April 2010 Archives

Shanville Monthly #118

in which Darren Shan announces a revamped website:

It's been almost ten years since I first lanuched my site. Back then I did it all myself, following the instructions from a "How To Create Your Own Web Site in 24 Hours" book!!! We've come a long way since then, though up until this latest overhaul we still used the basic site-building tools that I used in the beginning, since I was comfortable with that way of doing things and could exert more control over the site by sticking with what I knew. But the world and the web have moved on, and my designer convinced me that it was high-time we junked the old way of doing things and dragged the site kicking and screaming into the 21st century!!!

and posts a few early reviews of his first stand-alone novel The Thin Executioner

Teen Titles #47

Includes interview with Andy McNab, whose latest title, DropZone, is the first book for teenagers he has written unassisted.

Times Review

The Ogre of Oglefort by Eva Ibbotson, reviewed by Amanda Craig

"It may seem effortless, but this is the product of one of the most enchanting imaginations we have. Don't miss it. AMANDA CRAIG

Children's authors back SATs boycott

Parents And Their Children's Reading - Sensible Advice

Michael Norris, an American publishing expert, will release findings in the monthly Book Publishing Report next month which show that, despite the best intentions, it is well-meaning mothers and fathers who often stop their sons and daughters from picking up the reading habit.

"Parents have too much of a role in deciding which books their child is going to read," said Norris. "It is turning children off. They should let them choose."

Five tips for parents on how to make happy young readers.

■ Don't make reading a chore; it is not "good" behaviour.

■ Let your child choose their own reading from a handful of selected books.

■ Don't edit their choice by the age range on the back: see what they fancy.

■ Don't tell them what you enjoyed when you were their age.

■ Stand back and let your child talk directly to the librarian or bookseller.

Guardian Review

Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin reviewed by Linda Buckley-Archer

Breslin's suspenseful story held me in its grip to the extent that I was waving people away, eagerly turning the pages, until I got to the end. LINDA BUCKLEY-ARCHER

The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Shortlist 2010

BAKER-SMITH, GRAHAME (text by Angela McAllister) LEON AND THE PLACE BETWEEN
Templar

BLACKWOOD FREYA (text by Margaret Wild) HARRY & HOPPER
Scholastic

JEFFERS,OLIVER THE GREAT PAPER CAPER
HarperColllins

KITAMURA, SATOSHI MILLIE'S MARVELLOUS HAT
Andersen

MCKEAN, DAVE (text by Neil Gaiman) CRAZY HAIR
Bloomsbury (Age range: 6+)
ISBN: 9780747595267

RIDDELL, CHRIS (text by Neil Gaiman) THE GRAVEYARD BOOK
Bloomsbury

ROBERTS, DAVID (text by Paul Fleischman) THE DUNDERHEADS
Walker

SCHWARZ, VIVIANE THERE ARE CATS IN THIS BOOK
Walker

The CILIP Carnegie Medal Shortlist 2010

 ANDERSON, LAURIE HALSE CHAINS
Bloomsbury

GAIMAN, NEIL THE GRAVEYARD BOOK
Bloomsbury

GRANT, HELEN THE VANISHING OF KATHARINA LINDEN
Penguin

HEARN, JULIE ROWAN THE STRANGE
Oxford University Press

NESS, PATRICK THE ASK AND THE ANSWER
Walker

PRATCHETT, TERRY NATION
Doubleday (Age range 11+)
ISBN: 9780385613705

REEVE, PHILIP FEVER CRUMB
Scholastic

SEDGWICK, MARCUS REVOLVER
Orion

Patricia Wrightson

Times obituary of the Australian children's writer

William Mayne - Times Obituary

William Mayne obit.

C. J. Skuse interview...

on the Wondrous Reads blog....

ACHUKA's own review of this exciting debut:

The proof copy of this first novel carried a recommendation by Kevin Brooks, which was enough to push it ahead of other reads. Make no mistake, this is a fabulous debut and if I fail to give it five stars it is only because of a couple of caveats. Skuse, female, writes with a lot of balls. The two main characters, Paisley and Beau, are brother-and-sister twins. At the start of the novel Paisley is receiving counselling at the Immaculate Conception Academy for Girls. The book is narrated by each character in their own voice (alternating a chapter at a time), and it has to be said that Paisley's chapters are by far the strongest. Paisley is the life and soul of this novel. She has the drive, the imagination, the guts, the energy, and the mouth. My word, does she have a mouth. Skuse makes that mouth utter lines of colourful confrontational dialogue that are an absolute joy.
As a first novel Pretty Bad Things has no doubt received a good deal of editing. Like Lucy Christopher (another exciting debut author), Skuse is a graduate of Bath's creative writing MA, and the novel is the result of long gestation. The shame for me is that its narrative momentum dips slightly at that very crucial midway point in a novel. I would have to read it a second time to put my finger on precisely where the flagging occurs and where some ratcheting up or streamlining could have been beneficially applied. It's just a shame that after a scintillating opening, followed by a movie-worthy confrontation with a fortune-hungry grandmother, the pace starts to drift once brother and sister arrive in Las Vegas on their mission to be reunited with a father they haven't seen for more than a decade.
When at last they devise a plan to get themselves noticed by staging a series of mall robberies, the momentum, and more importantly the character chemistry are re-established. Paisley is re-energised and the contrast between her and the more nervous, cautious Beau is well-handled.
The novel's backstory (death of the mother when the children were three years old, father in prison etc.) is never wholly believable, but that does not materially matter.
What matters is that Skuse has arrived on the scene with a voice that I for one will be longing to hook up with again.