READER GIVEAWAY: 'H is for Hummus, A Modern Parent's ABC', by Joel Rickett + Spencer Wilson

I am high-fiving myself about being able to write this post, because I know it’ll give you a laugh on this windy, autumnal Monday morning. And we always need those, don’t we?

I have been laughing at the memory of some of the pages of ‘H is for Hummus, A Modern Parent’s ABC‘, by Joel Rickett and Spencer Wilson, ever since I spotted the hardback version in Bags of Books about a year ago. I know you’ll love it and laugh at it too because you’ll all relate to it, the ‘modern’ parents that you are. And most especially because you are modern LEWES parents.

So a few weeks back I saw it in paperback, again in Bags of Books, and it prompted me to get in touch with its illustrator, Spencer, who is a friend of ours and one part of the very excellent London illustration collective Peepshow, to ask if I couldn’t feature it on Little Lewes and host a social media giveaway. He kindly agreed – but has gone one step further than sending the lucky winner a copy of the book. See the bottom of the post to find out why.

The book goes through the alphabet letter by letter, as one of our own dear offspring’s tomes might, with each page crisply and humorously drawn in pure, vibrant colour by Spencer’s fair hand. He and co-author Joel are mates from school who ironically started on the idea for the book while overseeing their daughters on a playdate (as in, ‘P is for’) and Joel wondered aloud what on earth anyone fed their children before the discovery of hummus.

Each word that each letter stands for humorously reflects the ‘challenges’ of today’s generation of middle class parents in the raising of their kids, – O being for ‘Ofsted’, I being for ‘iPaddy’ and N being for ‘Naughty Step’… You get the picture (ha). These are words that didn’t exist in our own parents’ lexicon – and as grandparents they must find them more than slightly hilarious (and excruciating).

Then there are the trappings of our lucky little ones’ lives: ‘S is for Scooter (micro)’, ‘D is for Doughballs’, and of course ‘H is for Hummus’.

But I think my favourite has to be ‘W is for Wine time’. This is a celebration of the moment when, as my husband always japes: “with bedtime done, all of England simultaneously comes alive and the air rings with the sound of corks being released from wine bottles.” I KNOW that same moment happened at 7pm back in the Seventies, too.

WHAT YOU COULD WIN:

Spencer and Joel have offered to send to the winner of this giveaway EITHER
* a paperback copy of their brilliant little book OR
* an unframed print of any of the pages (so that the walls of their house can mock you). The print can be either a spread or a single page, up to size A2 (see below for the dimensions available).

TO ENTER to win your choice of a book or a print:

• Share this post on Facebook (yes, you may do that despite how I feel about it! But if you do, please email me through the Contact page of the blog to tell me, so that I can register your entry). Please comment and make sure you mention ‘Modernabc’ to link to the guys’ Facebook page for the book (see link below). If you ‘Like’ their page, you will get extra credit *smiley face*
• Share the post on Twitter, following @LittleLewes if you aren’t already, tagging with #modernABC
• Share the post on Google+ (again, please email me to tell me, as I am not yet on Google+ – I am most certainly not a luddite, but could someone please explain it to me!)
• Comment on this post in the section below, making sure to put your email address in the indicated field so I can reach you. If you subscribe to receive Little Lewes post notifications, extra credit again… *smiley winky face*

CLOSING DATE

The competition/giveaway will run for one week, closing next Monday the 13th of October at midday. Get sharing!

MODERN ABC DETAILS

The book retails at £7.99 for hardback and the paperback for £6.99. Either can be ordered through Bags of Books if they don’t have it in stock (and if you do this, they can get it in sharpish). They make fantastic presents for new parents or for hardened warriors who could do with a laugh this Christmas (as they weather the ‘X for Xmas excess’ and ‘W for Wine time’ deservedly creeps forward to 11am). They’re also brilliant for eye-rolling grandparents.

Prints can be ordered direct at modernabc.bigcartel.com and start at £25 for 18 x 24cm, rising to £50 for 40 x 50cm (A2).

Joel and Spencer’s Facebook page for the book and prints is at facebook.com/Modernabc. Please go and ‘Like’ it!

Spencer can be found on Twitter at @spencerwilson8

Disclosure: No compensation, financial or otherwise, was offered or accepted for the writing of this post or the hosting of the giveaway. I took pictures a year ago with my phone, to do a post on Little Lewes, and then my husband pointed out that I should get in touch with Spenny about proper spreads of it. When I did that, he offered to giveaway a book or a print to a lucky Little Lewes reader. Good luck! 

CONGRATULATIONS to Naomi Fry, the winner of this giveaway! Hope you have fun laughing at yourself courtesy of ‘H is for Hummus’!

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