Win £500 of books for your school and more! Ends midnight 14/12/11

The lovelies at Tesco are running a fantastic competition which means you (the kids!) could be in for a chance to win an amazing 83 piece art chest or a Crayola set for themselves, plus £500 for books for your school.

It’s really easy to enter and will keep the kids occupied for a while (nice one Tesco, we like quiet and occupied children!). To enter all you have to do is…..

1. Read the exclusive short story He Should have Listened to Grandad by Steve Hartley.

2. Draw a picture to illustrate it (be as creative as you can here kids!).

3. Ask an adult to scan or take a photo of your masterpiece and send it in to us using the form here!

There are three categories – two to five years; six to eight years; nine to twelve years and there’s one winner from each category. The winner of the two to five category will receive £50 worth of Crayola products, the winners of both the six to eight and nine to 12 categories will each win a Reeves Watercolour Art Chest. Each winner will also receive a £500 cheque for their nominated school or nursery to spend on books.

I’m not sure but wouldn’t a donation of £500 worth of books to your school get you out of all bake sale duties from now until the end of your child’s school life? Excuse me while I grab Kieran and the crayons!

The Judge – (Ed Vere) and a chance to win more prizes!

Top author and illustrator Ed Vere is judging the competition. He is taking over the Tesco Magazine twitter account this Monday 12th December at 4pm for a live chat and has also given them a stunning illustration to giveaway as a prize plus books. All the details are here. (Does anyone else think that he looks like a young Richard Branson?)

You can tweet questions in advance using the hashtag #kidsbookclub

This is a great competition and another way to get the kids using their imagination!

Good luck all!!!

ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions

Language of Thieves by Elizabeth Jackson

Rather than jump straight in and do another book review I though this time I’d do things a bit differently.

I’m going to start by reviewing the author! Elizabeth Jackson, is a self diagnosed Twitter addict, a retired psychotherapist, half gypsy and has the most wicked sense of humour! I “met” Liz online (on Twitter obviously) a few months ago, having realised we lived only a few streets away from each other. When Liz told me she would be signing copies of her book, Language of Thieves, at the local bookshop I knew straight away I wanted to go. At this point I was more interested in meeting the good lady in person than the actual book (sorry Liz!). Lets face it it, if she was as much fun in real life as she was online, we’d have a hoot. And we did!

This is me with the lovely Elizabeth Jackson, shortly before I knocked a glassful of orange over her - but we'll not talk about that (clumsy sod I am!).

The event was a great success and having met Liz I couldn’t wait to see if her lively personality came through in her writing. I wasn’t disappointed.

What might seem at first glance as another story of love and intrigue (to be fair they are common themes), is in fact a fantastically well written book brimming with deep undercurrents that weave together to create the type of book you don’t want to put down yet can’t bear to finish.

Based in North Yorkshire where Liz has lived all her life we follow the story of Daisy Lamiter, the resident traveller girl and those she loves, fears and despises. Her story begins in 1949 in Appleby, Westmorland at the popular Appleby Fair where travellers would come from miles away to trade horses and other goods. When two cultures collide, those of the travellers and the Gorgios (non-travellers), Daisy is set upon a path from which there is no return… and that’s all I’m going to tell you.

Being half gypsy herself, Elizabeth has a unique perspective that comes out in this book. I am sad indeed to have finished and I am eagerly awaiting her second book.

Language of Thieves is a fantastic read, and you can read more about it and buy it from Amazon. Treat yourself this Christmas, you won’t regret it.

*I haven’t been asked to review this book but have written this brief account because reading it is something I thoroughly enjoyed and because I hope other people will read this write up and try the book themselves. Thanks to Elizabeth Jackson for letting me “borrow” the mug-shot of us both.