TWITCH - inaugural read of the new Scouts Book Club

I am thrilled to be able to tell you that the Scouts have started a brand new book club in partnership with my publisher, Walker Books, and TWITCH is going to be the first book that the club reads. There are lots of fab activities, videos and resources to support the book club, and if you take part you get a special badge!

I hoped, when I wrote TWITCH, that people might take the book outdoors to read, and now it looks like that very well could happen. I was a brownie, a girl guide and I did the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, so being part of the Scouts book club feels like a great fit for me, and is definitely a perfect fit for TWITCH.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BOOK CLUB HERE.

It's Insect Week 2021, AND Independent Bookshop Week!

This week we’re celebrating the little things that run the world - insects! As the Vice President of Buglife and the writer of five (count them) books about beetles, you can guess that this is one of my favourite weeks of the year. To big up our brilliant beetle buddies and their invertebrate friends I will be sharing great facts, classroom resources and videos about beetles (and my books!) on social media all week. But hang on . . . insects are not the only thing we’re celebrating this week!

This week is also Indie Bookshop Week! So why not pop into your local book shop and grab a copy of Beetle Boy, Beetle Queen, Battle of the Beetles, The Beetle Collector’s Handbook, or for the little ones - Rex the Rhinoceros Beetle.

Independent bookshops are the lifeblood of many communities, and we are lucky to have so many deeply invested, well-read, downright likeable, and enthusiastic booksellers. So do your bit this week and support them by having a browse and a buy something . . . it doesn’t even have to be a book about bugs!

M. G. Leonard is Lauren Lavern's #Supernature guest on BBC6Music

I was delighted to be invited by Lauren Laverne onto her BBC6 Music breakfast show as her Supernature guest on Monday 14th June, to talk about TWITCH, beetles, and my new found love of birdwatching. If you fancy tuning in to the ten minute segment it is an hour and ten minutes into her show and you can HEAR IT HERE.

Twitch flies into bookshops and is spotted as The Times Children's Book of the Week!

Publishing a book is always nerve wracking, but when you haven’t released a solo book in three years, it’s even more so. Twitch is a book that I’m enormously proud of and on an emotional level, it means a lot to me - it’s dedicated to and inspired by my mother-in-law Jane Sparling who passed away last year. So it has been a thing of joy to see so many people celebrating and talking about the book, which has a beautiful cover by the wonderful illustrator Paddy Donnelly.

I was delighted that Twitch was so positively reviewed in the Observer and The Children’s Book of the Week in The Times in publication week. I hope it flies into the hands and hearts of children (and adults too).