''Bookaboo'' is a

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

created and produced by Lucy Goodman of Happy Films and co-directed by

Ian Emes Ian Ronald Emes (born 17 August 1949) is a British artist and film director. He is known for using innovative and experimental film techniques, and for being Pink Floyd's original animator. Emes' animations have featured in major exhibitions, i ...

. The show features puppets, celebrities, picture books, songs and animation. The recurring protagonist is a world famous rock puppy who tours the world with his band. Lucy Goodman created the show after researching the current global decline in parental reading in the home. Bookaboo is created with the intent to inspire more children and grown ups to have fun sharing books together. ''Bookaboo'' is streamed on

Amazon Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pri ...

in the United Kingdom, and broadcast on

ABC2 ABC TV Plus (formerly ABC2 and ABC Comedy) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of general entertainment progra ...

in Australia,

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

in Canada and

in the United States.

Format

"A story a day or I just can't play!" says world-famous, drum-playing rock puppy, Bookaboo as he flounces off stage. The rest of the band (Growler on Bass Guitar, Paws on Keyboards) find Bookaboo on the Bookabus, ignoring all stage calls and engaged in the most extraordinary stage avoidance schemes (comedy sketches & songs). Despite their best efforts the band fail to persuade the rock pup back to the stadium. Luckily, a celebrity fan arrives with a picture book filled 'Bookabag' and settles down to share it. Bookaboo is mesmerised and enthralled by the story. It appears to cure his little 'problem'. As the book finishes, Bookaboo gets his rhythm (he calls it his 'Bojo') back. With the celebrity fan cheering him on from the wings, Bookaboo delights the crowds with a canine drum solo. As the episode draws to an end, an electrified stage sign behind Bookaboo lets the grown up audience know: "1000 books per episode are donated to children who need them most".

Featured Books

Books featured in the show are carefully selected from approximately 500 that are submitted each series by publishers across the UK. Selection criteria are simple – books must be truly enjoyable to share aloud for both children and adults.

Celebrities

A wide variety of celebrities are invited to take part in the show to encourage grown-ups from the broadest areas of society to share books with children. Celebrities have included pop stars (

Melanie C Melanie Jayne Chisholm (12 January 1974 - 25 December 2022), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer-songwriter and media personality. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was ni ...

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

Alesha Dixon Alesha Anjanette Dixon (born 7 October 1978) is an English singer, rapper, dancer, television personality, and author. She gained recognition in the early 2000s as a member of the R&B, garage and hip hop group Mis-Teeq. The group disbanded in ...

) and

Grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust * Grime (music genre), a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * ''Grime'' (video game), a 2021 Metroidvania video game * "Grime", a 2022 song by Dallas Wood ...

star

Lethal Bizzle Maxwell Owusu Ansah (born 14 September 1984), known by his stage name Lethal Bizzle, is a British rapper from Walthamstow, London, of Ghanaian origin. He emerged in 2002 as a grime MC as part of More Fire Crew, with their grime single "Oi!" ch ...

. Sportsmen and women have also supported Bookaboo's campaign to get more grown-ups sharing books, including a former goalkeeper for England (

David Seaman David Andrew Seaman (born 19 September 1963) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a career lasting from 1981 to 2004, he is best known for his time playing for Arsenal. He won 75 caps for England, and is the country's ...

), boxer

Ricky Hatton Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world championships at li ...

and wrestler (

Adam Copeland Adam Joseph Copeland (born October 30, 1973), is a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Edge. He is considered to be one of the greatest professional wr ...

). Actors and Actresses (

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage role ...

Emilia Fox Emilia Rose Elizabeth Fox (born 31 July 1974) is an English actress and presenter whose film debut was in Roman Polanski's film '' The Pianist''. Her other films include the Italian–French–British romance-drama film ''The Soul Keeper'' (20 ...

Stana Katic Stana Katic (; born ) is a Canadian-American actress and producer. She played Kate Beckett on the ABC television romantic crime series ''Castle'' (2009–2016) and Agent Emily Byrne in the thriller series '' Absentia'' (2017–2020). Early lif ...

), Presenters (

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...

Amanda Holden Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English actress, media personality, and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent show competition ''Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the ''Heart Brea ...

Lorraine Kelly Lorraine Kelly, (born 30 November 1959) is a Scottish journalist and television presenter. She has presented various television shows for ITV, including '' Good Morning Britain'' (1988–1992), ''GMTV'' (1993–2010), ''This Morning'' (2003� ...

) and comedians (

Johnny Vegas Michael Joseph Pennington (born 5 September 1970), better known as Johnny Vegas, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He is known for his thick Lancashire accent, husky voice, overweight appearance, angry comedic rants, and us ...

Al Murray Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968) is an English comedian, actor, musician and writer from Hammersmith. In 2003, he was listed in ''The Observer'' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in 2007 he was voted the 16th gr ...

) have all shared a book with Bookaboo. Celebrities are both young and old, such as ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' young star

Maisie Smith Maisie Louise Collender Smith (born 9 July 2001) is an English actress and singer. She appeared in the feature film ''The Other Boleyn Girl'' (2008) and played the regular role of Tiffany Butcher in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' from 2008 ...

(eight years old), and ''

Bernard Cribbins Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over seven decades. During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Groun ...

'' (eighty-one years). All celebrities become in effect, Storytime Ambassadors for Bookaboo's "Share A Book Today" campaign and have taken part as a result of their desire to help more children and grown-ups share books together.

Bookaboo Share A Book Today Campaign

By 2011, 26,000 books had been donated to disadvantaged children across the United Kingdom, on behalf of ''Bookaboo'' and the publishers and celebrities taking part. In 2009, Bookaboo partnered with Booktrust and

The Book People The Book People Ltd was a UK online bookseller founded in 1988. It went into administration in 2019 and was formally dissolved in 2022. History The Book People started business in 1988, initially in the Guildford, Surrey area. It expanded rap ...

, to enable 13,000 books to be distributed to under six-year-old children in

care Care may refer to: Organizations and projects * CARE (New Zealand), Citizens Association for Racial Equality, a former New Zealand organisation * CARE (relief agency), "Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere", an international aid and ...

. In 2011, Bookaboo partnered with The Pre School Learning Alliance and a further 13,000 books are being distributed to nurseries in areas of disadvantage in the UK. In 2013, Bookaboo partnered with First Book Canada when Season became a UK/Canadian co-production and in 2016 when the show premiered as an Amazon Original in the US, First Book US became the charity partner.

Characters

The Story behind the band

All current members of Bookaboo's band met in the dog rescue centre as orphaned puppies. Their talent for music was uncovered by the centre owner and as a result they entered and won canine talent contest 'Pup Idol'. The puppy band set out to tour the globe on their tour bus, a converted library truck called the Bookabus and play to packed out stadiums around the world.

Bookaboo

Bookaboo is a world-famous rock dog and legendary canine drummer. But Bookaboo has a little problem. Bookaboo loses his 'bojo' (his rhythm) and cannot play unless he has been able to share a book with someone, hence his famous line "A story a day or I just can't play".

Marcus Clarke Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke (24 April 1846 – 2 August 1881) was an English-born Australian novelist, journalist, poet, editor, librarian, and playwright. He is best known for his 1874 novel ''For the Term of His Natural Life'', about the co ...

is the puppeteer. The Bookaboo puppet was designed by Paul Andrejco and was built by

Puppet Heap Puppet Heap, LLC is a puppet design, fabrication and production company based in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company was founded by artist and designer Paul Andrejco, who previously worked for The Jim Henson Company from 1992 to 2001 and designed th ...

Hoboken, NJ Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 ...

Growler

Growler is an American hound and talented bass guitarist. Growler has a particularly low voice and oddly pitched howl and growl. A backstory to be released reveals why he got called Growler. Growler was introduced in Series 2 ''United Kingdom''. He was designed and built by

and is puppeteered by Paul Andrecjo.

Paws

Paws is a talented and extremely dexterous Dachshund keyboard player. To date, Paws has played keyboards and key-tar. Paws was designed and built by

, and is puppeteered in the United Kingdom by

Brian Herring BB-8 (or Beebee-Ate) is a droid character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He appeared in the three films of the sequel trilogy, '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (2015), '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi'' (2017), and '' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywa ...

Music

The titles music, all of the songs and the majority of the incidental music is written, composed and mostly played by Mark Dyson. Bookaboo's drum solo is performed by Alex Toff who also puppeteered Bookaboo's arms for his drum solo. Alex Toff whilst dressed up in a lycra chromakey green body fitting suit, described the job as 'the weirdest session he'd ever done'. Songs to date include: :* 'Bookaboo's Book Blues' – Bookaboo sings the Blues :* 'Sausages' – Growler rocks about his love of sausages :* 'Hey You Make Some Noise' – Anthem includes the line "if you rock with the pups then you're part of the band" :* 'Life on the Road'- ballad

Merchandising

A pop-up book complete with sound chip called 'Pup Idol' is published by

Walker Books Walker Books is a British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards, and Wendy Boase. In 1991, the success of Walker Books' ''Where's Wally?'' series enabled the company to expand into the American ma ...

in the United Kingdom and Australia. Two stories about their life on the road, "Puppies in the Pound" and "Dogs in Disguise" are published by

in the United Kingdom and Australia together with two activity books. DVD's of the show are available in the United Kingdom (Abbey Media) and Australia (Fremantle).

Background

In November 2008,

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

announced their commission of a part live action, and part animated series, to promote child and adult literacy in the United Kingdom, in support of the ''National Year of Reading 2008''. ''Bookaboo'' was commissioned by Emma Tennant, Controller of CITV and ITV3. The series, created and produced by Lucy Goodman will be directed by Lucy Goodman and

for Happy Films. Tennant also acts as the executive producer for ITV. The thirteen part

CITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

series launched on Monday 2 March 2009, on the CITV channel and originally aired three times a day, broadcast every weekday at 12:15, 15:20 and 17:45. In January 2009, ITV announced that alongside the series there will an online ''Bookaboo'' Book Club, live events and in store promotions. The show won the Preschool Live Action BAFTA, for the 2009 ''British Academy Children's Awards''. A second series began airing from 1 November 2010, airing on both the CITV digital channel and

. It also introduces Bookaboo's bandmates, Growler and Paws.

Awards and nominations

The first series won the Children's BAFTA Award for 'Best Pre-School Live Action' programme in 2009. The second series received the same award title in 2011. In 2009, Lucy Goodman and

received an RTS nomination. Bookaboo has since gone onto win the 2010 Broadcast Award for ''Best Children's Programme'', and the 2010 ''International Prix Jeunesse Award'', in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. In 2012, Bookaboo was awarded a ''British Animation Award'', in the mixed media category, and was finalist in Children's Choice category. In 2017, Bookaboo was nominated for 5 Daytime Emmy's and won the Parent's Choice Silver Honour Award.

References

External links

Happy Films Website

Canadian episodes
*{{IMDb title, id=1371652 ITV children's television shows CBC Television original programming 2009 British television series debuts 2000s British children's television series 2010 British television series endings 2010s British children's television series 2013 Canadian television series debuts 2013 Canadian television series endings 2010s Canadian children's television series British television series with live action and animation British television shows featuring puppetry Canadian television series with live action and animation Canadian television shows featuring puppetry Television series by Fremantle (company) Television shows about dogs