At some point I’m sure we’ve all wondered into a bookstore (or stumbled upon one on line) and found a lovely book we’d like to own. But it’s not essential/important or even affordable perhaps.
So, as part of a time-killing ramble around St Pancras station, in London, I came across this wonderful copy of The Cat in the Hat by Dr.Seuss. Specially bound for Hatchards* and limited to a numbered run of 2000 copies. So I just had to have a copy.
Having refiled through as many copies as I could, without altering their security, I managed to get the lowest number I could find. It was specially bound and numbered, Hatchards weren’t giving it away. I justified the spend by recalling that I had only got the paperback after all!
The Cat in the Hat was written and illustrated by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel in 1957. I won’t summarise the story but the cover pretty much gives the theme away. With its sporty red bow tie and matching top hat, our anthropomorphic friend shows up one wet day and creates mayhem for Sally, and her brother, while their mother is out.
Beautifully illustrated it’s published by Harper Collins.
* Hatchards is the oldest bookshop in the United Kingdom. Established by John Hatchard in 1797,
During my visit to the 2025 London Book fair I can across a very small stand located at the rear of the main hall. The company was Peasoup and it was manned by two Danish guys, Soren Jonsson and Kristian Dreino – perhaps two of the nicest people you would wish to meet.
Soren Jonsson & Kristian Dreino
They were promoting their colourful game books, but game books with a difference. Maybe you recall the type of book (usual a handy size paperback) were you are given a persona, or could choose one, before setting out on a quest.
I remember my first ones were I had to choose a page number to visit. There I would be given a task to complete, or a decision to be made. Whichever I chose I would suffer the inevitable dire, and usually fatal, consequences!
Peasoup’s books are different. They feature Augmented Reality (AR), a technology that integrates computer-generated content, such as video or audio, into the reader’s environment, in real time. Not to be confused with VR (virtual reality) which is a fully digital. With the Peasoup books, this is achieved via an easy down-loadable app.
So the reader starts the adventure, visits the designated page where they find a scannable illustration. Here they use their smartphone camera via the app to discover what awaits them. Each book has its own app from eithe Google Play or the App Store.
My first copy of the the books (pictured right) featured fold-down covers, so the book would lie flat. This was a great help with the phone – although this facility singularly failed to prevent me from getting wasted by the waiting ogre, in a very short time!
Peasoup began 7 years ago, but the team behind it have been involved with computer games design for younger players for over 25 years. Illiteracy is a growing problem among children (just look at the figures in the UK), so innovation is needed to motivate reluctant readers at school and home. They discovered that children in the 10-14 years range, in Denmark, were reading less and less. The link between the traditional fantasy games and AR meant the images could divert reader’s attention and the books would provide more experience of reading and maths – making it more fun.
Danish children liked the books. Slow readers in the 8-10 group, who find it hard, can scan the text too. While small game elements can help kids be in their own space, such as with autism sufferers, which keeps them reading.
At this years’ London Book Fair, I found the same stand and the same two guys, this time with a spectacular new book in the series, Outtatown. Written by Soren Jonsson and lavishly illustrated by Brian Bak Jensen, it’s a standalone book, like the rest of the series. Readers, in this case aged 9+, need the Outtatown app too – this can’t be used alone.
“In Outtatown, you join a secret society of daring and resourceful adventurers calles the Tricksters. Use your street savvy and take daring risks to free the city of Outtatown from the reign of the terrible Bug King, who controls the minds of his innocent citizens..”
A report in Denmark suggests that: ‘the books can be used either with a single child or in a group, both ways work with no problems at all, and there is no better way of reading to book. It is excellent for all who can read. That’s why it is difficult to put a age group on the book, simply because the difference between children who are good at reading is really big in the 7-10 year age group. But when the children are reading in a group, they read together, and the best skilled child reads and that creates a dynamic group’.
They summarised by saying that the reading experience is for everyone who appreciates the “Choose your own adventure” genre, and is really genuinely fun – even for the adult co-reader.
Peasoup can be found at at www.peasoup.dk. More plans are in the pipeline to extend the range of titles which I’ll be covering in due course.
At the recent London Book Fair, one stand attracted a lot of attention with it’s bold, but single display and lots of copies of just one book.
Don’t steal this book had one simple message. If we allow AI companies to copy millions of books – and if you are a writer, we mean your books – without permission or payment – then there’s going to be nothing left.
As I’ve posted earlier, we – journalists, publishers, authors, trade unions – are all urging the Government not to legalise what has been referred to ‘large-scale theft’.
This could be your book!
The book (left) lists thousands of individual authors who had already put their names to this fight. If AI companies don’t pay their will be empty pages – amply illustrated by the body of the book (right) consisting of hundreds of blank pages.
Unpaid writers, empty pages = no books for readers!
Don’t Steal This Book is supported by Fairly Trained, Society of Authors and the Publishers Association as well as every fair minded writer, publisher and reader in the land.
deilibri 