My older kids laugh at me when I talk about my office, I think they see me as a ‘David Brent who makes books’ type…maybe they are right. But that’s where the similarities end, as we have just moved into our new offices and they are a lot nicer than that other Office in Slough (having said that I think we have the same desks!). The bright green carpet, pillars painted in bright colours and white walls make it a good space to continue making great children’s books.
To start us off in our new surroundings, I am pleased to announce that we have just won the two main book prizes at the Practical Pre-School Awards. We won the Overall Winner Award in preschool Books and Publications with the My Big Board Book Series, and the Overall Winner Award in 5-7 Books for our Animal A-Z.
We also picked up a Gold Award for our Make and Do Science book and a Silver Award for our Wipe Clean Workbook series, which particularly pleased me as it is a series that I am passionate about. I just love the idea of children learning new skills from our books, it’s probably because I always wanted to be an early years teacher that I get such a kick out of it.
 These awards are great because they are voted for by children, teachers, nurseries and primary schools – the very people that use the books every day. Here are a few of the nice things they said about our books:
My Big Board Books – “excellent for improving communication, language and literacy. Very durable and great value for money”.
Workbooks – “Successfully supports early writing and phonics, fine motor skills development, pen holding and cutting. Clear, nice books that the children loved!”.
Make and Do Science – “experiments were explained clearly and concisely, great for use with the whole class and demonstrated scientific principles that were suitable for young children”.
And if all that wasn’t enough, we’ve just found out that another one of our Workbooks – Cutting and Pasting – has been selected by the Independent Newspaper as one of its Top Ten Best Activity Books.
And three of our classic early learning books have just passed the 1 million mark for worldwide sales, they are Wipe Clean Letters, First 100 Words and Bright Baby Words.
It just goes to show that you don’t have to publish books about wizards to sell millions of copies – although I wish I had JK Rowling on my list, too, that would make me a super hero with my 6 year old son! We are reading The Chamber of Secrets and are both loving it, thirteen years after I first read it to Sam and Rose, Gabriel’s big brother and sister, and the stories are just as exciting, even though I have seen them as films in between.
…not bad for a week, plus the sun is shining and Crystal Palace won last night!
