Walking with Bluebells

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Philip Bell

Fancy a wild walk to spot bluebells with the children this Sunday?

Look no further than our guided Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood Walk in National Trust’s ancient wood, Borthwood Copse, as part of the 2013 Isle of Wight Walking Festival.

Many locations in the wood were inspiration for our book Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood, which includes some photos form Borthwood Copse. There will be an opportunity to buy the book on the day and it is also available to buy at other outlets on Isle of Wight (scroll down to Isle of Wight).

“This story lays down a lovely list of things for children to do in the real world of nature. I urge you to read it and then let them enact it for themselves. Only then will we have future generations who will love wildlife enough to protect it.” ~ Chris Packham on Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood

The circular walk is guided and will be just over a mile, and take around 2 hours. Children will get a map and spotter guide to tick off woodland finds as they go. There will also be 3 special woodland challenges as we walk around the route. Feel free to bring cameras to snap woodland wildlife.

Cost is £2 per adult (with 50p going to National Trust). Kids go free.

They’ll be homemade bakes (probably flapjacks) and cold drinks for kids, but please do bring along your own snacks/refreshments if you have special dietary requirements. The walk isn’t ideal for buggies, unless you have a 4-wheel-drive model!

There are no “official” picnic areas or tables/chairs as such in the wood so be prepared to sit on a tree trunk if you need a rest.

Well behaved dogs on leads welcome. The walk is quite hilly in parts and I cannot guarantee what the ground conditions will be, so wear good shoes, and if it rains then bring wellies!

Meet at the main Borthwood entrance, on Alverstone Road, (the one outside the Number 8 stop with the wooden gate) at 10am Sunday 16th May 2013. The walk should be all finished by 12pm.

Limited car parking in the Parish Council car park at Alverstone Road, just before Queen Bower, a shown on the OS map 566844 with a blue “P”. But, please meet walk leader at 10am at main Borthwood copse entrance. This is not the Parish Council car park entrance!

If you want to come please let me know numbers via email

info (at) beachybooks (dot) com

More details on the Isle of Wight Walking Festival website.

See you there!

Philip Bell

Jack and Boo Wish You Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Philip Bell

We would like to say thanks to all our family and friends who have supported us this year, and thanks to the retailers and bookshops who have chosen to stock Jack and Boo books. It’s been wonderful to get some fantastic reviews and grow our fan base.

Thanks to all the people who have bought books for children and to those who have told us how much you and your children have enjoyed reading our books. It has given us great motivation and energy to continue publishing next year. Thank you!

Jack and Boo are asleep in bed now, but they asked me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas 2012!

Children’s Winter Snow Book – Jack and Boo’s Snowy Day

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Philip Bell

Our winter snow children’s book called Jack and Boo’s Snowy Day follows the adventures of two children, Jack and Boo, as they explore outside on a snowy day, playing, imagining and spotting how wildlife survives the winter. Snowball fights, snowmen, snow angels and more! Also includes wildlife spotter and snowy day children’s activities. Suitable for ages 2-7 and sure to inspire a child to want to play and learn in nature.

But don’t take our word for it. Take a peek inside our book then check out these reviews of Jack and Boo’s Snowy Day:

Nice new review from Pippa and her little pre-school boy who loved Jack and Boo’s Snowy Day.

Blogger Mrs C read Jack and Boo’s Snowy Day to little Miss C and then a few days later it really snowed! Read her lovely review here.

Lovely review from a dad and daughter ReadItDaddy.

Some warming winter reviews on Amazon from a readers.

The Bookseller’s We Love This Book quite literally LOVED our book.

We have a list of stockists that include bookshops and the big on-line retailers, but if you want to support an indie bookshop that does pay it’s tax in the UK and for every book ordered a tree is planted check out the brilliantly independent Beetroot Books.

If you live on Isle of Wight you can buy it in person at the following locations:

Fab indie bookshop - Babushka Books - 3 Carter Road, Shanklin, Isle of Wight, PO37 7HR. Tel: 01983 864114

The big bookshop who support local authors - Waterstones Newport - 118 High Street, Newport, Isle Of Wight, PO30 1TP. Tel: 01983 527927

Lovely walk to it and great scones! - National Trust – The Needles Old Battery – West High Down, Alum Bay, PO39 0JH. Tel: 01983 754772

The kids can go in a boat in the museum - The Classic Boat Museum - Albany Road, East Cowes, Isle of Wight PO32 6AA. Tel: 01983 290006

All made on the Island - Made On The Isle of Wight - Bullen Mead, Bullen Road, Ryde, Isle of Wight PO33 1QE. Tel: 01983 564949

Fab food, cafe and books - Briddlesford Lodge Farm Shop - Briddlesford Road, Wootton, Isle of Wight, PO33 4RY. Tel: 01983 884650

If you do have a problem getting Jack and Boo’s Snowy Day then please contact us direct as we always have signed stock we can send!

Merry Shopping from Jack and Boo!

Jack and Boo go to The Needles Old Battery

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Philip Bell

Children’s author Philip Bell will be in residence at The National Trust Needles Old Battery in Isle of Wight on Saturday 27th October 2012 between 11am and 3pm.

Philip Bell, author and publisher at Island family-run, award-winning, children’s publisher Beachy Books, will be in residence at the historic Needles Old Battery reading from his Jack and Boo children’s books and offering an opportunity for children to help the author create a special Jack and Boo style book about The Needles Battery.

Children can get involved in taking photos, drawing pictures, writing poetic lines about the battery and then printing out their own story pages to take home. They’ll also be colouring sheets for pre-school children and readings from Jack and Boo’s Bucket of Treasures, Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood and Jack and Boo’s Snowy Day.

They’ll also be an opportunity to buy Beachy Books from the National Trust shop and get any signed for Christmas presents.

The event is open to all and is ideal for children aged 2 upwards!

Stop Me and Buy One!

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Philip Bell

Do you want to become a Beachy Books Seller?

Beachy Books is looking for passionate people who love our books and want to sell them! We are testing it for a brief trial period before Christmas 2012 because it’s the best time of year to sell books. For reasons of logistics, it’s only open to Isle of Wight residents at this time but we hope to widen the scheme up if it proves popular. If you are really interested but not resident on the Island get in touch anyway!

So, if you can answer YES to the following questions then please get in touch.

Do you LOVE our JACK and BOO children’s BOOKS?
Do you know other people who would LOVE to BUY them?
Do you like the sound of earning 40% COMMISSION?

Email: seller (at) beachybooks (dot) com

Beachy Books Awarded Community Book Publishing Grant

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Philip Bell

Beachy Books has been awarded grant funding by Isle of Wight Council’s Adult and Community Learning to become a provider of adult learning by working in collaboration with groups on the Island to create and publish community books.

The community publishing projects are open to all adults on the Isle of Wight who are aged 19+. I have funding for 3 book projects, and in each, up to 10 adults per group. The group could be an existing community group, charity or organisation. Or the people involved could be individuals who have come together to publish a book as a group on a unified theme.

The published books could help celebrate the work of a particular group, promote an organisation or the people they help. The books could be traditionally printed or in eBook form.

The grant was awarded following a successful bid in response to the Isle of Wight Council inviting local groups and organisations to submit bids to become providers of adult learning opportunities in the community.

I intend to use freely available software and resources to make community publishing accessible to the smallest of groups. It’s also flexible enough that I can work with a community group in their own setting or it can be convened at a central venue. For example, if participants have transport or accessibility problems or if it’s important to capture content for a book on site.

The funding follows my successful school book publishing project this year working with Year 5 children at Newchurch Primary School, where I helped the children to create and publish a full colour book to give to new Reception children joining their school this year. I wanted to take my idea of group publishing out to the community and work with adults, which is what this grant will help me do.

I hope the community book publishing projects will help foster community cohesion, collaborative working and allow individuals to learn new skills while working in a team with a unified aim. There’s so much involved in making a book, such as team working, ICT skills, design, writing and literacy. My hope is that people of all ages and backgrounds involved in the community publishing projects will learn new skills that could lead them to vocational training, further adult learning or increase their chances of future employment.

There’s also an entrepreneurial aspect where people involved will be able to take on the challenge of raising funds to pay for print runs of the books they create, so they can then go on to sell books to raise funds and promote their own causes.

The community grant covers the majority of the costs of the book publishing projects but learners or groups who can afford to contribute financially will be asked to do so.

If any community groups, or individuals with a unified aim, are interested in creating community books then they are invited to contact me, Philip Bell, at Beachy Books via our Contact Page.

Beachy Books and Newchurch Year 5 children publish a book for Reception

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Philip Bell

Philip Bell, local Island author and publisher at Beachy Books, has just published a book in collaboration with Year 5 children at Newchurch Primary School called Your Journey Starts Here. The book colourfully illustrates and describes to new children some of the exciting things to expect when they begin school at Newchurch. The book will be given to every new child starting Reception at Newchurch School this autumn.

Mr Bell said, “I pitched the idea of creating a book with the children and the school were very keen to get involved. Year 5 teacher, Mrs K Hulmes, suggested the idea of a book for Reception. She asked interested children from her class to write mini-CVs and ‘apply’ to be part of the production team.”

Philip has been working with the school during winter and some of the spring term while helping the children to write, illustrate, photograph and design the unique book. Mr Bell explained how the project was a great learning experience: “I had never published a book in collaboration in a school setting before. I learned as much as the children. They were very capable, helpful and keen to learn all the aspects of book writing and production. I could see how proud they were of all their hard work when they read the final published glossy book.”

The children first had to interview the reception teacher and assistants to ask what the requirements would be for the book and during the production process they learned many skills including planning, teamwork, writing, editing, proofreading and design. The school were particularly keen on the book project as it involved an enterprising aspect as Mr Bell explained: “When the children learned they had to raise funds to pay for the print run they were so excited and proactive. They sold cakes, ran stalls and wrote letters to local businesses for sponsorship.”

The headteacher of Newchurch Primary School, Miss Kirsty Howarth, said: ”I have really liked the enterprise element of the work in that the children have funded the majority of the publishing costs through fundraising and sponsorship, this has been valuable ‘life-long’ learning!”

Copies of Your Journey Starts Here were given to children and their parents at the new intake evening at Newchurch School held in June 2012.

Thanks to local sponsor donations that helped to pay for the print run: Pabulum, The Garlic Farm and Amazon World.

Look out for more Beachy Books in Residence projects.

Poetry and story writing at Hunnyhill Primary School

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Philip Bell

“The children thoroughly enjoyed the story and the fact it was read aloud by the author was really engaging. They had a lovely time and afterwards wrote their own nature-inspired poems.”

Kim Arnell, Year 1 teacher, Hunnyhill Primary School

In May I visited Hunnyhill Primary School in Newport, Isle of Wight, to read from our woodland adventure Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood to a year 1 class and then we did some very early poetry. I tried to keep it really simple. I provided a nice sheet with some lines and surrounded the page with illustrations drawn by my wife, Eleanor Bell, (who illustrates our Jack and Boo books) and I asked the children to choose an image that excited them and to then write a sentence about it – whatever came into their heads. We talked about describing things in a new way, as if they had seen it for the first time.

They were obviously very young and some were struggling over spelling (I still am) but I said that didn’t matter for now. Some chose to write whole stories about woodland trolls others wrote single sentences about blackberries and some just wrote out all the names of the things on the sheet. All were unified in wanting to colour in the drawings on the sheets I’d given them! Children love colouring and it helps with their handwriting. After the session I went around and read some of their work or listened to them read to me. A great start on the poetry road.

I then went into a year 2 class and read from the book and we talked about local woods and signs of spring. The teachers commented that it’s great for the children to see a writer (especially a male) reading to them as many need male role models working in this area.

I then asked the children to fold and cut little paper books and write a Jack and Boo style diary-esq story based on any times they had been out into nature. I’ve noticed when I do these sesssions some children want to be more fantastical or write about familiar favourite characters from films, books or favourite TV characters. That’s fine – whatever inspires them I say.

Some children find it difficult to think of anything to write ( I have that problem – it never goes away!). I find it a bit sad when children cannot think of fun simple things they’ve done with their parents or carers to inspire them. I wonder how many are taken out to beaches and woods? When this happens I suggest something simple about a pet they like or a party or event they have enjoyed. I try to keep it simple and work my way around the class ensuring all the children feel engaged.

I’ve observed from previous school sessions, some children prefer to make their book like a comic, with speech bubbles, or just fully illustrate it like an early picture book – again there are no rules or ways to do it because every child is different. I also have the advantage of not having to stick rigidly to the National Curriculum or feel I have to deliver a “lesson” as the teacher can obviously cover that. I think it’s important for children to see there are many ways to skin a cat.

The story session seemed to make an impact as the children all surrounded me at the end waving their illustrated story books, all eager to read them out.

Another great session. Thanks to Hunnyhill for having Beachy Books in Residence.

Spring Wild Wood Walking Festival Walk!

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Philip Bell

Philip Bell, local Isle of Wight author and publisher at Beachy Books, will be at Borthwood Copse on Monday 7th May at 1pm (click to see full details) to hand out maps and Wild Wood Spotter Guides for families and children keen to follow in the footsteps of Jack and Boo, the characters from his spring book, Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood and go in search of bluebells and other signs of spring.

The unguided spotter walks have been organised as part of the Isle of Wight Walking Festival 2012, and the author will also be at Borthwood Copse for a repeat walk on Saturday 19th May 2012 (click to see full details), again at 1pm. (The title of the walks are printed incorrectly on the council website – the walks are Spotter Walks, the scavenger hunt is in the autumn – scroll down for details).

Borthwood Copse is owned by The National Trust and many of the photos in the book were taken in the wood. The walk is free with voluntary donations to the National Trust’s Borthwood conservation fund.

Philip Bell says: “It’s the perfect time to see the wood because of the bluebells – which look and smell wonderful! You can also look out for bumblebees, woodpeckers and other spring flowers. The walk is unguided – so you can go at your own pace. It’s around a mile or so, but you can make it shorter or longer as there are various paths. It’s a pleasant circular walk that’s ideal for families and children so please come along and bring a picnic if you want.”

If you fancy a walk and spotting signs of spring in a beautiful ancient woodland, Philip will be at the main entrance of Borthwood Copse, by the number 8 bus stop on Alverstone Road, Winford, near Sandown from 1pm.

If you have an “off-road” buggy with tyres you can still join in and it’s dog friendly, but the National Trust ask that you keep dogs on a lead please. If you come by car, there is limited parking on the road and also a small council owned car park up the Alverstone road (past the turning to Forest Road) on your right.

If you park then walk along to the main entrance to collect a map and Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood Spotter Guide from Philip and he should have a few Beachy Books with him if you want to buy a signed copy or order books.

If you enjoy this spring walk then please come back during the Autumn Walking Weekend (also part of The Isle of Wight Walking Festival) to see how the wood has changed and take part in the Wild Wood Scavenger Hunt!

For more information Contact Philip Bell.

Jack and Boo go to Hollywood!

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Philip Bell

A small independent UK publisher, Beachy Books, has signed a deal with an unnamed Hollywood studio to make a live action version of their popular Jack and Boo children’s books in 2013. An undisclosed Hollywood director is said to be very interested in the project but no official news has been released on the title or plot as of yet. Philip Bell, author and publisher of the Jack and Boo titles, has remained tight lipped. “I cannot reveal who the director is just yet as we’ve still got to dot the i’s and cross the t’s, but let’s just say Jack might be wearing a cowboy hat and Boo carrying a whip.”

Twitter has been buzzing with rumours of who might play Jack and Boo in the live action version. A popular Hollywood Gossip blog has been publishing rumours that Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson would be an obvious choice. Mr Bell said in response, “I think they could be a bit old. Although if Jack and Boo were CGI they could interact with them – you know, like The Muppets! Ha! I’m thinking more unknown childhood stars really, but it’s out of my hands as I’ve not got any control over casting. If I had my way I’d cast my own children. But my son might expect too high fees. My daughter would simply do it if she got ice cream everyday!”

No doubt whoever is cast in the leading roles will have to be versatile and fit because in the stories Jack and Boo regularly run through woods, balance on logs, spot nature and go beach combing. Mr Bell said, “The film will take elements from the books, keeping to the true nature-led spirit of the adventures but will be a brand new story.”

Watch this space for more news of Jack and Boo go to Hollywood…

UPDATE: April Fool’s 2012! Hey ho, one day perhaps…

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