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Nobby Travels with Hamleys

“Blue Peter star launches National Children’s Book Review at Hamleys”

In the world famous toy store, Hamleys, former Blue Peter presenter Matt Baker, helped launch the Nobby Travels National Children’s Book Review competition. The competition, which is the brainchild of husband & wife authors Darren & Julia Spence, has been designed to get kids reading by encouraging them to write a review of their favourite book. Assisting them with the launch were representatives from the education sector including Judith Bloor (Editor of Headteacher Update magazine), and Eileen Hayes (Child Development Expert and Advisor to the NSPCC). Rt Hon Ed Balls MP was invited to the launch but failed to show, bringing into question the Governments commitment to improve literacy levels throughout the UK.

Forming part of the Government’s “National Year of Reading”, the competition invites every UK primary child aged 5-11 years old to read any book they wish – and write a review of it. During the launch Darren & Julia asked teachers & parents to support the campaign by encouraging children to participate.

Please find below a quote from the Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister for Children, Young People and Families & Minister for the North West

"I am delighted to lend my support to the Nobby Travels National Children’s Book Review competition, and regret Parliamentary business means that I am unable to be with you in person at your launch event today. One of the Government’s highest priorities is to ensure that every child is able to read and write confidently, and the range of activities which we have planned as part of our 2008 National Year of Reading will help us achieve that goal.

The National Year of Reading will help us to build a greater love of reading and a better understanding of its power to open doors, for children, families and adult learners alike. We want to inspire everyone to read more, with a particular focus on reluctant or less confident readers. Our aim is to create readers of all ages who not only succeed academicaly, but also develop personally, so they can play a full part in society.

While the Year of Reading is about encouraging reading in its widest sense for adults as well as children, we are of course particularly keen to improve literacy in schools. Our Reading Connects programme is designed specifically to support schools in developing a reading culture, and we’re working with the School Library Association to encourage more boys to read for pleasure through our Boys Into Books initiatives.

I am sure that the Nobby Travels National Children’s Book Review competition, which you are launching today in every primary school in the UK, will really capture the imagination of the nation’s children and inspire many more of them to read for pleasure. May I send my best wishes for your launch event today, and for the success of the competition."

The Campaign

The campaign, which is being run in association with Headteacher Update magazine will run until 17th May. On 20th June the best 40 reviews (20 per age group) will be shortlisted and the public will then be able to vote for the ones they think are best, with the winners being announced on 1st July. The winners will receive a range of prizes consisting of family days out, book tokens, cinema tickets and iPOD vouchers. The schools who teach the winning children will also pick up a cheque of £1,000. Full details about the campaign will be available after 21st February 2008 on the official competition website, www.nobbytravels.com/Bookreview.

Nobby Travels was made famous by Darren in October 2007 when he appeared on the popular BBC entrepreneurs show, Dragons’ Den. Since appearing on the show, the couple have had a very successful time, and on 18th January 2008 found out that their publishing company, Weird Grape Ltd, had been shortlisted to win the most “Innovative Publisher of the Year” award by the Independent Publishers Guild (IPG). The IPG were particularly impressed with the efforts the couple had gone to to work effectively with the Primary School network and considered their approach very original. The winner will be announced on 8th March 2008.

During the launch, Darren explained that since launching Nobby Travels last November and speaking to a number of teachers, parents and children about reading the couple wanted to do something quite special to encourage more children to read and felt a National Children’s Book Review competition was the best way to motivate schools and encourage parents to put reading back at the top of their agenda. He reiterated how important reading is and said that although the competition will help raise the profile of reading and start a wider debate, we need to be thinking of new ways to make reading more interesting and accessible for children. He continued by saying teachers, parents and publishers all need to embrace the new technological advances and integrate them into a reading environment.

Entry forms for the 2008 Nobby Travels Children’s Book Review competition are available to download from www.nobbytravels.com/Bookreview. Details can also be found in the Feb/March edition of Headteacher Update magazine.

About Nobby Travels:

Nobby Travels is aimed at children aged 4-8 years old. It tells the tale of a Chocolate Labrador puppy who has a magical dog flap, which allows him to travel to different countries. When he jumps through it he is greeted by a dog from the country then taken on an adventure involving fact and fantasy - teaching him and the readers about the country.

Each book has approximately 40 pages and 25 colourful illustrations. The content is very light hearted and makes for a perfect bedtime story. There is a small section at the back of each book where children can see exactly how far Nobby has travelled and learn a few basic facts about the country. There are 5 books in series 1 plus the standalone title, Nobby Travels to Lapland, was available during the festive period 2007.

Find more about Nobby at www.nobbytravels.com or www.weirdgrape.com.

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