Staying Home free ebook

Publisher Andersen Press has released a free eBook, Staying Home, by author Sally Nicholls, illus Viviane Schwarz, which can be downloaded below, to help occupy children and their parents during lockdown.

In Staying Home, a family of energetic raccoons are going through a day in lockdown; no school, nursery or work - and explaining to the youngest members of the family how they're doing their part to save lives just by staying at home! The free eBook has been developed, written and illustrated by the creative duo at break-neck speed, to be released to the public whilst we're in the middle of lockdown. The aim is to help parents going into the second month of quarantine, explain a little more about the Coronavirus pandemic, and how important it is we all isolate at home. Author Sally Nicholls said, "Like many authors, I've been finding it hard to concentrate on writing projects. My husband and I are at home at the moment with two children aged four and two, and I wanted to write something which reflected their new lives. "The day-in-the-life format is a very familiar one in picture books. Like most stories for young children, this one is somewhat idealised - there's no sense that the family are worried about money and the parents are remarkably patient. But it does contain more screen time and fighting than you'll find in most examples of the genre. "I love Viviane's warm, energetic raccoon family. They're making the absolute best of a difficult situation, and they're doing it with affection and good humour. I can only hope I'm managing half as well!" Illustrator Viviane Schwarz added, "I was busy working on a book that I am writing myself - a book about feelings and worries, and I was feeling rather worried and stuck myself, seeing the trouble to come. So when Sally mentioned that she felt the need to write a book about what family life might be like right now, I said I would illustrate it, and as fast as I could. "We considered making it a cosy bear family, but then decided that the family would be raccoons instead because we both like them. Also, it's quite easy for bears to hibernate, they're used to it. Raccoons are a lot more lively! "After a day of scribbling I suddenly realised that in German a raccoon is called 'Waschbar', a wash-bear, because they wash their food. I watched a lot of videos of them splashing around in the water, and it helped with the bathroom scenes. Wash your hands like raccoons, stay in and be kind to one another." Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books, will share the story on Friday 24th April at 10am on their social media channels in the latest Digital Storytime, their ongoing partnership with Andersen Press to share books with their audience through current lockdown measures.

External Link

www.andersenpress.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/STAYING_HOME_medium-res.pdf