Erin, aged 6, #reviews all three Once Upon a NOW #books @ajcraftybox #kidlit #giveaway

My children's book tour and giveaway is now up to stop number seven: the  ajbookreviewclub. 

I've been delighted to be included on many blogs where real children have been invited to read and share their thoughts about the series with adult reviewers in the feature. Here on AJ's blog we meet the delightful and wise Erin (who is six). She had all three books read to her and tells us about which bits she liked (and didn't!) and which of the stories is her favourite. 

One common comment on all the reviews of 'Alf The Workshop Dog' is that readers love 'the song'. They are referring to  the fictional National Anthem of Zanubia, which you can hear and watch being sung from within the book.  

It's performed by my daughter on the piano (she's very clever and wrote the music) and Oscar Sparrow who is the wonderful narrator on the audio book editions of all my children's stories. 

He was very worried about being too fierce and frightening the kids - so we made him a paper crown to go with his plastic sword.  This then gave us a lot of trouble as he couldn't keep a straight face and we had to record many takes.  In the end I set the camera rolling and left the room and that solved it.

Want to see the video and hear the song? Well I'm afraid it's exclusive to the book... it's one of the 'bonus features' included via scannable QR code and secret URL links.  

(A hint for my special readers - ALF will be FREE on Amazon Kindle 8,  9, 10 Feb:  grab your copy and hear the song! http://www.smarturl.it/Alf )

All books in the series are 'chapter books'.  These are aimed at younger readers maybe not yet ready to read a whole book in one go.  The stories are divided into manageable chunks with the bonus materials as a 'reward' for the end of a section. The videos, photos and colouring pictures are accessed via QR codes and URLs in the book. QR codes let people with the paperback version still get the benefit of these interactive materials. I guess they are a bit of a gimmick but I think they make for a richer experience and help make story time more fun. They certainly added a new element to the job of creating the books! 

A big thank you to AJ and her daughter for sharing their thoughts on my stories - I'm so pleased you enjoyed them!