Wonderful reviews for Lucy Scott’s debut picture book – ‘Busy Busy!’ It is published May 2016 by independent publisher – Creston Books.
In Doodle Diary of a New Mom, Scott documented some of parenthood’s more challenging moments, from breast-feeding in graffiti-filled bathroom stalls to date nights that involve passing out on the sofa. In her first children’s book, she shows why all that effort is worth it. Parents are nowhere in sight as a toddler with floppy brown hair, peach skin, and gray overalls recounts her “busy busy day” in narration that gives a strong sense of the largeness of the girl’s imaginative world. “I built a city!” she announces as her stuffed animals perch on tall towers of blocks. “I cooked lunch for ten!” she says while she stirs pots in her play kitchen before a crowd of plush toys. The artwork is lovely from start to finish; Scott’s illustrations have a delicacy and precision reminiscent of Helen Oxenbury’s work. Telling, true-to-life details, such as the row of pillows serving as a path across “a river full of crocodiles” and the cat retreating from the cacophony of the child’s one-girl band, will resonate with children and parents alike. Ages 3–5. Agent: Isabel Atherton, Creative Authors. (May) Publishers Weekly, March 2016
“Busy Busy!” is a mind-boggling portrait of a day in the life of an active, imaginative, creative, especially busy toddler. The warmly detailed color illustrations reveal exactly how challenging keeping up with such a busy child can be! Kids will adore picking out the telling details in every page, even the colored text for the last sentence of each page of text: “I had a Busy Busy Day!” Only a truly talented child can create quite so much daily chaos while happily exploring her world of toys and play in her Busy, Busy day. Adult readers will imagine in profound detail exactly how tiring and challenging it could be to supervise and care for a child as imaginative and busy as this little girl. After painting the floor with pictures, smearing spaghetti on her stuffed animals, strewing her mother’s jewelry about the place, making delightful sounds with noisy music/percussion instruments, and playing in the jungle with more stuffed animals, the little girl scrubs at a particularly dirty penguin in her bath until she finally falls asleep riding a (toy) camel across a sandy desert, interrupting her last “Busy bzzzzzzzzzzz)” to drift in dreamland with an underwater fantasy show. “Busy Busy!” is absolutely top notch for children’s bedtime reading (and incidentally parent survival manual) kudos. The Midwest Book Review, March 2016
Ged Adamson sees his third picture book ‘Douglas, You Need Glasses’ published by Schwartz and Wade (Random House US, May 2016). We are thrilled with this nice review from Kirkus.
Everything looks great when a myopic dog gets glasses.
Douglas’ poor eyesight interferes with his lifestyle. He chases leaves instead of squirrels, overlooks warning signs, and sometimes even goes “home to the wrong house.” After he mistakes a wasps’ nest for a ball, Douglas’ owner, Nancy (a white girl in a hunting cap with ear flaps), takes him to the eye doctor. Asked to identify symbols on the eye chart, Douglas sees a squirrel as a dinosaur, a cat as a crab, a car as a flying saucer, a bird as a horse, and a leaf as a squirrel. Trying on many pairs of glasses, Douglas finally chooses the perfect ones: “Wow! Everything looks amazing.” Perky, humorous illustrations rely on naïve pencil outlines, watercolor washes, and cartoonlike characters to portray nearsighted Douglas coping with a world he can’t see clearly, punting his way through the eye exam, and adopting different personas to match the glasses he tries on. The double-page spread showing Douglas’ sharp, detailed view of the world through the frames of his new glasses should feel familiar to any spectacles-wearing kid. Photos of “real kids who wear glasses,” with an invitation to “show us how you look in your glasses” by posting a photo on social media, complement Douglas’ life-changing adventure.
A lighthearted introduction to the perks of wearing glasses. (Picture book. 3-7) – Kirkus, Feb. 2016
Michelle Kelly’s ‘Downward Facing Death’ has also been getting great reviews.
Michelle Kelly’s ‘Downward Facing Death’ is a lighthearted whodunit about a small town girl who returns home after years of traveling. Keeley Carpenter is expecting fanfare upon her homecoming, only to receive instead a dead body on her doorstep and a less than enthusiastic response to her big city goals. The idea of her vegetarian cafe that Keeley hopes will bring yoga and smoothies together is something the meat and potatoes country set aren’t ready for yet, but yoga aficionados will enjoy the breathing techniques that are well-placed throughout the book.
Instead of buckling under pressure, Keeley sets out to solve the crime herself, much to the dismay of the local detective, who seems to be a step ahead of her and more than a little irritated that she’s interfering with police business. Including a touch of romance, the novel has enough mystery and plot twists to keep a reader engaged throughout the story.
The story moves along at a nice pace, and finishing the book with a few recipes was a nice touch. Ms Kelly’s debut mystery is sure to please any fan of the genre.
– Tina Jaspersen, San Francisco Book Review, March 2016
Out now!
Nick Soulsby’s UK edition of ‘Cobain on Cobain: Interviews & Encounters’ has just been published by music publishers, Omnibus Press.
‘Cobain on Cobain: Interviews & Encounters’ places the reader at the key moments of Kurt Cobain’s rollercoaster ride, telling the tale of Nirvana entirely through his words and those of his bandmates as they unleashed the whirlwind that would consume them for the last half of their five-year career. This is the most comprehensive compendium of interviews with the band ever released. The interviews start from the release of their first album Bleach to the band’s collapse on their 1994 European tour followed shortly by Cobain’s suicide. Includes interviews that have never been seen in print before.
We are proud to include Omnibus’s two part interview with Nick about his latest book here:
‘Cobain on Cobain: Interviews & Encounters’ is out now in the UK and published by Omnibus Press. You can purchase your copy here.
Chicago Review Press have published the US edition and you can get your copy here.
We’ve been very busy selling foreign rights to our books. Details are below.
US rights sold:
Picture book: ‘Douglas, You Need Glasses!’
Spanish language rights (‘Hugo Necesitas Lentes’)’ for the education market in the US and Canada to Scholastic.
Library Edition: Junior Library Guild
Recent Foreign rights sold:
Picture Book: ‘Busy, Busy!’ By Lucy Scott
Korean language rights – Bookstory, Korea Manhwa Contents Agency (Komacon).
Picture Book: ‘The Only Child’ by Guojing
Mainland Spanish language rights to Pastel de Luna.
German language rights in Europe to Verlagshaus Jacoby & Stuart.
Korean language rights to Media Changbi Inc.
Complex Chinese language rights world excl. Mainland China to China Times Publishing.
“I cannot thank Isy enough for her utter belief in my first book, ‘Behind The Gloss,’ from the moment she met me and for holding my hand on this new journey. Not only that, but before I could take a breath there was another book deal on the table. I had two books published in 2023 and I have two new books publishing in 2025 and 2026.”
Tamara Sturtz-Filby, Creative Authors Client
