Crab, Dab and Blenny are going live!

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I’m so excited to be taking Crab, Dab & Blenny to the IW Story Festival this February half term. It’s been a long two years since I last did a live event!

And I’m particularly pleased that it’s Crab,Dab & Blenny that I’m sharing at the festival this year. The importance of reducing the amount of plastic in our oceans has never been more acute.

Join me if you can, at Quay Arts in Newport, Friday 25 February, 11.15am-12pm, to share my rhyming story about fishy friends and plastic pollution, and find out how all of us, even children, can do our bit to reduce the amount of plastic in the sea.

There will also be some hands-on, gluey fun, with a beach-inspired craft activity. I hope to see you there!

Tickets are available from Quay Arts

For more information about my event, and all the other inspirational goings-on at the IW Story Festival, on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 February, please visit the festival site.

Crab, Dab & Blenny are going on tour!

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With the school holidays almost upon us, and with so many children having beachy staycations this summer, I thought this would be the ideal time to promote my new rockpool-based rhyming picture book, Crab,Dab & Blenny, so I’m taking it on tour! More specifically, I’m having my first ever blog tour, with Crab,Dab & Blenny being reviewed/featured by 25 bloggers over five days, starting Monday 12 July. Phew!

It’s going to be exciting and nerve-wracking in equal measure!

So please keep an eye out for the reviews, and like and share (if they’re good ones!) on social media. Here’s the schedule:

Great Early Reviews for ‘Crab, Dab & Blenny’!

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I’ve had some wonderful early reviews for Crab, Dab & Blenny; really couldn’t have been better if I’d written them myself!

I thought Crab, Dab and Blenny was utterly brilliant. Peta Rainford understands  children so well. Crab, Dab and Blenny considers the difficult issue of plastics in the sea, but the author makes it accessible without ever being patronising, and it is entertaining and actually uplifting, as well as educational, so that it is a really fantastic book. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Linda’s Book Bag, full review here

It is 5 stars from us for this one, well written, a lovely rhyming style and some fab images and best of it it carries a very important message! Very highly recommended.

donnasbookblog, full review here

Crab, Dab & Blenny is a beautiful, rich, educational story that will not only gives children a wonderful tale but also arms them with the knowledge that not only is plastic bad for the environment but how they can help when they are next at the beach if they see plastic lying around.

Whispering Stories, full review here

A lovely tale, but with a serious and current environmental message, the pupils in school loved hearing this read aloud, and it prompted lots of discussion about what we can do to help stop waste ending up in the sea. The bright illustrations and fact that it was written by a local author about beaches near the school (St. Helens) added to the enjoyment, and really brought it home that this is an issue that affects all of us.

richreadalot, whatIread, full review here

A great rhyming story with an important environmental message surrounded by beautiful illustrations. 

Amazon Review

We absolutely love this book. Wonderful character and excellent rhymes. With such a clear ecological message for children.

Website review

Crab, Dab & Blenny is available to buy from my online shop or Amazon.

IT’S PUBLICATION DAY FOR CRAB, DAB & BLENNY!

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I feel like it’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally here! Publication day for Crab, Dab & Blenny!

It is available to buy from my online shop, from Amazon and, as they always say in the adverts, ‘all good bookshops’, including the lovely Medina Books, here on the Isle of Wight.

Publication Day started in the most fantastic way, with a lovely 5 star review from Donna Maguire and her four-year-old daughter, Ava, on donnasbookblog:

“It is 5 stars from us for this one, well written, a lovely rhyming style and some fab images and best of it it carries a very important message! Very highly recommended“

You can read the full review here.

I’m really excited about this book. It feels very close to my heart: inspired by the beaches – and particularly the rockpools – of the Isle of Wight, where I live. The beaches are beautiful, but, like a lot of other people, I am frustrated and upset by the amount of plastic washed up on a daily basis. So I’m hoping my book will not only pass on my enthusiasm for rockpools and rockpooling, but also help inform young children about the problem of plastic pollution.

Here’s the blurb for Crab, Dab & Blenny:

Fish friends Dab and Blenny are upset by the plastic that washes into their lovely rockpool home. Crab, on the other hand, just LOVES the shiny bright colour… But when Blenny gets caught in plastic twine, Crab finally understands the danger of plastics in the ocean.

Crab, Dab & Blenny is a fun, rhyming picture book for 4-to-8-year-olds, with an important environmental message.

If you want to find out more about the inspirations behind the book, and how I put it all together, my video session for this year’s IW Story Festival, From Source to See is still available on YouTube:

Happy World Book Day!

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Well, this is a bit different. It’s World Book Day and I’m at home. No school visits today. It’s the first time this has happened since I published my first book, Hairy Fairy, back in 2014.

All school visits are fun, but there’s something special about WBD!

I love my school visits on World Book Day; the children have that special level of excitement that only a day out of school uniform, combined with a ‘special visitor’ in the classroom, can create.

One of my favourite things about WBD is seeing people dress up as my characters

I know some authors will be doing ‘virtual’ author visits today. Personally, I haven’t been promoting virtual visits so far: partly because I figured that teachers had enough to contend with, juggling virtual and face-to-face teaching, without adding me to the mix; partly because of my own efforts at ‘homeschooling’.

Anyway, as from 8 March, I am more than happy to get back on the school visits horse. If you’re a headteacher, teacher or PTA member and are interested in arranging a virtual visit to your school, please click here for more information. In the meantime, I am very happy for you to share my recent sessions at the IW Story Festival with your class. I am also happy to answer any questions your class may have for me, and respond to any work inspired by my sessions. Please email me at petarainford@gmail.com.

Happy World Book Day!

From Source to See: this session explains the steps I went through to produce my next book; includes writing tips. You know your class best, but would probably suit year 4 up.
The Niggle: in this session, I read my rhyming picture book about anxiety and resilience and talk about the anxiety children may be feeling at the moment. I demonstrate how to make a ‘positivity cube’. best for years 1-4?

A bit of positivity for the IW Story Festival

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Only a week to go until the start of the IW Story Festival and my first session, How to Beat the Niggle, which is on at 1.15pm on Wednesday 17 February.

It’s been a tough 12 months for everyone, and I think all of us have felt the strain, at least from time-to-time, so I thought it was a good time to dust off my book about childhood anxiety and resilience, The Niggle, to read at the festival.

And in case that’s not positive enough, I will also be showing you how to make a positivity cube like this:

The positivity cube in action!

You can get ahead of the game and print out the template for the cube from here.

Join me on Wednesday 17 February, 1.15pm on IW Story Festival You Tube Channel

Can you make a scary face? Can you wiggle your fingers? Yes? Then this is the session for you! Don’t just listen to the story of The Niggle – about a little monster who whispers in five-year old Joe Jackson’s ear and makes him afraid – but join in! We all get a niggle in our ear from time to time, but there are things you can do to beat it: Peta will show you how to make a ‘Positivity Cube’ so you can get creative and conquer your fears and worries!

Join me at at IW Story Festival for a chance to win a dedication in my new book!

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I hope you will be able to join me at the IW Story Festival, on Thursday 18 February, at 2pm, when I will be talking about the process I went through to produce my new book, Crab, Dab & Blenny. I will also be offering one lucky person the chance to have my new book dedicated to them, or a person of their choice. Join me for the session for your chance to win!

Crab, Dab & Blenny will be published later this year

Find out how my experience of living on the Isle of Wight, my love of rock pools and my worries about plastics in the ocean, inspired my story.

The IW Story Festival runs from Wednesday 17 to Saturday 20 February, all sessions are on YouTube and FREE! You can see the whole programme here #crabdabandblenny

Final Lockdown Special Offer!

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It’s the final day of this latest lockdown and my latest and last Lockdown Special Offer. This week, you can get 10% off all purchases, plus free UK delivery on everything from my online shop.

To get the discount, just add the following coupon code when you check out: DQ2H94W4. Offer runs until next Tuesday, 8 December, so HURRY, HURRY, HURRY to get your discounted stocking fillers! Sorry, UK orders only.

All my books come signed by me – and I’m happy to add a personal dedication, just let me know what to say in the ‘order notes’
Get 10% off and free postage on all my rhyming picture books, including these three!

3 for 2 special offer on books from my shop

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Oops. I’m a bit late posting this week’s Lockdown Special Offer. But fear not, it will still run for the full seven days. This week I am offering UK customers of my online shop three books for the price of two. And there’s no pesky coupon code this week: just add the first two books to your cart in the normal way, then, when you checkout, put ‘3 for 2’ in the ‘Order notes’ box, along with the name of the third book.

Don’t forget, you can also use the ‘Order notes’ box to request any personal dedications. Unfortunately this offer is only available to UK customers and closes at midnight on Wednesday 2 December.

Get any three books for just £13.98

My final Lockdown Special Offer will be posted next Tuesday, 1 December.