Awesome Authors Blue Peter

In front of a packed crowd, with guest stars Alex T Smith,

David Baddiel and Jacqueline Wilson, coming to you from Centenary Square,

Birmingham, it's Blue Peter: Awesome Authors!

Big cheers, lovely big shot, cut to Barney and Radzi!

Hello, how are you doing?

Welcome to Awesome Authors, our special event right

here in Birmingham.

That's right, hello, I'm down here.

You'll get to see Bali Rai with the roving Newsround team.

It's going to be good.

You can also catch up with the Wolfblood stars over

there in the Wolfblood den.

You can have a Match Of The Day Kickabout with Mr Benjamin Shires,

the most well-dressed man in all of CBBC.

And on Blue Peter today we have a stupendous, wondrous,

astounding book feast for you.

We'll be giving you tips on how you can choose your next big page

turner in the Book Sorter a bit later as well.

As well as that, we're excited, aren't we, because Jacqueline Wilson

is going to be here, doing a quiz for some

of her superfans.

Do we have any Jacqueline superfans in the house today?

CHEERING.

That's a yes!

But before all that, it's time to meet the most

awesome authors ever.

Hands together as loud as you can, cheer and clap for David Baddiel,

Lucy Hawking, Alex T Smith and Narinder Dhami!

Hello, welcome to the stage, good to see you.

All week you've been sending in your questions

for these guys, and, Linz, do you want

to kick things off?

I would, because we're at Awesome Authors, and your

name is...

Orson. How cool is that?

That's an amazing name.

Well done for coming.

What's your question?

David, what's your favourite molecule?

A scientific question for David!

That's the question I was expecting!

It is water, H2O.

The only one I know!

This one is for Narinder.

It is from Opal Hyper Primrose.

If you could invent a chocolate bar, what would it be?

It would be milk chocolate, digestive biscuit and peanut butter.

I'm eating that right now!

Lucy, from Ivory Robo Kid, if you had to choose,

would you hang out with people or concentrate on work?

That's a very difficult question!

Brilliant!

I would probably hang out with people.

Is that OK?

It's more fun, isn't it?

Katie has lent me her sunglasses.

Can I keep them?

That's a no!

What's your question?

To Lucy, where did you get your ideas from?

I work with scientists and get them to help me write adventure stories

about the research they do, so a lot of the ideas actually come

from working with colleagues in science, and all the cool

and exciting things they get up to.

Alex, this is for you, it's from Red Black Smelly Bobcat.

What's your favourite emoji?

I do love an emoji.

Probably the cat with the love-heart eyes,

I think. Good choice!

David, from Purple Piano Toucan, how did you feel when you had your

first book published?

How did I feel?

I was very pleased, because I had always wanted to write

a book, so I was very pleased to see it there...

KLAXON SOUNDS.

That's it, you're not allowed to answer that question!

Thank you very much, thank you for all your questions,

lovely to hear from you.

Now, we're going to play a bit of a game.

We'll split our Awesome Authors into two teams, so David

and Narinder, you're going to be a team.

Lucy and Alex, you're going to be the other team.

Is it "Alex T" or "Alex"?

Either. I like "Alex T" as in "Mr T".

Very similar!

Radzi, you're going to be with Alex and Lucy, I'm

going to be on this side.

It's a game of Higher Or Lower.

Lindsey?

Yes, thank you, Barney.

My book fans are at the ready, we've all got different book

covers and the game is, you are going to be split into teams

and need to guess whether each book has a higher or lower number

of pages than the last one.

Do you understand?

We're all over this. Absolutely.

We want you all to join in by saying "higher" or "lower",

scream it out, let us know what you think.

Radz, you're with Lucy and Alex.

Barns, you're with David and Narinder.

Are we ready? OK, Team Radzi, you are up first.

Have a look at this one, is it higher or lower?

What do we think, guys?

I think lower.

They think Horrid Henry is lower.

We're going lower, going with the crowd.

Let's have a look.

Yes!

Next, Team Barney.

I have read this one, definitely higher.

Definitely higher.

Considerably.

The crowd agree.

Let's have a look.

Next one, we're on a bit of a roll.

Radzi? Tricky one.

Lower? Lower.

It's Dr Seuss, he was a wordy man!

We're going to go lower.

Let's have a look.

Yes!

Team Barney?

It's higher.

Got to be higher.

Let's have a look.

This is a tough one.

Whilst we're on a high...

We went low last time.

I think it's probably about the same.

What do we say in the crowd?

They're going to go lower, let's have a look.

Barney, what do you reckon?

I'd go lower. Do you think?

Touch and go, could be lower, could be higher.

I reckon higher.

Let's go higher.

Come on, only just!

It is neck-and-neck between Barney and Radzi.

What do you reckon?

Easy!

Higher.

You think it's got more pages?

Let's have a look.

A long read.

Philosopher's Stone is the shorter one.

Shorter than the others. I think it will be shorter.

Lower. Lower.

OK, we've got a little man at the front there

with Goodnight Mister Tom.

Don't turn it round just yet,

what do we reckon?

Crowd?

Lower?

OK, we'll go lower.

Turn it round, buddy.

Oh!

It means we win this, right?

The movie was seven hours long, so...

Higher.

Let's have a look.

Oh!

As if!

It's a draw!

Can we have a round of applause for both teams, please?

APPLAUSE.

I don't know if you guys know what you will be reading

this summer holiday.

If you don't, look no further than this.

Here at Blue Peter, we love books, and we wanted to know what you're

reading at the moment.

I'm reading Queenie by Jacqueline Wilson.

Percy Jackson And The Battle Of The Labyrinth.

Diary Of A Wimpy kid.

Mr Stink.

Goodnight Mister Tom.

Foxy Tales. The Witches.

Awful Auntie.

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix.

I like Percy Jackson And The Battle Of The Labyrinth because it's got

nerve-wracking moments.

It's really exciting.

I love Geek Girl because it's funny and like a drama.

It's very dramatic and action-packed.

It shows that some people can be bad and some people can be good.

It's action-packed and full of surprises, like when

there's a flying pig.

It's full of adventure and it's exciting.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, which is

really cool and exciting.

I love Goodnight Mister Tom.

It's about a small boy who lives with a warm-hearted man called Tom

Oakley.

There are clearly so many books to choose from,

so how do you know which one is the perfect page-turner for you?

Whether you like comedies, adventure, history, whatever

you are into, you can use the Book Sorter to get

inspiration for your next read.

Visit the Blue Peter website for more details.

I like reading because whenever you're bored you can just read

and it's like you've gone to a different place.

It makes you feel as if you're inside the book, and makes

you want to know what happens next.

It's very fun and takes you places, you feel like you're in the book.

Why not use the Book Sorter and join in with the summer

reading challenge?

You never know where your next book might take you.

What a way to sort your books!

Sign up...now!

I didn't know what you were going to say then!

We're excited because we're about to do an official BP book swap.

Who has bought a book with them today?

Wave them in the air.

Lots of Jacqueline Wilson today.

She's huge, Jacqueline Wilson.

Not in real life, just as a writer.

We're going to do a bit of swappage in a minute,

but first let's find out what's happening in the Wolfblood tent.

We're joined by two stalwarts of Wolfblood, Leona

and Jack.

How are you?

CHEERING.

That's what I'm talking about!

It's bad when you give yourself your own drum roll!

What have you been up to?

Having a go at Q

Chatting to the fans, seeing what you did here

for the Wolfblood tent.

Leona, have you done any selfies?

One or two, yes.

They're now called "wolfies".

CYMBAL CRASH.

I like that!

Amazing.

We now have a sound effect every time I tell a bad joke!

We've got some massive Wolfblood fans in.

Let's see a raise of hands?

We're on series four at the moment, when does series five start?

Starts filming September, October.

More Wolfblood on the way, thank goodness for that.

I think we should do our book swappage.

On the count of three - one, two, three, swap your books!

RADZI SINGS: # Swapping their books like they just don't care.

# Swap, swap, swap!

# You're going to get a new book, you're all just swapping...#.

You got two books for your swap.

Are we all happy, got what we want?

We've got music in the background as well.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the book swap

club, we'll go down to Megan on the floor,

find out how happy she is.

Megan, tell us about your book.

I'm very excited about reading this book.

Have you read it before? No.

Amazing, great news. What about you?

I have got Utter Chaos.

In your life in general, or just the title of the book?

No, it's the title of the book!

Are you looking forward to it? Yes.

Nice one. How about you?

I've got The Worst Thing About My Sister.

That's Jacqueline Wilson, that's going to be good.

Nice one.

We hope!

Lovely, thank you.

Who loves great books?

Everyone, we all do.

But what I love more is when a great book gets turned into a great show.

David Walliams is one of the most popular authors in the country.

His novel, Gangsta Granny, a story about a young

boy's boring old granny, who is actually an international

jewel thief, went straight to number one in the book charts,

then became a hit TV show and now it's a play.

Which means you will get the chance to see Gangsta Granny

on stage across the UK, just like this theatre

here in Reading, where the show starts tomorrow.

Tomorrow?

This place will be ready tomorrow?

No chance!

It's hard to believe, but the travelling theatre company

have just 24-hours to transform this empty stage into the wonderful

world of Walliams' book.

To transform an empty space in such a short period

of time must be a real operation.

What?

Oh, that's why we're here, to reveal how

the team do it?

Gotcha.

OK, I need to get my skates on, and, next time, read my e-mails.

Right, best get started.

Giving me my instructions is Ashley, who plays Granny's grandson, Ben.

We have 27 hours to get the show ready.

How do you do it?

We have a brilliant tech team that work very,

very hard to make sure the show is ready for the audience tomorrow.

They are putting the lights up now.

Could I see some of it?

We can do better than that - you can help out, if you like?

Done, straight up top.

The lighting and sound equipment are the first to go in.

It's really important to install them correctly, because,

no matter how good the performance is, it's pointless if the audience

can't see it or hear it.

And, in just a matter of hours, the team move on to the set.

This is fast work!

What's going on here?

We're hanging the site, which is a big cloth that hangs

at the back of the stage.

The stage is starting to come together, and I'm beginning to get

excited about seeing the show.

But, when I meet Neil, the play's director,

he has a surprise for me.

I'm not sure where I'll be sat, but I'll be sat there looking

at the show and I'm sure I will be in absolute awe.

No, you won't, I'm afraid to say.

We need you backstage to be helping out with the props, helping

out with some scenery.

There are quite a lot of things we need you to do, you can't rest.

Oh dear, I thought this might happen!

In fact, there's a part that we want you to play in the show.

We've got some lines for you, and you are going to be

a reporter in the show.

Really?!

Yes. Amazing!

So, as well as helping out behind-the-scenes, I'm going to be

performing on stage as a reporter in front of an audience.

It's the end of day one, and the pressure is on.

It's the next morning, and I've got lots to do.

I need to rehearse my very own part in the show,

but, before that, I need to get to grips with my other

job as a stagehand.

So, Radzi, there are three props I need you to look after for me.

One of them is this giant spoon here, which I need

you to hand to Granny.

Granny runs over to the wing and says the line, "I was attacked

by a bear in their garden."

I need you to throw this on and she will catch it.

At the end of act one, when Alison runs off into this wing,

I need you to hand her this as this as quickly as possible.

This is made from matches, will it survive a drop?

No.

I need to make sure I get this right, and practice makes perfect.

A bit higher still.

Next, I need to learn my lines.

Reporting live from the Tower of London, we're at the scene

this audacious crime!

We're coming live from the Tower of London, at the scene

of an audacious crime!

It's a huge honour to be given a role in the show.

I just hope nerves don't get the better of me.

And, finally, rehearsals are over.

In just 24 hours I've helped this theatre go from an empty stage

to a full production.

All that's left is for the audience to arrive.

The stage is now set, I've got to get the lines in my head

and make sure I do everything right.

The cast are set.

Wish us luck.

It's lights down, showtime.

On stage, everything is running smoothly,

but, behind-the-scenes, it's cramped and a bit frantic.

Don't talk about Granny like that!

Her TV doesn't work, all we do is play Scrabble.

My first bit is up.

And the spoon handover is complete.

I was attacked by a bear...

Time for the bear.

A bit high!

But at least I got the timing right.

Don't drop the castle, Radzi, don't drop the castle.

Thank goodness for that.

Now it's time for my starring role.

This is Blue Peter and we are live in the Tower of London at the scene

of an audacious crime which has clearly been carried out by hugely

professional criminals.

The question is, can you help?!

That was so exciting!

All that's left to do is take a bow.

My time with Gangsta Granny has been unforgettable, but,

for the rest of the crew, they can't stop here.

They've got another town and another performance to get ready for.

The show must go on.

CHEERING.

That was a lot of fun.

OK, it's time to take a look at the letters you've written to us.

Can we get a huge round of applause for

Jeremy Strong, our Awesome Author on the stage.

APPLAUSE.

Thank you.

Jeremy, I like having you here at the badge wall.

What are your first thoughts on this?

It's pretty colourful this week.

It is absolutely amazing.

Look at all that creativity.

It's wonderful.

I always love it when I come to look at children's writing.

Brilliant.

I'm doing my hair like that, by the way.

That's amazing. Look at that.

It's on.

Let's take a look at this book.

The Day Shelley - our favourite tortoise -

Became a Superhero.

This is written by Maya from Glasgow.

Let me show you this picture.

Look at that. There's Shelley, with a cape on.

How super does she look?

It's amazing.

Thank you very much, Maya.

It's awesome.

You've got a badge.

It's on its way.

And it's a silver one. Shiny.

Jeremy, let's have a look at yours.

This is from Holly.

It's actually laser printed - can you believe that?

- with her laptop.

She did it in the laser club at school.

And it's absolutely fantastic. Look at all that workmanship.

I can't believe the detail. Absolutely amazing.

There we are. Right there.

Who doesn't want to be part of a laser club?

I'm joining the nearest one. Let's do it.

Holly, look at that, you've got a silver badge.

Fantastic.

Somebody else who's got a silver badge is Lucy from

Worcestershire. She's done an acrostic poem.

That's a thing when you write the letters down here and

then make lovely sentences.

It's all about books.

It says, "Brilliant adventures on your journey to

imagination."

imagination." And there's loads more there.

Thank you.

There's even a picture of the BFG, my favourite.

You've got a silver badge.

Lots of you clearly love the Shelley pinata

that Lindsey and myself made a few weeks ago.

Including Mason from Surrey. Look at this picture here.

There is me breaking open Shelley.

And all those sweets, by the way, went in my tummy.

Amazing.

Thank you so much for all your post.

Now listen, how would you like some great

tips from some great writers? I know I would.

Have a look at this.

Hey!

I'm at the Hay Festival in Wales, where some of

the biggest and brightest authors in the business are here

to discuss everything books.

And earlier we caught up with them to find out what

makes them tick.

I wander in from here, yeah?

Right, does that look gorgeous?

I just dropped that.

So right straight at the camera?

I like to write funny books.

If it doesn't make me laugh, it doesn't go in the book.

I have always loved drawing.

And when I was at primary school I thought, what

a wonderful job it would be

if I could earn my living drawing pictures.

I started writing when I was eight years old.

My stories are inspired by the world around me.

When you love reading, I think the next logical thing to do

is you want to write your own stories.

We are all storytellers.

And reading is one of the great pleasures and great privileges of

the world.

When you watch a film, that's how it is.

But when you read a book, it's inside your head.

It made me feel all things.

Anything from really happy to absolutely terrified

and everything in between. That's what's brilliant about books.

They can make you feel a million different

emotions at once.

It can actually make you into a time traveller.

And take you to places and times that nothing else can do.

I love reading. I'm a huge reader.

I read a lot. Yeah, I love it.

It takes you away. It takes you to different places.

So, wherever you are, you can be somewhere else.

You can't really beat that.

I love being taken to another world and get the chance to

live someone else's life and to see the world through their eyes.

It makes me feel happy, it makes me feel excited or sad

and all the things in between.

That's why I love books.

My favourite children's book has to be Edward Eager's Half Magic,

because I love stories about magic, especially magic that goes

wrong.

My favourite children's book is called The Giant Jam Sandwich.

It's about my favourite subject, food.

So difficult to choose a favourite children's book.

I love The Moomins by Tove Jansson.

My favourite children's book is probably The BFG.

I even love reading the back of shampoo bottles

when I'm in the bathroom.

What an incredible insight into some of our

greatest authors.

So if you're thinking of penning a poem

or scribing a story, do it.

You never know where it might take you.

APPLAUSE.

How great was that?

It has actually inspired us to go round collecting

some of our favourite words from our favourite authors.

Please welcome two of them back, Alex and David.

Hello.

Hi.

Hello.

We're chatting favourite words. This is serious.

We have to put you on the spot.

What do you think your favourite word ever is?

I do like the word skedaddle.

My mum says that to me a lot - "Skedaddle!"

It's kind of a good, exciting word.

It suggests dashing off someone to do

something interesting and exciting, possibly a little bit, I don't know,

mischievous as well. Yeah.

I like that.

David, a favourite word?

Bum.

I'll tell you why.

Obviously it's a great word.

But also, you are having a competition and children

are going to vote, aren't they?

And I've gone for bum. Do you see what I'm thinking there?

I see what you're doing there.

That's right.

I'm going to ask some of our Awesome Authors

crowd behind us here.

What is your favourite word, young lady?

Scrumptious.

What a great choice.

Enthusiastic.

Nice.

Fandabbydozy.

Fandabbydozy! It doesn't get better than that.

We've heard from some of the crowd.

In fact, we've even got some Awesome Authors'

favourite words in here, in the Blue Peter Book of Words.

Including Michael Morpurgo, who loves the word

tickety-boo.

That is a good one.

And Chris Riddell, I believe his favourite word -

let's have a look, just turn the page.

We got banana there.

That has been sent in as well.

Jeff Kinney.

Banana.

He loves that word.

And Chris Riddell's is sneeze.

There's cave. That's a good one.

And everyone has done beautiful little illustrations and drawings.

They're brilliant.

So basically we want you to go online, go to the

Blue Peter website and let us know out of the top five,

what's your favourite word?

If I was to put one in there, it's got to be pootle.

It's nice to say, it's nice to hear as well.

I thought you said pooh!

No, I didn't.

And it's a nice thing to do.

Pootle off.

To just pootle off.

Anyway, let's move onto another amazing author - she's over there.

It's Dame Jacqueline Wilson.

APPLAUSE.

And here she is, the legend herself.

Jacqueline, it's always so nice to have you on the

show. Thank you for being here.

I love being on Blue Peter, Barney.

Let's talk about your favourite word, it's a hot topic at the

moment.

OK. It's rainbow.

It's a beautiful word.

Why?

Because a rainbow is such a beautiful thing.

Whenever I say the word I have this vision of

this lovely, magical, colourful arc in the sky.

It's a beautiful thing, much like what goes on

is inside your head permanently, I'd imagine.

Sometimes!

What have you been up to recently?

We know that you are always writing.

What are you doing at the moment?

I've got a book out called Rent a Bridesmaid, about

the hot topic of whether girls want to be bridesmaids or not.

And then I just finished another Victorian book

about a girl called Clover Moon, who lives in very dire circumstances

in the middle of London.

But, later on in the book, she happens to make

friends with a certain Hetty Feather.

That gets a cheer, doesn't it? I know we're excited about that.

CHEERING.

Obviously we know so many of your stories, all the way back

to Tracy Beaker and, of course, Hetty Feather.

But how well do you know your own stories?

Not too well, I think!

It's time to find out. That's right.

We have found some amazing Jacqueline Wilson super

fans. Girls, out you come.

Welcome to Birmingham.

CHEERING.

Now, let's get to know you.

What are your names?

Christina.

Deah.

And Ellie.

Loads of support in the crowd, and look

who's over there.

It's the one and only Jacqueline Wilson.

How cool is that?

Do you think you can beat her today?

Kind of.

Kind of.

Good, I like that positivity.

Let's do this.

OK, it's time to find out.

Jacqueline, can you take your position at the podium, please?

It's time to play the Superfan Game!

Are you ready?

Let's go.

In Candy Floss, what colour does floss want to dye her hair?

Pink.

Correct.

How many times does the word 'I' appear on page ten

of Lily Alone - five or 15?

15? Correct.

What is the name of Tracy Beaker's arch enemy?

Justine Littlewood.

Correct.

In The Lottie Project, which historical era does Charlie

after research for a school project?

That was definitely Jacqueline.

That was Jacqueline. Go on.

Victorian. Victorian times.

Correct.

In The Dare Game, Alexander makes a fake TV out of cardboard.

Which incredible TV show did he draw on the front of his...?

Blue Peter!

Oh, I am choking. I love that one.

What kind of chocolate bar appears as an

illustration at the top of chapter one of Lola Rose - milk or dark

chocolate?

That's Jacqueline.

Really smash it, Jacqueline, come on.

There we go.

Milk.

Correct.

In Girls Out Late, what time does Ellie have to

be home by? That is a tough question.

Seven o'clock?

It's a later curfew of nine o'clock.

In The Suitcase Kid, what's the name of

Andy's stuffed rabbit? Oh, I think it was the girls!

Radish.

Yes.

Radish is correct.

What's the first word on page 24 of The Butterfly

Club - is it Miss or Mr?

Miss.

You guested it right. Well done.

Who illustrates most of Jacqueline Wilson's books?

Jacqueline, that was you.

Nick Sharratt!

Thanks everyone.

OK, the scores are...

Jacqueline, you got four.

Super fans, you got five!

Yes!

Here comes a happy dance.

That's how you celebrate.

Thank you Radzi.

Beautiful.

There you have it.

A big cheer for our super fans. They did a great job.

But an even bigger cheer for Jacqueline Wilson, please.

What a mega-legend.

Jacqueline Wilson is such a legend, that we've awarded

her are highest accolade, which is a gold Blue Peter badge,

which she's wearing today, by the way.

Such a legend.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Barney.

So if you're a fan of Jacqueline Wilson, that was just for

you. If you're a fan of

Blue Peter, so is this.

I'm not coming last.

That's not happening.

This is so tiring.

Get involved.

Get active.

And inspire one of your friends to try a sport that you love.

Your very own Blue Peter Sport Badge.

I don't think I've ever been this excited on Blue Peter, ever.

CHEERING.

That's going to be a good summer on Blue

Peter, isn't it?

It's going to be awesome.

Make sure you're watching next week.

You haven't got long to go.

It's going to be a very exciting show on Thursday,

because we'll be having a very first show dedicated

to this little beauty.

We like to call it the orange badge.

You'll get to see our competition badge winners,

as well as the winner of our Dream Big competition,

and you're going to

get to see behind the scenes at the BFG premiere being attended none

other than Sir Steven Spielberg, ladies and gentlemen.

Oh yeah, and Lindsey is going to be there as

well.

I'm going to be there.

As well as that, head over to the BP Fanclub,

where there's loads to do.

There's a special guest author, Chris

Bradford, author of The Young Samurai and Bodyguard series.

It's going to be good. Get online.

I want to say a massive thank you to all of

our Awesome Authors.

And also, thank you to you guys here in Birmingham.

Goodbye!