The Big Book Adventure Blog Tour (guest post & giveaway)

Welcome to Day #1 of the Big Book Adventure Blog Tour!

To celebrate the release of The Big Book Adventure by Emily Ford and illustrated by Tim Warnes on September 4th, blogs across the web are featuring exclusive content from Emily and Tim, plus 5 chances to win a copy of The Big Book Adventure and a Canterbury Illustrated Classic edition of one of the classic tales featured in the book!

The Big Book Adventure - from concept to completion: 
Little Red Riding Hood spread
by Tim Warnes

The way I work on my rough layouts and sketches varies from project to project, but essentially the process is the same. The first step is for me to get to an idea that I’m happy to show the publisher. For the Little Red Riding Hood spread from The Big Book Adventure, I began with sketching out ideas of how I wanted the wolf to look, and the general feel for the spread - that of imminent danger and threat (without being so scary as to give a small kid nightmares!). At first I planned not to show the wolf, but concentrate on Piggy and Red Riding Hood - the wolf’s presence was suggested by warning posters. 

In the end I realised I was missing a trick by not illustrating the wolf himself. I’m so glad I came to that realisation, as he was great fun to draw! I collaged his teeth on from cut paper, too make sure they looked suitably crisp and sharp! 

One of the joys of working on this project was that I was allowed to work in different styles throughout, to help get across the premise that the two main characters, Foxy and Piggy, are diving into imaginary worlds via the books they read. I knew I wanted the art for the Red Riding Hood spread to be very graphic, pretty much black and grey scale, with a splash of red. I explored thorny backgrounds, and sketched an idea for a very graphic background made up from letterpress Ws. 

In the end I opted for making the trees more decorative with stripes, with the text reversed out on the black background.The fact that we see Piggy leading the escape by turning the page gives a sense of relief to the drama, and was intended as a visual aid to remind the reader that the adventure is happening in Piggy’s imagination, after reading the book. 

For me, the job of the picture book illustrator is to embellish the written story, to take the reader further into another world. So the wolf making an appearance again later in the book in an illustrated speech bubble (where he is seen in a mash up with the Mad Hatter). The wolf is holding a cup of tea - and one of Alice’s legs! It has also begun to snow. I’d like to think that this image will promote all sorts of discussion and storytelling between kids, parents and librarians: whatever has happened to Alice? Did the wolf gate crash the Mad Tea Party or was he invited? Is the Mad Hatter running to safety - or to get more sandwiches? Has the Dormouse fallen into a deep sleep because of the snow?!… 

*****

Blog Tour Schedule:

September 24th – Word Spelunking

September 25th — Geek Reads Kids

September 26th — Christy's Cozy Corners

September 27th  — Books My Kids Read

September 28th — Chat with Vera

Buy: Amazon | Indiebound

Add on Goodreads

Follow Tim: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Journey back through childhood classics like Peter Pan, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and more in this adorable picture book about the joys of reading!

There is nothing like a book to take you to places you’ve never been. Best friends Foxy and Piggy can’t wait to tell each other about all of their adventures in reading! Flying over Neverland, swimming with a mermaid, joining in a mad tea party, soaring on a magic carpet—old classics come to life in the eyes of two little readers who can’t believe what they’ve seen. Journey back to old favorites and experience the magic all over again in this adorable picture book about the joys of reading!

About the Author: Emily Ford has only ever worked in the world of children's books, apart from a very early foray into shoe fitting and face painting (she does a great tiger). She'll write on anything she can find—from notebooks to used envelopes and the backs of old receipts. As a child her handwriting was neat but now it's almost illegible—only she can read it. Emily lives and works in London. 

About the Illustrator: Children’s author-illustrator Tim Warnes lives in a creative household in rural Dorset, England, with his wife, illustrator Jane Chapman, their two boys, and a big, black cat. With more than twenty years working as a children’s author-illustrator, his passion for inspiring creativity in kids and encouraging a love of reading is infectious. Despite being a grown-up, Tim will often read a picture book to himself at bedtime. He also enjoys playing the banjo and wearing fancy hats.

In The Big Book Adventure, readers join Foxy and Piggy as they tell each all about the books they’ve read that day and the characters and adventures they’ve encountered. 

Emily Ford’s The Big Book Adventure is a charming and engaging love letter to the power and joy of reading and stories. Through sweet, bubbling with excitement rhymes, Ford takes little readers on an unforgettable journey inside the pages of some of the most beloved stories (Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and more). Tim Warnes’ clever and amusing illustrations wonderfully bring the story to life and will surprise and enchant little readers. 

A beautiful celebration of the joys of reading, The Big Book Adventure is a darling and irresistible book!

MY RATING

5/5 Cupcakes

• One (1) winner will receive a copy of The Big Book Adventure and Alice in Wonderland (Canterbury Illustrated Classics edition), one of the fictional lands the characters visit!
• US/Canada only
• ends 10/1/18
• Winner will be emailed and must claim prize within 48 hours
• Word Spelunking is not responsible for lost, stolen, damaged prizes

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2:32 AM Blog Tour: Guest Post & Giveaway

The 2:32 AM Blog Tour is stopping by today with a great guest post and awesome giveaway...

AND THE STORY BEGINS...
In the early morning hours nearing her 17th birthday, Cat Townsend woke to the sudden blur of a mysterious unknown man sitting on the edge of her bed. She did not feel fear -- rather a strange calmness overtook her. In an instant their eyes locked, he lightly touched her hand, and then he disappeared into the nothingness of night.
Caught in that undefined place between asleep and awake, the moment felt hazy and surreal. A chill ran down Cat’s spine as she glances at the time – it’s 2:32 a.m.
What unfolds in the first book of The Djinn Master’s Legacy trilogy, is young Cat’s personal struggle with the overwhelming choice to accept a destiny of magic. As she contemplates the merits of unparalleled power, her new and ordinary world in Savannah, Georgia is understandably shaken. The closer her decision gets, the more twisted her life with family, friends and boyfriend becomes. Will she choose to give up everything she cherishes?
Find out, in 2:32 A.M. The time everything happens.

by Emily Ford

Several people have asked how I decided to use summer camp as the setting for such a large part of 2:32A.M.  The answer is a very personal one for me.

First off, the seven summers I spent at summer camp in Maine really helped shape who I am.  Not only did I gain independence and all the other things an experience like summer camp gives a kid, but it was where I cut my teeth as a storyteller.  All those years ago, I still remember the rush of hearing and telling ghost stories at bedtime.  It was a rite of passage to be scared, and although I never actually cried, many campers did.  In fact, I received enormous satisfaction if one of my stories was the one keeping girls up all night.

Years after my camp days, I would remember the tales of horrible worlds buried far beneath the ground right under our bunks.  I always thought it would make the perfect setting for a mystery or something scarier.  Yet it wasn’t until I began telling stories to my own children, that my overly active and vivid imagination resurrected the stories of old.  

This is how 2:32A.M. was born.

Long before Harry Potter, and even before The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings made it to the theaters, I kept visualizing a long, dark hole in the earth that led to a mysterious and magical world buried beneath a popular summer camp.  This vision in my head became the first scene I ever wrote down, and propelled me to keep going until I had finished what is now, 2:32 A.M., Book I in The Djinn Master’s Legacy trilogy.  

Incredible as this may sound, that initial scene not only made it past the “red pen” of three different editors, but survived no fewer than eight complete revisions.  It remains a turning point in the story, and exactly marks the halfway point in Book I.

So, without the summer camp setting, not only would 2:32 A.M. not exist, but neither would The Djinn Master’s Legacy trilogy.   

Connect with Emily Ford: Site / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

Debut novelist Emily Ford has always been a storyteller. As a kid at summer camp in Maine, she’d make up ghost stories at bedtime for her fellow bunkmates.

Her Djinn Master’s Legacy trilogy also began as a simple bedtime story, intended for Ford’s then adolescent children to have in writing and use to tell their own kids one day. By the time she finished writing, she had three very full books.

2:32 a.m., Ford’s first installment of her young adult series, caught early readers’ attention as a fiction book minus the typical vampire and werewolf characters.

The Texas writer interned each summer with KHOU-TV in Houston while gaining her bachelor’s degree in radio and television at The University of Arizona. She worked on the copy desk at The Dallas Morning News, and eventually started the marketing company KapsMark, Inc.

Purchase 2:32 AM: Amazon / B&N / iTunes / Smashwords

Win a $20 iTunes Gift Card!!!

Thanks to Emily Ford and JKS Communications I have one (1) $20 iTunes gift card to give away. You could use it to by a few ibooks, like 2:32 AM, and some tunes to read to!

DETAILS

-Open to anyone who can receive and use iTunes gift cards

-Will run from 10/11 - 10/19

-One winner will win a $20 iTunes gift card

-One main entry per person and must be 13+ to enter

-Winner will be emailed and must claim prize within 48 hours

-Word Spelunking is NOT responsible for lost, damaged or stolen prize

Fill out the Rafflecopter form to enter

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