Telegraph Children's Books - The Christmas Choice
as selected and reviewed by Dinah Hall
November 2011 Archives
Scholastic Targets Younger Audience
from a piece by Caroline Horn in The Bookseller:
Scholastic UK is building its younger fiction in order to replicate its strength in the Young Adult market. Publishing and commercial director Lisa Edwards said: "We have a big footprint in the teen market with series like The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) and authors such as Maggie Stiefvater. Now we want to do the same for younger readers. We have been acquiring younger fiction books all summer to underpin this part of our list," she added. The publisher is focusing on humour including titles such as Liz Pichon's Tom Gates, and series like Dave Pilkins' Captain Underpants and Terry Deary's Horrible Histories. It has acquired Ghost Buddy, a new series by Henry Winkler ("Happy Days"' The Fonz), about a boy who has a ghost as a friend. The series will launch in June 2012. The first new Captain Underpants book for four years will also be published next summer. Scholastic plans to build on the current zeitgeist for illustrated fiction for readers aged eight plus, said Edwards.
Hodder Children's Books has announced that Ellen Holgate (previously of Walker Books) has been appointed as Senior Editor Fiction. Reporting to Publishing Director, Anne McNeil, Ellen will work alongside the existing editorial team to develop the list, which already includes Cressida Cowell, Robert Muchamore, Hilary McKay and David Almond.
Hodder have signalled that Ellen will also be commissioning new authors to their well-established fiction list.
Excellent Scotsman interview with the creator of Katie Morag:
"In Croatia, they grow sunflowers commercially in great fields," she says to me, much later. "If one sunflower grows taller than the rest, it's cut down because it will take the light away from its neighbours. That's how it is in small communities. You've got to keep the same height as the rest of the sunflowers. I try to keep a low profile on the island."
Kenneth Stewart is the last of the old Lairds of Coll, one of the loveliest of all the Hebridean islands. In this book Mairi Hedderwick, one of the island's best known inhabitants who has also known the laird since her first visit to the island more than fifty years ago, explores the laird's lifelong connection with Coll. The love of both for the island and its people shine through in these entrancing recollections. They reveal both the beauty of the island as well as the harshness of island life and the incredible story of how the laird inherited an estate burdened with debt, spending his life trying to rebuild a livelihood from it.
Scottish Book Trust has announced that it will gift a free book to every P1 child in Scotland this November as part of its Bookbug book gifting programme, an early year's initiative that aims to give every child in Scotland a lifelong love of books. 60,000 copies of What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson, winner of the 2010 Scottish Children's Book Awards, have been distributed to classrooms around the country, ready to be gifted to children this week.
Julia Donaldson and Dillon Ryan (5) from Lochside primary School in Angus, celebrate the gifting of Julia's award-winning book, What the Ladybird Heard, to every P1 child in Scotland, through Scottish Book Trust's Bookbug programme. It was also announced at the event that Julia has agreed to become patron of the Bookbug book gifting programme.
Orchard Books has to announce the appointment of Rebecca Frazer to Editorial Director, Fiction. Reporting to Megan Larkin, Publishing Director, Rebecca will lead Orchard's fiction list, which encompasses the two big-selling series Rainbow Magic and Beast Quest, as well as older fiction such as the Gallagher Girls series, Holly Webb and R.J. Anderson. Rebecca was formerly head of Sourcebooks Jabberwocky in the US, and will be relocating to London in January 2012.
new York Times obit
Adapted by screenwriter John Logan (Scorsese's "The Aviator") from Brian Selznick's popular, richly illustrated children's book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," Scorsese's new movie is a Dickensian drama about a lonely boy's quest for happiness. The film also brings to life some of the Oscar-winning director's longtime obsessions: the history of cinema and film preservation. "Hugo" simultaneously stands on its own as a drama while also being a love letter to the creation of the medium.
| Rachna Gilmore ill,. Pulak Biswas |
| Tradewind |
| 9781896580579 |
| June 2011 |
| 32 pp |
| Whole book read |
| Read On? n/a |
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Movingly told, simply but effectively illustrated by one of India's best-known illustrators, this is a lovely short story by Governor General Award-winning author, Rachna Gilmore.
Set in a countryside prone to flooding, it tells the story of Chandra who is left an orphan after her parents are swept away by floodwater. All she has to remember them by is the wooden flute that her mother used to play so beautifully. Taken in by a cruel and merciless aunt and uncle, Chandra is treated as a slave. The flute is the only object of comforrt in her world. Even after she loses it (swept away by swollen river waters) the flute is able to perform its magic, filling her spirit with hope, and even feeding her body.
Finally, after another flood, Chandra is taken in by a kind couple, who treat her not as a slave but as their own daughter.
Pleasingly designed and printed, this is a picture book to keep in a home library for many a year.
Warmly recommended.
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Horrid Henry author turns to history...
The Sleeping Army by Francesca Simon, reviewed by Tony Bradman
in an age of young adult/crossover tomes the size of house bricks [it is good] to encounter a book of a reasonable length pitched at older junior children. It will be a reasonably challenging read for them, but it's a proper children's book and original to boot. TONY BRADMAN
national Book Awards [US] Winners
The winners were:
Young People's Literature: Thanhha Lai for "Inside Out and Back Again" (HarperCollins)
Poetry: Nikky Finney for "Head Off and Split" (Triquarterly)
Nonfiction: Stephen Greenblatt for "The Swerve: How the World Became Modern" (W.W. Norton & Co.)
Fiction: Jesmyn Ward for "Salvage the Bones" (Bloomsbury)
National Book Awards Teen Conference
At the annual National Book Awards Teen Press Conference (held Tuesday), middle and high school students in New York City played the role of reporters as they directed questions to the five Finalists for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature.
This year, for the first time ever, the Teen Press Conference, hosted by Scholastic Inc. and emceed by young adult author and Scholastic editor David Levithan, streamed live online.
Linked page includes video of the event (if you can get it to play, which I couldn't).
achukareviewed
| Emily Gravett |
| Macmillan |
| 9780230745360 |
| October 2011 |
| 24 pp |
| Whole book read |
| Read On? n/a |
| |
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Emily Gravett is already a two-times winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal. Her new picture book is another class act. The book-within-a-book tells the tale - in splendidly executed, easy to read aloud rhyme - of Cedric the Dragon, whose end of day refrain is "Tomorrow I'll do it all over again." The young dragon who is being read to by parent dragon also shouts "Again" on every alternate double spread. But in his case it is the storybook he wants to hear again.
In a clever twist at the end, dragon fire burns a big hole in the final page and right through the back cover of the book. The fly-leaf carries the message DO NOT BLOCK FIRE EXIT. I like the way the jacket designers have continued to play the game and aid suspension of disbelief by making this "fire exit" obscure a big chunk of the back page blurb. One thing is for sure, young children will want to share this book Again and Again even if it's just to poke their fingers through that hole.
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Brief summaries of the children's books shortlisted for the Costa, with picture of Small Change for Stuart author, Lissa Evans
GOVERNOR GENERAL AWARDS WINNERS
Children's Literature -- Text
Christopher Moore (Toronto) From Then to Now: A Short History of the World
(Tundra Books; distributed by Random House of Canada)
Martin Fournier (Québec) Les aventures de Radisson - 1. L'enfer ne brûle pas
(Les éditions du Septentrion; distributed by Diffusion Dimedia)
Children's Literature -- Illustration
Cybèle Young (Toronto) Ten Birds, text by Cybèle Young
(Kids Can Press; distributed by University of Toronto Press)
Caroline Merola (Montreal) Lili et les poilus, text by Caroline Merola
(Dominique et Compagnie, a division of Éditions Héritage; distributed by Messageries ADP, Groupe Sogides)
The children's books shortlist comprises
Martyn Bedford for Flip
Frank Cottrell Boyce for The Unforgotten Coat
Lissa Evans for Small Change for Stuart
Moira Young for Blood Red Road
Ezra Jack Keats at the Jewish Museum, New York
Ezra Jack Keats and 'The Snowy Day' are honored on book's 50th anniversary
Jewish Museum exhibit covers work of the children's author-illustrator - the exhibit (which opened in September) continues till January 29th - more information here:
http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/the-snowy-day-and-keats-exhibition
Terry Deary, featured by walesonline...
"Horrible Histories can carry on with other people adapting the brand. We've recently launched a Horrible Histories virtual world and there's so much more massive potential for exploiting Horrible Histories which doesn't need me any more, so I can do whatever I like, which is fiction."
The blog Do Authors Dream of Electric Books? (http://authorselectric.blogspot.com) brings together a variety of published UK-based authors of fiction and non-fiction for adults, teens and children. Many of these writers are now bringing back their much-missed out-of-print books as ebooks, with others publishing new titles at affordable prices.
Susan Price, whose Carnegie-winner The Ghost Drum is now out for Kindle, says: "The Kindle has set authors free to publish independently and sell in a world-wide market. We want our blog to become a site that people will bookmark, and where they can go to find quality writing at great prices."
Other authors for children and teenagers contributing to Authors Electric include Katherine Roberts, Pauline Fisk and Linda Newbery. Susan Price has won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.
Random House Children's Books have a series of classic children's titles republished in small retro styled hardbacks.
In 1942, BB won the Carnegie Medal for his children's book Little Grey Men, a wonderful tale about the last gnomes of England and their quest to find their lost brother, Cloudberry. BB always swore that he actually saw a gnome, as a child, near the family home in Lamport, Northamptonshire, and he never lost an almost childlike mysticism.
The last book written by BB has just been published in a limited edtion:
Confessions of a Coastal Gunner by BB is published in a limited edition of 475 copies in hardback by Roseworld Productions Ltd, 8 Park Road, Solihull, West Midlands B91 3SU at £30 each plus £5 p&p
Guardian piece by winner of this year's Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, announced last night...
The Guardian Children's Book Prize 2011 has been won by Andy Mulligan for Return to Ribblestrop
Andy Mulligan is also the author of Trash.
new display
Roald Dahl Funny Prize Winners
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon
Cats Ahoy by Peter Bently and Jim Field
from The Guardian's report:
For the first time this year, children were involved in the voting. Rosen describes it as "just like Strictly Come Dancing. Four judges sit with buns and coffee and choose the shortlist and grade them and put them in an order, with lots of shouting and ripping and stabbing and smashing cafetieres. Then the 400 children read the books on the shortlist and grade it and then the two league tables are amalgamated and the winner comes out of that amalgamation."He added that it was "wonderful to build in a children's viewpoint because you can hit a wall in the judging where too often you get into the 'would' bit - you start saying that children 'would' like it. Now we've built in children 'do' like it rather than children 'would'."
Christopher Paolini reads from Inheritance, the last book in his series about the adventures of Eragon
Small independent publishing company, Escargot, has published a memoir written by actor Terence Stamp, described as Reflections on Living, Breathing and Acting...
An audio extract:
featuring the work of 12 different illustrators [link takes you to a printable order form]
Available by post from
Carousel Calendar
PO BOx 4601
Redditch
B97 9NT
for £6.95 + £2.50 p&p
[the proceeds go to Kids with Arthritis]
calendar dimensions 250mm x 250mm
Issue #49 of the Carousel magazine has just been posted to subscribers and includes a Christmas 2011 supplement as well as all the usual reviews, plus a special feature on Fairy Tales, including a piece by Anthony Browne
from the Daily Express (no less):
Who would have thought a bear could be so credible and iconic, that some of the world's most coveted fashion designers have got aboard with BBC Children in Need to design a a unique Pudsey bear that is synonymous of their own collections. Fashion designers Erdem, Katie Hillier, Mulberry and Giles Deacon, are just a few who have submitted a creation to the collection which will be exhibited in Liberty from November 7 to 19 November 2011. The collection is being auctioned to raise money for BBC Children in Need.
The splendid David Maybury sees how many books he can review in 60 seconds!
Reviews!! from David Maybury on Vimeo.
a good read - would make excellent TV drama
Guardian Review
Naked by Kevin Brooks, reviewed by Anthony McGowan
The elephant trap of the dad at the disco is neatly sidestepped by Kevin Brooks in his latest novel, Naked, set in the torrid summer of 1976 when punk rock experienced its violent, dramatic and beautiful birth. It's a period - now strangely remote - that either through memory or research, Brooks has brought to urgent life. ANTHONY MCGOWAN
Here is the longlist of books nominated for the 2012 Carnegie Medal
Almond, David My Name is Mina
Publisher: Hodder ISBN: 9780340997253
Barraclough, Lindsey Long Lankin
Publisher: Bodley Head ISBN: 9780370331966
Bedford, Martin Flip
Publisher: Walker ISBN: 9781406329896
Blackman, Malorie Boys Don't Cry
Publisher: Doubleday ISBN: 9780385604796
Bowler, Tim Buried Thunder
Publisher: Oxford Children's Books ISBN: 9780192728388
Boyne, John Noah Barleywater Runs Away
Publisher:David Fickling ISBN:9780385618953
Brahmachari, Sita Artichoke Hearts
Publisher: Macmillan ISBN: 9780330517911
Bruton, Catherine We Can Be Heroes
Publisher: Egmont ISBN: 9781405256520
Collins, B.R Tyme's End
Publisher: Bloomsbury ISBN: 9781408806470
Condie, Ally Matched
Publisher: Puffin ISBN: 9780141333052
Crossley-Holland, Kevin Bracelet of Bones
Publisher: Quercus ISBN:9781847249395
David, Keren Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery
Publisher: Frances Lincoln ISBN: 9781847801913
Deary, Terry Put Out The Light
Publisher: A & C Black ISBN: 9781408130544
Diterlizzi, Tony The Search for Wondla
Publisher: Simon & Schuster ISBN: 9781847389664
Dogar, Sharon Annexed
Publisher: Andersen ISBN: 9781849392211
Doherty, Berlie Treason
Publisher: Andersen ISBN: 9781849391214
Donnelly, Jennifer Revolution
Publisher: Bloomsbury ISBN: 9781408801529
Downham, Jenny You Against Me
Publisher David Fickling ISBN: 9780385613507
Earle, Phil Being Billy
Publisher: Puffin ISBN: 9780141331355
Eastham, Ruth The Memory Cage
Publisher: Scholastic ISBN: 9781407120522
Evans, Lissa Small Change for Stuart
Publisher: Doubleday ISBN: 9780385618007
Fine, Anne The Devil Walks
Publisher: Doubleday ISBN: 9780857530646
Forward, Toby Dragonborn
Publisher: Walker ISBN: 9781406320435
Gibbons, Alan An Act of Love
Publisher: Orion ISBN: 9781842557822
Grant, Helen Wish Me Dead
Publisher: Puffin ISBN: 9780141337708
Halahmy, Miriam Hidden
Publisher: Meadowside ISBN:9781845395230
Hardinge, Frances Twilight Robbery
Publisher: Macmillan ISBN: 9781405055390
Hartnett, Sonia The Midnight Zoo
Publisher: Walker ISBN: 9781406331493
Ibbotson, Eva One Dog and His Boy
Publisher: Marion Lloyd Books ISBN: 9781407124230
Kennen, Ally Quarry
Publisher: Marion Lloyd Books ISBN:9781407111070
LaFleur, Suzanne Eight Keys
Publisher: Puffin ISBN: 9780141336060
Lewis, Ali Everybody Jam
Publisher: Andersen ISBN: 9781849392488
Lewis, Gill Sky Hawk
Publisher: Oxford Chldren's Books ISBN: 9780192756237
Mason, Simon Moon Pie
Publisher: David Fickling ISBN: 9780385618519
McCaughrean, Geraldine Pull out all the Stops
Publisher: Oxford Chldren's Books ISBN: 9780192789952
McKay, Hilary Caddy's World
Publisher: Hodder ISBN: 9781444900538
Mitchelhill, Barbara Run Rabbit Run
Publisher: Andersen ISBN: 9871849392495
Morpurgo, Michael Shadow
Publisher: HarperCollins ISBN: 9780007339594
Mulligan, Andy Trash
Publisher: David Fickling ISBN: 9780385619011
Ness, Patrick A Monster Calls
Publisher: Walker ISBN: 9781406311525
Peet, Mal Life : an Exploded Diagram
Publisher: Walker ISBN:9781844281008
Perera, Anna The Glass Collector
Publisher: Puffin ISBN: 9780141331157
Pitcher, Annabel My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece
Publisher: Orion ISBN: 9781444001839
Priestley, Chris The Dead of Winter
Publisher: Bloomsbury ISBN: 9781408800133
Rai, Bali Killing Honour
Publisher: Corgi Childrens ISBN: 9780552562119
Revis, Beth Across the Universe
Publisher: Puffin ISBN: 9780141333663
Rooney, Rachel The Language of Cat
Publisher: Frances Lincoln ISBN: 9781847801678
Rosoff, Meg There is no Dog
Publisher: Puffin ISBN: 9780141327167
Saunders, Kate Magicalamity
Publisher: Marion Lloyd Books ISBN:9781407108964
Sepetys, Ruta Between Shades of Gray
Publisher: Puffin ISBN: 9780141335889
Stephens, John The Emerald Atlas
Publisher: Doubleday ISBN: 9780857530189
Young, Moira Blood Red Road
Publisher: Marion Lloyd Books ISBN: 9781407124254
includes Meet The Author video interview...
Information Book Award Winners
winners of the first SLA Information Book Award...
Under 7s
The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith
7-12
Animals at the Edge by Jonathan and Marilyn Baillie
12-16 and OVERALL WINNER
How To Make A Universe With 92 Ingredients by Adrian Dingle
Nosy Crow Wins App of the Year Award
iLounge, the online magazine for mobile Apple devices, has declared Nosy Crow's Cinderella its iPad Kids App of the Year as part of its 2012 Buyers' Guide, beating off stiff competition from runners-up including Dano Pirate HD from Bambino Avenue and ABC Food from Peapod Labs.Jeremy Horwitz, iLounge's Editor-in-Chief, said that, "Of all the kids' applications we've tested over the past year for iPads, Nosy Crow's Cinderella was most certainly the best. The story dates back centuries, but Nosy Crow's version feels like something entirely new, bringing the classic characters to life inside funny, surprisingly interactive 3-D environments. The charming voice work alone is good enough to justify the purchase, and as you listen, you'll discover a dozen little details that all work together to make Cinderella memorably excellent."
Egmont have launched a Timmy Time App. Created in conjunction with Aardman Animations Ltd, creators of Wallace & Gromit, and Firsty Group, experts in book app development, the App features stories, colouring pages, a Timmy-style keyboard and even video clips from the TV show.
It's fully interactive and touch enabled, giving children the chance to bring the Timmy Time world to life and play alongside their friends Timmy, Paxton, Yabba, Otus, and Mittens.
Douglas Coupland On Children's Books
"I never read kids books, I hated them, I sort of thought they pandered to you,' Coupland said in an interview."Kids books in general, I think, treat kids like they're dumb.
"If I had found this book when I was a kid I would've been, 'Yes! This confirms everything I thought about adulthood!' And I would've been quite happy, I think."
[Coupland's new book, Highly Inapproriate Tales for Young People] is more likely to be stocked in bookstores alongside Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortes' "Go the (Bleep) to Sleep," than with Dr. Seuss, Robert Munsch or the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" titles.Coupland's seven short stories feature characters like Donald the Incredibly Hostile Juice Box, who is made up of a little fruit juice and sugar but mostly evil. He lives to torment other juice boxes by stabbing their foil straw holes and spilling out their insides.
Red House Children's Book Award Voting Page
Just a link to the voting page for the RHCBA (shortlist listed in a previous post)
Excellent piece by Anita Silvey analyising the current parlous state of picture book publishing,,,
If I could chart a course to rescue picture books, I'd suggest that we establish the writer again as half of the equation. We need real stories, and long stories, that can be read more than once. I, by the way, don't believe that critics change books. I believe geniuses--like Wanda Gag, Virginia Lee Burton, Robert McCloskey, Margaret Wise Brown, Maurice Sendak, Ruth Krauss, Chris Van Allsburg, and more recently Shaun Tan--reinvent the form. Someone who creates contemporary picture books is probably working right now on a title that'll revitalize our understanding of and ideas about picture books.
Recommended
Look out for this next Halloween:
In a deal brokered through LAIKA, who produced Academy Award-nominated animated feature Coraline, Hodder Children's Books have announced the acquisition of three PARANORMAN titles.
ParaNorman is a spooky adventure for children age 9+ -- soon to be a major motion picture!
In a quaint New England town with a history of witches and pilgrims, misunderstood eleven-year-old Norman Babcock can see and talk to ghosts. No one believes him, of course -- everyone just thinks he's weird (including his parents). But when a folktale of a witch who cursed her accusers turns out to be true, it's up to Norman to save the town from pilgrim zombies! In addition to the zombies, he takes on a very angry witch, an annoying side-kick, his boy-crazy teenage sister, and dozens of moronic grown-ups who get in his way. This young ghoul whisperer finds his paranormal talents pushed to their otherworldly limits! Featuring gorgeous black-and-white interior illustrations and a story beyond what you'll see in the film, this novel is sure to delight.
ParaNorman is an original screenplay from director Chris Butler novelised (with illustrations) by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, author of the popular Suddenly Supernatural series. Working closely with ParaNorman's writer/director Chris Butler, Kimmel provides an exciting expanded version of the film's story that is illustrated throughout with black-and-white illustrations. No stranger to writing about the paranormal world, Kimmel brings humour, heart, and supernatural charm to Norman's trials and tribulations that will have readers eagerly anticipating the chance to see the movie in 3D.
Elizabeth Cody Kimmel lives with her family in New York's Hudson Valley.
Anne McNeil Publishing Director Hodder Children's Books says:
'I was delighted to acquire the ParaNorman tie-in publishing rights. This is a project which shines with quality. The concept, storyline and art samples which I saw at Bologna 2010 were really the 'must have' of the bookfair. ParaNorman sits perfectly on the Hodder Children's list alongside titles like How to Train Your Dragon. We look forward very much to working with our sister company in the States to develop quality innovative book publishing.'
Currently in production, ParaNorman the film is being directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler
The voice cast includes Academy Award nominee Casey Affleck, Tempestt Bledsoe, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman and more!
The PARANORMAN books and movie are to be released in the Autumn of 2012
Hodder Children's Books have acquired English Language UK and Commonwealth Book Rights.
www.hodderchildrensbooks.co.uk
The Chronicles of Harris Burdick
"The Chronicles of Harris Burdick" features short stories based on 14 black and white illustrations originally published in "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick." In these stories, distinguished authors including Lowry, Stephen King, Louis Sachar, and Van Allsburg himself, revisit the old images and provide their own interpretations of the Burdick mystery.
One of the first people... contacted was Lowry, author of "The Giver" and "Number the Stars," who agreed to write the story for "The Seven Chairs.""I had always thought that particular picture was the most fascinating," Lowry said of the image, which depicts a nun sitting on a floating chair. "I began [to write] with an element of exhilaration," she said.
The process, however, came with some challenges. "I forgot about the caption," said Lowry, who was two-thirds into writing when she remembered that she needed to include the sentence "The fifth one ended up in France" somewhere in her story. "I had to figure out how to get a nun in Lowell, Massachusetts, to France very quickly."
A feature on Frank Cottrell Boyce, from the Irish Times
