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:
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 Blennyconsiders 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.
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.
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.
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.
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“
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:
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
