Many of us were raised on the delights of a Roald Dahl novel (or five). Fans of The BFG, in particular, no doubt still remember the snozzcumbers, the tea with the Queen, that giant hand reaching in and grabbing Sophie, the many dreams in jars...
But The BFG is no longer consigned to our childhood memories. Now, my fellow human beans, there is a new adaptation for us to enjoy! And from Steven Spielberg, no less.
The Book vs Film Club was created for just such splitzwiggled events! The idea (in case you’re new to this!) is to read the book then see the film and – you guessed it – discuss both book and film and see which came out on top.
The BFG is due in cinemas in July so if you want to join in with all the gobblefunking then get over to Twitter (@bookvsfilmclub or #BookVsFilmClub) or Facebook and make yourself known.
The multi-talented Neil Gaiman, author of Stardust and writer of one of (in my humble opinion) the best episodes of Dr Who to date – The Doctor’s Wife – is to venture into the world of children’s books after signing a 5-book deal with US publisher HarperCollins. The deal is for three children’s novels and two picture books – one of which will be Chu’s Day, a story about a sneeze-prone panda.
"Chu's Day is the first book I've ever written for really little kids. Ones who cannot read. Ones who can only just walk. Those ones. I hope that they like it, or at least, that they love Adam Rex's amazing illustrations," said Gaiman. He adds that the book will "test his sneeze-resisting powers to the limit – there's the library (dusty books!), the diner (pepper!), and then the circus (all those animals!). How big can a sneeze really be? Just wait and see …"
Anything that involves pandas is good with me, but throw Gaiman into the mix and I am one very excitable lady!
And just for a giggle - if you haven't seen this brilliant video of an actual sneezing panda and the fright the kid gives the mother - check it out at YouTube now!
