The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education has worked with Walker Books to create FREE teaching notes for The Tale of a Toothbrush .
These notes were written by their expert teaching team in association with Walker Books and support the cross-curricular topic of environmentalism with a focus on plastic waste.
They recommend using these notes in Early Years and KS1, but some of the themes also resonate with KS2.
This week sees the publication of my second picturebook, Rex the Rhinoceros Beetle - for younger beetle fans everywhere - and it’s just in time to celebrate National Insect Week.
Deep in the rainforest, Buster and Rex are rhinoceros beetles carrying a banana back to the beetle tree. But the more Buster tells Rex about his incredible strength and daring, the less rhinoceros-y Rex feels. Then, when danger arrives, can Buster live up to the stories he's told or is it up to Rex to save the day?
There are lots of great resources to accompany this picture book. You can draw along with Duncan Beedie (the fab illustrator who created the pictures) and make your own Rex in this video.
Scholastic is holding a competition offering bug hunting swag and a free copy of the book. All you have to do is draw your favourite beetle!
And there’s plenty more to come. I’ll add the resources here as they go live.
Why not make the most of National Insect Week and get out in the sunshine to hunt for bugs, then settle under a shady tree and read Rex the Rhinoceros Beetle.
‘No Insectinction’ is a call for action, a coming together of people and organisations with a shared endeavour to heal our planet’s life support system.
We must achieve three things:
1) Room for insects to thrive – we need to make space for wildlife and reconnect the wild parts of our landscapes
2) Safe spaces for insects – we must free our land and freshwaters from pollutants and invasive species
3) Friendlier relationship with insects – We need to act now to stop insectinction. However, the scale and quality of that action is still limited by our lack of understanding and awareness.
Today is World Oceans Day 2020, a perfect time to highlight the problems of plastic in our oceans.
Please admire these wonderfully creative plastic monsters. They’ve all been made from rubbish during the lockdown by super imaginative children.
The monsters symbolise the problems we have with plastic in our oceans and are the response to a ten-minute making challenge I set on Authorfy based on my picture book Tale of a Toothbrush, which was inspired by my work with #Authors4Oceans.
But, if you’re going to make a difference, and try to cut down the amount of plastic you use, July is a great month to do it, as it’s Plastic Free month.
You can join millions of people around the world reducing their plastic waste. FIND OUT MORE.
It is with great pride that I can announce that I am the new Vice President of Buglife, joining Steve Backshall, Nick Baker, Germaine Greer, Alan Stubbs, and Edward O Wilson to campaign for our invertebrate friends.
Buglife is the only organisation in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates. We’re actively working to save Britain’s rarest little animals, everything from bees to beetles, worms to woodlice and jumping spiders to jellyfish.
Right now, our new campaign is called NO INSECTINCTION
‘No Insectinction’ is a call for action, a coming together of people and organisations with a shared endeavour to heal our planet’s life support system.
We must achieve three things:
1) Room for insects to thrive – we need to make space for wildlife and reconnect the wild parts of our landscapes
2) Safe spaces for insects – we must free our land and freshwaters from pollutants and invasive species
3) Friendlier relationship with insects – We need to act now to stop insectinction. However, the scale and quality of that action is still limited by our lack of understanding and awareness.
Are you curious about Beetle Boy? Perhaps if I read you the first chapter you might be interested in reading the rest of the book…
With most children at home, us parents are looking for activities to occupy and educate our kids. So, I thought I’d pull together all the marvelous resources that have been created over the years that relate to my books.
Here you will find lots of fun activities for readers of all ages.
THE TALE OF A TOOTHBRUSH
Stay Home with Walker Books - activity sheets
ADVENTURES ON TRAINS
Activity sheets and classroom activities.
BATTLE OF THE BEETLES
ENJOY!
Maya
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I’m proud to have written a contribution to The Book of Hopes. This collection of work from children’s authors and illustrators is edited by Katherine Rundell, and freely available from the National Literacy Trust’s website from Monday 27 April.
The aim of the project is to gather a selection of hopeful words and pictures for all children (and their grown-ups) in this strange time where we find ourselves confined to our homes due to the coronavirus.
My contribution is a short piece of nature writing about the charismatic dung beetle and is accompanied by a fabulous illustration by Carim Nahaboo. I hope it provides a welcome distraction from the human realm and a delightful dip into the wonderful world of beetles.
Today, the paperback of my debut picture book The Tale of a Toothbrush is published. This would ordinarily be cause for celebration, except that every book shop in the land is closed.
If you feel this book would be a lovely addition to your child's bookshelf, and I promise it's a delightful story that gently introduces the topic of the problem with single-use plastic, then help an author out in these strange times and order one from Waterstones or Amazon. A review on either of these websites would be a big help too.
Listen along as I read The Tale of a Toothbrush live on my Instagram IGTV at 6pm on Friday the 3rd of April. Gather the family around and marvel at the faces I pull and my silly voices as I read you a charming bedtime story.
SPOILER ALERT - this book has a happy ending.
If you're at home with little ones for the foreseeable then why not try making a trash monster from plastic found in the bin?
You can find a video of me doing this on Authorfy. You have to register (for free) but there are lots of other great writing and creative activities there too. M. G. Leonard's 10 Minute Challenge »
Ta da! Here is the cover of the second book in the Adventures on Trains series, Kidnap on the California Comet. It will be published on September 3rd 2020.
Board the California Comet and help Harrison Beck to solve another heart-stopping mystery in the second Adventures on Trains story, Kidnap on the California Comet.
After the excitement of his adventures aboard the Highland Falcon Thief, Harrison Beck can't wait for the opportunity to go on another amazing train journey. So when his Uncle Nat invites him aboard the California Comet, the iconic three-day train journey from Chicago to San Francisco, he leaps at the chance to travel. But when the daughter of billionaire entrepreneur August Reza goes missing en route, Hal finds himself with another mystery to solve. Can he uncover the kidnapper before the journey's end?
An adrenaline-fuelled journey across America from bestselling authors M. G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman.
You can read chapter one of Kidnap on the California Comet at the end of The Highland Falcon Thief.
This year I spent World Book Day at Sketchley Hill school in Hinkley. We all had a fabulous day, sharing a love of stories and all things Beetle Boy.
Every year, I like to share the pictures I get sent of the children who dress up as characters from my books as a way of saying thank-you, and letting the children know that I’ve seen them children and think they’re amazing (and you parents too).
This year there have been some corkers. It’s a delight to see the first Harrison Becks and Lennys popping up on my social media feeds.
If your child dressed up as one of my characters, it’s not too late to send it to me. I’ll be adding all the pictures I get sent to this gallery.
On Monday 2nd of March, Sam Sedgman and I performed to 1200 children in Middlesborough. We introduced them to the Highland Falcon Thief, and we all had a riot.
This is the second World Book Day event I’ve been a part of and I love them! Taking the selfie from the stage was brilliant. I counted to three and got all the children in the theatre to throw their hands in the air and shout ‘pizza!’ I hope you agree, the photograph perfectly captures the spirit of this joyous celebration of reading.
After only three days on sale, The Highland Falcon Thief has steamed into the Children’s Bestseller list at number 17. My heartfelt thanks go to every single person who has bought, read, sold, and recommended our book. To say we are chuffed to bits really is an understatement.
I am over the moon to be able to tell you that The Highland Falcon Thief is the Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month for February. People are being so kind about our book, and I’m delighted that our series is getting this kind of a launch. The support of Waterstones is what turned Beetle Boy into such a huge success.
Book two will be coming to a bookshop near you in February, but if you are curious the first chapter of Kidnap on the California Comet is hidden in the back of the Highland Falcon Thief. Keep your eyes peeled for it.
