I didn't reveal this picture in the last blog post because I was saving it as a Christmas gift for the Reeves, but here it is! Just like in the Gwenevere poster-drawing, I tried to include as many elements of the film as I could into one picture. This looks much better blown up to A3 or even A2, so if you can zoom in and browse around that way, you'll get more out of looking at it.

And here's a link to the Bonehill Films channel on YouTube, if you'd like to watch Prairie Rascals first!

It stars Rosanna Lambert, Laura Frances Martin, Amanda Lindseth, Mylo Skye, Nick De Jasay, Louis John Brzozka, Arran Hawkins, Xanthe Baylis, and Nick Riddle.



You won't find this video anywhere else: I pulled together some of the behind-the-scenes videos I shot on set, and added them to an interview Philip Reeve did about it on Radio Devon.



And here's a nice review of the film by Cowboys, Capes and Claws.

Merry Christmas, everyone! And if you read this blog, thanks for sticking with me. I joined way back in 2006, so next year it'll be 20 years of LiveJournal! It's odd, looking back that far, how much I've changed, my countries have changed, and even children's book publishing is driven differently. (But I'm still coming up with Christmas card pictures, that hasn't changed.)



This has been a busy year with Adventuremice. After the Kevin books, I went back to working less digitally, with real ink and paint on paper, and I'm enjoying that process very much. The only problem is that, since the books have so many full-colour pictures, I'm spending a LOT of time working at my desk, and I need to stand up and stretch more often or I'm going to be an old lady before my time! My husband, Stuart, has been helping me with the shop and some of the business side of things, and I'm very grateful to him.

My co-author Philip Reeve and I are currently working on the ninth and tenth books, and numbers six and seven launched this year, Adventuremice: Mice, Camera, Action! and Adventuremice: Mousehole to the Centre of the Earth. You can find free related activities on the website, Adventuremice.com!



Next year is full of events, which you can find out about on my website Events page here!

I've come up with one more teatowel design, which is selling in a couple local shops (Grace & Favour Home and MAKE Southwest). It features the 'Huggable Rock', which may not appear on maps, but definitely gets a hug every time I pass it, and works as a useful landmark ("turn left at the Huggable Rock").



I thought it reflected the way that Dartmoor has lots of well-known landmarks, such as Hound Tor, Jay's Grave and Bowerman's Nose, but how families also create their own landmarks, that they talk about, miss when they're away, and revisit.



Other news: earlier this year I helped out on the film set of Prairie Rascals, a Western romp, filmed on Dartmoor but set in Arkansas in 1871. Philip and Sarah Reeve have been making films, just for fun, and I love the way they bring together a community for a week or so while they're shooting. This latest film is 50 minutes long and would make for great holiday viewing, if you're looking for something to watch! (It's not strictly family-friendly because there are shootings and some swears, but I think older kids will enjoy it.)



They've only just made it go live on YouTube, and you can see the 'makings of' documentary and Gwenevere on their Bonehill Films channel. (I don't do any acting in either film, but I do make an ignomious appearance in Prairie Rascals at the 48:40 mark...)



To everyone who's been reading Adventurmice, supporting me with online shop orders, taking part in the StudioTeaBreak drawing challenges, and generally being encouraging, thank you so much! Here's wishing for light and peace in 2026.

On a side note, while I've been busy working on the next Adventuremice book, I've ALSO been coming up with a tea towel design for the town where I live and have my studio. It's very locally produced: not only did I create the artwork for it here at Bovey Paradiso (spot me in the window on the towel!) but a chap named Fletcher Naisbett-Jones did the two-colour screenprinting just down the road at Print Stream Studio. (If you look him up on Instagram, you can see him printing five at a time on a rotating flatbed wheel thingie.) Here it is!



Not only was it printed here in Bovey, but our house guests were asking if they could help in the kitchen, and I put them to work doing something MUCH more helpful. (I didn't quite calculate how much ironing and folding there would be to do.)





If you're local, you can pop over to Grace & Favour Home to buy it (and check in with Leslie in the same shop space at First Draft Books, who stock Adventuremice). And they're also selling it at the Bovey Tourist Information centre and at MAKE Southwest craft centre. And if you're further afield and still want one (yes, I know, it's quite niche!), you can buy it online from Grace & Favour Home here on their website.

This week, the Adventuremice went on tour! (Well, their creators did.) Here's a picture I drew in my sketchbook of Philip waiting for our plane to Dublin.



But before that, we took a train to London! And then to Twickenham in southwest London, for the Barnes Children's Literature Festival, where we were doing an Adventuremice stage events in front of 550 schoolchildren. Our otter, Mortlake, got rather excited on one leg of the journey and insisted on photos.



And what a venue it was, right there in the famous rugby stadium! Huge thanks to Director Amanda Brettargh, Production Manager Celia Allbut, and the whole team who looked after us and made our event run so smoothly. We even got to say a quick hello to the next author on stage, Patrice Lawrence!



The audience were terrific, and we all drew pictures of Bosun twirling his lasso, as featured in our latest book, Adventuremice: Mice, Camera, Action!

( Click here to read lots more under the cut!Collapse )

My co-author Philip Reeve and I are thrilled that David Fickling want us to keep making Adventuremice books! And they seem to be going down well, from the feedback we get from young readers, parents and bookshops. Yay!

Here's our new cover, of the seventh book, launching Oct 9th in the UK & Ireland with David Fickling Books: Adventuremice: Mousehole to the Centre of the Earth!

I loved the Jules Verne story when I was little, and even (unsuccessfully) tried to dig to China and start my own tour company, so this story was loads of fun to create. Who knows what lost worlds - even miniature ones - exist below the earth's crust???



Here's the back cover, with a new machine, driven by... oh look, is this a reappearance of Professor Quatermouse? What could possibly go wrong?



( Click here to read more under the cut!Collapse )