Orchard Books

We are very excited to announce that two of our books will be read on CBeebies on their ‘Bedtime Stories Feature’ next week! ‘Nat Fantastic and the Brave Knights of Old’ by Giles Andreae and Katharine McEwen, will be broadcast on Monday 5th December at 6.50pm and ‘A Bed of Your Own’ by Mij Kelly and Mary McQuillan, will be broadcast on CBeebies on Thursday 8th December 6.50pm. They will both be read by Tristan Gemmill (from EastEnders circa 2005).

We hope you will all put on your pajamas and slippers and settle down to watch these!

Who loves Charlie and Lola? Who loves cupcakes? Now you can get your fix of both!
 
Baby-food guru Annabel Karmel has come up with a delicious recipe for the perfect Charlie and Lola cupcakes. Get your kids to help you make these cute character cupcakes, perfect for birthday parties.
 

 

Recipe

 
Ingredients
125g butter or margarine
150g caster sugar
Half tsp lemon zest
2 eggs
150g plain flour
Quarter tsp baking powder
 
Cream Cheese Icing
110g cream cheese (room temperature)
110g butter (room temperature)
Half tsp vanilla
85g icing sugar
Edible food colouring
 
Or use ready made frosting in a tub e.g. Betty Crocker
 

Decoration

 
Writing Icing
Pre heat the oven to 180C Fan 160C. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper cases. Cream the butter in an electric food mixer until soft. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, then mix in the lemon zest. Add the eggs one at a time and add a tablespoon of the flour with the second egg, beat continuously, and then sift in the flour and baking powder. Divide the mixture between the paper cases and cook in the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden and springy to the touch.
 
Remove from the oven and cool in the muffin tin for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
 
Whilst the cupcakes are baking you can prepare the icing. Beat together the cream cheese and butter. Beat in the vanilla, then sift over the sugar and stir in until the sugar is combined, then beat for one minute until fluffy. Transfer to a bowl and set aside in the fridge whilst the cakes area baking.
 
Once the cakes are cold spread with Icing and decorate with faces using Writing Icing in assorted colours.
 
Party planning – the cakes can be made up to 1 month in advance and frozen in a plastic box. Defrost at room temperature for around 1 hour then ice as above.

We are delighted to announce on the 6th Annual Roald Day, we have two titles short-listed in the Roald Dahl Funny Prize.

 
The Funniest Book for Children Aged 6 and Under Category:
Limelight Larry by Leigh Hodgkinson

 
The Funniest Book for Children Aged Seven to Fourteen Category:
The Get Rich Quick Club by Rose Impey

To view the complete list and information on the Prize, please click on the link below:

 
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/Prizes-and-awards/Roald-Dahl-Funny-Prize

Great news! Seriously Silly Rhymes: Little Bo-Peep Has Knickers that Bleep is on the accessible list (for less able readers).


Booked Up is a Booktrust initiative and is a national programme that aims to give a free book to every child starting secondary school in England. Every secondary school is invited to register in June and in September registered schools receive materials to enable each Year 7 student to choose the book that is right for them. There are 12 titles on the main book list and 5 on the accessible one. Inclusion in the scheme should also have a very positive impact on sales of further titles in both series.

Some very positive statistics about the scheme:

- In 2010 Booked Up reached over 650,000 children in over 5,000 secondary schools.

- 73,5% of Coordinators reported that they see evidence of students wanting to read more for pleasure as a result of Booked Up

- 56% of students are visiting bookshops more often since Booked Up

Booked Up is funded by the Department for Education, and supported by children’s book publishers.


For further information you can visit the Booktrust website http://www.bookedup.org.uk/

Orchard Illustrators show support for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Orchard illustrators Alison Murray, James Mayhew, Neal Layton and Sam Lloyd have all been generous enough to donate original artwork and signed copies of their beautiful books to a charity auction which his happening NOW!

London-based magazine and website Angels and Urchins is run by Annie Reid and Emily Turner. This summer they are celebrating 10 years of the magazine. Part of the celebrations will raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Having met at university, Annie and Emily run Angels and Urchins magazine and website from their homes, combining working and parenting of lots of children. They had the following to say about the auction:

‘We are so proud and grateful that some of our leading illustrators have generously donated their time and talent for this wonderful cause’

Great Ormond Street Hospital was originally called The Hospital for Sick Children and first opened it doors at 49 Great Ormond Street on Valentine’s Day, 1852, with ten beds. Now the hospital deals with over 175,000 patient visits every year.

If you would like to bid for any of the artwork that has been donated or find out more about the artwork and books in the auction visit:

http://www.angelsandurchins.co.uk/auctions/

Great article in The Scotsman about Alison Murray’s Early Year Residency with the Scottish Booktrust: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/books/39Books-for-toddlers39-initiative-pays.6772608.jp


The Scottish Book Trust’s Early Years Programme is funded by the Scottish Government to gift free packs of books to children aged birth to five.


Local Authorities and Health Boards also provide funding for the programme through the provision of local staff time and logistics solutions.


The Bookbug Sessions Training Programme is part funded by the Scottish Arts Council.


For full information about the programme, please go to http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/babies-early-years

The magical Rainbow Magic film “Return to Rainspell Island” is being shown on Boomerang on 12th April at 9am & 5pm. Boomerang is the highest rating digital children’s TV channel and is available on SKY (603), Virgin Media (730) and on Top up TV via freeview. Look out for the Rainbow Magic advert screening at the end of the film and for the special Rainbow Magic microsite at www.boomerangtv.co.uk/rainbowmagic where there are lots of special Rainbow Magic prizes to be won.

Great news! Orchard books has 4 titles selected for the 2011 Summer Reading Challenge.

The Summer Reading Challenge is run throughout the summer holidays in 95% of public libraries with 750,000 children age 4-11 taking part. The SRC is the biggest national reading initiative with incentives, activities and events designed to create a real buzz around children’s reading. The challenge is simple – to read six or more library books over the summer. The theme this year is Circus Stars.

Titles that have been selected for Orchard Books are:

Rumblewick and the Dinner Dragons , Max and Molly’s Guide to Trouble , The Magical Detectives and iHorror: Zombie Hunter.

Edit: Also included is Ultraviolet by R J Anderson for the Summer Reading Challenge for Teens collection.

Celebrate the wedding of the year with a sprinkle of Rainbow Magic!

Orchard Books will be publishing Kate the Royal Wedding Fairy on 7th April ahead of Kate’s big day. Kate the Royal Wedding Fairy makes sure that all weddings are happy and magical! But when mean Jack Frost steals the True Love Crown, the Fairyland royal wedding is sure to be a disaster. Can Kirsty and Rachel find the crown so the royal couple will live happily ever after…? The perfect gift for children, and anyone who is thrilled by the magic of a royal wedding.

Buy from iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/id410018582?mt=8