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Activities and Resources

Holly Webb – Star Poem Sheet

November 11, 2021 at 3:46 pm

Climate Action – Our Part

November 1, 2021 at 11:59 am

The Night Train – Activity Sheets

October 15, 2021 at 2:24 pm

How to Be a Human Teaching Guide

September 21, 2021 at 11:03 am

Diary of an Accidental Witch Teaching Guide

September 15, 2021 at 9:30 am

A Sea of Stories Teaching Guide

September 2, 2021 at 11:59 am

The Climbers Teaching Guide

September 2, 2021 at 11:56 am

Little Rabbit’s Big Surprise Teaching Guide

September 2, 2021 at 11:54 am

Speedy Monkey Teaching Guide

September 2, 2021 at 11:51 am

Skeleton Keys Teaching Guide

August 17, 2021 at 12:30 pm

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littletigerbooks

Hi! It’s @pennynl again, taking over Little Tige

Hi! It’s @pennynl again, taking over Little Tiger’s Instagram and talking through the work I did on ‘The Night Train’.

For my last post I thought I’d talk about perhaps the most important character in the book, the train itself. Matilda’s description of the train and its lush interior was so vivid when I read it, I knew it would be important to get all the details right. When I couldn’t find an example of a carpet design that I liked for the runner, I painted it myself in ink and used that in all of the scenes inside. I’m afraid, the train itself doesn’t stand up to scrutiny by any steam train experts (as I found out at a recent book event, when grilled by an extremely nice, and very knowledgeable young reader). It’s more of an amalgam of various steam train types. It does some very nice looking star and moon lamps, and some cosy sofa seats inside though (more my area of expertise).
Before I was a children’s illustrator, I painted big landscapes in oil paint, so I had great fun with the snowy landscapes that the train is whizzing through on its way to the children’s dreams. I think that was my favourite bit of the whole book. I really hope you enjoy the book and have liked seeing a little bit about how I illustrated it.

#TheNightTrain #MatildaWoods #PennyNevilleLee #childrensillustration #instagramtakeover #train #illustrations #childrensfiction #bookstagram

Hi there, Matilda Woods here, author of 'The Night

Hi there, Matilda Woods here, author of 'The Night Train' and i'd like to share with you the three things I love most about the story

1. The illustrations by Penny Neville-Lee!!! The moment I saw the first sketches I was in love. Penny did a fantastic job of bringing the characters and setting alive. My favourite illustration is on page 50-51.

2. The cast of characters. For a little book it’s got lots of characters. My favourites are the kind guard who looks after the passengers and the sweet monster who is misunderstood.

3. Getting the chance to learn something new. This was the first book for new readers I have written and it taught me the importance of making every word count.

Hello! It’s @pennynl again, taking over Little T

Hello! It’s @pennynl again, taking over Little Tiger and talking through the work I did on ‘The Night Train’. 🚂

Today I thought I’d talk about developing the different characters for the story. Never underestimate how much drawing goes into making a book. There are the roughs, and the rough roughs and the sketches drawn on corners of napkins. And then, because I make all my work using pencil line and digital colour, there are an awful lot of neat pencil drawings. 100s and 100s of drawings altogether.

The Night Train has a cast of gorgeous characters. Charles the conductor, the lumbering Yeti, Princess May and her dragon Ruby, Henri the footballer turned ballet dancer, the train driver (loosely based on my mum) and lastly the terrifying monster who isn’t really that scary. Coming up with each of these involved a lot of different sketches and ideas. I had to make sure they worked together and individually. The original monster (like a brussel sprout with eyes), was agreed to be too friendly looking for example. The final version (seen here with Princess May) was taller, darker and with horns and claws. You can have a lot of fun when you’re an illustrator putting little elements into your work that are personal to you. It was only when I was putting this post together that I remembered that the constellations of stars on Charles’s waistcoat front and back, are the stars that were visible the dates my son and daughter were born.

#TheNightTrain #MatildaWoods #PennyNevilleLee #illustratedchildrensbooks #instagramtakeover #illustration #childrensillustration #yeti #sketches #illustratortakeover #beautifulbooks #childrensfiction

Hi! I’m author Matilda Woods and I live all the

Hi! I’m author Matilda Woods and I live all the way down south in Australia. I’ve been writing middle grade books for five years, but The Night Train is the first book for new readers I’ve ever written.

I was so excited when Little Tiger asked me to write this story! It’s a wintry tale about the importance of dreams and working together. The illustrations by Penny Neville-Lee are brilliant and really make the story come alive.

#thenighttrain #youngfiction #illustratedbooks #writersofinstagram #childrensbooks #instagramtakeover #pennynevillelee #matildawoods

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