Mad Cap on the web!

Hear, hear! Mad Cap of the Rent-a-Hero Agency has made herself a wee home on line at http://the-rent-a-hero-agency.blogspot.ie/
Go have a look and find out some secret stuff about herself and Norbert (and me!). (And cool Mad Cap logo or what?!)

Chop-Chop, Mad Cap! The book!

When Madgie Cappock (aka Mad Cap) and her best friend Norbert Soup set up the Rent-a-Hero Agency, they think they’re ready for anything.
Not quite though, what with the local butcher disappearing, Madgie's big brother swearing revenge on the Rent-a-Hero team and one purple-haired granny with murder in her eye giving Mad Cap a job. Just as well Madgie’s a superhero and Norbert's a genius, right?Chop-Chop, Mad Cap! is available in all good bookshops, online and from the publishers, Little Island.And here's a little bit of praise if you need more convincing...
'This is a thoroughly enjoyable read for young, confident readers. Mad Cap is personable, funny and the kind of girl you'd want to have around. The setting and events provide great excitement. It can be difficult to find a book with a central girl character that is strong, likable and true to life. But here she is! The flow of the story and the relationship between the characters make it highly suitable for boys and girls alike. And the presentation of the book adds to this notion, as the illustrations and cover do not rely on a feminine 'pink-girly' image, even though the central character is a girl. A great, new read... but be prepared for your own little super-heroes to be inspired into action. Utterly recommended!!' Mary Esther Judy, Dubray Books Galway
'... a really fun, light-hearted, wacky read' Sunday Independent'... its zany capers will amuse readers of eight plus.' Sarah Webb, Irish Independent'Lively illustrations make this wacky début appeal to Clarice Bean and Judy Moody nuts.' Primary Times'... this book takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of Barnaby Street. The bold graphic quality of the illustrations captures the ups and downs of the lovable heroine and her imaginative escapades.' Bookfest 2012 Recommended Reads Age 9-11'Chop-chop, Mad Cap! is written by a French author living in Dublin, who has completely captured her adopted language and humour. The plot is fun, silly and hilarious. ... it is written with an incredibly funny sense of humour. It is a book that will appeal equally to boys and girls ...' The School Librarian

The Agency: Meet Mad Cap

Madgie M. Cappock aka Mad Cap is an unusual superhero: she has no super powers, she couldn't drive her MadMobile if she had one, her middle name is Madonna.
BUT she has a super costume, a super genius friend and she's a pro at origami. So there, what else could she possibly need to run one half of the Rent-a-Hero Agency, find out stuff and generally save the world?

15 things you should know about Mad Cap. (Or not.)

1. She knows 17 different recipes for hot chocolate. One of them involves cheese.
2. She’s extremely good at finding old rusty nails.
3. She’s less good at not crying when the nail goes through her foot.
4. Every summer, she swears never to wear flipflops again (see 2 and 3).
5. She’s rotten at keeping good resolutions.
6. She can say “Where is the sweet shop?” in five languages.
7. She’s plump in all the right places, plus a few extra ones, but it’s ok because her super hero cape could hide a small army of Mad Caps.
8. Her left foot is slightly bigger than her right. Or maybe it’s the other way round.
9. The last time she wore a dress in public, she spilt orange juice all over it. On purpose. 21 times.
10. She’s invented a deadly judo move involving fat dad bellies and sneaky tickles. It works every time.
11. She gets freckles if there’s enough sunshine.
12. Her favourite colour is blue. No, red. Wait, green’s not bad either.
13. She once tried on her mother’s bra and filled it with Jaffa cakes. She didn’t do it twice.
14. She once tasted cat food. She didn’t do that twice either. It was Norbert’s idea.
15. Her best friend is Nortbert. You know that, but it’s nice to say it every now and then.

The Agency: Meet Norbert

Norbert Soup is a cool dude by Martian standards. He's an official genius and always comes up with the plans and the home made gadgets. He has a cat called Scrum who is the size of a small elephant. He wishes Scrum wouldn't crush him under his tons of fur and fat every time he goes to bed.

12 Things you should know about Norbert. (Or not.)

1. He once tasted cat food. He didn’t do that twice. It was Mad Cap’s idea.
2. He never mixes his food in his plate. He keeps the bangers on one side and the mash on the other, the only exception being buttered toast, because eating butter on its own is gross.
3. He has never come up with a way to make his cat Scrum lose weight. But he lives in hope.
4. He thinks Crunchies are lovely. He’s weird that way.
5. He really can’t sing, but he can spell Supercalifra… Supergistick… Superfrodocious… That.
6. Hats really suit him, according to his Granny Jo.
7. His Granny Jo is really nice, but she’s blind as a teapot.
8. His family name used to be much more complicated before his great granddad came over from Puducherry in India  and lost a bit en route.
9. He wishes his great granddad hadn’t been called Norbert.
10. His teeth are so white they glow in the dark.
11. He hates wearing socks in his sandals.
12. He hasn’t walked on a single crack on the pavement since age 4.

Back from Newbridge

And so, Sadie and myself were in Newbridge. Locked up in a room full of super heroes of all shapes and sizes as well as their creators. Electricity Man, Smelly Man, Hello Kitty, the Big-Eyed Bug, Sweet Tooth, Valkyrie Cain, Rat Girl and her best pal Cat Girl, Mega Man, Jonathan Ripples, Caffein Man, Dog Man, Weather Man, Kitten Cat, Tea Man and the rest... not to mention their respective arch enemies and secret weaknesses (including decaf coffee, worms and naan bread)... there was some serious imagining going on.
And thanks to Sadie you can have an idea of what we all got up to.

For more, head over to Sadie's blog and look out for more shennanigans during the Children's Books Festival, starting next week. Stillorgan, Castletymon, Blackrock... here we come!

Sneak peek!

1
Midnight Raid
The bedroom was darker than the old loo in the back garden, and Madgie M. Cappock, aka Mad Cap, stood there waiting for her eyes to adjust and scratching her nose furiously. She was wearing her superhero cape (which was great for camouflage) and her superhero mask (which was dreadful for itchy noses).
The bedroom belonged to her big brother Colm and she could hear him snoring like a cat with asthma. But that didn’t worry Madgie. It was all part of The Plan, the plan her best friend Norbert Soup had carefully designed. Norbert was officially a genius and Madgie knew she could count on his brilliant brains to get her out of impossible situations as well as into them.
Just like tonight. Tonight, Mad Cap’s mission was to uncover a potentially juicy secret: the name of her brother’s girlfriend. And for that she needed Colm’s diary. And for that she needed to sneak into his bedroom in the dead of night...

The rest of this free sample of Chop-Chop, Mad Cap! is only one tiny click away: RIGHT HERE.

Meet the crew: Illustrator Sadie Cramer

Illustrator Sadie Cramer

Sadie Cramer, from Teignmouth, Devon, studied Fine Art Sculpture at the University of Ulster in Belfast. After graduating in 1993, she moved to London where she worked in art departments for film and television. She has lived in Galway for the past 16 years with her husband Mark Hand and four children.
You can see what she's up to at www.sadiecramer.com

Meet the crew: Author Juliette Saumande

Author Juliette Saumande

Juliette is French but she lives in Dublin, because she has a passion for wet summers and toasted sandwiches. She’s written over twenty picturebooks and info books (published in France), one or two college theses and a long, silly poem in pig-Latin (but we don’t talk about it). She used to dress in white and stab people with swords, but now she’s taken up wrestling with her two cats, one boy and one girl. She’s not a great loser, but she’ll get used to it, eventually.

You can have a look at her website (www.juliettesaumande.com) or her blog (www.juliettesaumande.blogspot.com) if you want.

Get in touch!

Have a question? Want the recipe for popcorn soup? Get in touch with Mad Cap, Norbert, Scrum the cat (and perhaps Juliette and Sadie) in the comment box below. If you're a real person and not a robot (or a zombie), you'll get an answer!

Let's talk about YOU!

Click on this handy link or on the page tab up above to see what YOU have been up to.
Stories, pictures, reviews and more from the DIY Workshops and Sadie's and Juliette's visits to your schools and libraries.

Everything you ever wanted to know...

... or not! My interview for Megan at Reading Away the Days is live and Megan has one extract from the book AND 2 copies of Mad Cap to give away. Enjoy!

Reading Away the Days

Megan, blogger extraordinaire at Reading Away the Days, is hosting a fantastic kidlit event for the whole of this month: author interviews, reviews, book excerpts, giveaways, there's something new every day. Today you can find out about our own Mary Murphy (here) and here's the programme for the rest of the week (dedicated to books for 0/5 year-olds):

Wednesday 5th September: A post on Kipper the dog & review of Hide Me, Kipper the 18th Birthday edition book plus giveaway of Animals & bedtime stories mini library

 

Thursday 6th September: A post on memories of our parents reading to us featuring authors answers & reviews of some easy read books also a giveaway of a Winnie the pooh book

 

Friday 7th September: Guest post from children's author & illustrator Rebecca Emberley & A Funny Bones Book Feature

 

Saturday 8th September: A post on the importance of parents reading with or to their children with author answers & Peppa Pig feature plus giveaway of a Jakers & Jay Jay the jet plane book

 

Sunday 9th September: Children's author Judi Curtin spotlight & review of Mother Goose Action Rymes by Axel Schuffler

And I can tell you now what Tuesday 11th September will be about: one Madgie Cappock aka Mad Cap, missing butchers and tap-dancing. I shall reveal no more for the time being...

Fun in class: Mad Cap teacher's notes

Hullo, world! I'm not quite back to school yet, but the folks at Little Island have been busy putting up the teachers notes I did for Mad Cap on their website: there's some classic stuff (questions and food for thought) as well as more... unusual material such as how to make an origami rabbit and a riddle from Norbert's Temple of Codes.
It's free and easily downloadable, so off you go and share it! It's only one click away!