Story-time at Wigston Library in Leicestershire.

I had the pleasure of reading the second book in the Hollie and Figgs series, Hollie and Figgs: The Missing Rainbow story to an audience of children and their mums/ grandmas etc at the Wigston Library in Leicestershire.

Wigston Library is great for kids as it has a good sized designated area so I was able to hold some activities like a character hunt and colouring in. Along with the story time I 

played the Hollie and Figgs theme tune which I personally love and children seem to love it as well.

I had a mixed age group ranging from 3 to 8 years. Parents were a little older :)

Around 20 children in all.

First of all, I was met by a mum whose daughter Imogen had written a story for me. I was very touched that she wanted me to have it. It was a story about a fairy who gets captured by a witch. There's a happy ending as Lala the fairy gets rescued and lives happily ever after :) 

It was so nice to see one of Hollie and Figgs' biggest fans Tabatha, who is just 5. The first time we met was at Waterstones Bookshop when I was doing a storytime and book signing. She was very taken by the characters and story and it was so lovely to hear her enthusiasm and how she remembered a lot of the details from the story. Just what a children's author wants to hear :) 

It's important to me that my books have a positive influence on young people and knowing that the stories and characters are remembered is just fantastic.

Also, there was a young girl called Hollie and her sister. Their mum told me how excited Hollie was to meet me and hear the story as they had found the first book Hollie and Figgs: Magical Adventures at a local environment park cafe. I left a copy to be found and shared as a part of the Book Fairies Scheme. So as you can imagine I felt very pleased, but also proud. 

I would like to share some photos and pictures some of the children wanted me to have.

Here is Hollie with her sister. I'm in the middle of course :) and Hollie and Figgs wanted to be in the photo too.

Here is a photo of Hollie and Figgs with Ananye and her friend.

Before the children left, I gave each one a special golden wishes card so they can write down their very own wish and keep it safe. In the story, Hollie wished that Figgs could take her to magical lands and her wish came true. You never know, wishes can come true and it's really important to hold onto your dreams.

Ananye wished that people would take care of animals instead of pollution. I was very taken by this as Ananye is only 8 years of age and it's really great and reassuring to hear young people thinking about animals and their environment. Well done Ananye.

What a lovely smile. We had a great conversation about tooth fairies and here the wish is to be a fairy.

Some of the children's colouring pictures.

Tabatha's colourful picture of Hollie and Figgs on the magic carpet.

A beautiful and colourful picture of Hollie holding Figgs.

Here is Hollie thinking about Princess Lulubud. A lovely picture by Jocelyn.

Julia's blue starry picture of Hollie and Figgs.

How colourful is Figgsy? Another lovely picture by Hollie. Not Hollie from the book, Hollie Allen who's seven years old :) 

This is a picture of all the characters. Can you spot Figgs?

It was a pleasure to talk to the children and parents. Sally White, librarian at the library said of my visit,

 "Both children and parents were really engaged by Annette and the story.

The children loved the story and Annette and she was happy to chat with the children and have photos taken. The character hunt was a great success too.

Parents spent as much time as the children talking with Annette after the story, no one seemed to want to leave."

Thank you Sally this is so nice. The children were very engaging and the character hunt went down really well too.

Thank you to Claire for organising the event, to Sally for her help on the day and to all the children and family members who came along to join in the fun. I hope to see you all again very soon.
My next library visit is at Blaby Library, Leicestershire, on Saturday, June 23rd at 11am.
Details are on the Hollie and Figgs Facebook page. Why not pop over there and take a look!