Whoa! We Won Another Book of the Year Award.

Holy Zingbats. We won another Book of the Year Award for "When You Were Born". That makes it 5 nominations and 2 Wins so far, I still cant really believe it.

A very special night indeed and a big pat on the back for keeping my dinner where it was supposed to be as the nerves were so bad I felt sick and really was an emotional wreck 

Don't let the smiles fool you, we were as nervous as hell. With loads of celebs and photographers flashing electric atmosphere into the room or some reason they took one us Jackie and I

Just love the award. I had my eye on it for some time and still can't get used to having one of my very own

With 5 nominations and 3 wins plus winner of  book of the decade I think I can consider the awesome Derek Landy of Skullduggery fame  my Buddy...

 RTE Jr. TV Presenter Emma O'Driscoll Presented the award on the night 

When you Were Born Competition

When you Were Born Competition

Imagine if you owned one of the first ever copies to be printed of your favourite book? Be it Harry Potter, the first ever Mr Tickle book, how much would it mean to you? How much would it be worth? 

 Well! here is you chance to win 1 of the first ever copies to be printed of my new book "When you Were Born". To enter this Amazing competition all you have to do is like Adams Cloud on Facebook and enter the competition. Easy Peasy! I hope the kids enjoy finding out how we put the hugs into the books. Lots of love Benji

It's 4-in-a-row for Adam!

Me, RTE's John Murray & my good friend Sinead Moriarty

Sorry I missed my blog post last week, I was away in London at the Spirit of Christmas Fair in the Olympia for 6 long days.

A week away from Jackie and the kids, especially over Halloween, left me feeling a little gutted & home sick but there was also an overpowering sense of being on a relaxing holiday away from the hyper kids, so overall it wasn't that bad.

In case you have been off-line and missed all the posts on Facebook and Twitter, I thought I'd let you know that Adam’s Greatest Inventions is up for this year’s Book of the Year Award which is great as it is the 4^th year in a row! 

No really, it's just a furry microphone!

I felt like Jedward on the day of the launch with all the cameras and journalists around. I managed to get talking to my very good friend Sinead Moriarty as well as Robbie’s 'girlfriend', Celia Ahern, Paul Howard, (AKA Ross O’Carroll Kelly), Derek Lady of Skulduggery fame, and the 'love him or hate him' Senator David Norris. 

We’re up against some stiff competition with some lovely books so we don’t expect to win but always hopeful. I am however ecstatic at the prospect of bumping into Katie Taylor on the night of the awards, she is amazing. 

If you would like to vote for Adam's Greatest Inventions, then you can do so at this link, http://www.irishbookawards.ie/vote-here-for-your-favourite-titles/

I was lucky enough to have been asked to do an interview on the day which was great, you can see the results on the right.

I'm off on my travels to London next to a show in Earls Court, so hopefully there'll be lots of books, (as well as hugs and kisses), on their way to homes in London.

Till next week,  

Benji.

Say Hello to Molly Dolly!

Little Molly in my latest book!

Today marks a magical moment for Adams Cloud as today we're launching a brand new product, it's called the 'Molly Dolly'. So this week I thought I would tell you all about how the Molly Dolly came about.

Molly & Dolly in their pyjamas

As you may know we have a little Molly in our house. She is great fun and goes on all Adam’s Adventures with Robbie and Harry. You may notice in each of the books that Molly has a dolly with her and every time I read the stories to the kids at bed time we play a game to spot Molly’s dolly.

Molly wearing the 'Play' dress

I often thought the idea of a doll would be great and one day, as fate would have it, I was at a show in Donegal and met a woman who designed a beautiful Rag Doll with matching clothes for the doll & the little girls. I was immediately drawn to them and I bought my daughter, Molly, the full set of clothes & the doll. When I gave Molly the doll & clothes her reaction was amazing. That was the day we christened the doll Molly’s Dolly and now Molly and her dolly go everywhere together dressed in matching outfits, including at bedtime.

'Sporty' Molly

Excited by Molly’s reaction to her new doll I simply had to get in touch with the woman who designed them to see if there was something we could do together. It must be something Adam had planned as the reception to my suggestion was very positive. We shook hands and, well the rest is history.

Molly Dolly is here at last and is also illustrated into my new book Adam's Greatest inventions. I most definitely plan to set Molly and her dolly off on their own bedtime adventures in the very near future so watch this space for a new book on this very soon.

'Trendy' Molly & Dolly

I hope you like Molly Dolly and it's a hit with all Adam's little friends, and look forward to more new things next year.

So I guess the moral of this week blog is to always make that phone call if you think you have an idea or can work together with someone. There is nothing to lose in making that first phone call. It worked for me and has given me this week’s Magical Moment.

PS: we only have limited stock so if you think you would like them you can order them on www.adamscloud.com/mollydollies.html

That’s it for this week.

Hugs and Kisses

Benji

The Creation of Adam's Greatest Inventions

Adam's 6th book, 'Adam's Greatest Inventions'

Well you may have already heard my new book is out so I thought I would give you a back stage pass to tell you how it all came together.

 Over the past couple of years I have chosen to publish Adam’s Adventure books either on Adam’s Anniversary in August or on his Birthday in June. But with so much going on this year I thought it best to release a little bit pressure and take a bit longer on this one to make sure it is 100%. I am very happy to say that I think this was a good decision because I am delighted with the end product and I hope you and your family enjoy it.

In trying to come up with another great fun idea for Adam’s next adventure a simple thought occurred to me as I played with a great little gadget I got for the house.  The question arose as to what the best invention through history is and “Eureka” the next mission was created.

Robbie & Molly snuggling up before bedtime

So armed with a simple idea of Adam having to decide on what the best invention throughout history was, the next step was to decide on which inventions should be included. I turned to all you guys on Facebook and got some great suggestions and then hopped on Google to try and pick out some faves.

After deciding which inventions to go with next I had to figure out how to include Adam’s important message, and create an affectionate expression of love from the parent to the child at the end of the book. As always this bit ws easy as I just thought of Adam and the answer came quick enough.

Now the plot was set, all I had to do was write the book and get the rhyming and rhythm sorted. Well, this did not get off to a good start as I haven’t written a book in over a year and needed to get into the ‘zone’.

Before & After 1

It took two 12-hour days to write the first line. With 24 words that was an impressive 1 word per hour! It’s fair to say I was getting a little worried that I wasn’t going to have another book in me, but on day 3 I simply closed my eyes and went to a happy place with Adam where he simply started to write the book for me.

Thinking of how mischievous and funny Adam was, the sound of his voice, his giggle and his pure happiness and zest for fun helped me zone in on the magic that is Adam. This combined with thoughts of Molly and Robbie, (Laurel and Hardy mixed with Tom and Jerry), who are now at a magical age where giggles and complete craziness are in full swing, helped set the recipe for something really special. With these thoughts in my head, once I got going the rest simply flowed out and in no time the first draft was done. 

Before & After 2

Next step was getting illustration brief to your favourite illustrator Roxanne, who I can only say was truly inspired on this book and did an amazing job. With recent observations of Molly, Robbie and Harry fresh in my mind I simply tried to recreate some of the wonderful mayhem that is part of my daily life with the kids, into the illustrations. Watching the black and white images come in for approval and then the full colour arriving shortly after really is the best part of publishing  the books and is great to see Adam develop further with each illustration.

Now that the difficult job of publishing the book is complete, the endless job of promoting the book begins so I hope you give it a like and share on Facebook, etc.

Well time to go and earn a crust and get selling. I hope you enjoy Adams latest adventure and get lots of extra hugs and kisses from all your wonderful little bunnies.

Till next time,

Benji.

Great News! Can you help me share it?

Well, I can only assume you are all rejoicing at the fact that the kids are gone back to school, Thank God! I know it seemed like only 5 minutes before they all arrived back dumping the bags at the front door, searching the cupboards for food and trashing the clean kitchen in the process, but I hope you all took a moment to yourselves before they got back. Next stop, Halloween and Christmas Day which, by the way, is only 142 days away. Yippee!

We interrupt this Magical Moments blog with a

Very Important Service Announcement….

Before You sleep is now available in the iStore!

'Before you Sleep' is now an amazing iBook that you can download directly from the Apple iStore. Whoa! That’s so cool, I hope this gets your approval, referrals and reviews.

And here's some even better news, to celebrate this launch we've set the price at €1.99 for the rest of the week, (it's normally €3.99), so hurry, hurry! Here's the link to the Apple iStore again.

It was a rather difficult decision to turn “Before you Sleep” into an iBook given the debate that rages around kids and electronics these days. I guess if it means lots more extra hugs and kisses for more kids it is probably worth taking the chance, so I hope you agree and give me your ‘likes’.

Just look for 'Before You Sleep' on iTunes, we're there!

What’s most exciting is that 'Before you Sleep' magically comes to life with wonderful sound effects to accompany my specially recorded reading of the book, which of course you can turn off if you want. The 4-6 year old kids in the focus group have given it the thumbs up, so it’s fully approved by the critics!

Maybe you could help me and Adam touch more families by doing us a huge favour and post a review or rating on the Apple iStore to help it get up the rankings. Hopefully this will allow more families receive Adam’s little message of love, laughter and fun in the home.

This ends our Important Service Announcement. 

Normal Magical Moments service resumes next week...

… so that’s it for this week I hope you enjoyed our magical moment. Thanks again for all your support and stay tuned for a big surprise from me and Adam in the coming weeks.  Oh and please share this with your friends, thanks!

Lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Benji.

Even Eircom think we're great!

(This is actually a post from my old blog that I've transferred across.  It was originally written & posted on 27th April 2012)


We’ve been really busy lately with lots of exciting things happening around Adam’s Cloud! We just recently finished the final touches on our brand new jigsaw, which is currently being produced. So we are very much looking forward to seeing the finished product, which will be in our shop at the end of May.

Back in March, Adam’s Cloud was shortlisted for the Eircom Business Startup of the Month. We were absolutely delighted to be shortlisted. I’ve really enjoyed starting my own business and it was great that the company has been recognised in this way. I got the opportunity to talk about starting the business, and what it’s like to run a startup company and I also spoke about some of our future plans for Adam’s Cloud. If you’re interested in starting your own business or would just like to hear some of what I had to say, check out the video below!

Now that the jigsaw has been finalised, next on the list is for me to finish off the latest book “Adam’s Greatest Inventions”. Really looking forward to getting the illustrations done over the next few weeks and then the book itself will be in the shops for September. So we have a busy few months ahead at Adam’s Cloud!

Be sure to follow us on twitter and facebook for all our news and updates. And if you haven’t done so already, why not sign up for our newsletter!

I leave you with my video on the Eircom Startup. Enjoy!

All the best,

Benji.

My Favourite Book

(This is actually a post from my old blog that I've transferred across.  It was originally written & posted on 30th November 2011)

I was asked by the Irish Times to write an article about my favourite children's book, here's the text of the article that appeared in last Monday's paper, enjoy!:

It’s probably fair to say that there have been more children’s books published over the years than there are children and countless more talented authors that never made it to print as they just never had that lucky break. So when considering my favourite children’s books I can only choose based on my emotional attachment to a book irrespective of its critical acclaim or disproval.

You may very well find it strange that as a children’s author, books were never a huge part of my childhood as all my fondest memories as a child were derived from a football, a best friend and an infinite imagination seasoned with 5 siblings and garnished with two wonderful parents.

When choosing an all-time favourite book the weird & wonderful wackiness of Dr Seuss’, “Cat in the Hat”, has to get first mention. It is a book of extreme mayhem, fun and total chaos and has a special place in my heart. Quite simply it oozes innocent childhood mischief and is a blueprint of what the perfect day for a child should be, at least once anyway.

I’m glad to say I have actually experienced a real life cat in the hat moment where Molly and Robbie my 3 and 5 year old rascals unleashed total mayhem upstairs in our house, however unlike Sally and Conrad my pair don’t have “Thing One” and “Thing Two” to clean up the mess and erase all signs of the preceding pandemonium. I discovered this lack of valuable assistance when I found them trying to re-attach the curtain pole and curtains back onto their bedroom wall only to be interrupted by extreme fits of the giggles.

As I love children’s books that have an element of fun, mischief and innocence I must also refer to the wonderful Mr Men books by Roger Hargreaves. I adore these books and really believe that every child should get a tickle from Mr Tickle and a smile from Mr Happy. Discovering what Mr Nosey finds by nosing around or how all the Mr Men make Mr Grumpy not so grumpy makes a wonderful favourite to add to your collection and exude oodles of feel good factor.

I know I have picked some well-known books published by the big publishers with merchandise out the door but as I said they are the ones to which I have become emotionally engaged with. If you are looking for something unique you just might consider some hidden Gems written by self-published authors like myself. Dolores Keavney a 60 year old Grandparent from Mullingar wrote, illustrated and self-published her charming books including “If I were a Bee” and is worth checking out.

Of course there will never be a book to which I am more attached than my 1st book for little Adam and hope that after reading this you take an extra 10 minutes to read to your children give them a kiss and a cuddle and tell them you love them before they sleep.

Ah well, not this time.....

(This is actually a post from my old blog that I've transferred across.  It was originally written & posted on 24th November 2011)


Hi Everyone,

Well The Irish Book Awards were held last Thursday in the beautiful surroundings of the Concert Hall in the RDS, a truly inspired setting for such a wonderful event.

Everyone was extremely nervous with one author, who will remain nameless so as not to embarrass her, admitting to getting sick with nerves before she arrived! In fairness I felt a few swells myself during the day.

The atmosphere was electric with authors, agents, editors, publisher’s, booksellers and promoters all engaging in nervous chit chat anticipating the results.

After a wonderful address by President Higgins and a lifetime achievement award presented to Seamus Heaney I did wonder what I was doing there with such a literary genius and wondered if there was a different room for the kids section.

So, finally after asking everyone to vote, asking them again and then reminding them that I asked them to vote, the children’s category was up. With my heart pumping I could not speak and just wanted it to be over one way or the other and then it was read out “and the winner of the Board Gais Energy Children’s Book of the Year - Junior is……… The lonely Beast By Chris Judge” .

Funny thing, my immediate reaction was one of relief as it was all over, followed by a pinch of disappointment topped with a nice warm feeling for Chris as I had the pleasure of meeting him some weeks earlier and found him to be an extraordinarily nice chap. Well done again Chris.

With the stress and worry out of the way I finally got to enjoy a glass of wine and catch up with some “celebs” which was pretty cool. Probably not the night to get the compulsory Facebook photo op but I could not resist the opportunity to get a photo with soccer legend Ronnie Whelan who was nominated for his book. I have to say “what a guy” and made the night very special for my mum and dad who also had their photo taken with him.

The whole award ceremony was recorded by RTE as well and is being shown tonight, (Thurday 24th November), on RTE 1 at 10:45pm if you’d like a look.

Before I go I just want to thank everyone again for voting. We really got a huge response from you guys, but congratulations must go to Chris, well done. Being nominated 3 years in a row is great and don’t worry I’ll have something great to enter next year’s competition!

Bye for now.

Lots of love, Benji.