Down The Rabbit Hole →

Katherine Woodfine and Melissa Cox are joined by special guests, author Non Pratt and author/illustrator Rob Biddulph, to chat about children’s books released this month. Plus a preview of new YA sensation “The Sin-Eater’s Daughter” by Melinda Salisbury. Visit downtherabbitholeradio.tumblr.com and www.twitter.com/dtrhradio for more information.

I was lucky enough to be a guest alongside the brilliant Non Pratt on yesterday’s edition of Down The Rabbit Hole on Resonance FM, hosted by Katherine Woodfine, Melissa Cox and Louise Lamont. It was great fun, although it turns out I say “kind of” FAR too much. Click here to have a listen…

harpercollinschildrens:

Penguin blue has a kite and he’s ready for his maiden flight.

Take a look inside BLOWN AWAY by Rob Biddulph

harpercollinschildrens:

BLOWN AWAY by Rob Biddulph is coming to the US.

Be on the look out for a penguin with his new kite flying in the sky.

13 Cool Penguin Facts →

harpercollinschildrens:

In celebration of National Penguin Day, here are 13 cool penguin facts to share with your kiddos.

1. Scientists have determined there are about 17-20 different species of penguins, all of which live in the southern hemisphere.
2. Emperor penguins have a life span of 20 years.
3. Even though…

AUTHOR EVENTS

Exciting news. I’m doing a few author events in the upcoming February half term. Be great to see you…

THURSDAY 19 FEBRUARY 

How To Draw A Windy Day The Story Museum, Oxford, 2pm

In this workshop, I will be showing younger children how to draw their own windy day adventure, creating fun characters from simple lines and shapes. Suitable for ages 4-6. (Due to the young age of the children, parents are asked to stay but do not require a ticket). Tickets available here… 

How To Be An Illustrator The Story Museum, Oxford, 6pm

I’ll be doing this event alongside one of my favourite picture book author/illustrators David Mackintosh. We’ll discuss our respective approaches to creating stories from pictures and will try to advise on how to make your own work stand out from the crowd. Good for aspiring illustrators and anyone hoping to one day publish a picture book. Tickets available here… 

FRIDAY 20 FEBRUARY

Windy day art activities Imagine Children’s Festival, South Bank Centre, London, 3pm

An afternoon of blustery fun and arty activities. Suitable for ages 3 – 6. Level 5 Function Room at Royal Festival Hall. Tickets available here… 

Another year over and a new one just begun

So that was 2014. 

One of my little jobs for the lull between Christmas and new year was to organise our iPhoto library (I know, pretty rock'n'roll, huh?). It was while I was doing that I realised just how much has happened over the last twelve months. Among other things my brother and my cousin got married (no, not to each other), Ally quit her job and started an exciting new phase in her career, my sister found out she was expecting a little boy (the first male Biddulph baby for a LONG time - due for release mid-January), Ella did brilliantly in her AS levels and, of course, Blown Away was published.

2015 is already shaping up to be even busier. The Blown Away US edition is out on January 20. I’m HUGELY excited about this, particularly after it received a prestigious Kirkus ‘starred review’ (click here to read). Here’s the first teaser for the book and here’s a countdown to release. Oh, and this is what the jacket looks like…

The US publication is closely followed by that of the UK paperback which sports a very cool new cover design (see below). It’s out on January 30 so keep ’em peeled…

Spring sees the book’s release across Europe. It will be called Weggepustet in Germany, Vol au Vent in France, Volando Voy in Spain, Quin Vent in Catalonia, Φύσηξε αεράκι in Greece, Weggewaaid in Holland and Oops! Si Vola in Italy. It’s also due for release in China at some point soon - can’t wait to see that cover.  

The most exciting thing for me, however, is that I have the whole of January in the studio artworking my second picture book. I can’t tell you too much about it at the moment ’cos it’s all very secret squirrel, but what I can say is that it’s not another Penguin Blue adventure. I’ve written a brand new story with brand new characters. I really hope you like it/them. I must say that I’m pretty pleased with the way it’s gone so far, and my daughters and wife think it’s ok too - but then they would say that wouldn’t they. Who knows, maybe I’ll post a few little visual teasers at some point later this month and then you can let me know what you think.

Anyway, huge thanks to everyone who’s been following my blog, my Facebook page, my tweets and my instas, and also to everybody who has written to me or sent me Penguin Blue drawings. I really, really appreciate it.

À bientôt and a happy new year to you all x

Getting the maximum possible use from my advent illustrations…

Advent calendar

It’s Christmas Eve.

So that means that a) the main man is doing his rounds tonight, b) my daughters’ levels of hysteria are rapidly approaching the red zone and c) I’ve finally reached the end of my advent odyssey. Phew!

For those unaware, back in late November I decided it would be fun to do a little drawing for each day in December and post them online. A digital advent calendar. Fellow Facebookers, Twitterers and Instagrammers will probably have seen a few but for everybody else here they all are in one place. 

Hope you like them and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Fun bookseller event last night at Waterstones Piccadilly with Oliver Jeffers and David Mackintosh - two author/illustrators I really admire/am jealous of. It was a panel thing (think Question Time with added penguins) and despite the fact that I was the new boy and brought v little to the party it went pretty well. The Waterstones booksellers were all lovely and so nice about Blown Away. Oliver and David were also totally cool and gave me lots of great advice. A few (too many) beers with the ace HarperCollins crew followed. Bit ouchy today…

September round-up

It’s been about a month since Blown Away was published and I thought that now would be a good time to do a quick round-up of what’s been happening since (mainly cos my mum wants me to put everything in one place). But first I want to say a huge thanks to everyone who has sent me pictures of the book in shop windows, on bookshelves or of them reading it to their kids - see above for a little montage. It’s SUCH a thrill to see. 

So… we started out with a little blog tour. My first port of call was the Book Sniffer (click to read), then I nipped over to my friends at Read It Daddy before chatting about my five favourite picture books with the Library Mice. 

I was interviewed by POP and Ideas Tap both of which made me sound not-that-boring. Quite an achievement given how much I tend to waffle (as this post perfectly demonstrates). 

I was also thrilled to appear in the latest issue of Artists & Illustrators magazine (see pic below) - a huge honour for me.

The book also made an appearance on Hannah Maggs’ vlog (9 minutes 27 seconds in, to be precise), in the brilliant Not Another Mummy Blog and in Stylist Magazine’s Style List (see pic below).

Then I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute a gallery to the Guardian’s brilliant How To Draw series. Click here for my tips on drawing a windy day.

Finally, one of my favourite picture book sites, The Illustrated Forest, reviewed Blown Away. And, what’s more, they liked it. Phew.

So that was September. October is mainly about working on book 2 (will post some teasers at some point) so wish me luck. 

Until next time…

The amazing Blown Away cake from the launch. Was delicious as well as beautiful! Made by the very talented Verity Thorneycroft

It's publication day!

Well, it’s finally arrived. Today is the day that Blown Away comes out in the UK. It is officially a published book. There is a copy in the British Library and everything. Ok, so it’s probably propping up a wonky table or something but still, it’s in there and that’s what’s important. It’s quite something to know that I could go into any bookshop right now and buy a copy. A very nice feeling. 

The build up to launch over the last few weeks has been very exciting, if a bit hectic. Firstly, I went into HarperCollins HQ to sign copies of the book that will be sent out to shops across the country.

It was the day that the A-level results came out which was very appropriate given that it was the most handwriting I’ve had to do since my A-levels. I ended up with one of those ‘exam lumps’ on my finger. Was fun though. At first, I didn’t know what to write but luckily Nicola at HC was on hand to help. “How about… ‘Best wishes, Rob Biddulph’?”. It really is that simple.

They also showed me the little kites that they’ve had made for bookshops to display in their windows. You can actually fly them! My daughters were particularly pleased with those.

Next, I made these Blown Away-themed puzzles for the Observer.

They appeared over a bank holiday weekend which was just about the wettest on record. Hopefully they kept children busy for half an hour or so. If you missed the print edition click here for a fully-downloadable and printable online version on the Guardian website.

I’ve also been doing other bits and pieces for the Guardian (which you’ll be able to see very soon - will post here when they’re ready) and have been interviewed by various magazines and blogs about the book and the ‘process’. Again, I’ll post a link when they appear (unless I sound like a complete idiot in which case we will never speak of this again).

I’ve created a Facebook page too. I’m still trying to get the hang of how to best to use it, but why not come on over and ‘like’ it by clicking here. It would be lovely to see you.

Finally, I’ve updated my website to include the book. You can see some of the spreads, check out the teaser ads and, crucially, get details of where you can actually buy it. There’s also some information about the international editions - 10 at the last count. Can’t wait to see all the different covers together. 

Right, I’m off to my nearest bookshop to see if I can find Blown Away on the shelves. I’ll try and post again very soon. In the meantime, here’s how to draw Penguin Jeff (him with the eyebrows)…

Three little teaser button things I’ve done in the build up to launch (only eight days to go!)

An actual book!

This week has been amazing.

On Monday Lydia (one of my very lovely editors at HarperCollins) sent over a couple of advance copies of Blown Away. Actual finished, printed, bound copies of my book.

It was quite a surreal experience holding it in my hands for the first time - genuine dream-come-true stuff. Cheesy, I know, but true. And it looks lovely, even if I do say so myself! I’m so pleased with it, particularly the PLC (bookspeak for the cardboard cover thing underneath the dust-jacket).

Here’s a couple of pics… (will post more soon)

The week’s other surreal moment came at the HarperCollins Summer Party - an annual event held every July for HC authors published that year. And, according to the badge that I had to wear for the evening, I’m one of those! How hilarious.

Anyway, back to that second surreal moment; at the party I was introduced to… JUDITH KERR, author and illustrator of one of the best children’s books of all time, The Tiger Who Came to Tea.

She was so nice - sweet and generous. Plus she had some lovely encouraging words for me that I’ll always remember. Such an honour to meet her. She may be 91 but she’s as productive as ever - her new book The Crocodile Under The Bed is out soon.

So yes, quite a week. And there’s more exciting things coming as we get closer to publication date (August 28). Will be sure to keep you posted but in the meantime click here for a little book teaser…

Click here to see a teaser ad for Blown Away →

Coming soon to a bookshop near you… 

It's all happening

It really is.

Remember when I said that my first picture book, Blown Away, was coming out at some point early next year? Well, the publication date has just been brought forward to September. This is very exciting for me. I might actually get to hold an actual printed copy of my actual book before the schools break up for the summer holidays. 

The turnaround has been pretty quick.

The story was written last September,

sketched out in October,

signed by HarperCollins in November,

artworked in January,

proofed in February,

taken to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in March,

tweaked in April

and sent off to be printed and bound last week.

Along the way I’ve met lots of very talented people and I’m incredibly lucky to be working with the HarperCollins team behind the Judith Kerr, David Walliams and Oliver Jeffers books. Rachel, Lydia (editors) and James (art director) have brought so much to the party and improved Blown Away no end. We’re all really pleased with how it’s turned out.  

The HC rights team have been working very hard too and I’m proud to say that we already have publishing deals confirmed in the states (HarperCollinsUS), France (Éditions Milan), Germany (Diogenes) and Holland (Gottmer). I think the British version gets sent to Australia so hopefully my family down under will also be able to pick up a copy soon.  

All told, the last six months or so have been amazing, if slightly surreal. I still can’t quite believe that in a few months time I’ll be able to walk into any Waterstones and pick up a book with my name on the cover. 

Now I’ve just got to come up with an idea for the next one…

Packed-lunch post-its

When Poppy started in reception back in September the thing she was most anxious about was staying on at school for lunch. I suppose it’s quite a big deal when you’re four. So we thought that if we put something in her lunchbox that made her smile when she opened it the whole ordeal might seem a little more bearable. Someone suggested drawing her a little picture on a post-it note. And so it began.

She was very pleased with the first one (a decidedly rushed Humpty Dumpty) and immediately asked what her drawing for the next day would be. Suddenly it’s six months later and I have drawn about 120.

Yes, it does add slightly to the stress levels of a morning - it’s tricky trying to knock-out a picture in between the Weetabix and the ponytails. If I’m feeling very organised I will do it the night before but that has only happened about three times. The Mr Men are my go-to guys if we’re running particularly late as I can knock one of those fellas out in about two minutes. Unfortunately, Poppy’s decided that I’ve done too many now so I’m on the lookout for another quick solution. Any ideas gratefully received.

Some of the post-its arrive back from school in better condition than others, but we do keep them all. The plan is to frame them and put them up on her wall at some point. It might be something nice for her (and us) to look back on in the years to come. Having said that, she’s not shy about giving me a pretty honest appraisal of the day’s drawing when I get home from work. Apparently my Ewok didn’t look like an Ewok. “It looks like a rubbish teddy bear that’s gone wrong, daddy”. Charming.

Here’s a selection.

Footnote: I feel I must apologise to the people that drew all the original characters. My slightly cock-eyed interpretations of your work must be quite painful to look at. Still, at least Poppy likes them. Well, most of the time…