New York Public Library picks Beetle Boy as one of it's 2016 Best Books for Kids

New York Public Library Reveals its List of Best Books for Kids and Teens Just in Time for The Holidays

Chosen by NYPL's children librarians throughout the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island, this list is a perfect guide for those looking to give the best books to their favourite young readers. The titles selected represent an inclusive list of books published in 2016 that consist of diverse characters, rich storytelling, and the ability to engage and stimulate a life-long love of reading.

Beetle Boy is one of twenty-two middle grade titles chosen for the list.

An interactive website that sorts and categorizes the selections based on a range of categories, such as genre, format, and age, will launch on December 1.

Find out more

The Art of Make Believe: Staging Children's Stories - an exhibition at The National Theatre

The entrance to the Art of Make Believe exhibition at the National Theatre

The entrance to the Art of Make Believe exhibition at the National Theatre

This week I did something new. I curated and opened a public exhibition about staging children's stories, at The National Theatre.

It is a free family friendly exhibition which aims to encourage playful participation and features books such as The Wind In the Willows, His Dark Materials and The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-time. I hope will be enjoyed by everyone coming to see Peter Pan over the festive period. It's playful and full of activities, so if you are on the south bank between now and April 2017 you should pop in because it's free and utter fun.

Here are some pictures!

Beetlemania hits Blue Peter for National Insect Week

Me and Baxter the rhinoceros beetle on Blue Peter

On the 23rd of June I had the great honour of appearing on Blue Peter as part of National Insect Week. It was such a great experience, and a long held dream come true. I've never done a live TV programme before, so I was mega nervous. If you missed it, you can catch it on the iplayer for the next month.

I loved meeting Scott, who brought the beetles onto the show, and finally got to hold a living rhinoceros beetle, just like Baxter. He was beautiful, and the whole experience was wonderful.

Barney was great fun, Lindsey is awesome and Radzi was lovely.

I even got a Blue Peter badge. I hope I get to go on it again.

I did an online quiz for the Blue Peter fan site. So if you think you know about beetles, you should take the Blue Peter Beetle Quiz 

Coleopteran Cover Girl

I'm on the cover of the Spring edition of Antenna magazine

I've never been on the cover of a magazine before, and considering how terrified of insects I used to be, I find it faintly hilarious that the first magazine I should ever appear on the cover of is Antenna, the Royal Entomological Society's publication. If you could jump in a time machine and show this to the seventeen year old me, I'd probably faint!

Peter Smithers, the editor, very kindly came to interview me in Weston Super Mare in between back to back school events.

I have to admit to being more than a little bit proud of being put on the cover. It means a lot to me that entomologists like Beetle Boy. It means I did a good job.

Read the full interview.