November 2003 Archives
The Alien Online - Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror News, Reviews, Articles and more...
Katherine Roberts drops The Alien Online an update on her current writing projects...
The Mausoleum Murder, the latest title in 'The Seven Fabulous Wonders' series, has just been published.
Jill Slotover reviews fiction
and selects her Top 12 of the Year
Lesley Agnew reviews book-and-toy sets etc.
"there are longueurs where the story seems more like a boardgame than an adventure..."
Amanda Craig has some reservations about Cornelia Funke's Inkheart
Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | Knight life
Kathryn Hughes reviews the last part of Kevin-Crossley Holland's Arthurian trilogy
Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | On message
Eleanor Updale reviews The Opposite of Chocolate by Julie Bertagna and gives it a battering...
Beware the reviewer who begins her review by telling us that her 14-year-old daughter didn't like the book. "She didn't get to the end. She was defeated by pretentious prose and a story that manages to be predictable and unbelievable at the same time." Who is reviewing the book? Mother or daughter? And since the events in the book only begin to stretch credulity as it reaches its dramatic denouement, if the daughter didn't finish it, what exactly did she find unbelievable? We're not told.
Nor are we given any examples of "a wearingly self-conscious writing style". Updale says, "There are too many contorted metaphors, irritating repetitions and clich?s, and time and again the narrative flow is arrested by paragraphs pointing up the messages." Such criticism would carry more weight if it were accompanied by a sample of a contorted metaphor or irritating repetition.
It is quite clear from reading this review that Updale has read the book with a bee in her bonnet about 'issue-led' fiction ("grim, didactic psychobabble that has dominated teenage fiction for too long"), and as a result completely misread this particular novel, which is not in any way intended as a work of social documentary realism.
J K Rowling is to launch the 2004 World Book Day Online Festival with a Live Chat between 10:00 and 11:00 on Thursday March 4th.
Other children's authors and illustrators with slots in the online schedule are
Kes Gray & Nick Sharratt
Debi Gliori
Jamila Gavin
Jacqueline Wilson
Benjamin Zephaniah
Jackie Kay
Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | 'Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought'
Benjamin Zephaniah, on his reasons for turning down an OBE. If you read nothing else today, read this. Have Your Say on ACHUKACHAT, in the 'React to news..." discussion.
"I woke up on the morning of November 13 wondering how the government could be overthrown and what could replace it, and then I noticed a letter from the prime minister's office. It said: "The prime minister has asked me to inform you, in strict confidence, that he has in mind, on the occasion of the forthcoming list of New Year's honours to submit your name to the Queen with a recommendation that Her Majesty may be graciously pleased to approve that you be appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire."
Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought... ..."
A Canadian take on the search for the next 'big thing' in children's books...
Zap2it.com MOVIES | MOVIE NEWS | STORY
Update re. remaking of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory movie, with quotes from director Tim Burton, including:
"I like children's books that have adults because, you know, children are like adults. I think adults forget that. There can be darkness and sort of foreboding and sinister things that are very much a part of childhood," he says. "I just like Roald Dahl's humor and emotion -- put together."
Longish feature about P B (Philip Kerr) and his enormous children's book deal:
'Richard Scrivener, publisher of Scholastic UK, said: "PB Kerr is tremendously talented. We believe he has created an exceptional series, which will have a compelling attraction for millions of children."...'
Something about Jamila Gavin's The Blood Stone (ST Children's Book of the Week - see below) fills me with dread. I have enjoyed most of what Gavin has published so far, particularly 'The Surya Trilogy' (so, yes, I can find room for trilogies when there's a point to them - where, by the way, are the trilogies in adult fiction?), and I have not yet read The Blood Stone - indeed, with the various deadlines that I have to meet beforehand, it is unlikely that I shall have read the book by the time that the author is In Conversation with Nick Tucker at the Royal Overseas League, an event I was, until earlier this evening, looking forward to.
This sense of dread has a threefold manifestation.
Firstly, on reading the book's 1.5 page Acknowledgements I could not help asking myself, 'Who [WHO] is the audience being addressed here?' when Gavin says, amongst much else in similar vein, 'I must thank Dilawar Chetsingh in Delhi, whose many comments and suggestions have undoubtedly enhanced this book... ..."? Certainly not any child, or even young adult.
Secondly, the same page-and-a-half of Acknowledgements gives thanks to "my nephew, Justin Neville-Kaushall, for his wonderful poem which concludes the book." I suppose I shouldn't have submitted to the obvious temptation - read this nephew's poem, without reading the whole of the novel first. But I did. I have. The midpoint of the poem, I'm afraid, says it all: 'Too many words without music destroys/Sings Orpheus'
And the third cause of dread? After reading the poem, the book fell open at a random page towards the end of the novel (p392). I read the sentence "They swallowed her up as briefly as the blink of an eye, until the brilliant sunshine exposed her just as briefly in the gaps in between." I reread the opening half of that sentence. 'As briefly as the blink of an eye...' has an awkwardness about it which I cannot remember experiencing before in Gavin's writing.
These may in the end be three small things... Three small things to weigh against the impact of a powerfully told story. I will find out in due course.
The Observer | Review | A hit from a myth
David Almond feature:
David Almond:
'Everybody's searching for the big crossover book at the moment [from children's writing to adult fiction] but I feel that you can actually go further by moving the other way. I know I'm writing better now than I ever did for adults because I'm writing for an audience who know that they don't know everything.'
Montreal Gazette - Story - canada.com network
"Patsy Aldana, publisher of Groundwood Books, the Toronto children's publishing company behind the last two Governor General's prize-winning YA novels, is tired of having to defend the genre. "TV shows like Friends, and a movie like Love Actually are very explicit about sex. Kids as young as 8, 9 and 10 are watching these kinds of shows and movies," she said. ..."
This highly recommended website: lets you search paintings and buildings by keywords.
Have a quick look then arrange to go back when you have at least a full hour to spare.
Crazy about critters - short Jan Brett feature & interview
"Brett, 53, is one of the best-known author/illustrators of children's books today. She's written and illustrated a dozen books, and done the drawings for a dozen more. Several of her books have been on the New York Times best seller list... ..."
New CD release from British Museum National Sound Archive...
From the collection of the Sound Archive and new recordings made specially, this latest audio CD features ten favourite children's writers reading extracts from their own books. Spanning 25 years of the great tradition of children's writing in Britain, their work reflects changing fashions and themes and yet shares a common bond where the text comes alive on the page and stimulates the imagination of the reader. This CD gives an added dimension, as it features the actual voices of authors themselves and their interpretation of the written words. A booklet is included which explains the history and background to each extract.
The Spoken Word - Children's Writers ?9.95
Catalogue details
10 tracks, lasting 72 minutes
booklet giving full details of recordings
writers include A.A. Milne, J.R.R. Tolkien, Roald Dahl, Michael Bond, Penelope Lively, Raymond Briggs, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson, Philip Pullman and Anne Fine
Philip Pullman Profile - Sunday Times
You won't see this on the weblink, but in the print edition the accompanying cartoon makes Pullman look like the late Lord Longford.
[You need to scroll down the page for de Jong's death notice]
"Two of her children's books, The Level Land in 1943 and Return to the Level Land in 1947, concern a Dutch family caught up in the Nazi invasion of their country during the war and their postwar sheltering of a Jewish refugee. In reviewing The Level Land, the Christian Science Monitor called the book "the most convincing story of the war yet written for young people." ...
The Tree and the Vine
de Jong's 1951 adukt novel about a lesbian couple's survival during World War II:
Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week
The Blood Stone by Jamila Gavin
"compelling about trust, sacrifice, patience, property and self- knowledge... ..." NICOLETTE JONE
Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean in London
S Clayton Moore has filed a 3-page report on Gaiman & McKean's recent London events...
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Review: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Diana Wynne Jones reviews Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
"I don't think I've ever read anything that conveys so well the joys, terrors and pitfalls of reading.... ..."
Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | Nina's wars
Detailed, biographical feature
Highly recommended resource...
"That The Canning Season [see below], a young-adult novel about a city girl from Pensacola, Fla., who must spend a summer with her 91-year-old twin aunts in rural Maine, won the prize was particularly meaningful because of the initial doubts about how the book might be received, Horvath said.
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Author rejects prize from 'anti-migrant' newspaper
"Peter Wright, editor of the Mail on Sunday, agreed to give the cash to the campaign group, one of the Mail's least favourite charities. He hastily called Mail executives and the prize's judges into a cabal, and they agreed to award the prize again to another writer on the shortlist as soon as possible..."
Sonya Hartnett, shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys award, may still end up with the prize, after the judges' first choice, Hari Kunzru, refused to accept it because of the prize's sponsorship by the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
New children's picture books - www.smh.com.au
Australian picture book reviews in Sydney Morning Herald include this rave for The Cat Who Got Carried Away by Allan Ahlberg and Katherine McEwen
"Like Bob Graham, Ahlberg beautifully expresses the extraordinary in "normal" family life. Divided into bite-sized chapters and sprinkled with pictures as gaily as cake dotted with hundreds and thousands, kind yet sharp, clever yet lucid, charming yet never saccharine, this is about as perfect as a picture book gets."
John J. Miller on Dr. Seuss on National Review Online
"The Good Dr.
The liberal who wrote a great conservative book."
a political look at Dr Seuss
Ron Koertge / News - Norridge News
"I only do four things well," he acknowledged wryly. "I bet on the horses, swim at the Y, treat my wife nicely and write."
Feature about Ron Koertge, author of Stoner & Spaz
"Children's author Judy Blume, calling herself "65 going on 12," happily recalls being 10 years old and regularly bouncing a ball against a brick wall of her family's home... ..."
Playbill News: "Eloise at Christmastime" Features Andrews, Baranski, Monk and Creel Nov. 22
"Academy Award winner Julie Andrews reprises her role as the British Nanny in the ABC holiday film "Eloise at Christmastime" Nov. 22.... ..."
USATODAY.com - 'Eloise': Adorable at Christmastime
"Based on Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight's classic children's books, Eloise at Christmastime has all the earmarks of a Yuletide perennial... ..."
CBS News | Genie With An Attitude | November 21, 2003?02:02:31
"Jonathan Stroud stands before his young bookstore audience with colored markers and big pad of paper. He wants to know what they think a traditional magician looks like... ..."
Telegraph | Arts | Prize double will settle author's score with creditors
"J K Rowling's fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is an unexpected omission from the children's shortlist. Bloomsbury, her publishers, said yesterday that the all-conquering author had asked them not to enter the book and that she no longer wished to be considered for any prizes... ..."
"The children's author Philip Pullman couldn't resist a pop at The Lord of the Rings at the launch yesterday of the British Library's spoken-word CD of bedtime stories. Tolkien, he said, wrote "a good yarn, but that's it. It has nothing interesting to say about the human condition."
Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | Tales of the inspirational
Rachel Billington shares ideas on how to turn children on to great literature
A neglect you wouldn't read about - www.smh.com.au
Australian article about literacy includes this snippet from Paul Jennings:
The Reading Bug - And How You Can Help Your Child To Catch It by Paul Jennings pre-order (published UK Spring '04)
"Whole language also has influential boosters, including Paul Jennings, a former teacher and bestselling Australian children's author. In his new book, The Reading Bug, he tells parents phonics should be the "last strategy to be employed, not the first".
Instead of sounding out, Jennings writes that children should guess at words they can't read. In one chapter he says the child who reads the sentence, "I use soap to wash my face" as "I use soap to clean my face", is reading better than the child who reads, "I use soap to watch my face."
"It is unpleasant to be corrected," he says..."
The Sun Newspaper Online - UK's biggest selling newspaper
"Harry Potter?s creator has told of her magic moment appearing in The Simpsons... ..."
Guardian Unlimited Books | News | Bestsellers make impact on eclectic longlist
"The rising popularity of children's books with adult appeal can also be seen in the list. Sonya Hartnett, winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction prize for Thursday's Child, is nominated by three Australian libraries for her tender tale of childhood, Of A Boy. Isabel Allende, the magical realist Chilean author, is picked by a library in her native country for City of the Beasts, an adventure story set in the Amazon featuring two teenagers. Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord gets a German vote... ..."
"NEW YORK, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Scholastic US and Scholastic UK announced today that the company has acquired the worldwide English language publishing rights for the first three novels of P.B. Kerr's planned book series, Children of the Lamp, in a seven-figure deal... ..."
P. B. Kerr is Philip Kerr, author of adult thrillers and mysteries.
Contra Costa Times | 11/16/2003 | Adult readers flock to new crop of children's books
"a bumper crop of new books that appeal to both children and adults are shelved among the "Baby-Sitters Club" series and "The Cat in the Hat."... ..."
TheStar.com - Do you like my stamp? Dr. Seuss honoured by U.S. Postal Service
"The Theodor Seuss Geisel stamp will be issued March 2, 2004, in La Jolla, Calif., as part of the "Seussentennial: A Century of Imagination," a year-long celebration honouring his life and legacy. The release date would have been his 100th birthday... ..."
The Sunday Herald publishes an exclusive article
BY J K ROWLING
writing in her role as Patron of the MS Society Scotland. (Rowling's own mother died from the disease.)
"I cannot give [my mother] my time any more, but I see being patron of the MS Society as my continuing tribute to her, to all she did for me and my sister Di, and to how much we loved her. I know she would have cared deeply that nothing much has improved for people with MS in over a deca de. It now remains to be seen whether the people in Scotland with the power to change that situation care enough to make the difference."
New York Daily News - Entertainment - Is it Seuss yet?
Feature about the 82-minute Seuss movie starring Mike Myers as The Cat In The Hat, opening in US cinemas this Friday:
"Anita Silvey, author of "The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators," says, "Most lovers of a classic children's book prefer that any movie stay close to the author's intent. "For instance, the 'Harry Potter' movies and 'Holes' are so respectful of what the author set out to do. The first 'Babe' was nicely done, and it brought attention to a book that many people didn't know.
"But picture books give you so little to work with, so you have to invent things," she says... ...."
"Madonna's second book is more likeable than her first..." says NICOLETTE JONES, selecting it as her Sunday Times Book of the Week.
Telegraph | News | Giles Gordon, top literary agent, dies fortnight after fall
Giles Gordon, the noted Scottish literary agent, has died having never regained consciousness after falling on the stairs at his Edinburgh home on October 31st.
As far as ACHUKA is aware, Gordon, whose first wife (from whom he was divorced) happened to be a children's book illustrator, moved exclusively in the world of adult literature (although see extract below for J K Rowling connection). But we used to hear a good deal about him via the late Martin Seymour-Smith, one of Gordon's clients.
See also:
The Scotsman [News story]
The Scotsman - Feature
"On one occasion he wrote that JK Rowling shopped at the same delicatessen as he, only to be berated by the manager for chasing her away, a result he regarded as highly amusing. The phenomenon of JK Rowling grew under his nose but he insisted he was relieved she had never approached him in case he would have rejected her manuscript and regretted it ever after..."
Jasper Rees investigates the increasing appeal of children's books for an adult readership in a piece titled 'We're all reading children's books' in the Daily Telegraph. I haven't found an online link to this piece yet. If someone does before me, please post it as a Comment.
Although rather pedestrian in tone, this is one of the better, more balanced and common-sensical pieces on the subject. It includes soundbites from various authors (Almond, Burgess, Stroud, Haddon) and from Susan Jenvey, editorial director at Faber&Faber.
"Perhaps it all comes down," Rees concludes towards the end of his piece, "to the fact that, in a culture where everything is up for grabs, publishing is simply learning to live by the rules established by other media and other art forms. Just as in theatre and film adults will consume fare aimed at a younger audience, so publishing seems to be a lone voice in the wilderness trying to stop children growing up too quickly."
For the 'Just as... so...' construction in that last sentence, read 'Whereas...' for a better understanding of the point Rees is making.