Billy Joins the Circus, Storytime Adventures and Library Book Signing Tour 2022!
Since July, I have travelled to North, South, West London, and Merton libraries, for my Library Book Signing Tour 2022. I combined book signings with my fun interactive musical Circus Storytime, based on my new picture book, Billy Joins the Circus.
I have taught and entertained 108 children ranging from toddlers right up to 7-year-olds, collected many drawings of Billy Joins the Circus, created by the children, signed and sold copies of my book, and received wonderful comments and feedback from parents and librarians about the story, illustrations, music audiobook and the activity booklet inside of the picture book. What a fantastic success my first library book tour has been, I am delighted!



My tour kicked off at Wimbledon Library followed by Kentish Town Library. The families at both of the libraries enjoyed my fun creative workshop and liked my picture book table display. This book stems from my Storytime, it's all connected, and so doing these first few workshops, for the first time with the book, was truly magical! ✨
If you were there, read this Billy Makes Children Smile.



My next stops were at two Merton libraries. My Storytime at Morden Library sold out on Eventbrite and I was thrilled to see that so many families turned up to listen to my story and take part in my activities. Years of doing Storytime at schools, nurseries and libraries have made me an expert Storyteller and I can pretty much hold the attention of any 2 to 5-year-old, even the super energetic ones! However, I have noticed that as soon as I start to sing Billy's song, the whole library goes into silence! My first thought is, 'wow, this is so cool', my second thought is, 'gosh, I hope I don't sing any bum notes'!
If you were there, read this Silence at Storytime.



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 Colliers Wood Library were going to give me a high table but it had a few sharp edges and so I decided to use a 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!
If you were there, read this Billy has Landed.
At the end of my read-aloud at Swiss Cottage Library, I looked around and saw lots of little smiling faces. It was adorable! This group of children was the youngest group on my tour. They enjoyed creating their drawings and they loved singing and dancing along, with the help of their mums, to the Music Audio Story. It was delightful. That is the great thing about my book. Children benefit from all of the items I have included inside and I love seeing how they react to them.
If you were there, read this Billy at Swiss Cottage Library.



Fulham Library was absolutely brilliant! I had so much fun with the families and the children and love the drawings I collected. I was told that I had one of the most well-attended sessions from Libraries Week in Fulham. That is so great!
If you were there, read this Fulham Fun.
And finally this week, Billy Joins the Circus arrived at North Kensington Library, the last stop on my Library Book Signing Tour. It was the smallest group of children I had on my tour but no less enjoyable. Billy Joins the Circus made the children so happy and some of them left singing "Yes I can"!
It has been a pleasure and a joy to see everyone at the libraries again and meet all the children and families at my events. I have been posting drawings on our social media platforms throughout the tour but if you did miss your child's drawing, make sure you go and have a look.
BIG THANK YOU to all of the wonderful libraries for being part of my Library Book Signing Tour 2022 and well done to all the children who took part. I hope to see you all again next year.
Anna Christina
Links
Shop | Billy Joins the Circus | Kindle ebook | Limited Special First Edition Picture Book | On Audible