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If you know me at all, you know I LOVE to dress up and do it all the time. So World Book Day is always exciting because it means I'm not the only one! I LOVE seeing everyone's costumes. Here's a killer cake, from Cakes in Space!



Philip Reeve and I were really, really hoping someone would dress up as a pug, and... HURRAH! :D





And not only pugs, here are Sika and Shen, the human stars of Pugs of the Frozen North.



Check out the awesome Seawig on this Rambling Isle: Cliff from Oliver and the Seawigs!



I'm glad someone was able to use the Seawig template from my website, that's ace.



And the Rambling Isles are joined by Oliver and Iris the mermaid!



The other costume I really wanted to see was someone from Dinosaur Police, and here's the very first costume I've seen. So awesome.



Check out this shark from There's a Shark in the Bath!



And YESSSS, it's Superkid to the rescue.



Thanks so much to everyone who shared photos, that's amazing! :D

Hurrah! I was SO hoping someone would dress up as a pug for World Book Day on Thursday and children's book illustrator Jo Byatt just sent through this photo of her daughter Sienna, age 10, in a most fabulous PUG COSTUME! :D Thanks so much, Sienna and Jo!

If you follow this blog, you'll know I love dressing up, and it's SUCH a rush to see other people dressed up as characters in books I've helped create! So here's this year's round-up, and it's SUPER EXCITING. Check out Oliver and Iris from Oliver and the Seawigs:


Poppy, tweeted by @rebeccamascull; mermaid tweeted by @HollySwainUK

And a KILLER CAKE from Cakes in Space! (I was SO hoping Philip Reeve and I would get a character from that one, hooray!)


Tweeted by @RachLilBC

Check out this spooky Jampire!! David O'Connell and I were hugely chuffed to see this!


Tweeted by @nidpor


Claire Freedman and I were thrilled to see some caped heroes from Superkid!


Tweeted by @alexchiorando and @annaborthwick2


Joel, via Facebook

And here were some of my other favourite costumes! Check out Larry Ladybird from the Gary's Garden comics in The Phoenix Comic by Gary Northfield.


Via Caroline Smith on Facebook

Be sure to check out his Gary's Garden book of collected strips; it's ace. And check out the brand-new trailer for Gary's book Julius Zebra!



Last one, Joe Undrill dressed as Fish-Head Steve, by Jamie Smart. Fabulous!

At Winchester House School, they don't go for inelegant little things like microphones, they have much more eye-catching amplification devices.



For World Book Day, I did storytelling, character design and comics workshops with the kids, and I was glad to get their feedback from Director of Studies Louisa Farrow. She wrote:

The children I have come across since were genuinely enthused and there is now a rash of comic book drawing which is wonderful to see. On Friday afternoon, when I was talking to some of the children about your talk, they all got their sketchbooks out and started showing me their drawings inspired by your work. Here’s a particularly lovely comment:

'I learned that you don’t need to be famous to publish a comic – just make one!'

And when I asked what was the best thing another boy said, 'She got involved with us.'



Some other comments: 'I learned how easy it is to make a comic and how much fun it is.'

'I learned to be more free with my art and that less detail could be more effective.'

'She was very imaginative, funny and an awesome drawer.'

So, Mission Comics Ambassador accomplished! I advised the kids that the best way to learn how to make books and comics is simple: make books and comics. All they need is a sheet of paper and, to self-publish, a photocopier. If they make lots and lots of books and comics, they'll get better and better and eventually someone else may want to pay them to publish their work.

Winchester House turned out to be a very fancy school! I started to guess that when I got to the entrance and saw the packaging:



I think they might be growing those kids organically as well, but I don't think they taste just like chicken. (I didn't check.)

I did several sessions, and here's some comics we made with the smallest group, in the art room. I had them design characters, led them in a Comics Jam, then started them off on making their own comics that they could self-publish as easily as taking them to the photocopier. They all made some bright covers to house their comics:



Here are some of the Comics Jams we did; each panel is drawn by a different person.





Halfway through the session, a newspaper reporter came in and took some photos. He had me sprawl dramatically across the table... just as I would in any of my comics workshops, of course.





Do you see the guy taking a photo in the top left corner here?



Well, that's the art teacher, Tobias Till, and he does AMAZING printmaking work. I came back and looked at his website and was gobsmacked. Remember how I was playing around with some lino cut work? Well, I'd love to attend some of Toby's workshops, those kids are very

When I got into my pirate gear on Wednesday morning, my first pre-World Book Day stop was Newbottle and Charlton Primary School in Oxfordshire. Louise told me that it was the first time they'd ever had an author visit the school. I felt honoured to be the first, and the schoolchildren were wonderfully enthusiastic.



Here's the pirate they led me in drawing, Cap'n Ugly Hardrock Davios (or 'Dav' for short).




Here's their head, fellow North American Diannah Dean, introducing me. The kids did a great job of saying ARRR! like a pirate.



I read You Can't Scare a Princess! to the school, then talked them through a little slideshow about how I made the book, starting with the piece of paper with the story text on it. Here I am, showing them how I designed the character of Captain Waffle.



Then I led Years 5-6 in a comics workshop. First we designed some pirate characters, then we had a Comics Jam session. Here are some of the pirates, starting with Captain Bendy Bum:







And here are a few of the Comics Jams! Some of them are surreal, to say the least.













I finished with a book signing, and it was lovely getting to meet some of the kids there.



Louise took me off to Culworth Primary School, and on the road, we stopped off at a churchyard to look at this intriguing old tomb stone of a former African servant who had died at the age of 16:



I took a few snapshots of some snowdrops growing outside the school, next to the old grounds of Culworth Castle.



Louise took a photo of me taking a photo of the snowdrops...



Here are Reception and Year 1. We're talking about digging long, winding pirate tunnels.



They helped me draw this pirate, Captain Pants:<

My World Book Day was actually three days! World Book Day is a big deal in the UK and Ireland, and it's the one time when you can be certain there will be a zillion writers and illustrators running around the country doing various assemblies and workshops, and lots of kids showing up at school in costume. (Here's a Wikipedia explanation about why our World Book Day isn't the same day here as it is in the rest of the world.)

Fab publicist Louise Stothard planned my tour and took me to stay at her house in Northamptonshire for two nights. Here's my pirate gear, all laid out and ready to go.



As I left, I waved goodbye to our sinister studio gnome at the Fleece Station, who promised to look after the place while my studio mate Gary and I were out and about, eventing. (Gary was doing gigs in Essex.)




I left London from Marylebone, which has one of those lovely old station roofs I like so much.



Louise picked me up at Bicester North station, and our first stop was Brackley, with its rather lovely town hall.



We explored The Old Hall Bookshop, in a big, beautiful Queen Anne building.



That place is a real treasure trove. Here's manager Christine Bridger, who stocked the books for my events during the next two days. And that's Louise on the right. Louise used to publicise The DFC comic, before it became The Phoenix comic.



Louise showed me through a little door at the top of the stairs, where I discovered that the bookshop went up three (or was it four?) more floors, which don't have any electricity. It felt a bit spooky and marvelous wandering about its strange passageways in the last dregs of daylight, like something out of a book. Reminded me a bit of the Magic Bookshop in Greenwich.



Then Louise took me to her house, a lovely old barn conversion in the countryside...



...with two cuddly Jack Russells! Here's 14-year-old Polo, who pretended like he was going to hold still while I drew him, but who wiggled every time I thought the picture was just starting to turn out all right.



Another attempt to draw Polo before he wiggled.



And here's the baby, little Pippa, who was so excited to see me that she widdled on the kitchen floor. I took this photo just after she came back from Obedience Class, where she met a little boyfriend and didn't pay any attention to the lesson. But awww... isn't she cute?



And then I had two full days of school events! I'll post Part Two tomorrow. But just to say, thanks to Louise for all her