Early on Thursday evening Lorenzo and I (accompanied by our good ladies) arrived at the Kew Bookshop in London to discover that the wonderful owners, Mark and Isla, had created a monumental Monkey Nuts display that completely filled one half of their entire shop front.
And if that wasn't cool enough then imagine our joy to discover that it had been up for five weeks!
We began the night by reassuring a large number of children (including most of a cub scout troop) that they would eventually grow to be as tall as us (see picture above) while we signed lots of books for those early birds who couldn't stay for the whole evening. Bowls of monkey nuts (real, actual monkey nuts) were consumed along with drinks aplenty.
Then David Fickling, our mighty editor and friend, took to the floor and gave a rabble-rousing speech followed by some daft words from yours truly.
To hear the words trickling from our mouths here's a video of the whole affair (courtesy of the uber talented Sarah McIntyre).
A quick glass raised and it was back to the signing desk where we spent the rest of the night chatting and giggling and signing and drawing and generally having a wonderful time. I mean ... look at the pile of books we were still working on at 9:30!!!
Huge thanks to everyone who went out of their way to join us for the party and especially to David, Lauren, Mark and Isla for creating such a memorable evening! Here's to the next one!
We've got BIG plans for Baggage...
For another comprehensive, eloquent and really rather marvelous report of all the launch action (including more pics) head over HERE! Many thanks to super fan's Josh and Jen for traveling so far and writing such a phenomenal piece about the eve. We're just glad you guys had fun!
