A huge welcome and a round of applause for the very talented, and extremely patient (I've been a bit inefficient about this post - sorry Kate) KATE SCOTT who is celebrating the launch of her brilliant new book JUST JACK,  

I am thrilled to welcome a very special author to the blog today.  I met Ann Evans at a recent author event where she was presenting an 'children's writer' award she had judged.  I plucked up my courage to hi-jack her in the tea queue and hey presto  

Today's 'A Day At The Desk' welcomes the author illustrator duo Sam Hay and Sarah Massini, my stars of the week and creators of the  Star in the Jar (reviewed here), a book that bought tears to my eyes. 

By removing many nature words from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, children will, rather than caring for the earth and everything on it, be more insular and lead less healthy lives. This is alarming at a time when species are approaching extinction and more and more children are suffering from mental illness and obesity.