Sheena Dempsey's Blog

Hey, from now on I'll be blogging over on my brand, new website: www.sheenadempsey.com, see you there!

   Last week I was in New York. I had arranged a storytime event in my sister's local bookshop in Fort Greene, Brooklyn called Greenlight Bookstore . In a display of madness/true love, Mick came with me and dressed up as Bruno - he donned a colander, check shirt, white apron, red high-tops and various paraphernalia including a magnifying glass. I dressed up as Mrs. Pinkerley, the octogenarian petshop owner whose shop Bruno buys Titch from. My not-so-trusty parrot fell off my shoulder early on in the session so he had to take a timeout, unfortunately, but other than that, my costume was more or less true to the story. We had a blast and the kids seem to enjoy it too. Photo credit to Mouhsine Idrissi Janati, who took these wonderful pictures. 

  Jenni Desmond of "The Zebra Who Ran too Fast" picture book fame nominated me in an ice bucket doodle challenge. Have a look on twitter to see the icy and interesting doodles illustrators are doing in response to the hashtag #icebucketdoodle. I'm donating to the wonderful charity Wimbledon Greyhound Welfare where we adopted Sandy. 

This week Bruno and Titch have been in very good company indeed: on a picture book blog tour with four wonderful Walker Books (Jenni Desmond's The Zebra Who Ran Too Fast, Birgitta Sif's Frances Dean Who Loved to Dance and Dance, Herve Tullet's Help! We Need a Title! and Bob Graham's Vanilla Ice Cream).


Photo courtesy of Culture Baby blog
It's been so lovely to see children interacting with the book and they really seemed to enjoy it too (phew!). Zoe Toft's brilliant blog Playing by the Book saw the kids recreating a scene with Brio toys, lego and broccoli. (I thoroughly approved of the addition of a Kit-Kat on the snack bar train). In Zoe's words: "Deadpan guinea pig humour (yes, really!) and fabulous illustrations full of new details upon each reading add something special to this tale about friendship, imagination and looking after pets. We especially loved Bruno's passion for invention, right down the the poster of Einstein by his bed."

Follow this link to read the full Playing by the Book blog post.


Titch's Snack Bar recreated with broccoli and a Kit Kat
Photo courtesy of Zoe Toft at Playing by the Book blog
 The Boy and Me blog seemed to like Bruno and Titch too, judging by this happy camper:


 Photo Courtesy of The Boy and Me blog
In The Boy and Me's words: "This was our favourite book of the five, not least of all because it was about a guinea pig and a young boy, and we had recently looked after the school's guinea pigs during the Summer holidays. Titch is a lone guinea pig in a pet shop, desperate for an owner. Bruno is a lone boy, desperate for a pet. This book shares their first few days together and how they developed their friendship and understanding of each other's needs into something special".

Follow this link to read the full The Boy and Me blog post.


Another lovely blog,  Being a Mummy reviewed it too and had this to say: "Bruno and Titch by Sheena Dempsey was a fantastic book and the boys really enjoyed it. My two boys have asked to read it several times, and little Ned could have read it over and over again all day long. It's the story of a guinea pig who really is his new best friend. The book has some lovely illustrations and the story is wonderful. We really liked this book a lot. It's a story which any child who has met, or dreams of having a pet can identify with and which also made me laugh. I'm just waiting to see what sort of junk models my children make for their pets as a result of this story." 




Follow this link to read the full Being a Mummy blog post. 

Culture Baby blog reviewed it too and even got busy making "Duplo constructions to rival Bruno's Guinea Pig palace."  Follow this link to read a more detailed review from Culture Baby.

Photo courtesy of Culture Baby blog Photo courtesy of  Culture Baby  blog
Many thanks to all these wonderful bloggers who reviewed the books, thanks to the great kids who had fun engaging with them and many thanks to Walker for organising the Picture Book Party Blog Tour 2014.

Advance copies of "After Happily Ever After - Cinderella's Big Day" have arrived. This novelty fairytale book was a ton of fun to work on. It publishes on October the 1st. 

Some character sketches I did this week from the second book in The Powers series.

Some photos from our book launch the other night, at Daunt Books, Marylebone. We had a fantastic evening. Fun was had by all, thanks to all those who made it along. 
A display of our three books in the shop window, The Zebra Who Ran Too Fast (Jenni Desmond), Specs for Rex (Yasmeen Ismail) and Bruno and Titch (Sheena Dempsey)

The three of us outside the shop

A great turnout

Hurray!

Myself and my wonderful editor, Maria Tunney

  A couple of weeks ago I went to my friends' wedding and made this family portrait for them as a present. The building is NCAD, where they first met. Henry, the little dog has a penchant for poo. Judy, the taller one, has a squint and an overbite.