To celebrate the launch of Tesco Magazine‘s new story-telling videos for their Kids’ Book Club I’ve got a tremendous giveaway today.

You can be in with a chance of winning not one, not two, but ten books simply by leaving a comment on this post. The books included in this prize are a mixture of picture books and chapter books, making it a great prize for a family with siblings of different ages. One lucky winner will receive a copy of each of the following:

If you want extra chances to win this bag of brilliant books you can:

For any of the extra entries to count you MUST leave a separate comment here on this post saying what extra chance you’ve gone for (eg tweeted about the giveaway etc).

This giveaway:

The winners will be selected randomly with the help of random.org, and announced here on Playing by the book sometime during the day on 2nd of November. If you’ve already got some of these books, or don’t have children of your own, why not consider entering on behalf of your local school. Good Luck!

Once you’ve left a comment here to enter the competition I do encourage you to pop over to the Kids’ Book Club to watch some of the new story-time videos of actors Alison Steadman and Caroline Quentin reading the books in this giveaway bundle.

And once you’ve watched a video or two with your kids, get your diary out and mark Friday 28th October at 1pm (UK time) with a big smiley face: the Kids’ Book Club will be hosting their first ever live Q&A twitter chat with the award-winning author and illustrator Katie Cleminson. Anyone anywhere on Twitter can join in the chat with Katie and I’d encourage you to do so – she’s brilliant and lovely and every child should be read her books! The chat will be using the hashtag #kidsbookclub.

Disclosure: In return for highlighting the Kids’ Book Club, Tesco Magazine is donating one set of the books featured in this giveaway to my daughters’ school.

The sessions went better than I could have hoped for and this term I’m been asked back but on slightly different terms – I’m now being given an hour every Friday afternoon to read and do book related play with the kids. Can you imagine how happy this makes me ?

Today I have my first session; 30 kids (a mixture of 5,6 and 7 year olds) and our theme is books and libraries.

I’ll be starting the session with Otto the Book Bear by Katie Cleminson and Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen and Kevin Hawkes and I shall round it off with Delilah Darling is in the Library by Jeanne Willis and Rosie Reeve and Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates.

In between the two reading sessions we’re going to make our own pocket libraries.

To do this the kids will first decorate some blank matchboxes with bits and pieces (we’ll be using regular matchboxes rather than craft ones as we didn’t have time to order them). Then the kids will be taking a few of the mini books I’ve prepared (folded card with a small piece of paper stapled inside) and choosing frontcovers for their books from a wide selection I’ve cut out from publishers catalogues. They’ll glue their covers to the front of their books and once they’ve got 3 or 4 they’ll put them inside their matchbox and have their very own pocket library.

A pocket library being read by some playmobil!

If there’s spare time, or the kids just want something else to do, they’ll be able to make their own mini versions of the bookshelf wallpaper M, J and I made here.

Click to view full size image ready for you to print if you wish to use yourself.

Kids will be offered a shelf of their own to paint and encouraged to come up with book titles for the books on their shelf. There will be plenty of book characters to colour in, cut out and eventually stick on to their shelves. To start with we’ll be using Gruffalo, Octonauts, Eric Carle and Charlie and Lola colouring-in sheets.

If you don’t know the books I’ll be reading here are some reviews to give you a flavour of them:

Before I read Library Lion I shall show the kids this photo of the New York Public Library:

Photo: WorldIslandInfo

And then ask them if they recognise this statue (which is near Birmingham Central Library ie the main library in our city):

Photo: Ell Brown

Hopefully it will be the start of making our own stories up about this Sphinx-like Guardian and the secrets she might be protecting!

I’ve probably planned far too much for the time allotted. I’m both nervous and very, very excited… Wish me luck with the session!

Since then I’ve got to know Katie a little better and so I recently asked her if she would share with us 8 books that reflect pivotal moments in her life so far, with particular reference to her journey towards becoming a published author/illustrator. Here’s what she had to say…

“The amount of time between first deciding I’d love to make my own picture books for a living, and doing it for real, was only about three and a half years. That was the length of my course at Art School, and so this list is from that time. Before that, my mind wasn’t on children’s books – I’d thought of becoming everything from a muralist, wildlife artist, to an interior designer.”

The House at Pooh Corner written by A.A Milne, illustrated by E.H Shepherd.

“Shepherd’s illustrations have been imprinted on my mind since the age of 6. However looking at these drawings as an adult, and still feeling the pull of them, reignited a childhood desire to create my own illustrated books.”

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

“Shelley wrote this breathtaking book between the ages of 17-19, that fact blows me away every time. I first read this aged 20, and I couldn’t believe something so complex, complete and powerful could come from such a young mind. It made me feel like anything was possible.”

Alice in Wonderland by Suzy Lee.

“During the summer I turned 22, I went with a friend to visit her Aunt who lived in Milan. We visited the Corso Como bookshop and I found this, and I’ve been a fan of Suzy Lee ever since. It felt as though I’d found a masterpiece! Also, for the first time the production of a book, the printing, binding, fonts, even the paper, really interested me.”

The Royal Tenenbaums (Film, 2001)

“This is a film that’s framed as though it’s a novel, and the characters are loosely based on those of the ‘Glass family’ by J.D Salinger (one of my most beloved writers). It’s a highly stylised film, and the director Wes Anderson’s attention to every detail really appealed to me. Watching this inspired me to think harder, about every element of my work. (P.S ‘Rushmore’ is an even better film.)”

Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction by Christopher Butler.

“The first picture book I wrote was a postmodern story about a boy who lived in a book (but quite different to Otto!). I chose to write my dissertation on postmodern elements in contemporary picture books, and the subject opened up lots of exciting, dynamic new works to me.”

Happy Hocky Family by Lane Smith

“I had very little money for books as a poor art student, but I just had to buy this one. It’s Lane Smith at his sharpest, and the retro-looking illustrations are very fashionable in picture books now, but this book preceded the trend. ”

Belleville Rendez-vous (Animated Film, 2003)

“I stumbled upon this genius french animation by Sylvain Chomet, one languid Christmas afternoon. I quickly found a copy, and have been pestering everyone I know to watch it ever since. It’s bizarre, witty, inventive and the hand-drawn animation is rich with detail. After seeing this I searched out French and Belgian illustrators, and discovered Olivier Tallec, Ann Herbauts, Kitty Crowther and Louis Joos. ”

Bologna Annual 2007 (Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books)

“This book is enormously important to me, I was chosen to be part of this exhibition whilst I was in my last year of study. This book was the first time I’d had my work published, and I was the only illustrator selected from Great Britain. The exhibition was held at the Bologna Book Fair, and then went on to tour Korea and Japan. It was in Bologna that I first met my publisher, and my career began. ”

My huge thanks to Katie for taking the time to share her 8 books with us. If you’d like to read more from Katie, she has a super website here, and she’s also on twitter.