Our new picture book, Billy Joins the Circus, landed in Colliers Wood Library!
Houston we have a problem...
When I turned up at Colliers Wood Library on a rainy Thursday morning, I was told there was a slight problem. The library had advertised my event with one date but the Eventbrite listing had shown another. I made the decision to not cancel the event as I had already promoted it on social media and through my Newsletter, and I was already at the library! 
The library had run out of my brochures as so many parents had picked them up and despite the slight confusion, I was thrilled when lots of families began to arrive for my Storytime at 11 am! I was made even happier when I learned that quite of few of the families were returning and were already on my mailing list and had seen my event listing in my Newsletter! Ahhhhh, it's so nice to know that people do read my Newsletters! 
I ended up with a lovely group of children who absolutely loved Billy the monkey, the story and looking at the colourful pages of the book.
The children created wonderful artwork and the drawing above of Billy the monkey by Anna, was one of my favourites! I had a lovely table display which you can also see above but there is quite a funny story about this table...
Never work with animals or children
They say, "Never work with animals or children"! Well, my stories are all about animals and my audience is children and I spend a lot of time with both of them. No matter how prepared you think you are, unexpected things can happen!
The staff at the library were going to give me a high table but it had a few sharp edges and so I decided to use the low round table. However, this meant that children could easily reach the contents on the table which I hadn't thought about. So at the end of my Storytime, when they came over to look at the table, books and packages started to fly left, right and centre. "Put that down, don't do that, NOOOOOO don't draw on the books!"... You get the idea!
It was hilarious, but ever the professional, I whipped away the books, Mary Poppins style, and made space on the table for drawings. It was such a fun morning and yet again, a lesson learned for me!
Thank you to the wonderful staff at Colliers Wood Library and to the families who attended. Don't worry if you missed my workshop. We know some of you thought the Storytime was this week but by now, you have received an email from the library informing you otherwise and my Library Book Signing Tour continues, so check out more dates here
Library Book Signing Tour 2022
And if you haven't already, definitely subscribe to my fun-filled monthly Newsletter here Subscribe for event listings, short news snippets and a music audiobook gift.
Anna Christina
Links
Next event - Chiswick Book Festival
Shop | Billy Joins the Circus | Kindle ebook | The Making of a Picture Book | Limited Special First Edition Picture Book | On Audible | Silence at Storytime | Unboxing
