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Welcome to purplepenguinpublishing
Our Team
Sally-Anne Tapia-Bowes
Author
Sally-Anne loves to write books for children. If you would like Sally-Anne to do an interactive storytelling event then get in contact.
Tony Higginson
Events Organiser/Storyteller
Tony has been organising events with authors for the last 30 years. If you are looking to book an event please contact direct.
Holly Bushnell
Illustrator
I illustrate children's books and paint murals for any project. I've created murals for schools, nurseries, bookshops and children's bedrooms.
Danielle Ward
Illustrator
Danielle is a full time English secondary teacher. In her spare time she illustrates books as well as teach dance.
Sam Harris
ILLUSTRATOR
Sam Harris is a freelance illustrator and designer from Liverpool, England. His work is often comically inclined, featuring a combination of bold colour and texture with digital and hand-rendered elements. As well as illustrating children's books, Sam has also created work for clients such as The International Slavery Museum, David Crow, Craig Oldham, The Women's Netball World Cup and Stiles Magazine.
You can find Sam's work at www.samharrisillustration.co.uk or @samharrisillustration
on Instagram. Sam can also be contacted at samharrisillustration@gmail.com or at purplepenguinpublishing.com
Teresita Tapia-Bowes
Face Painting
Teresita is a student at Liverpool University studying Biochemistry.
Face-painting is of a high quality. In the next few months she will begin to also branch out in henna art.
Teresita has taken part in courses and face-paint workshops to learn unique skills and techniques.
Iceburg
The King Penguin
Created by Formby’s very own illustrator, Holly Bushnell, Iceberg is our very own magical mascot! Penguins are very special birds! They can be found in the Antarctic, South America and the Galapagos Islands. There are 18 species in total – Iceberg is a King Penguin! Both mothers and fathers share equally in their role as a parent. Iceberg is 3 foot tall – as tall as a most children in Year 2!
OOKOOWA
THE WIGWAM
Ookoowa is an important part of what we do… She is a home for storytellers – a centrepiece for our audiences – a site to behold. Travelling with Ookoowa can be tricky, as she is 16 feet long! This means it takes a while to take her to places – an hour to put her up and another to take her down! We use a separate marquee for exhibiting the work that our audiences produce.
About the Author
Biography
Sally-Anne Tapia-Bowes is a full-time English secondary teacher in Liverpool. Prior to this, she was a book & coffee shop co-owner of Write Blend in Waterloo managing events and conducting interviews for Bay TV. Her most recent interviews include Tim Quinn (Marvel Comics); Tim chose Sally-Anne to conduct his first interview for his autobiography: Argh! and Mike Carey, author of the book and blockbuster film: The Girl with All the Gifts.
Additionally, she has worked as a radio presenter (Beyond Books Show on HCR 92.3 FM Sundays 09:00-12:00).
Significantly, she is an author of both adult and children's fiction.
Her debut children's story, 'The Star that Lost its Sparkle!', was officially launched on the 19th of December 2015.
Sally-Anne has participated in the WOW - Writing on the Wall Maghull Literary Festival 2016,
Having participated since in storytelling events, mostly in primary schools, museums, libraries and festivals, Sally-Anne has recently become one of the newest members of the National Society for Storytelling.
Personal Info
Children's Books
Mr. Crocodile Book 1
Mr. Crocodile Book 2
The Star that Lost its Sparkle!
Saami and the White Wolf
The Tiger that Slept on the Stairs
The Gift
The Bear that Holly Left Behind
Mr Crocodile Bites the Thumbs of my Toes as I Peg Out the Washing in the Back Garden!
I visited the beautiful country of Sri Lanka last year; it was a very nice visit you know. It was there that I first saw, for the very first time, a black swan!
The only thing was, a stowaway crocodile, one with an unusually long tail, had deliberately hidden himself in one of my lovely all-leather, elephant-decorated travel bags, the really long one, the one shaped like a can on its side.
It was a while before I discovered Mr Crocodile. He spoke very good English but his Russian accent threw me at first. I later learned that his mother, who ran off with Somalian pirate, had been Russian. How she met his father, is another story.
And that is how Mr Crocodile ended up living at Plum Cottage with us, his new family.
Plum Cottage is in the U.K. (England, to be precise). Mr Crocodile is now thousands of miles from home. We do hope he will never leave us, for we love him very much.
Magenta the Witch Works her Magic on a Bored Mr Crocodile
Meet Mr Crocodile! Mr Crocodile lives at Plum Cottage, with his new family: that is, with Pip, Poppy, Penny and me (Mum). In this story, Mr Crocodile goes on a date with Magenta the witch, although Clarence, her cat, is NOT very happy about it!
Meet Bailey, the little sky-blue star that actually lost its sparkle!
It is up to Grandnan to put things right; luckily Grandnan always knows what to do…
Launched Christmas 2015, 'The Star that Lost its Sparkle!' is a heart-warming story that all children will love. For many children, a grandparent is a significant other adult in their important life. This children's story celebrates that unique bond.
As a child, I was very close to both of my Spanish grandparents, my abuelo Bernardo and my abuela Catalina. Together they had 11 children and lots and lots, maybe thousands of grandchildren!
Dedicated to my nephew Bailey and in memory of my sister Rebecca, this story was the first story to be published.
Illustrated by Holly Bushnell
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'Saami and the White Wolf' is a re-telling of Hans Christian Andersen's classic story,'The Little Matchgirl'.
Set in the Inuit village of Bethel in Alaska, Saami, a little matchgirl, fails to sell any of the matchboxes her mother has given her to sell that day. It is Christmas Eve.
In the snow-crested Arctic mountains, and within easy reach of the village, a white wolf is desperate to feed her starving cubs. If she is to save them, she must enter the village unseen and find something to eat...
What will happen when Saami lights her last three matches?
And what will happen when the desperate wolf and Saami meet?
Lisette and Georgette are on holiday in France with their Papa and Mama. It's the summer holidays. One morning, Lisette wakes early and is about to head downstairs for breakfast when she comes across a large, handsome tiger sleeping on the stairs.
Lisette asks each family member, in turn, for help - can LIsette persuade her tiger to move outdoors?
Launched January 2018
Life is a gift, cherish it and smell it, taste it and make the most of it...it will not always be there.
From the moment we wake, to the last second just when we are about to close our eyes, we may ask ourselves: Did we made the most of our day? Did we do right by others? Did we appreciate all that was available to us?
Most gifts are wrapped - given to the ones we love and appreciate at different times in the year, often celebrating a significant tradition within our culture. Some gifts are not wrapped - these are often the most valuable. Our family. Our teachers. Doctors and Nurses. Police and Fire Officers. Time. Peace. Life.
The Bear that Holly Left Behind, is not only a story about change, it is a celebration of the many diverse families that exist in our beautiful world.
As a fan of skilfully written and often emotional reads, Sally-Anne is as interested in the author’s craft as she is in the story itself. Her psychological thrillers, set locally in the North-West, favour character-driven plots which aim to unsettle readers by exploring the complexity of human behaviour and examining how environments shape and affect criminal minds.
Adult Fiction
Set in the apparently sleepy Victorian seaside-resort of Southport, this thrilling trilogy presents a series of very different stories, stories that will take the reader on an emotional journey never to be forgotten. Each novel weaves away, with subtlety, on the urbanity of human nature; themes such as pain and loss, family disfunction, as well as the effects of mental and physical abuse are valiantly explored.
Paced to take the reader effortlessly into the world within each plot, with careful observation and a simple setting akin to where many of us live, this trilogy is a mixture of taut noir and nuance. Jaw-dropping brutality is blended into seemingly normal everyday life. Tears of nostalgic reminisces become blurred with sorrow as the consequences unfold to reveal an ending that surprises us all.
Set in the attractive seaside town of Southport, HIS MOTHER is a contemporary psychological thriller about a secondary school teacher: Mr Rimmer.
A teenage female body is found face down in the Marshide marshlands. Detectives Inspector Folkard and Sergeant Shakespeare strongly suspect Mr Rimmer to be their man.
Unfortunately, it proves challenging to find the much-needed evidence that would link the death of Mary-Eloise Chambers to their suspect.
Mr Rimmer has many secrets; although he appears to live alone, he in fact does not. The closer Inspector Folkard and Sergeant Shakespeare get to their killer, the more the reader learns of Mr Rimmer’s relationship with his mother.
It is only when Inspector Folkard looks back at similar attacks on young females, that she begins to make some much needed headway. Inspector Folkard knows there is at least one other body close by; finding it could be the vital piece of the puzzle, but where to look?
Set in the attractive seaside town of Southport, HER FATHER is a contemporary psychological thriller about a troubled teenager: Mara Aneka Bones.
It is on the evening of Valentine’s Day that Inspector Folkard’s short break away is interrupted by an urgent call from Sergeant Shakespeare. The bodies of two male teenagers have been discovered in the late hours of the evening at a local park: one is in a critical state, the other one is dead.
With a possible double homicide on their hands, the detectives struggle to find any concrete witnesses willing to come forward. It also proves difficult to wade through the many versions of what exactly was going on in Botanic Park that evening.
Mara Bones is fifteen years old and a lonely recluse. Her mother died during childbirth; she lives only with her father. The closer Inspector Folkard and Sergeant Shakespeare get to their killer, the more the reader learns about Mara and her father. When Inspector Folkard interviews Mara, her suspicions are immediately ignited, although there is no real evidence linking her to either attack. Inspector Folkard must tread judiciously – she could after all, have a teenage, serial killer on her hands.
Set in Southport, famed for its pier and golf, as well as the dreadful Lindsey Quy murder case that is loosely back-dropped into the plot, Sisters is the final novel in the series following HIS MOTHER and then HER FATHER.
Appearances are often deceptive. Why would two Beryl Cookesque, pipe smoking, macabre sixty-plus sisters be any threat to anyone? What secrets could they have buried in their pasts that could be of vital interest to a current police investigation?
Mrs Tanner and Mrs Lexton appear self-contained and unfettered by modernity. Unbeknown to almost everyone, their past has affected them enormously: nursing, marriage and motherhood were all they held dear. On the surface, their domestic idyll is a fading charade. They now live together in the home that once belonged to both Mr and Mrs Tanner. Years ago, he ran off with another woman. Or so Mrs Tanner says.
Newly teamed detectives Inspector Catherine Shakespeare and Sergeant Gulliver Pope are tormented by their own pasts; additionally, they are also struggling to find a way to bond. Their relationship is not one forged after many years.
Nothing is at it seems. Some secrets can be shared. Some are best kept hidden.
Using the long-closed and harrowed mental institution, Greaves Hall, as a location, the book weaves away with subtlety on the urbanity of human nature, the pain of losing children, the effects of mental and physical abuse and secrets. But like a sore, if you scratch it, it reopens.
In the sisters’ front-lounge there is a repugnant smell. It’s like someone’s buried a fish below the floorboards as a joke. Except no-one’s laughing. Neither Mrs Tanner nor Mrs Lexton have used this room in the last ten years. Not since Mrs Lexton killed her husband violently with an iron. Not since they folded his corpse into the window-seat and nailed it shut. When Detectives Shakespeare and Pope call round, to Mrs Lexton’s surprise, it is Mrs Tanner whom they wish to speak to: the body of her husband having been recently unearthed, buried illegally in a plot belonging to another family. Apparently, there could be others.
The story is furthermore referenced with events and iconic media imagery that will resonate with many readers - a genuine why-dunnit. Having some knowledge of the crime and criminal, to embed belief in the characters’ reality of dealing with their ever more daunting dilemmas, does not take away the thirst for reading on.
Testimonials
Sally-Anne has a lovely reading voice and stories around the world is a really good idea.
The kids loved the singing and shaking those instrument's
Services & Fees
Contact Me
Please note any visits to schools can only take place on a Friday afternoon, weekends and holidays.
Thank you.
News & Events
Sunday 26th August 2018
2018 Run for Rhys Family Day @ Croxteth Hall Park
This year's community event with lots for the kids and family to do and get involved in.
There will be a large number of stalls, activities and fun for all! Sally-Anne will be supporting with story reading for all the kids so please come and join us.
All profits from this day will go towards the Rhys Jones Community Centre.
Saturday 11th August 2018
Lost Castles @ North Park Bootle
A re-creation of Miller’s Castle which stood in Bootle in the early 19th century and it will be put on display at North Park
Family Fun Day 11am – 3pm: A day of Seaside Fun Activities include a Funfair, puppet show, Donkey Rides and Sally-Anne's Storytelling Session Tent where she will read many stories.
30 June 2018
Woodlands Summer Fair
Woodlands Primary School @ 11am
Woodlands Primary School have there Summer Fair with pony rides, archery, BBQ, Eco-Warriors’ plant sale, Woodlands’ Wally Cain dancers, raffle, bouncy assault course and more...PLUS Sally-Anne Tapia-Bowes will be there as well joining in the fun with a stall. Come down and have fun...
16 June 2018
Liverpool Fringe Festival
Central Library @ 7pm
The Art Clinic Liverpool present an evening of poetry, prose and dramatic considerations on the topic of "Time".
This showcase will raise money to support the work of Liverpool Sunflower Cancer Care Centre.
Sally-Anne's Poems "Winter", "An Unalterable Truth" and children's story "The Gift" will be read during the show!
July 2016
Pulp Idol Judge - Writing on the Wall - WOW
Pulp Idol is a unique writing competition for novelists, which focuses on supporting new original voices and getting them heard, it has been the launchpad for several new novelists, including James Rice, Deborah Morgan, John Donoghue and Clare Coombes.
Sally-Anne has been invited to Judge applicants for this year's event.
July 2015
Pulp Idol Judge - Writing on the Wall - WOW
Pulp Idol is a unique writing competition for novelists, which focuses on supporting new original voices and getting them heard, it has been the launchpad for several new novelists, including James Rice, Deborah Morgan, John Donoghue and Clare Coombes.
Sally-Anne has been invited to Judge applicants for this year's event.
Gallery
Poetry Gallery
Woodlands Primary
Woodlands School was officially opened in 1966. At this time both infant and junior children were housed in one building what was to become Woodlands Junior School.
As Formby expanded and open spaces were replaced by houses and young families, the need for more room in the school saw the building of Woodlands Infants School. This was opened in 1969, giving two separate schools, each with their own headteacher, on the present site.
The Formby area continued to grow and mobile classrooms had to be erected to accommodate the ever growing number of children. By 1973 there were 9 infant classes.
Over the years, pupil numbers fluctuated and slowly declined in both schools and eventually by September 1985 amalgamation was the way forward. The school became Woodlands Primary School under the leadership of one headteacher.
1992 saw pupils past and present, parents and staff, celebrating the school's Silver Jubilee in grand style. In 2005, 20 years after amalgamation, the two original buildings were finally joined together with a new link corridor and a staffroom large enough to accommodate all staff comfortably, a new library and a new teaching space.
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