Bookshow at Home with Alexis Deacon

Goodness! Unbelievably this is our tenth edition of Bookshow at Home, and we're spending some time with author and illustrator Alexis Deacon's lost alien, Beegu! Watch Alexis read the story and show you how to draw Beegu, and then get cracking with some creative activities. You can sign up to our newsletter here, or follow us on twitter @ChildrensBkShow. Our activities should appeal to all kinds of readers, writers and artists, so everyone can get involved.

Book of the Week: Beegu

Poor Beegu is lost, and she needs to find some friends! At first she has some trouble making herself understood, but eventually her journey leads her to the gates of a primary school... Beegu is an unforgettable character, curious and brave, with interesting insights about life on earth.

Author in focus

Alexis has always loved to draw and has been keeping sketchbooks since he was a small child, when he would often move from playing games with toys into drawing stories about them.

He especially loved comic books when he was growing up. Tintin, Asterix, The Beano… he would get totally lost in all of them.

Alexis's other books include Croc and Bird, A Place to Call Home and Slow Loris.

Watch Alexis read Beegu

After the story, Alexis will teach you how to draw Beegu and an alien friend, so have your pens and paper ready!

Alexis Activities!

Make a Phrase Book

When Beegu meets her small friends, she learns the word ‘Goodbye’. Make a phrase book to teach Beegu some useful words and phrases she could use if she ever returns to Earth to meet her friends. You will need to use pictures and translate the words into Beegu’s language so that she can understand.

Draw a Porthole Picture

As Beegu gazes out of the porthole at Earth, she must be feeling very excited and relieved to be going home. What are you most pleased to see when you return home after a trip? Perhaps it’s your bedroom, your garden or the view of your home as you turn into your street. Maybe it’s your best friend, your grandparents or a pet. Draw around a plate on a piece of white paper, then draw your favourite image of home inside the circle.

Make a Spaceship

Make a model of Beegu’s spaceship. You could use paper plates or bowls, bottle tops, foil or anything else you can find in your recycling box. You could even include a picture or a model of Beegu! This model has been made using two paper plates, foil-covered milk bottle tops, a plastic food tray and some Lego. Beegu has been made from White Tack, coloured yellow with a felt tip, but you could also use plasticine or playdough.

We'd love to see your space ships, portholes and phrase books! To send us your work to display in our gallery use the link below, or upload to twitter with the hashtag #BookshowAtHome.

Email us your work for our gallery