Hello from not so sunny England!

Hello Friends,
I must apologise for my infrequent posts in the past couple of months.  You see my best grown up friend, Jacqueline Harvey and I have been travelling all over the place talking to children in the United States and United Kingdom about my adventures.  Jacqueline has been writing a very big blog about our adventures. Can you believe that we met over 6500 children!  We visited 37 schools; 24 in America and 13 in England.  At the moment Jacqueline and I are busy working on a new adventure.  We are staying in a very pretty place in England called Oswestry, right near the Welsh borders.
I have exciting news too.  My new story, Alice-Miranda Shows the Way will be launched in Australia 1 August this year.  For my new friends in England, Alice-Miranda On Holiday will be out on the same date there.  And in other very exciting news, Jacqueline has a new series about a lovely little girl (who I actually haven't met yet, but I suspect I will quite soon) called Clementine Rose and her first adventure, Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor will be in the shops in Australia 1 September. 
If you would like to take a peek at our travels in the US and UK, please click the link here http://jacquelineharvey.blogspot.com/  and you will go to Jacqueline's other blog.
I have to say that the weather here in England is rather chilly at the moment.  It's summer and I think today the top temperature was only about 14 degrees celsius.  I hope we see some sunshine soon as there's only another week and a bit before we go to Paris, France!
I will try my best to blog more regularly but until we get home, it could be tricky.
Bye for now and lots of love,
Alice-Miranda xxx

Hello from New York City

Hello Friends,
I must apologise that I have been very quiet for the past month as my best grown up friend, Jacqueline Harvey and I have been travelling across the United States making friends with lots of girls and boys all over the place.  So far we've visited California, Illinois, Michigan, South Carolina, New Jersey and New York.  Jacqueline has visited 23 schools, given 47 talks to over 4000 students and signed over a thousand books.  You can read her blog about the tour here http://jacquelineharvey.blogspot.com
It has been amazing to learn so much about school in another country and I have loved every minute of it.  I'll be back again soon, blogging about what's happening and when my next adventure will be out but for now, pop over and read Jacqueline's blog - there's a lot to see.
Lots of love,
Alice-Miranda xoxoxo

Canberra and Melbourne Tour

Hello Friends,
Last week my best grown up friend Jacqueline Harvey spent most of the week in Canberra and Melbourne meeting lots of children and visiting fantastic schools, bookshops and libraries.  She was very excited to go back to Gib Gate in Mittagong where she started her teaching career, then to Canberra Girls Grammar and to the fantastic Paperchain Books in Manuka - where they had even painted my picture on the shop window!

Wednesday came PLC Melbourne followed by both Baden Powell Campuses and then to Dymocks in Camberwell to meet some very keen readers.  Thursday started at Lowther Hall - a beautiful school with one of the fanciest main buildings you could ever imagine then to meet a great group of children at Brunswick North followed by St Therese's.  Jacqueline loved spending the day with Natasha from Book Bonding and they finished up at Niddrie Library where she met one of her biggest fans!

Friday was another busy day visiting St Martin of Tours in Rosanna - amazing - then to Camberwell Grammar.  There are lots of photos and a link or two to everything she's been doing. 

I know I'm tired just thinking about it so she must be quite exhausted!

Have a wonderful week.

Lots of love,

Alice-Miranda xoxox

Alice-Miranda In New York and Girl Power Book Club

Hello Friends,
I am so excited that this month Girl Power magazine (one of my favourites) have dedicated their book club to my latest adventure, Alice-Miranda In New York (click the link above to go to the Book Club).  There is an interview with my best grown up friend, Jacqueline Harvey and she also wrote them a story about a dark and stormy night...
Last week Jacqueline had the pleasure of visiting St Margaret's School and Clayfield College in Brisbane and meeting a whole lot of new friends with the Moreton Bay Public Libraries.  Then it was off to Somerset College on the Gold Coast for the Celebration of Literature and I know that Jacqueline met lots of my friends there too.  She got to spend time with some of her writing friends; James Roy, Karen Brooks, Felice Arena, Leigh Hobbs, Susanne Gervay, Oliver Pommovanh, Sorrel Wilby; Cath Crowley; Georgia Blain, Deborah Abela, Frances Watts and Lili Wilkinson to name just a few.   
So it has been another very busy week - and this week she's off to Canberra on Monday and Melbourne after that.  I can't wait to see who she meets.
Lots of love,
Alice-Miranda xoxox

PS The photo is of Jacqueline and her special helper Vertika who looked after her during the Somerset Festival

Queenwood, Seaforth and Pages and Pages

Hello Friends,
Last week Jacqueline Harvey and I visited the gorgeous girls at Queenwood and then headed over to Seaforth Public School.  It was wonderful to see so many friends and I'm constantly surprised by how many of you can remember my full name and the names of lots of the characters in the books.  At Seaforth, the librarian Mr Kel Cowling had read Alice-Miranda At School to most of the school I think and it was wonderful to see so many of the boys asking and answering questions and buying books too.  It's sometimes hard to convince boys that my stories are great for them too - just because I'm on the cover doesn't mean there aren't plenty of adventures they'll love.  I think Jacqueline Harvey signed lots of books that day.  We headed over to Pages and Pages at Mosman after that and there was another crowd there to meet us.  It was a fantastic day!  Jacqueline has been working on her new series about a little girl called Clementine Rose Appleby this week.  Clemmie lives in Penberthy Floss close to where my home, Highton Hall is.  Our village is called Highton Mill and Penberthy Floss is right next door.  I haven't met Clementine yet but one of her best friends is Poppy Bauer who lives on our farm.  I hope I get to catch up with her soon - when I'm home from school next perhaps.
Yesterday Jacqueline and I went to Kids' Book Review at St Ives and we met a great crowd of friends.  Jacqueline also got to spend time with Olivia who won the Junior section of the Frustrated Writers' Mentoring competition for the Children's Book Council last year.  Olivia is a very talented young writer and she and Jacqueline had a great chat about her work and what she could do to improve her story over a giant milkshake and the most enormous chocolate muffin I've ever seen.
Tomorrow we are going to Queensland to visit children in Brisbane and then to the Gold Coast for the Somerset Festival.  I'll have lots more to report at the end of the week.
Lots of love,
Alice-Miranda xoxox

Another busy week!

Hello Friends,
My best grown up friend Jacqueline Harvey has had another very busy week.  On Monday she talked to the gorgeous girls at MLC Burwood and Santa Sabina Del Monte in Strathfield.  Then on Wednesday she spent the day with the lovely Claire and Alex from Gosford Public Library who took her to visit Gosford Public School and OLR at Wyoming.  Jacqueline and her publicist Dorothy also dropped in to see the sales team at Scholastic Lisarow, and she was very excited to meet Roxanne (a big fan of my stories) in person as well as all the other staff of course.  In the afternoon she met some lovely little girls at Dymocks Erina Fair.  She said that's a beautiful bookshop and their display was gorgeous.  On Thursday afternoon there was a cupcake afternoon tea at The Children's Bookshop at Beecroft (tres magnifique) and today she visited Shearer's Bookshop at Leichardt and met loads of my friends.  Jacqueline has also been busy talking to schools in the United States and England about her upcoming tour.

I was thrilled to hear that on Thursday (which was World Book Day) my first adventure was released in the United Kingdom.  It's got a really cute cover.  Jacqueline received her box of books on Friday and she was thrilled to find Alice-Miranda On Holiday as well - with another lovely cover.

Jacqueline is busy writing a new book at the moment, about a gorgeous little girl called Clementine Rose.  Clemmie is only five years old and she lives in a village called Penberthy Floss, which is quite nearby to my home at Highton Hall.  Clementine lives with her mother Lady Clarissa and their butler Mr Digby Pertwhistle.  I haven't met her in person yet but I hope to very soon.  Clementine has the most divine pet tea cup pig called Lavender.  I wish I had a pet pig too - although I don't think Bonaparte would be very pleased about that - he likes to have me all to himself.

Anyway, Jacqueline has posted the UK book covers here and also the Clementine Rose cover for the first book, Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor.  It will be out in September this year.

Have a wonderful week and I will have lots more news next weekend.

Loads of love,

Alice-Miranda xxx

School visits - new friends

Hello Friends,

What a busy couple of days my best grown-up friend Jacqueline Harvey has had.  Yesterday she visited the lovely girls at Pymble Ladies' College, Roseville College and Ravenswood.  She talked to around 600 students and she said that lots of the girls were very excited about reading my stories.  Today she visited the boys and girls in Year 5 at Arden and then went on to Tara where she talked to all of the girls from Year 3-6.  Jacqueline said that she had the most wonderful couple of days and she loves meeting my friends.

Next week she's going to see the girls at Santa Sabina Del Monte and perhaps some other places too.

Lots of love,
Alice-Miranda xoxo