Children In Need is a massive, joyous, annual event in the UK, a telethon that raises huge sums for charities. Some years ago, someone had the so-obvious-why-has-no-one-thought-of-it-before idea of creating a tie-in event for the book world, called Children In Read. The basic premise is as simple as it gets -- lots of authors donate signed books, which are auctioned off to the highest bidder, with all monies raised going to Children In Need.

This year I've donated a signed and dated copy of the Cirque Du Freak MANGA OMNIBUS, Volume 1, which collects the first two manga-adapted books of the series. The winning bidder can also ask me to scribble in a dedication as well, if they wish -- and I'll be posting it directly to them, no matter where in the world they live. You have LOTS of time to bid -- the auction doesn't end for almost another two months -- but I want to post about it a few times in the run-up to the big day, to give it as much exposure as I can.

This is the link for the manga: https://www.jumblebee.co.uk/childreninread2021#buzz_expend_148804

And this is the link for the main Children In Read site, where you can find all the other books that are up for auction -- lots of cool stuff in there, some of it ALMOST as cool as MY offering... :-) https://www.jumblebee.co.uk/childreninread2021

Dig deep, people -- it's for a great cause! Oh, and something else to bear in mind -- since I haven't been touring in recent years, I've signed hardly any copies of the Cirque Du Freak manga omnibus, so the winner will be getting their hands on quite a rare signed Darren Shan item...