Peppa Pig is coming to Penarth! (From Penarth Times)

Peppa Pig is coming to Penarth!

9:00am Wednesday 3rd October 2012 in News

PEPPA Pig and George are coming to Penarth to join in the first Penarth Book Festival running during the October half-term holiday, from October 29 to November 4.

To help make children a big focus at this year's festival Peppa and George will be visiting the town on the afternoon of Thursday, November 1, when John Sparkes, the narrator of Peppa Pig on TV, will be reading a selection of these much loved stories at the Main Hall, All Saints Church in Penarth.

On Tuesday, October 30, a dedicated Children's Day at the Festival will also offer children of varying ages a chance to meet authors such as Susie Day, Catherine Fisher, Dan Anthony, Chris Glynn, Ruth Morgan and new Wales-based writer Richard Pitman.

Cathy Farr will also be there with Finn the huge Irish wolfhound, the inspiration behind her own extremely popular books Moon Chase and Moon Crossing.

"The children will hear readings and interviews and will have the chance to buy books signed by the authors," said Cathy.

"I do lots of school visits; children just love to be read to. It fires their own imagination and it really does make them want to pick up a book and read more," she added.

The whole week will be packed with events for book lovers of all ages so for more information and to book tickets for Peppa and all of the other events, telephone 07787 848337, call in to the Windsor Bookshop in Penarth or visit the website www.penarthbookfestival.org.uk

IN the build-up to Penarth Book Festival, a children's writing competition attracted more than 150 entries.

Winner of the Year 5 category was Mia Hill, with her story The Chinese Pastical...

The Chinese Pashtical By Mia Hill Year 5, Evenlode Primary School

In this piece of writing I am going to be telling you about my imaginary animal who is called the Chinese Pashtical, or also known as the 'Grumpyus Hungryus Hard to see us' in Latin!

The Chinese Pashtical lives in the misty soaring mountains that almost look like they touch the sky! The mountains she lives in are in Guilin in China. The Chinese Pashticals have wide piercing eyes that let them see miles away and even in the dark if they want to!

She has long leathery wings that help her to glide in and out of the rooftops of houses and little shops searching through the ancient town looking for food. She has razor sharp teeth that help her to munch through her dinner.

The Chinese Pashtical has short pointy horns at the top of her head that seem to be a danger signal for other animals, to make sure that they stay out of her way, just in case she gets angry about something or other. They have chubby little feet with talons of an eagle to make it easier for her to snatch her snack out of the air!

The Chinese Pashtical has a rather amusing personality to me, you see, she's quite shy and very secretive, despite all that viciousness you heard a couple of minutes ago!

Well we're on to food now, probably my favourite bit... They feed on fresh green tea leaves which they like, but, their all time favourite is certainly a very rare type of butterfly which I bet no one has ever heard of.

And I think its name goes something like this, the Lesser Spotted Pigmy Butterfly, partly because they're so small and partly because they're covered in spots.

Something peculiar about these creatures is that there are absolutely no males (we all know that boys are not really necessary!!).

Each time this breed eats a tea leaf or a butterfly a baby starts to form inside her tummy. When the baby is fully grown the Pashtical starts to burp, choke and then coughs it up, just like a cat coughing up a hair ball. So this is how a baby Pashtical is new to the world!

So next time you happen to find yourself near Guilin look out for the 'Grumpyus Hungryus Hard to see us'.