...and then there were two!

Wessex Children's Book Festival

There was a children's book festival held here over the weekend and went for a little look-see. I wasn't planning on buying anything because I don't want to ship a container of things back when we go back to Singapore (I'm already halfway to achieving that objective... damn Ebay!).

It was a small festival, but the nice thing about it was, you could meet authors and illustrators. And not just one or two, but a whole bunch of them over the 3 days. When I saw the festival brochure I really wanted to meet Axel Scheffler. He's the one who illustrated The Gruffalo.

I had no idea what to expect, so I thought he'd give a talk or walk around and interact with people. I didn't know he was going to sign books and I didn't know his queue would be SOOO long. I didn't have time to queue because I had to meet someone in half an hour. Argh!

So I walked out of the hall and was THIS CLOSE to going off. Then I thought, "What is wrong with you! If you don't buy a book and get it autographed, DN will never have another book actually signed by Axel Scheffler and you will kick yourself tomorrow when you finally wake up from whatever stupor you're in and it sinks into your thick skull that this is your only chance!" So I walked straight back in and almost crashed into Maisy (who seems to be saying, "OMG. Look where you're going lady!" in this picture).

There was a whole selection of books on sale and I finally chose this one written by Kate Perry and illustrated by Axel Scheffler - Rosie Plants A Radish. It's a lift-the-flap book, so I could show DN what goes on underground when you plant something. And of course, I'll help him plant something so he can actually track the growing process, and test his patience at the same time. LOL.

Ah! Cute!

So I bought the book, got a ticket for the signing and obediently joined the queue, staying passive and patient throughout because of my "queue training" in Singapore. The queue was moving SOOO slowly. I figured that everyone was giving him 10 books to sign. I mean, it'd make a good Christmas present, but still? How long does it take to scribble a signature into a book? Then I got near the front of the queue and understood why his queue was so long and so slow.

He drew a little illustration in every book that he signed! Compare the before and after picture!

Of course, the first thing that popped into my mind was, "Dang! I should have bought 5 more books!" And of course, now I'm not going to give the book to DN until he turns 10 12 16 21 ... wait a minute! When's that magical age when boys actually start taking care of their own things?