big event was the eagerly anticipated publication date of Jenny Downham’s new novel, You Against Me. If you loved Jenny’s first book, Before I Die, you will adore her second - Jenny writes of two characters, an 18-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl who, in the aftermath of a terrible crime, are pitched against each other in unbearable circumstances. Her writing is so immediately accessible, and  manages to expose emotional depths with a real lightness of touch. She has an incredible instinct for how young people feel and behave. Read it as soon as you can! It’s a wonder of a book.