I really can’t believe that we’re celebrating Story Snug’s 6th birthday! I had no idea when I started Story Snug that it would become such a big and important part of our life but we’re still having lots of fun blogging and we’re nearly up to 600 blogposts. We have read so many wonderful books, old and new, and have enjoyed chatting with many lovely authors, illustrators and publishers in real life and on social media.
There are lots and lots of people that I would like to thank for supporting Story Snug!
The biggest THANK YOUs go to my husband, who deals with the technical side of Story Snug, and our daughter, who is an avid reader in both German and English. She is extremely involved in suggesting books and activities for Story Snug and now gives immediate and balanced verdicts on every book she reads.
A huge THANK YOU to all of Story Snug’s followers and to all of you who leave such lovely comments on the blogposts. Your visits and comments are very much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to visit 
THANK YOU to all of our Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and Bloglovin’ followers and to all of you who share Story Snug’s blogposts on social media and take part in our giveaways.
THANK YOU to all the authors and illustrators who have written guest posts for Story Snug and very generously provided copies of your books for us to give away. Thank you for answering our interview questions and for giving us fantastic insights into your work and creative processes. Thank you also to those of you who have visited us on Story Snug this year. This year we took part in several blog tours and welcomed several visitors. A huge thank you to Cath Jones, Lari Don, Sanne Dufft and John Condon who answered our questions about writing and illustrating and their new books, to Christopher Edge and Clare Helen Welsh who told us about how they write, to illustrator Kate McLelland for showing us how to draw her mischievous Shetland pony, Pickle, and to author Laura Gehl who joined us to tell us about some of her favourite picture book bears.
THANK YOU to all the publishers and PR representatives who invite us on blog tours and also send us fantastic books to read and recommend. We are truly grateful to you and only wish we had the time to write about every single book that we love.
THANK YOU to my SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) friends who inspired me to create Story Snug and who continue to support me with my own picture book writing. Thank you to the authors and illustrators that I have met during the year who have also given me encouragement.
THANK YOU to the blogging community for supporting Story Snug, particularly to our special book blogging friends who are listed on the blogroll.
We still read mostly picture books and stories that we really enjoyed reading over the last year include so many books that made us laugh – Rooster Wore Skinny Jeans, The Dressing-Up Dad, MRS MOLE, I’M HOME!, Octopants and I REALLY WANT the Cake.
I say OOH You say AAH is a brilliantly interactive picture book which made my daughter laugh so much that she could hardly join in! We loved SPYDER The world’s smallest secret agent!, AdoraBULL and Jonny Duddle’s newest picture book – The Pirates of Scurvy Sands. We also had lots of fun with Ghost Story Box: Create Your Own Spooky Tales. The cards in the box can be combined in lots of different ways to encourage children to create their own stories.
There is so much fabulous non fiction currently being published from board books for the littlest readers up to more detailed information books. Particular favourites this year have been Bird House / Bug Hotel and PEEK and SEEK which introduce children to birds, insects, animals and their habitats. Goodnight Baby Moon is a lovely board book which introduces the phases of the moon to toddlers and Humanatomy takes a fantastic look at the major organ systems that we have in our bodies. The Brilliant Deep tells the story of Ken Nedimyer who has discovered a way to grow coral and several books introduced us to inspirational women.
I was really excited by the response to our Story Snug Advent Calendar last December, it was definitely a highlight of this 6th year and included a specially designed logo by author / illustrator Yuval Zommer. The time that authors, illustrators, translators and bloggers took to write their posts was very much appreciated and we enjoyed reading everybody’s Christmas and wintery book recommendations as well as hearing what they would like to find under their Christmas trees.
If you’re looking for ideas for Christmas picture books you’ll find all of their fantastic choices on our Advent Pinterest board:
It was also great to be involved in revealing the International Book Giving Day poster as well as being part of the book giving day team. International Book Giving Day is a fantastic initiative that aims to put a book in the hands of as many children as possible worldwide. This year several very generous authors and illustrators donated signed books for Story Snug to give away on February 14th, International Book Giving Day.
The five most viewed blogposts on Story Snug over the last six years are still books that are old favourites. Learning with Elmer, Learning with Eric Carle, On the Way Home, Funnybones and Learning with Room on the Broom.
You can see Story Snug’s posts on our Pinterest Board:
It’s unbelievable that I’m just starting my 7th year of blogging, something that I never imagined when I started Story Snug. Thank you again to all of you for your support and we look forward to reading and recommending lots more wonderful books over the next year!
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