Here’s more fantastic filming from my recent visit to Holmesdale Technology College in Kent, starting with a look back at what happened during day 1 of their Shine Week…

…and a quick interview with yours truly, videoed between my workshops…

More to come soon…

I’ve just spent two wonderful days at Holmesdale Technology College in Kent, taking part in their wonderful Shine Week – five days packed to the brim with activities, authors and amazement!

Being a technology college, you would expect to see some high-tech wizardry going on – but I was absolutely stunned at the quality of the video the media team produced to promote the week (even if they did spell my name wrong!)

As you can see – quite a week was planned!  My workshops began by taking year 8 through the process of making book trailers…

…followed by two Vampires vs Werewolves Gameshows – one for local primary school children, and a second for Cubs, Brownies and Beavers…

I’ll be posting further videos and pictures from my visit over the coming days…

Tommy

Well, bless my bagpipes!  The wonderful Andy Stanton is back with yet another hilarious installment in the Mr Gum series – this time, it’s Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree.

In this anarchic adventure, the residents of Lamonic Bibber appear transfixed with the reappearance of the long-missed king of the woodland spirits, Runtus.  Sounds sane enough (in Andy Stanton’s world, at least) but when Runtus demands the townsfolk bring him their most prized possessions – trouble pricks at the ears of Polly, Friday and the biscuit with electric muscles, Alan Taylor.

Can our heroes discover the truth behind Runtus’s real identity and stop the madness before it’s too late?  Only if they can deal with a veritable menagerie of bizarre pets…

Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree is the 7th book in this brilliantly barmy series.  If you haven’t dipped your toe into the adventures of Lamonic Bibber yet – I highly recommend you do so as soon as possible.  You’ll love it – or I’m not a caterpillar called Graeme.

Tommy
(er… Graeme the caterpillar)

Thanks to everyone at Walker Books, Readathon and Ysgol Pen Barras in Ruthin for a wonderful event yesterday to help celebrate Walker’s 30th Anniversary!  A special thank you must go to all the staff and pupils who switched from speaking Welsh to English (flawlessly!) to make me feel at home!

To learn more about Readathon and the wonderful work they do in both raising money for charity and getting kids to read and how you can get involved, click here.

Tommy

Thanks to Tony and all the staff at Pritchard’s Bookshop in Formby for a wonderful – if incredibly busy – day today!

We started with a visit to Linaker Primary School in Southport where I created some creepy chaos with my Vampires vs Werewolves Game Show before signing books for an hour.

Then it was a dash back to Formby to meet up with Astrosaurs and Cows in Action author, Steve Cole for his event…

…followed by an open-air signing back at the shop…

…where we were joined by my pal and future Scream Street character, Spider, and his utterly brilliant skateboard…

and Mortlock author, Jon Mayhew.

What a day – and I’m back at Pritchard’s again next Thursday!

Tommy

I’m delighted to introduce my new book – The Uniform – published by Barrington Stoke.

Matthew’s not finding things easy.  His dad’s run off with another woman, forcing him and his mum to move to a tiny flat in another town.  In fact, things are so tight that his mum can’t afford to buy the correct uniform for Matthew’s new school – something both the teachers and resident bully seem to take delight in pointing out.

Things start to look up when his mum finds a second hand uniform in a local charity shop and, before long, Matthew’s confidence is returning – in incredible measures.  He stands up to the bully, no longer has to wait in the lunch queue, and gets more change than usual when he buys snacks at the tuck shop.  His best friend Neil is convinced that Matthew is becoming a bully himself, especially when he discovers that his uniform used to belong to a former school hard case – a bully who’s now doing time for killing a teacher.

Could it be that the school uniform is starting to possess Matthew and alter his behaviour, and can Neil find a way to help his friend before matters get out of hand?

The Uniform by Tommy Donbavand is out now!

Apologies for the lack of blog posts recently – I’ve been up to my ears with both a book deadline, and zipping around the country running author events.  Things start to quieten down next week – and normal service will then resume!

Tommy

Thanks to everyone at the Birmingham Young Readers’ Festival yesterday for a warm welcome to their Book Bash at Aston Hall.  I found myself performing in a marquee with Astrosaurs and Cows in Action author, Steve Cole…

As you can see, they kept us pretty busy – although I did get to sit in on one of Steve’s events to hear all about how he writes his utterly brilliant books.  I also met Knife & Packer, the fabulous author and illustrator of the gruesome and giggly Fleabag Monkeyface series.

Steve in action, explaining how he escaped a real life cow stampede!

If you’d like to see Steve and I together in the same place at the same time again – why not pop along to Pritchard’s Bookshop in Formby on 2nd July, where we’ll be signing copies of our books for, well, anyone who pops in!  I’ve heard rumours that top Mortlock author, Jon Mayhew, may also make an appearance!

Tommy

Take a sneak peek at these beauties – the official covers for the next two spooky Scream Street adventures…

In Scream Street 9: Terror of the Nightwatchman, Luke and Resus are woken with the news that Cleo has been kidnapped.  Following a trail of gloopy green goo, they find themselves in a dense jungle where they must try to rescue their friend from the clutches of the terrifying Nightwatchman – a shadowy creature who feeds of the fear created by bad dreams.  The trouble is, they’ll have to go inside Cleo’s worst nightmare – and face their own – if they stand any chance of saving her.

Quite possibly the scariest book of the series so far!

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Scream Street 10: Rampage of the Goblins sees Luke, Resus and Cleo in Egypt, tracking down the ancient Pharaoh, Heru, in order to return his heart.  It’s hot, the pyramid is full of weird, dangerous creatures and the founding father’s sarcophagus is hidden somewhere among vast piles of gold and jewels.  In fact, the only thing that could make this task any harder is a horde of angry, farting goblins…  Uh – oh!

Yes, those gruesome, guffing goblins are back – and this time, there’s a royal wedding on the cards!

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Books 9 and 10 in the series will be published in the UK on 4th October this year – just in time for Halloween!

Tommy

Check out this wicked video from the pupils at Moulsecoomb Primary School in Brighton…