Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/30/2005 | Mythical land comes alive, but with too much violence
In the end, the story is rousing, but not real. Though we must suspend our disbelief to step inside Birddom, once we're there, we need to believe in it emotionally, in its characters' hopes and fears. And that goes for readers of every age.
A review of One For Sorrow, Two For Joy by Clive Woodall [paperback due March 2005]
eBay.co.uk - crowswing, First Editions and Books Comics Magazines items at low prices
Bidding on the Crowswing Book Aid Tsunami Appeal is hotting up...
This picturebook was inspired by an article about a consignment of 29,000 rubber toys, including ducks, that fell overboard from a container ship in 1992. Some of the toys washed up in Alaska, others passed the icebergs of the Bering Strait to find their way into the Atlantic. Carle was moved to write about 10 rubber ducks, swept from a ship in a gale, that drift in all directions. NICOLETTE JONES
Amanda Craig admires the 'theological richness' of John Dickinson's new book The Widow and the King, sequel to The Cup of the World:
Dickinson?s fusion of Viking and Christian myth becomes particularly powerful when Ambrose and his raggedy band of knights cross into the spirit world in order to defeat Paigan, and the lessons he learns concerning power and responsibility are grimly adult ones. Teenagers should love it.
She also reviews The Witch Of Clatteringshaws by Joan Aiken
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Review: Candy by Kevin Brooks
Nicola Morgan agrees that Kevin Brooks' fourth novel, Candy - the current ACHUKA Choice - lives up to the expectations set up by his previous three books:
Joe does have a weakness - a habit of hyper-self-conscious dithering, very cleverly portrayed. He worries on the micro-level and lets the macro drive itself, knowing he can't control it. But those small things - boy, does he worry about them! Linking arms with Candy, what should he do with his other arm: "Should I stick my elbow out? Should I hold her arm? Should I put my hand in my pocket?" As a lesson in using small details to paint character, it's perfect.
Washington Jewish Week Online Edition
Matthue Roth's new book, Never Mind the Goldbergs, features Hava, a 17-year-old punk Orthodox girl from New York who gets asked to act on a sitcom, goes to Hollywood and encounters the outside world...
Read a report by Rachel Zuckerman from the Jewish Exponent on the launch event...
Visit the Matthue Roth website...
When children's author, Peter Murray, decided to buy himself a new car, he had it adorned in pr0motional graphics for his Mokee Jo books...
?I wanted to do something unusual to bring my characters to life so when I needed to upgrade my car, decorating the new one with Mokee Joe and the rest of the gang seemed like the logical solution!?
Yet another announcement about sold movie rights has been made today - this time by Orion, regarding Caroline Lawrence's 'Roman Mysteries' series:
Here is the Press Release:
Orion Children?s Books today announces that film and TV rights to Caroline Lawrence's globally popular children?s book series, THE ROMAN MYSTERIES, have been sold to Martyn Auty and Ian Gordon of Suitable Viewing Ltd (in association with Dashiell Productions) for a good five figure sum.Set in first century Rome, this debut series tell the thrilling adventures of feisty heroine Flavia and her crime-fighting friends; Jonathan, Nubia and Lupus. Their first mystery, The Thieves Of Ostia, takes place in the port of Ancient Rome ? and the tombs of the dead. It is a fast moving, exciting whodunit which is full of twists and turns. There are another 8 books in the series (with 9 more to follow) which combine to paint a vivid picture of the Ancient Roman world. They have already built up a large and loyal following with translation rights sold in 14 countries, from Italy to Thailand to USA, with nearly 400,000 copies sold in the UK alone.
Caroline Lawrence says, ?'I'm thrilled to be working with such creative filmmakers who share my vision of depicting first century Rome in a completely new way, which we are confident will excite children of all ages about Ancient History.?
VAL RUTT, WHOSE debut novel Race for the Lost Keystone (Puffin) was published last year, has been appointed the first Writer in Residence at the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden...
The official website for the forthcoming Young Bond series of children's books has been launched...
A school meeting prevented me from attending last night's launch party for Steve Voake's debut novel The Dreamwalker's Child. It has been noted that the author is headteacher of a primary school and "in order to find the time to write the book, he used to get up at 3am".
Not that this is going to prevent Voake being asked the question, "How did you find the time?" Somehow it seems that those following occupations other than teaching - lawyers, doctors, MPs - are allowed to write books in their free time, but teachers, of course, are not supposed to have any free time, not if they're doing their job properly. I sometimes suspect some such angle of thought lies behind the selfsame question when it is addressed to me, apropos this website.
So I applaud Voake for demonstrating that a headteacher can have a creative life beyond the school gates. I would love to have met up with him last night and hope that he's busy with another book.
The Dreamwalker's Child is a refreshingly 'young' fantasy in which characters climb into the heads of insects and fly them as if they were fighter jets. There is a baddy out to destroy the human race. A young hero thrust into the role of saviour, and a feisty female accomplice. It's refreshingly straightforward; strongest in the action scenes; and weakest in some of the long conversations between Sam and Skipper that aim to give the book a patina of environmental concern.
Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | Common sense has much to learn from moonshine
Phlip Pullman on the teaching of grammar, from last Saturday's Guardian - quite how I failed to blog this at the time, I ... ...
Dutch children's book author and illustrator Max Velthuijs [last year's Hans Christian Andersen medal winner], whose books about Kikker (Frog) won him international acclaim, died on Tuesday aged 81, his family announced yesterday. Velthuijs, who initially worked in advertising, started writing children's books in 1962. In 1989 he broke through internationally with his book Frog in Love.
Andersen Press information page
Guardian Profile
Obituaries:
Los Angeles Times
The
Independent (by Nick Tucker)
New York Times
icWales - Stories of war suffering must be read to the children of today
TODAY, as we commemorate the Holocaust, the Children's Laureate underlines the need to read children stories - lest we forget.Last night Michael Morpurgo, acclaimed children's author, gave a talk at a Welsh school and told children, parents and teachers, why the legacy of war has dominated his writing... ...
Author Michael Morpurgo has landed the Salford Children's Book Award ?1000 prize for his novel Private Peaceful.
Eastbourne Today: News, Sport, Jobs, Property, Cars, Entertainments & More
A TEACHER and a school librarian have pioneered a Sussex-based children's book award where literature is assessed by young readers themselves, not a panel of adult judges.
The presentation took place about 10 days ago, but this is the first online mention I've come across.
Pen and paper - how to put your child on the write road
A bestselling children's author aims to foster the talent of the future THE FIRST NOVEL SET is the most elaborate item in a range of stationery endorsed by the novelist Jacqueline Wilson, who enjoys god-like status among the under-10s. Her following has been expanding quietly for years, culminating in her novel Best Friends, on which the range is based...
Indo-Asian News Service -> Britain-Cinema-Robin -> Robin Williams to play 'Krazees' dad
"Mrs Doubtfire" star Robin Williams will play a stressed-out shrink in a fantasy comedy based on author Sam Swope's popular children's book The Krazees.Williams will play a father who cannot cope with his daughter Iggie's puberty. He will also voice some of the computer-animated creatures...
Sean Wright - writer and illustrator
Sean Wright has announced the starting time for the Tsuname eBay Auction Appeal co-ordinated by Crowswing Books. The wblink takes you to a page which logs the development of the appeal from its launch on December 30th and lists donated copies.
The auctions will begin at 7PM Thursday 27th January on a 10 day listing, appearing every 15 minutes. So far we have six lots of up to 9 books per lot. But more books are coming in daily, so more lots will appear. Look out for Crowswing Book Aid Tsunami Appeal when searching for lots.
Why Johnny Won't Read (washingtonpost.com)
Contentious article about a slide (both in quantity and quality) in reading amongst Young Adults during the past decade:
When the National Endowment for the Arts last summer released "Reading at Risk: a Survey of Literary Reading in America," journalists and commentators were quick to seize on the findings as a troubling index of the state of literary culture. The survey showed a serious decline in both literary reading and book reading in general by adults of all ages, races, incomes, education levels and regions. But in all the discussion, one of the more worrisome trends went largely unnoticed. From 1992 to 2002, the gender gap in reading by young adults widened considerably. In overall book reading, young women slipped from 63 percent to 59 percent, while young men plummeted from 55 percent to 43 percent.
Recommended, but be prepared to bristle
Update on Beatrix Potter Movie
The Monsters&Critics website has backtracked on its earlier report that Cate Blanchett was lined up for the proposed movie about Beatrix Potter:
With regards to casting we had reported Cate Blanchett had been cast but Phoenix told M&C today they could "neither confirm or deny" this.David Kirschner, Mike Medavoy and Corey Sienega are producing with Bruce Beresford set to direct via David Kirschner Productions.
With regards to casting we had reported Cate Blanchett had been cast but Phoenix told M&C today they could "neither confirm or deny" this.
David Kirschner, Mike Medavoy and Corey Sienega are producing with Bruce Beresford set to direct via David Kirschner Productions.
SDSUniverse | Peter Neumeyer Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
Donald Has a Difficulty - one of several 'Donald' book written in collaboration with the illustrator Edward Gorey.
Edinburgh Evening News - Education - JK Rowling in ?20,000 donation to book centre
MILLIONAIRE author JK Rowling has donated ?20,000 to help create a centre in Edinburgh which will promote children?s literature.The writer, who is said to be passionate about encouraging youngsters to read, has given the cash to help get the Scottish Centre for the Children?s Book off the ground...
Forget the cheesemakers, blessed are translators - The Herald
More coverage of the Marsh Award, from Scotland's HERALD, in a piece by Rosemary Goring:
Last week it was announced that Anna Paterson, a Swedish medic turned translator who has lived in Scotland for many years, had been shortlisted for a prestigious prize: the Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation. This column went to press before the winner was announced, but perhaps more important than whether or not Paterson carried off the prize is the fact that translation of children's books is being recognised as a serious literary realm...
Golem by Elvire Murail, Lorris Murail, Marie-Aude Murail
Alteration to Mail List message
I should amend the following:
PROMOTION OF THE WEEK goes to i) Walker Books for commissioning this cinema-style Flash-promotion for the GOLEM series (see Sarah Adams above, in the Marsh Award entry) http://www.golem2005.co.uk/golem.htm
Closer inspection reveals that the Flash promotion was first filed last summer, as part of the dedicated GOLEM website, and is therefore probably quite independent of Walker Books.
Sarah Adams, winner of the Marsh Award, is also translator of the GOLEM series, and is the subject of a feature article in the current issue of the Times Educational Supplement (FRIDAY section p15), :
Movie deal news!!!!! - www.ezboard.com
Darren Shan has announced, on his Official Message Board, exciting news abour a Shan Saga movie deal:
I didn`t want to publish this until every last bit of the deal had been finalised, but news has leaked and spread like wildfire via the internet, so ... I can exclusively (well, not quite!) reveal that the movie rights to The Saga of Darren Shan have been bought by Universal!! They also have a top-notch production team attached (headed by Lauren Shuler Donner - responsible for the X-Men movies) and an Oscar-winning director (Brian Helgeland - the writer of L.A. Confidential and Mystic River)... ...
Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week
Perceptive about greed and jealousy in an environment where everyone has too little, Halam?s novel reminds us that hope and love survive, while the heroine?s tender relationship with creatures and her indomitable mother are the core of the adventure and give it its humanity and power. NICOLETTE JONES
The Independent Online Edition > Enjoyment
Charlie Sheppard, a commissioning editor for children's books at Random House, picks up the story. "I sat opposite [28-year-old Dean Carter] at the office Christmas party, and realised who he was," she says. "He's painfully shy and must just come alive when he writes. And that's what editors look for. I said, 'You must be a writer; you obviously feel the need to play with words,' and I asked him to write something for me."
The children's and YA winners in Australia's AUREALIS Awards are as follows:
YA novel: Scott Westerfeld, Midnighters (Harper Eos)
YA short: Margo Lanagan, Singing My Sister Down (Black Juice, Allen & Unwin)
Childrens long: Colin Thompson, How To Live Forever (Random)
Childrens short: Gary Crew & Stephen Woolman, Beneath the Surface (Hodder Headline)
Margo Lanagan is also a winner of the inaugural GOLDEN AUREALIS Award for short fiction, a 'best of the best award', taken from the winners of the five divisions within the Aurealis Awards for excellence in Australian science fiction.
Full details on the AUREALIS website...
FICTION FOR CHILDREN COMES OF AGE - a one-day conference at Homerton's Faculty of Education, Hills Road, Cambridge
09:00-17:30, Saturday 23rd April
Registration fee: ?75* (student concessions ?35)
Speakers:
Julia Eccleshare
Geoff Fox
Nikki Gamble
Peter Hunt
Jan Mark
Philippa Pearce
Kim Reynolds
Margaret Meek Spencer
Nicholas Tucker
Victor Watson
Tel 01223 767600 for application form
N.B. The full registration fee includes a signed paperback copy of The Coming of Age in Children's Literature by Margaret Meek and Victor Watson
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Highbury and Islington Express
MONKEY puzzles, hairy spiders and musical Gruffalos will all be on offer at four special singalongs at the Pleasance theatre this weekend.Children's author and songwriter Julia Donaldson is launching The Gruffalo Song and Other Songs CD and book with a show at the venue in Carpenter's Mews.
l Sing Along to the Gruffalo Song and Other Songs with Julia Donaldson is on at the Pleasance theatre, Carpenters Mews. North Road at 1.30 and 4pm today and Sunday. Tickets are ?7.50 or ?26 for a family of 4 - go to www.pleasancetheatre.co.uk, or call 020-7609 1800.
Guardian Unlimited Books | News | Booktrust expands 'Books for Babies'
Booktrust, the charity responsible for a raft of national reading programmes and literary prizes, including the National Children's Book Week, the Children's Laureate, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Nestle Smarties Book Prize, [yesterday] outlined its intention to expand its Bookstart 'Books for Babies' scheme over the coming year.
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Review: The Whispering Road by Livi Michael
Adele Geras, reviewing The Whispering Road by Livi Michael, especially appreciates the novel's description of Manchester in the 1830s:
Manchester nowadays looks and feels like a European city. I've lived there since 1967 and we have outdoor caf?s in the summer, Harvey Nicks and Selfridges, the Curry Mile, the best Chinese restaurants. One of the best things about Michael's novel is the picture she paints of Manchester in the 1830s: dirty, smoky, busy manufacturing for a world market while the poor lived crowded into filthy cellars. It's fascinating to register the differences. Deansgate, where it was not uncommon to find hundreds living in one building, is now home to Waterstone's and Daisy and Tom. The Portico, a library in the 1830s, is a library to this day.
PUFFIN PRESS RELEASE:
For the past two years Matthew Skelton has been living out of a suitcase in a borrowed room, surviving on ?12 a week whilst writing his debut novel, Endymion Spring. Just before Christmas 04 a furious bidding war began between five of the UK?s leading children?s publishers to acquire the rights to his debut novel which was plucked from the slush pile of an Oxford agent for its outstanding originality of style and content. Puffin?s Fiction Publisher, Rebecca McNally, finally clinched the deal, offering Matthew Skelton a life-changing six-figure advance and acquiring world English language rights from Catherine Clarke of Felicity Bryan... cont.
The biannual Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation (administered by the National Centre for Research in Children's Literature at Roehampton, sponsored by the Marsh Christian Trust and subsidised by the Arts Council) was presented last night to Sarah Adams for her translation of Eye Of The Wolf by Daniel Pennac.
The award was presented by Aidan Chambers, who chose as his focus for his presentation speech the work of William Tyndale, translator of the Bible. Although the number of books submitted for the award is increasing every two years, Chambers argued the process of bringing interntational literature to young UK readers was too piecemeal, and he urged a major publisher to seize the initiative and publish a minimum of five books in translation per year, each produced in a distinctive and consisstent jacket design. Such a publishing programme would take five years to embed itself, he predicted.
Aidan Chambers, ACHUKA learnt last night, has recently delivered his first novel in five years to Random House.
RIDLEY SCOTT TO PRODUCE MICHELLE PAVER?S SIX NOVEL SERIES
Chronicles of Ancient Darkness
LONDON: In one of the largest book-to-film deals in Hollywood during the past six months, Orion Children?s Books today announces that film rights to the best-selling Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series by Michelle Paver have been sold to renowned film director and producer Ridley Scott.
Set 6000 years ago, in a world of dark enchantment, menace and superstition, these are stories of 12-year old Torak and his wolf companion as they battle great evil to save their world. WOLF BROTHER, the first book in the series, sold over 100,000 copies in hardback in the UK within weeks of its launch in September 2004. The paperback will be published by Orion Children?s Books in June 2005, and book two, SPIRIT WALKER, will be published in September 2005. Rights have been sold to more than 30 territories around the world.
Ridley Scott said, "Wolf Brother is an enchanting book. Michelle has created a world that we have not seen before in any previous film. We are thrilled to be working with Michelle on this project.?
CHRONICLES OF ANCIENT DARKNESS will be produced by Ridley Scott and Erin Upson for Scott Free, whose most recent critically acclaimed production is MAN ON FIRE directed by Tony Scott, starring Denzel Washington. Scott Free currently has four films in post production; KINGDOM OF HEAVEN directed by Ridley Scott, starring Orlando Bloom, IN HER SHOES directed by Curtis Hanson, starring Cameron Diaz, TRISTAN AND ISOLDE directed by Kevin Reynolds, starring James Franco, and DOMINO directed by Tony Scott, starring Keira Knightley.
Ridley Scott adds his voice to a growing number of A-list celebrities who have been spellbound by WOLF BROTHER?s magic. Sir Ian McKellen, known to millions as Gandalf in ?Lord of the Rings?, recently recorded the WOLF BROTHER audio book and said, ?Like other great children's books which also entrance adults, Wolf Brother conjures up an utterly believable, yet original world where the story grips you to the very last page.?
Michelle Paver is represented by Peter Cox?s newly-launched Redhammer agency. Film rights were acquired by Rodney Ferrell at Fox 2000 for Scott Free under their overall deal with the studio. Fox 2000 is a unit of Fox Filmed Entertainment, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group.
ALA | Margaret A. Edwards Award
An author still under-appreciated in the UK was amongst those honoured alongside the Newbery and Caldecott medal winners:
Lanky Lizards! Francesca Lia Block is the slinkster-cool recipient of the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring her outstanding contributions to young adult readers. The award was announced Monday, January 17, during the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in Boston. The Edwards Award recognizes Block's ground-breaking Weetzie Bat books, which enable teens to understand the world in which they live and their relationships with others and society.
The New York Times > Books > Humphrey Carpenter, English Biographer, Dies at 58
Humphrey Carpenter - New York Times obit.
HarperCollinsChildren?s Books
acquire THE WALL AND THE WING
by Laura Ruby
Gillie Russell, publishing director at HarperCollins Children?s Books has acquired The Wall and the Wing, a wildly imaginative fantasy adventure about an orphan girl who can make herself invisible - all set in a bizarre, Dahl-esque Manhattan.
READ THE REST OF THE PRESS RELEASE >
Sara Paxton Joins 'Aquamarine' Cast
Sara Paxton [star of Darcy's Wild Life and Greetings From Tuxon] has signed on to star as the lead in 20th Century Fox's comedy Aquamarine, says the Hollywood Reporter.The project, helmed by Elizabeth Allen, is based on an Alice Hoffman children's book...
Roberts, Cleese and Winfrey Among Voice Cast for Charlotte's Web
Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey, John Cleese, Steve Buscemi, Cedric The Entertainer, Reba McEntire, Kathy Bates, Thomas Haden Church and Andre Benjamin have joined the voice cast in the upcoming live-action/photo real CG animated feature adaptation of E.B. White's Charlotte's Web for producer Jordan Kerner and his Kerner Entertainment Banner... ...
CBBC Newsround | Press Pack Reports | I'm the inspiration for a character in a book
Steve Voake's daughter talks about being the inspiration for one of the main characters in her father's first novel, The Dreamwalker's Child
Skipper is my favourite character and I was amazed when my Dad told me that I was the inspiration for her. I suppose she's a bit like me because we've both got blonde hair and blue eyes.I was also always doing handstands and cartwheels when I was younger, bouncing off trampolines and stuff - although I'm not as brave a
