What was different about life in 1666 compared to our lives now? Come find out in this free session! We are very excited to be part of this year’s Wandsworth Heritage Festival. With a focus on homes and houses it seemed like a perfect opportunity to talk about how houses […]
We’ve been making lots of craft activities linked to the various Vlad flea books. All of them have been tested, filmed and use materials that are easy to find in your recycling or stationery drawer. So if you fancy trying something a little different hop over to the Reading Riddle […]
Vlad loves his hats! Early on he insisted that he got a new hat for each book, so he was suitably dressed for the adventures. Five books in he is beginning to get a good collection, and we thought it would be fun to make an activity that allowed his […]
On Thursday 18th February, Kate and Vlad will be reading Vlad and the Florence Nightingale Adventure as part of the Team London Bridge Cultural Festival. To register for free and find out what is happening in this and other sessions, go to their website by clicking here.
The latest Vlad adventure is out and this is your chance to win a signed copy and a Vlad flea goodie bag. To enter you need to send us a picture or some writing describing what you think our heroes, Vlad, Miu the cat and Kel the tomb-artist are looking […]
In July we sold our 10,000th Vlad book and decided to have a small celebration with some specially made Vlad cupcakes. It’s been a strange year and some exciting opportunities have had to be cancelled because of covid-19, such as the launch of Vlad and the Space Race, and sharing […]
Join us to write a special edition Vlad book. Find the 5 videos guiding you through the project on the Write With Vlad tab or by clicking here. The short trailer below gives you a flavour of what they contain.
Do your children want to be authors or illustrators? I’m putting together a project for children at home or in school. The aim will be to involve and engage as many children as possible in meaningful writing. We will be writing a new Vlad adventure together with participating children voting […]
Vlad will be joining Kate on the Reading Riddle Facebook page to tell the his stories, talk about history and answer questions. You can see previous readings on Facebook and also find all the latest activities. The final live reading of Vlad and the Space Race is on Wednesday 15th […]
Our exciting news is that Vlad has been shortlisted in the Selfies Award, run by Book Brunch. For once Vlad was not the bug responsible for subsequent events. As things stand the award ceremony has been postponed after the cancellation of the London Book Fair, where the winner was due […]
Come to our event at Heath Educational Books, in their amazing showroom in Sutton, on 28th January 2020, 9.00am-12.30pm  It is 200 years since Florence was born and 2020 is the UN Year of the Nurse. We will be looking at the historical facts used to write Vlad and […]
Getting homework done over the Christmas period is a hard ask for many children. Whether they are having a good or bad holiday, it is often one packed with expectations, emotions and change – all the elements that make completing tasks quite challenging. If we had one thing we wanted […]
We were absolutely thrilled to be part of this festival, having been along to hear other authors and illustrators in previous years. Not only did we get to appear in the programme alongside our heroes but it was also a chance to appear together running a joint session. The tent […]
In November 2018 we launched the latest Vlad book at the Florence Nightingale Museum in London. We were joined by friends and family and by Florence herself to celebrate the release on Museum Shop Day and lucky readers got a personalised drawing by Sam in their copies. Miss Nightingale was […]
Behind the books Before writing the first draft of each book I carry out a lot of research, often going down a cul-de-sac (which can be fun but not lead anywhere), or travelling roads that give me atmosphere but no concrete information. But sometimes I find a fascinating fact that […]
We were so lucky to be able to use the lovely new library space for our sessions with Bear, Rhino, Owl and Bison classes. It really is going to be the most amazing resource and gave us plenty of space in which to fight fires and work in groups. Thank […]
After a week of snow it was clear weather for our trip to Northampton. We had a fun afternoon of activities with Willow and Beech classes. “Thanks for a great workshop in Monday. The children loved it and have drawn beautiful pictures and done excellent drama today!”
World Book Day at Broadwater School was colourful and exciting with some fabulous costumes. We had three assemblies with the different year groups when I talked about being a writer. Thank you to all the children for being such a great audience and asking many perceptive questions. A special thank […]
We arrived at Cathedral Primary School in beautiful flurries of snow. Once everyone had taken off all their winter clothes we were able to talk about the Great Fire of London in Year 2 and editing Vlad and the First World War in Year 6. We shared some fantastic work […]
Thank you to Muscliff for an exciting day with Orchid, Elderflower and Tea Rose classes. There was much rustling, screaming and fire-fighting going on. Thank you to all the staff for making our trip to Bournemouth so much fun.
