00What do Peppa Pig, Winnie the Pooh, Pixar’s Soul & Beatrice and the London Bus have in common? Well, a lot actually.
In 2015 I came across a fun, witty, humorous inspiring children’s book series set in London titled Beatrice and the London Bus (Volume one, two and three) written by Francesca Lombardo and published by Daily Fairy Tales, a little London-based, independent publisher. I…
Little Audrey’s Daydream is a brilliantly illustrated children’s book that tells the inspiring story of icon Audrey Hepburn, who remains a beloved figure worldwide, as you’ve never heard before. Before she became a world-famous actress and humanitarian, she was a little girl with big dreams.
The story
Her extraordinary story unfolds during her childhood Holland, where her happy life of…
The host of Mock the Week, Dara Ó Briain, is one of the best-known faces in comedy, but he also has a long-standing, deep-rooted love for space. A mathematical physics graduate from University College Dublin, he fronted Stargazing Live alongside Brian Cox until 2017. Now he has written his third children’s book – and his second on the topic. Is Anybody Out There? explores how life…
Talented blogger and mumpreneur Uju Asika of Babes about town has published Bringing Up Race: How to Raise a Kind Child in a Prejudiced World, which I was honoured to contribute to. I have known Uju for years. We have crossed path many times and I have always loved her straight talking and honest approach to parenting, work and life in general. Very much like mine.
Bringing Up Race is a…
By Francesca Lombardo. As last month I was nearing the ending of my memoir-novel writing I had the chance to attend a conference about female autobiographic writing at Insieme, a new literary Festival held at the Auditorium of Rome in October 2020, where two of the most interesting female writers of the Italian contemporary literary landscape, Nadia Terranova and Rossana Campo were speaking…
The newest addition to my favourite best-selling picture book biography series Little People, BIG DREAMS pays tribute to British national treasure, Sir Captain Tom Moore, the veteran who raised over £30 million for the NHS during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
This lovely book was developed in conversation with the charity recipient of Captain Tom Moore’s original fundraising drive: NHS…
London Mums’ book of the month is You Are Positively Awesome: Good Vibes and Self-care Prompts for all of life’s ups and downs by Instagram star Stacie Swift, who describes herself an illustrator, writer, coffee drinker and a busy mum of three. Stacie is very good at social media and I personally look at her as a thought leader in that field. She has 286K Instagram followers and she posts…
As we approach his last PE lesson, I look back at my interview with the nation’s official PE teacher, Joe Wicks, that happened through a zoom call during the covid-19 lockdown. With his super approachable, friendly and affable demeanour he made me feel immediately at ease. Joe Wicks is loved by not only in Britain but has a huge number of fans worldwide and deservedly so.
Monica: Joe, if you…
I’m in love with anything that features my adoptive city, London. I have often covered my favourite books about London and I am now excited about the launch of a new children’s book set at Tower Bridge: The Tower Bridge Cat & The Baby Whale. This ‘tail’ is perfect for primary school children, or pre-school children as a bedtime story – with wonderful illustrations that follow Bella…
Throughout my career I have met lots of extraordinary women. One of these is new author Jessica Sanders (Love Your Body) who is on a mission to empower young girls and women to love their bodies. She is a 26-year-old self-love advocate and social worker and has studied gender at a postgraduate level. Reading a magazine article about girls undergoing labiaplasty surgery for purely superficial…