Sue Eves

Noisy Dog Gone! (Sat, 03 Dec 2011)

Hey! Hi! Come on over! Find us all here at www.sueeves.net
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Light In The Gloom (Tue, 05 Apr 2011)

'Everyone likes to be enchanted' Frank Cottrell Boyce  Frank Cottrell Boyce bewitched us all at the Chidren's Writers' and Illustrators' Conference in London last Saturday. You can read my post about the day with Frank Cottrell Boyce and the other speakers, Helen Pielichaty, Tony Bradman,  The 2 Steves (Skidmore & Barlow) and Anne Cassidy on the Society Of Authors' Website (scroll down to Sarah McIntyre's drawing of Frank Cottrell Boyce and click on my report.)
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Sketchcrawling (Mon, 29 Nov 2010)

At the end of the day we sat in the cafe and shared our drawings. Crawl over to my website to see my dead duck sketches from our first SCBWI_BI Sketchcrawl.
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10 To Treasure (Wed, 17 Nov 2010)

Click on the Cow illustration in the right hand corner of this page to get my latest SCBWI Conference news
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Woofy And Mortlock (Fri, 02 Apr 2010)

Featuring: Mortlock by Jon Mayhew (Bloomsbury) My daughter, Jess' debut as Assistant Puppeteer Photo of me by Candy Gourlay at Mortlock Book Launch
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Woofy's 2nd Book Day (Mon, 01 Mar 2010)


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Woofy's Scary Story (Tue, 09 Feb 2010)

A book has gone missing from the Noisy Dog Library... ALIX PARKER's story THE UNEXPECTED GUEST is in the Anthology SCREAM For another copy of SCREAM - we'll be visiting BRIDGE HOUSE PUBLISHING For more about SCREAM STREET visit Tommy Donbavand's website A re-issue edition of Funny Bones comes out next month
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Woofy's Bedtime Story (Tue, 12 Jan 2010)


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Barking On Thin Ice (Fri, 08 Jan 2010)

Too cosy to step outside. Too lazy to take the dog out early. Time of walk - 12.25 I layered up enough, hung my camera across my body and went out to make the most of the peep of sunshine on the snow. Can there really be anything new to photograph on the common? Ah - I haven't seen this before - the beach - covered in snow and the lake is frozen. I've only seen people skating on it in photographs from 1906. Not possible now, what with the pumps keeping the water moving there in the centre - the ice isn't solid enough. I continued round the lake taking pictures, hoping to catch The Big Freeze - the common frozen in my time. The dog slipped into the frame, of his own free will as if to say - You've forgotten your subject. And then, as we turned full circle back to the beach, I saw a little Kerry Blue terrier trotting across the ice - sniffing around near the open water. I heard a woman casually calling for Otto. "Is that your dog?" I asked pointing towards the lake. But the dog was no longer on the ice, he was in the water, scrabbling to get out. "Yes - I mean no. No - I'm a dog walker. What do I do?" I ran to the nearby cafe in search of a phone number for the parks police. A park truck was waiting with its engine running and one of the workers asleep in the front passenger seat. I ran round to the driver's side and alerted the driver who phoned - who? - not sure and we both ran back to the lake. My dog and I were faster. The dog walker was coming our way. She was about to tie up the other dogs she had been walking. I told her someone was on their way. "What can we do?" She asked. I dunno, what could we do! I unhooked the strap of my camera and used it as a make-shift lead for my dog. "We could throw out my extending lead (6m long - you know) and - er - the dog could hold on to the end of it..." Yep - cos the long thin line with the tiny hook is going to be so attractive to a desperate dog. "We could use mine too," the walker replied. The truck driver caught up with us and a man offered a stick to tie on the end of the life line - dogs fetch sticks - brilliant! And so - the Stick Man and the Driver spent the next 5 minutes attaching various sizes of fallen branches and virtually one small tree in an attempt to get the poor dog to Fetch himself out of the water. All the time The Walker and I shouted the dog's name to keep him paddling. My dog added the odd encouraging bark while Otto pawed the water and the logs slid short of him across the ice. "Did anyone call emergency?" A woman waved a phone at us. Should have done it in the first place but at least I had done it on my way back from the cafe - it felt like an emergency at that point. The dog had already been in the water about 10 minutes. "Yep...OTTO!" I called. "I'm going in." The dog walker decided. "No. We can't rescue you." I replied. The sound of sirens and Stick Man changed her mind just in time. Otto was whimpering and slipping under as a fireman struck the ice with a pick axe and waded in to pull the dog to shore. He took off his jacket and wrapped up the quivering wreck. I squeezed the ice water from the dog's ears and rubbed his nose and face. The fireman lifted Otto into his arms and carried him to the walker's car. Time of rescue - 13.09 Otto curled up in a doggy duvet in the front seat and I'm sure if he could he would have smiled at me. My dog did a celebratory poop in the snow. I scooped it and we walked home.
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Noise In The Library (Thu, 07 Jan 2010)

Readers borrowed The Quiet Woman and the Noisy Dog1907 times from UK libraries in 4 months (PLR year ending June 2009). If you are an author or illustrator and you haven't already registered your published titles with PLR - do it now. This year my earnings pay for subscription to the SCBWI Professional Series in London - if it hasn't already sold out. Happy New Titles! For 'The borrowing habits of the nation' - see the PLR Chart Toppers' page. Four authors clocked over 1 million loans!
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From Door To Table (Sun, 27 Dec 2009)

From door... Christmas Wreath, originally uploaded by Sue Eves. To Table. Merry Christmas! Here's how I did it last year.
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Copenhagen For Children (Wed, 09 Dec 2009)

Climate Change is here and children can do something about it! The UNDER THE WEATHER anthology of short stories focusing on children, edited by Tony Bradman is out in hardback. By hook or by crook, Candy Gourlay is the first in this book and Miriam Halahmy is featured on the back cover. Both Candy's HOW TO BUILD A SANDCASTLE and Miriam's TOMMO AND THE BIKE TRAIN are mentioned in the introduction and each author is profiled at the back of the book in the 'NOW MEET THE AUTHORS' section. When I've stopped turning the book over and over in my hands - I'll read it! Tip: Buy this book before TALL STORY by Candy Gourlay, is published in June. HIDDEN by Miriam Halahmy is published in 2010
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Woofy's First Blog Post (Thu, 19 Nov 2009)


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Cracking Weekend (Mon, 09 Nov 2009)

A banger goes off in the street and the dog goes off in the house but even the dog can't make this much noise. Thanks to our friend from Canada who stayed at home to keep the dog company, we took the annual trip out of London to Brockham Fireworks. And thanks to our friend from Canada who came to London via coach from Stratford Upon Avon, and told us of William Shakespeare's inscribed curse on his grave to protect his bones from the bonefire. 'And curst be he that moves my bones' Bonefire - from the old spelling of bonfire - The History of Henrie The Fourth Part 1 'O ! thou art a perpetuall triumph, an euerlafting bonefire light !'
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Taking my camera for a spin (Sat, 17 Oct 2009)

I was on my way home from walking my dog on the common when these colours caught my eye. I rarely take my camera to the common anymore as I have taken thousands of photos of the place and I can't believe there are many more surprises after four years of daily clicking. And there's always the camera or brushes application on my iphone for the odd red bus or heron. This time, I wanted to record the autumn colours without focussing on the tree - no more photos of trees!
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Spider In The Time Tunnel (Sun, 20 Sep 2009)

Red Spider , originally uploaded by Pix zzzart. Look what I found in a corner of my work room. It was in a poster that I haven't unrolled for a couple of years. I took this photo and then tipped the spider into the ivy in my back garden. It's supposed to be good luck to have spiders in your house, isn't it? Oh dear, according to the Burke Museum Of Natural History, house spiders live indoors and should not be put 'back' outside because they 'don't do well there'. Bad luck for the spider, it's lost in the ivy outdoors now. Still, I've left the back door open...
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The Ghost Of Tom Long (Wed, 09 Sep 2009)

Apparition, originally uploaded by Pix zzzart. Light Graffiti - Ely Cathedral - set of 10 photos by Sue Eves I tried not to work over the summer holidays. It's harder than I imagined to put children's books out of my mind. I almost made it to the end of the summer and then we went to Ely Catherdral in Suffolk and the ghost of Tom Long tripped up the West Tower steps with me to see the view of the river he and Hatty had skated from Castleford. I couldn't wait to get back home and re-read the skating and cathedral chapters from Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce. Tom climbed 286 steps to the West Tower - our guide told us there were 285. I suppose one step either way wouldn't make much difference to him as he trips up the tower 5 times a day through the summer. I could kick myself for not seeking out the memorial tablet with the words 'Exchanged Time for Eternity.' Did Philippa Pearce see one or did she make it up? I'm inclined to believe there is one and that Philippa Pearce walked the 285 steps, before me. Tomorrow, I return to Cambridge for the Philippa Pearce Memorial Lecture given by Michael Rosen (I wrote about last year's inaugural lecture here). My summer holiday is over and I can enjoy thinking about children's books again without feeling guilty.
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Blue Blue Moth (Mon, 07 Sep 2009)

Blue Blue Moth, originally uploaded by Pix zzzart. Hello, I'm back. I've been dusting my desk and photographing the blue moth that stayed in my room while I was away.
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Please Look After This Dog (Mon, 24 Aug 2009)

Please Look After This Dog, originally uploaded by Pix zzzart. Having a great time - back to work next week!
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While The Dog's Away... (Fri, 14 Aug 2009)

Hen & Dog Bowl, originally uploaded by Pix zzzart. We're taking a break - back soon!
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The Author Problem (Thu, 30 Jul 2009)

If you haven't already guessed, I promise to reveal the name of the author/illustrator of this picture book due to be published in hardback next Friday. You could easily cheat and look it up but I'm interested to know if you could identify the creator of this book. The cover hopped out at me and I think you know when a book is going to be good, don't you? The author/illustrator is xxx The Rabbit Problem is published on 7 August. Click here for the publisher's blurb.
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Neil Gaiman Reading Things Aloud (Mon, 13 Jul 2009)

This is Neil Gaiman's advice on his blog about reading aloud. I heard him read from The Graveyard book at London School Of Economics last October. He is blessed with the rich, resonant tone of a voice that reminds me of Alan Rickman. It's worth listening to him online reading all 8 chapters of the Graveyard Book on his Video Tour of 9 different cities. I had problem with the stop-start of the streaming but I believe it's sorted now.
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Reigning Cats And Dogs (Sat, 11 Jul 2009)

Vivian Schwartz and I presented our books at the Sydenham Arts Festival today. Woofy and Biscuit rubbed noses for the first time and played games with the dog, the cat and the audience of under 5's and some older! Woofy was blindfolded and guessed the noisy toys while a child shook or squeaked one of Woofy's toys and Biscuit became the cat under the hat, hiding her eyes while a child hid a rainbow ball of wool for her to find. At one point the cat,Biscuit, disappeared under the bookshelves as it shot out of Viv's hands. Luckily, a small child crawled into the small space to retrieve it. The Quiet Woman And The Noisy Dog By Sue Eves & illustrated by Ailie Busby There Are Cats In This Book By Vivian Schwartz Amazon.co.uk Widgets
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Cats And Dogs Festival Special (Fri, 10 Jul 2009)

Vivian Schwartz and I will be reading from our books at the Sydenham Arts Festival tomorrow at 10.30am. There Are Cats In This Book and The Quiet Woman And The NOISY DOG are brought together in a special story time and book signing. Kirkdale Bookshop 272 Kirkdale Sydenham SE26 4RS. Amazon.co.uk Widgets My puppet dog and Vivian's puppet cat will be with us. Who knows what will happen when the dog and the cat meet for the first time!
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Lake Swan (Wed, 08 Jul 2009)

My digital doodle of the day.
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