Iranian children's literature author and researcher Masoumeh Ansarian has translated Anne Fine's Bill's New Frock into Persian.
UK edition
January 2011 Archives
Philip Pullman In Defence Of Public Libraries
I still remember the first library ticket I ever had. My mother took me to the public library just off Battersea Park Road and enrolled me. I was thrilled. All those books, and I was allowed to borrow whichever I wanted! And I remember some of the first books I borrowed and fell in love with: the Moomin books by Tove Jansson; a French novel for children called A Hundred Million Francs; why did I like that? Why did I read it over and over again, and borrow it many times? I don't know. But what a gift to give a child, this chance to discover that you can love a book and the characters in it, and share their adventures in your own imagination.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/29/tymes-end-br-collins-review">Guardian Review
Tyme's End by BR Collins, reviewed by Linda Buckley-Archer
Collins does sexual tension and menace very well, and the scenes between Bibi and Oliver in the opening section are a great foil for the supernatural thrills of the middle act. And if the first two sections err on the leisurely side, the final section grips. Having primed the reader with all the necessary clues and cranked up the tension, Collins launches into a page-turning finale. From the moment we see Oliver's grandfather in thrall to Jack, watching as the older man pulls the legs and antennae from a beautiful green beetle and places it carefully back in the grass, it's impossible to put the book down. LINDA BUCKLEY-ARCHER
Kids book apps lack curating, according to Rick Richter, CEO of Rukus Media, in a panel at Digital Book World:
Richter said that there are about 30,000 kids apps in Apple's App Store and about 27,000 horrible kids apps. "There are a lot of kids books out there, but in the print world there are retailers and book clubs that curate the space," he said. "Without naming names, we do not have that curator in the app world. We need that curator that cares about apps for kids, that cares about quality for kids. That is our biggest challenge in the app space."
FL Cuts Picture Book Programme By Nearly A Half
The Bookseller reports:
Frances Lincoln Children's Books is refocusing its list away from picture books towards more commercial fiction under the direction of new editorial director Maurice Lyon. Fiction output will nearly double to 20 titles this year while its picture book programme will be cut from 45 to around 25 titles.
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel, reviewed by Patrick Ness
Always one of the more picky Guardian reviewers of children's ficition, Patrick Ness has one or two criticisms of Oppel's novel, one of them being that the narrative voice is rather flat:
I also wish Oppel had made Ben's voice a bit more distinctive. Like most teen novels, Half Brother is narrated by its hero, but his language is so purposely plain it's sometimes hard to get a handle on Ben as an individual. I think teens are sharper than this and would welcome a more idiosyncratic voice. Ben could be anyone, which occasionally is the same as saying he's not really anybody in particular.These caveats don't upend the impact of the novel, though. PATRICK NESS
The link takes you to the full shortlist.
The winner was Martin Cleaver for his translation of Letters to Anyone and Everyone by Toon Tellegen, published by Boxer Books
Letters to Anyone and Everyone by Toon Tellegen translated from Dutch by Martin Cleaver, illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg (Boxer Books Ltd, 2009)
A completely original epistolary novel composed of 23 letters from a range of creatures including a snail, an elephant, a bear and an ant - to each other and to the world around them - and all delivered by the wind. The voices are distinct and the dreams, musings and possibilities explored are delightfully surreal (can Elephant and Snail dance on Snail's house?), philosophical and gently humorous. Cleaver's translation captures Tellegren's richly imagined world and the distinctive characters and poetic voices in it.
Frank Cottrell Boyce writes NEW book for Liverpool charity
Frank Cottrell Boyce has written an exclusive new book especially for The Reader Organisation, a national charity based in Liverpool, to be used in their forthcoming reading campaign, Our Read. There will be 50,000 copies of the book, The Unforgotten Coat, to be given away when Our Read launches on 3rd March, World Book Day.Frank Cottrell Boyce said:
"The whole point of writing for me is to share the stories that are in my head and nothing makes me happier than hearing that a parent has shared one of my books with their children, or their friends or their work-mates. So the opportunity that The Reader Organisation has given me here to share an idea with my whole city - and my whole city with the whole world - is the biggest thrill ride I can possibly imagine."
More information here:
http://thereader.org.uk/everything-else/our-read/
Edgar Awards - Juvenile and YA Shortlists
For the full shortlists, follow the link...
The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at a Gala Banquet, April 28, 2011 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.
BEST JUVENILE
Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon (Candlewick Press)
The Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy by Dori Hillestad Butler (Albert Whitman & Co.)
The Haunting of Charles Dickens by Lewis Buzbee (Feiwel & Friends)
Griff Carver: Hallway Patrol by Jim Krieg (Penguin Young Readers Group - Razorbill)
The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman by Ben H. Winters (HarperCollins Children's Books)
BEST YOUNG ADULT
The River by Mary Jane Beaufrand (Little Brown Books for Young Readers)
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King (Random House Children's Books - Alfred A. Knopf)
7 Souls by Barnabas Miller and Jordan Orlando (Random House Children's Books - Delacorte Press)
The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price (Farrar, Straus, Giroux Books for Young Readers)
Dust City by Robert Paul Weston (Penguin Young Readers Group - Razorbill)
Smart-looking new blog about Teen Crime Writing aimed at teens, co-edited and contributed to by Ann Cassidy, Keren David, Gillian Philips & Linda Strachan...
from The Guardian
The Conan Doyle estate is set to adopt what has proved a successful formula in the recent Bond and Young Bond books, produced by Sebastian Faulks and Charlie Higson at the behest of the Ian Fleming Estate.reet.Anthony Horowitz, screenwriter and author of the hugely popular Alex Rider children's series, has been commissioned to produce a new novel for adult readers starring the famous inhabitant of 221b Baker St
New Children's Book from Margaret Atwood
The National Post reports:
Margaret Atwood will soon publish her seventh children's book Wandering Wenda and Widow Wallop's Wunderground Washery, it was announced on Friday.The book, which hits stores this summer, will be published by Toronto's McArthur & Company, who also plan on re-publishing two of Atwood's previous children's books -- Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes and Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda -- in paperback and enhanced e-book form in May.
Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace, reviewed by Patrick Ness
Out of Shadows isn't perfect - the plotting is often unsubtle and occasionally unconvincing, particularly a final swerve into thriller territory; adults are implausibly absent at almost all stages; and the full psychology of Robert's seduction into and journey out of Ivan's brand of hatred isn't as nuanced as it really needs to be - but there is terrible power here. Wallace has paid his readers the compliment of not looking away, of reporting what he sees as he sees it, which is what any artist does.Even for an age group that prizes bleakness, this is a harrowing read, with no punches pulled on excessive profanity or shocking violence. This is certainly not a book for younger readers, but even with its rough edges, it's a powerful, devastating read for older teens. PATRICK NESS
The judges of the Independent Foreign (Adult) Fiction Prize
The judges for this year's prize are:
- Harriett Gilbert, writer, academic and broadcaster
- Author, M J Hyland
- Catriona Kelly, writer and Professor of Russian at the University of Oxford
- Novelist and reviewer, Neel Mukherjee
- Boyd Tonkin, Literary Editor of the Independent
A longlist will be announced in March 2011, followed by the shortlist in April at London Book Fair. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Central London in May.
a substantial review of Trash by Andy Mulligan, from GMANEWS.TV:
With the slew of internationally-acclaimed films that depict the Philippines' gritty third world encounters, it's understandable that a plot like that of Trash can be met with a certain amount of wariness. After all, there's already plenty of poverty porn out there. The last thing we need is another story that romanticizes the plight of the poor, shocking or entertaining the audience but never really moving them.Fortunately, Trash has none of that rubbish. Despite the grim story, the tone is sincere, not sentimental. The twists and turns of this thriller are believable, and not completely predictable, even for readers older than children, who are the books primary target audience. The characters are allowed to speak for themselves, each writing particular chapters...
MICHAEL L. PRINTZ HONOR
PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ by A.S. King (Alfred A. Knopf HC: 978-0-375-86586-2 • GLB: 978-0-375-96586-9 • EL: 978-0-375-89617-0)
MILDRED L. BATCHELDER AWARD
A TIME OF MIRACLES by Anne-Laure Bondoux; Translated by Y. Maudet (Delacorte Press HC: 978-0-385-73922-1 • GLB: 978-0-385-90777-4 • EL: 978-0-375-89726-9)
STONEWALL CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE AWARD
ALMOST PERFECT by Brian Katcher (Delacorte Press PB: 978-0-385-73665-7 • GLB: 978-0-385-90620-3 • EL: 978-0-375-89379-7)
PURA BELPRÉ ILLUSTRATOR HONOR
FIESTA BABIES by Carmen Tafolla; Illustrated by Amy Cordova (Tricycle Press HC: 978-1-58246-319-3 • GLB: 978-1-58246-372-8)
A Sick Day for Amos McGee
illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Philip C. Stead, and is a Neal Porter Book, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing
2011 Honors
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet Slave
illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Laban Carrick Hill and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Interrupting Chicken
written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein, and published by Candlewick Press
Moon Over Manifest
by Clare Vanderpool, published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House Inc.
2011 Honor(s)
Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night
by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen and published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Heart of a Samurai
by Margi Preus, published by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS
One Crazy Summer
by Rita Williams-Garcia and published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
Turtle in Paradise
by Jennifer L. Holm, published by Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
Italian Crime Fiction Invasion
Italian authors are set set to conquer the crime fiction lists on the back of the Sunday night TV series based on Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen novels...
from the Daily Mail:
The designer of children's television favourite Bob the Builder has been nominated for a prestigious book award with his first novel.Warrington-based Curtis Jobling, who also worked as an animator on Wallace & Gromit's A Close Shave, is one of nine authors shortlisted for this year's Waterstone's Children's Book Prize.
His debut novel, Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf, is about a teenager struggling to deal with the knowledge that he is a werewolf...
The full list of nominees:
Artichoke Hearts by Sita Brahmachari
The Memory Cage by Ruth Eastham
Tall Story by Candy Gourlay
The Pain Merchants: The Healing Wars by Janice Hardy
Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf by Curtis Jobling
Fantastic Frankie and the Brain-Drain Machine by Anna Kemp
A Beautiful Lie by Irfan Master
Mortlock by Jon Mayhew
When you Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Richard and Judy Children's Book Club
Richard and Judy will launch a new children's book club with W H Smith on the 27th January.... Following on from the TV presenters' adult book club, the Children's Book Club will involve real families, with the books selected by a variety of children. ...
Jason Wallace, 41, a web designer, has won the Costa Children's Book Award for Out Of Shadows, set in newly-independent Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe.By winning the category, he receives a cheque for £5000, but also a chance to win the overall Costa Book of the Year prize, worth £30,000, which will be announced on January 25....
Disabilities Under-Represented?
Kids with disabilities remain woefully underrepresented in the most acclaimed children's literature, a new study finds. In an analysis of 131 winners of the Newbery Medal and Honor -- considered the top prizes for children's books -- researchers found that just 31 included a main or supporting character with a disability between 1975 and 2009...
Happy New Year everyone. Welcome to the new decade.
ACHUKA's eyes are once again peeled wide open following the Christmas break.
What did we miss while cracking nuts by the fire?
Two things principally.
1. The death of Wombles creator, Elizabeth Beresford, on Christmas Eve - so here are a few links to obituaries:
Guardian obit.
Telegraph obit.
2. The furore over threatened withdrawal of government funding for Bookstart.
The exact lie of the land with regard to this story is not crystal clear to me (or, I gather, to those involved in the scheme). As I understand it, the government had decided that they could save the £13 million currently used to fund the scheme. Philip Pullman and a number of other prominent people cried foul, Scrooge, and other things. Michael Gove back-pedalled and said that the scheme would continue to be funded but would be renegotiated when the current contract runs out (in the Spring I think).
A national scheme in which all children receive a free book (chosen for them) is surely never going to sit comfortably with a Tory or Liberal mindset, so it was no surprise to me that a coalition government hellbent on cutting costs should consider different uses for this pot of money. What is surprising, although welcome in this instance, is their lack of stomach for unpopularity.
I haven't (yet) been able to follow the correspondence in the press and online, but will look out for updates and clarification.
