Lizzie Finlay

On Thursday we had a boys outing and a girls outing. Mr Bee took B1 and my cousin's two boys to the Manchester United Museum and Stadium tour at the Old Trafford, the fabled 'Theatre of Dreams', whilst the girls had a more literary morning.



My cousin, B2, B3 and I went to Simply Books for a 'Meet the Author' morning. The author we were going to meet was Lizzie Finlay. Lizzie is an illustrator who has begun to write her own books. So far she has published 'Little Croc's Purse' and her more recent publication, 'Dandylion'.

Lizzie began by drawing a picture of Dandylion and speaking to the children about her book. She then read the book to the enraptured crowd, using enlargements of each page so all the little people present could see the pictures clearly.

After the story there were Dandylion activities. You could plant a dandelion seed into a pot to take home, colour-in an image from the book and have a moustache painted on your face, just as Dandylion did in the story. This young lady in red had a matching red moustache painted on and then walked around the village and a rather large Tescos causing quite a few stares, smiles and smirks!

You could purchase both of Lizzie's books from the shop and she would autograph them for you. B2 was given 'Dandylion' and B3 was given 'Little Croc's Purse'. B1 wasn't concerned about the fact that he missed out on a book as he was bought a football at Old Trafford.

Lizzie was a lovely lady and I can highly recommend her books; they have a message behind each of them and the illustrations are beautiful.

Simply Books is one of the most wonderful and child friendly book shops I have ever been into. In 2009 they won the 'Independent Bookseller of the Year 2009' - they are the best book seller in Britain. It is well deserved. They are located in the centre of Bramhall village in Manchester and they are open 9.30am-5.30pm Monday to Saturday.

The girls had a fabulous morning and were so excited that they actually met the author of a book they now owned; and as for the boys - well they didn't feel that they missed out as I believe they actually got to touch the grass on the pitch!