Please Mr Panda

It turns out that this blog post is by far THE most visited page on my site, so here's all you need to know about Mr Panda, including links to activities and lesson tips.

'Please Mr Panda' (or 'Please, Mr. Panda' in some territories) was published at the end of 2014. The response has been incredible! It was Barnes & Nobles' Children's Book of the Month and read in over 640 of their branches at the same time across the States for their first Story Time event in January 2015.

The Times

The Times

Mr Panda's big reveal at Bologna Children's Book Fair in 2014. Photo courtesy of Martin Salisbury

Mr Panda's big reveal at Bologna Children's Book Fair in 2014. Photo courtesy of Martin Salisbury

The Times chose it as their Children's Book of the Week in December 2014. It's had fantastic reviews by The New York Times, School Library Journal, The Bookseller, Kirkus, and lots of blogs have featured it, including Buzzfeed and Huffington Post.

But what I've loved the most is when people have that lightbulb moment and 'get' the story, especially at events - which can be really fun. The responses have ranged from complete befuddlement to laugh-out-loud hysteria. But one thing is for sure, Mr Panda always gets his point across - which is, if you want one of his doughnuts, you had better say PLEASE! 

The hashtag #pleasemrpanda is being used on both Twitter and instagram. Some of the photos have been hilarious and very sweet, too. Below are just a few.

I've had some lovely emails and tweets about the book. One parent contacted me to say that 'Please Mr Panda' was the first book her son was able to read and understand all by himself, despite his learning difficulties.

Some children even dressed up as Mr Panda for World Book Day (below).

But it seems as though Mr Panda is not just for the kids. 'Please Mr Panda' was voted 'book of the year' by a high school in the States. 

And the bookstore displays I've seen (below) have just blown me away.

I've written a blog about Lesson Tips here.

I've got activity sheets here.

Here's an interview where I talk about how being red-green colour-deficient has heavily influenced the way in which I approach colour for all of my books, including 'Please Mr Panda'.

Scroll down for the 'Please Mr Panda' video trailer, or press here.

'Please Mr Panda' (or 'Please, Mr. Panda') is available in the States, Canada, UK, Australia and lots of other countries. It'll be translated into several languages, including French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Korean.

The book's available in most bookstores, I think. It's recently been made available in Target in the States. Or you could just buy it online or borrow it from your local library. 

Thank you for visiting my site! Please feel free to have a look around. Below are a bunch of Mr Panda photos and tweets. Speaking of tweets, you are welcome to tweet Mr Panda photos to @MrSteveAntony. I'll be sure to retweet. I'm on Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr, too.

Mabel's Fables book store in Toronto

Mabel's Fables book store in Toronto

Tales on Moon Lane's doughnut-y bookshop window in London.

Tales on Moon Lane's doughnut-y bookshop window in London.

Peters Booksellers in Birmingham, UK. Amazing!

Peters Booksellers in Birmingham, UK. Amazing!

At Barnes & Noble in New York. An unforgettable experience.

At Barnes & Noble in New York. An unforgettable experience.