Doodle Life - March 2025
(Not so) golden throne, the dottiest dress and a mini miracle
World Book Day week, a trip to a palace, book launches and a publication of my new book. March turned out to be a busy yet rewarding month with an unexpected reunion.
BBC 500 Words
Did you watch the 500 Words Grand Final on the BBC One Show on World Book Day? Did you spot me?? I was sitting next to Rob Biddulph in his trademark baker boy hat (yes, he wore it even to the Buckingham Palace and he didn’t take it off in front of Her Majesty The Queen - he didn’t get taken away by the guards so I guess it’s allowed). I was there because I had illustrated one of the six winning stories of the children’s creative writing competition.
The project brought me a great experiment opportunity. I was told to “do whatever you like” to illustrate the bronze winner’s story in the 8-11 category. When you illustrate books, you’re usually NOT encouraged to experiment TOO much because publishers commission you based on your past work. So I cherished this opportunity. I always wanted to use a very limited colour palette. The story was set on a tram in London. Immediately I thought of Tramlink that runs across South London, then I decided to use the colours of its seat fabric (it’s called moquette and some, if not all, London Transport lines have their own unique moquette designs).
Also, inspired by one of my favourite mid-century illustrator, Jan Balet, especially his work in What Makes an Orchestra (1959), I added more line work. I’m very pleased with the result. I’d love to do this style more in the future.
Also, I had so much fun at the final - the filming, seeing celebrities from afar (although I recognised only Olivia Colman, Matt Lucas and two guys from McFly), gobbling down afternoon tea with newly aquatinted fellow illustrator, Lydia Monk, gossiping about 90s boys bands with Rob (do you remember Five?) and using the gold-themed royal bathroom (but the toilet seat wasn’t gold - how disappointing). But the best part was seeing genuine shock and joy on the winners faces when their names were announced. (And I felt sorry for the 44 finalists in the room who didn’t win, but that’s life, kids!)
500 Words was such an inspiring competition for children. There were over 44,000 submissions across the UK and the standard of the winning stories was insane! Also, in this day and age of AI fad, it was a genuine pleasure to see children enjoying using their own imagination and creativity.
Check out the winning stories and the accompanying illustrations by Dapo Adeola, Rob Biddulph, Yasmeen Ismail, Lydia Monks, Nigel Parkinson and me.
World Book Day
The 500 Words was great, but there’s one thing that bothered me. I couldn’t help noticing that there were only a handful of children of colour in the 50 finalists. Don’t get me wrong. All of them, especially the winners, totally deserved to be there. But what the racial disparity implies is that children of colour have lesser access to books and educational supports they need to hone their writing skills. This is why I love doing school visits where I could be a part of the solution in my small way.
I don’t know who started it but WBD is such a great initiative to spread our love of books. This year I’ve done one book festival (WORDfest Crawley) and two school visits in South London. The more visits I do, the easer it gets, but the pre-show nervousness never really goes away. My heart was pounding on the way to these events although I had been doing events for over three years. A day before the first event, I even made a last-minute, panic purchase of a toy tambourine* out of fear of losing children’s attention. But once I began talking to children, I got in a flow and enjoyed myself, so did the children. The tambourine didn’t have a chance to get out of its box, not even once.
*An useful tip from school event pro,
.Dotty Doughnut Publication
My fourth authored picture book, Dotty Doughnut (Orchard Books), came out in hardcover this week! You can find out more about the book in my Making of Dotty Doughnut posts.
On the publication day, I did a shop event at The paper Cat, a lovely children’s bookshop in Herne Hill. I read Dotty Doughnut and get children to make a doughnut self-portraits.
Then, I had a fabulous evening with my friends, celebrating the publication of the book, in the dottiest dress and with ring-themed snacks. I just want to say thank you to those who came to the party to welcome my Dotty and those who sent me and Dotty kind words throughout the day. I couldn’t be happier.
If you haven’t “tasted” the book yet, please do and let me know what you think!
Recommendations
This month saw many wonderful books published (including mine 😉) Each one is so unique and wonderful, reflecting the creator’s personality.
Happy Together by Chloe Douglass
Mirror Magic board book series by Sharon King-Chai
Boss of the Underworld: Book 1 - Shirley vs the Green Menace by Tor Freeman
Henry the Artistic Dog by Justin Worsley
I’d like to give a special mention to Cat and Dumpling: Home Sweet Home by Nicola Kent - her debut chapter book! This is the first in a charming early chapter book series featuring best friends, Cat and Dumpling the dog. This first instalment tells the story of how they come to be flatmates. It’s refreshing to see a block flat used as “home”. I’m sure many children could related to that. The story has the right tone and vocabulary for the early chapter book age group and packed with charms and warmth. And the full-colour illustrations are delightful. The colours are bright yet tasteful (my picture isn’t doing justice). Highly recommended to join the Cat and Dumpling’s adventure.
I’m gong to wrap up this post with good news. Do you remember I got pickpocketed in a central London tube station back in November? A few weeks ago, out of blue, I got a notification from the Transport for London Lost & Found HQ and they told me they had found my lost wallet! When the wallet came back to me, cash (£15) was expectedly gone but everything else was intact, even the bank cards. Anyway, I was just so happy to reunited with my UK permanent residency card, which was a (literally) irreplaceable memento*, and a photograph of my parents when they were young. Considering the fact TfL L&F office collects 6000 items a week, I couldn’t be more appreciative of kindness of strangers for my mini miracle in the big city. I only wish I could ask my wallet about the adventure it had.
*Home Office no longer issues physical biometric cards.
Thank you for reading this month’s post. Now I’m off to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. I hope to come back with some new ideas in my pocket. I’ll report it back to you next month’s post! Ci vediamo dopo!
Momo x
I’ve got another book coming out soon. My next collaboration picture book, It’s Behind You! (Andersen Press) written by Jeanne Willis will be out on the 3rd of April. It’s available for pre-order.
I’m glad you didn’t need that tambourine in the end! Congratulations on Dotty - can’t wait to share her adventures with my nursery group next week 😍