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

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…

I’m just back from a wonderful trip to Brighton where I finally got to meet the Junior GHOUL Trackers I’ve been training up at Moulsecoomb Primary School!

The pupils and I have been in touch for a couple of months, on the look-out for a rogue werewolf in their area.  With the help of shapeshifter, Zeal Chillchase, the Junior Trackers have built models, written stories, devised card games and even made a film to try and convince the werewolf that it was near to scream Street and lure it in to be captured!

We ended our visit with a performance my Vampires vs Werewolves Game Show at the Brighton Dome!

Pictures of the class projects and the stunning video – Horror’s Got Talent – will follow soon…

Thanks to Mrs Fitzgerald and all her third graders at Willard Elementary School in Concord, Massachusetts for kicking off my Virtual Tour of America with a wonderfully enthusiastic session!  I was supposed to link up with the class via Skype for around 20 minutes to read from my Scream Street books and answer questions about the series – but, in the end, we ran to 45 minutes and then only stopped because it was time for everyone to go home!

If the other events on my US Tour turn out to be half as much fun as this one – I’m in for a treat!

Tommy

Actually, I’m hoping to be in all 50 states…

From mid-May 2010, I’ll be setting off on a virtual tour of the US.  With the help of my US publisher, Candlewick Press, I aim to visit one school in each of the 50 states via Skype to read from my Scream Street books and answer questions from the pupils.

You can watch my progress on the new US Tour page.  I’ll list each of the school visits as they happen – and slowly start to colour in the map as I go (the first event – in Concord, Massachusetts – is already booked in!)  If you’d like YOUR school to be one of those I visit on the tour, just ask your teacher to email me at mail@tommydonbavand.com

I’ve got a long journey ahead of me, but I’m looking forward to each and every event on this exciting virtual adventure!

Look at these bookmarks.  LOOK AT THEM!

If you can possibly believe your eyes, what are you looking at are new and exclusive Scream Street coffin-shaped bookmarks!  Yes – coffin-shaped!  HOW COOL ARE THEY?! You’ll never lose your place in one of Luke, Resus and Cleo’s adventures again!

And, even better, you can use the back of the bookmark to tick off when you’ve read any of the first eight Scream Street titles!

But, I hear you cry…  How do I get my hands on these incredible bookmarks?  Well, just come along to one of my Scream Street events, take part in one of my Vampire vs Werewolf activities – and one of these little beauties is yours to keep FOREVER!

If that’s not possible due to where you live (or if you just can’t wait that long) simply send me a letter – with a stamped-addressed-envelope – telling me which Scream Street character is your favourite, to:

Tommy Donbavand
c/o Walker Books
87 Vauxhall Walk
London
SE11 5HJ

…and I’ll use your envelope to send you a bookmark or two!

This is all very exciting so, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off for a bit of a lie down…

Tommy

Eagle-eyed visitors to this blog will recall that, back in March, I spent a week touring Inverclyde and East Dunbartonshire as part of the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour with the wonderful folk at Scottish Book Trust.  I took my video camera on the road and made a short film about the week – which you can see here – but so did Chris and Heather from SBT.

Here are the highlights of the tour as seen through their lens…