April 2012 Archives

2012 English 4-11 Awards for the Best Picture Books of 2011

2012 English 4-11 Awards for the Best Picture Books of 2011

And the winners are:

KEY STAGE 1 FICTION

I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen, Walker Books

KEY STAGE 1 NON-FICTION

Press Here, Hervé Tullet, Chronicle Books

KEY STAGE 2 FICTION

It's A Book, Lane Smith, Macmillan

KEY STAGE 2 NON-FICTION

Into the Unknown, Stewart Ross, illus. by Stephen Biesty, Walker Books


The Shortlist for the 2012 Awards was as follows

Feel the Force! Pop-Up Physics Fun, Tom Adams, illus. by Thomas Flintham, Templar

Picasso's Trousers, Nicholas Allan, Hutchinson

Let's Look at Dinosaurs, Frances Barry, Walker Books

The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man, Michael Chabon, illus. by Jake Parker, HarperCollins

Dolphin Baby, Nicola Davies, illus. by Brita Granström, Walker Books

My Henry, Judith Kerr, HarperCollins

I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen, Walker Books

Pop-Up London, Jennie Maizels, paper engineering by Richard Ferguson, Walker Books

Charles Dickens: Scenes from an Extraordinary Life, Mick Manning & Brita Granstrom, Frances Lincoln

No!, David McPhail, Frances Lincoln

Little Manfred, Michael Morpurgo, illus. by Michael Foreman, HarperCollins

Into the Unknown, Stewart Ross, illus. by Stephen Biesty, Walker Books

Wonderstruck, Brian Selznick, Scholastic

It's A Book, Lane Smith, Macmillan

Press Here, Hervé Tullet, Chronicle Books

The shortlist for the Branford Boase Award 2012 was announced today. The Branford Boase Award is given annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children. Uniquely, it also honours the editor of the winning title and highlights the importance of the editor in nurturing new talent.

In a year which has seen a record number of books submitted for the award there are seven books on the shortlist:

• Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough, edited by Annie Eaton (Bodley Head)
• Being Billy by Phil Earle, edited by Shannon Park (Puffin)
• Small Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans, edited by Annie Eaton and Ruth Knowles (Bodley Head)
• Everybody Jam by Ali Lewis, edited by Charlie Sheppard (Andersen Press)
• Sky Hawk by Gill Lewis, edited by Liz Cross (OUP)
• A Beautiful Lie by Irfan Master, edited by Emma Matthewson (Bloomsbury)
• My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher, edited by Fiona Kennedy (Orion)

This year's judges are independent bookseller Kate Agnew, of The Children's Bookshop Muswell Hill; Carol Webb, 2011 School Librarian of the Year; Fiona Lafferty, editorial director of the Good Book Guide and Jason Wallace, author of Out of Shadows, winner of last year's Branford Boase Award. The panel is chaired by Julia Eccleshare, children's books editor of The Guardian.

The winner of the Award will be announced on Thursday July 5th at a ceremony in London. The winning author receives a cheque for £1,000 and both author and editor receive a unique, hand-crafted silver-inlaid box.

I have temporarily disabled registration on the blog in response to a recent increase in spam comments.

I hope this will be a short-term measure. In the meantime, requests for registration should be made by email.

Guardian Review

The Things We Did for Love by Natasha Farrant, reviewed by Mal Peet

The Things We Did for Love is aimed pretty squarely at mid-teens and naturally, perhaps commercially, Farrant has to grapple with matters to do with explicitness. When writing for 15-year-old readers, one's on-board censor tends to start bleeping. Sometimes, I think, it should be ignored. The two crucial events in this novel are Ari's effortless seduction of Luc and the devastation of Samaroux. The first is represented in the text by three lines of white space, merely a suggestive lacuna. The second, while very nasty, is less horrifying than the factual matter on the Oradour.info website. ... Nevertheless, The Things We Did for Love is an impressive fable about the loss of innocence and the consequent descent into hell. Farrant's prose is lucid, and although it uncoils slowly her story has a savage bite. It is also a grim but fine memorial to the half-forgotten victims of a peculiarly savage atrocity. MAL PEET

Netfix For Children's Books?

Hmmm....

don't expect to see familiar franchises, such as Dr. Seuss or anything from Robert Munsch, for example; FarFaria says these books have been created specifically for the app by writers and illustrators from around the world.

G P Taylor Decides To Self-Publish

from MailOnline

He is a multimillionaire best-selling children's author whose books are being turned into Hollywood films to the tune of £50 million.

But GP Taylor is turning his back on traditional publishing after becoming frustrated by bureaucratic procedures and rigid and safe commissioning.

Blogging Is Dead?

Interesting blog post by Candy Gourlay...

Yesterday was the traditional celebration of Shakespeare's birth, and the launch day for the months-long World Shakespeare Festival, and we're excited to announce that the next ACHUKAbooks title will be My Brother Will by Sophie Masson.

Told in the voice of William Shakespeare's younger brother, the book charts a year in the life of the teenage brothers. Although Will(iam) barely speaks in the novel, we see him as a youth on the cusp of manhood and his life's great adventure. It's a superb and highly evocative piece of writing.

Sophie Masson's The Hunt for Ned Kelly won the Patricia Wrightson Prize for children's fiction in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards(2011), and was also shortlisted in the Book of the Year category in the same Awards, as well as being named as a Notable Book by the Children's Book Council of Australia(2011).

The Hand of Glory won the Young Adult category for the 2002 Aurealis Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Snow, Fire, Sword was shortlisted in three categories in the 2004 Aurealis Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy, including in the Fantasy section, where it was the only children's book to be listed.

In 2008, Thomas Trew and the Island of Ghosts was shortlisted in the children's section of the Aurealis Awards.

In 2010, Sophie was awarded a residency in Paris by the Literature Board of the Australia Council, for six months at the Keesing Studio, which took place from February-July 2010.

Great YA Books By Australian Authors

A few brief recommendations...

Children's Books - The Most Complained About

A survey of libraries has revealed how dozens of children's books have provoked complaints from angry parents - accusing them of, among other things, racism, blasphemy, glorifying violence and poking fun at fat people.
The offending books include works by celebrated children's authors, among them Roald Dahl, who is attacked for his use of coarse language in the books Revolting Rhymes and Even More Revolting Rhymes.
Even classics such as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and The Nutcracker are not immune from criticism, in their case for being too scary and sinister.

...

The children's author who has attracted most criticism is David McKee, the creator of characters including Mr Ben, Elmer the Patchwork Elephant and King Rollo.
Criticism centred on three books Tusk Tusk, about a dispute between black and grey elephants, which parents said was racist; Denver, which is accused of supporting wealth inequality, because the title character is far richer than the others; and Two Monsters, which features two bickering characters.
Readers objected to the aggressive language of their insults, which include "stupid peabrain", "twit", "dumbo" and "ignoramus".

Guardian Review

To Be A Catt by Matt Haig, reviewed by Philip Ardagh

This is a fun book, but certainly not silly, and things really do get a little hairy once in a while: there's a whiff of real danger. And when Barney does become a cat, something very unexpected happens and, no, I'm not going to tell you what. It transpires that there are three types of cat: the two-legs (who used to be human); the firesides (happy, domestic cats); and the swipers (tough street cats). They don't all see eye to eye, of course. Then there's the mysterious Terror cat to contend with. Ultimately, though, To Be a Cat is a book about being comfortable in your own skin rather than someone else's fur. PHILIP ARDAGH

Judy Blume Feature

Judy Blume, featured in LA Times:

When "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" first came out, publisher Dutton did not send Judy Blume around the country to talk about it. "There were no book tours!" she says. "I don't think they sent children's book writers on tour."

That was in the 1970s, when Blume had a string of hits for young readers, from small children to those grappling with adolescence. "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" (1970), "Then Again, Maybe I Won't" (1971), "Freckle Juice" (1971), "Deenie" (1973) and "Blubber" (1974) were go-to books for kids for their humor and real-life frankness. That's common now -- think Jeff Kinney's Wimpy Kid series -- but it was Blume who made it mainstream. Her books have embedded the phrases "I must -- I must -- I must increase my bust!" and "Eat it or wear it" deep in the minds of two generations of readers.

This week, a film made from one of Blume's books, "Tiger Eyes," debuted at the Palm Beach Film Festival in Florida. There have been television adaptations before, but nothing for the big screen. "I love movies, and I've never had a feature film based on one of my books, so it's very exciting," Blume says.

Highly Respected UK Children's Book Editor Announces Retirement

Marion Lloyd has been a hugely significant figure in children's books over the past several decades, as this Publishers Weekly piece makes clear. Do click the link and read the whole piece, especially if you are not aware of the full spread of Marion Lloyd's career.

Marion Lloyd has announced that she will be retiring from her job as editorial director of Marion Lloyd Books in November. Lloyd launched her eponymous list, an imprint of Scholastic, seven years ago and has built up a reputation for publishing outstanding new authors such as Ally Kennen and Moira Young, winner of the 2012 Costa Award, alongside new books by established authors including Philip Reeve.

Just because I think this animation deserves the widest possible audience... Very fine work:

New Philip Reeve Book To Be Animated

According to Hollywoood Reporter:

Laika, the Portland-based animation company behind 2009's Coraline, has optioned Goblins, an upcoming children's book by Philip Reeve, and has attached Mark Gustafson, the animation director of Fantastic Mr. Fox, to helm the adaptation.

Darren Shan Acknowledges His Indebtedness To Bram Soker

I'M THE BASTARD grandson of Bram Stoker, and proud of it. Of course, I don't mean that I'm genealogically related to the theatrical manager and sometime author - at least, not to the best of my knowledge. But as a writer who works predominantly in the horror field, and as one who has also worked to a large extent on vampires, I feel as close to Bram Stoker as anyone who is not a blood relative could possibly feel. After all, without his ground-breaking novel about a Transylvanian count, my field might very possibly not even exist. DARREN SHAN, Irish Times

Not All peace & Love

With a cover adorned by cute, friendly looking beasts of the jungle and forest, Vegan is Love simplifies a potentially dangerous subject for young kids, some say... according to this Daily Mail Report

Author's own booktrailer:

New "Young Person's" Writing Prize

from The Bookseller:

Hot Keys Books has partnered with the Guardian to launch a new young person's writing prize. The publisher says it is on the hunt for two "passionate young writers" between the ages of 18 and 25, providing the winners with the "chance to be published" and editorial support and advice. The entrants can either write for children aged nine-12 or for young adults aged 13 to 19.

Independent Foreign Fiction Award Shortlist

The six contenders shortlisted for the 2012 Prize are:

Alice by Judith Hermann, translated from the German by Margot Bettauer Dembo (The Clerkenwell Press)
Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld, translated from the Hebrew by Jeffrey M. Green (Alma Books)
Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke, translated from the Chinese by Cindy Carter (Corsair)
From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón, translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb (Telegram Books)
New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani, translated from the Italian by Judith Landry (Dedalus)
The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco, translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon (Harvill Secker)

Are Children's Books About The Holocaust Too Happy-Ending?

B. J. Epstein in The Huffington Post

many books about the Holocaust for children show the main characters escaping from the havoc and danger wreaked by the Nazis and sometimes even saving others from it too. A good example here is Morris Gleitzman's well-written and entertaining - if one can use that word about the Holocaust - trilogy Once, Then, Now. The main character makes so many bad decisions and yet manages to survive unbelievable situations.

So immediately, readers are getting a false idea about the war, because as much as we would like to believe that lots of children managed to wriggle out of the Nazis' grasp, this simply did not happen.

Furthermore, many - but definitely not all - children's books have happy, or at least resolved, endings. But the Holocaust didn't have a happy ending; it simply couldn't have, because of the sheer number of innocent people who were tortured, victimised, and/or murdered. And yet nearly all of the children's books about the Holocaust end with the protagonist surviving, frequently together with his/her friends and/or relatives.

Once again, then, children are not seeing the reality of the Holocaust. Child readers are being led to believe that many, perhaps even most, children survived the Holocaust. And, obviously, we know that this is not true.

A novel for children that does end unhappily is John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. But this book is so implausible that it really can't be recommended. Unfortunately, however, a number of teachers have told me that they use it in class because a) it features a male protagonist, so it "gets boys reading", and b) there is a companion film, which they can show in class. I wish those weren't teachers' main considerations.

I wish instead that teachers were concerned with plausibility and accuracy. Of course, one could argue that fiction doesn't have to portray reality. But if teachers are using fiction as teaching material, then it behoves them to make sure that the material they use is fairly realistic and historically accurate.

Has Kindle Killed The Book Cover

Longish piece in The Atlantic...

New Literary Prize Launched By Macmillan

The Bookseller reports:

Macmillan Children's Books is launching a £10,000 literary prize to be judged by independent booksellers and their customers. Write Now! is aimed at unpublished fiction authors, who can win the chance to be published by Macmillan Children's Books, as well as the cash prize. The competition opens on the 1st June and is open for un-agented UK-based authors aged 18 and over. The books should be aimed at children aged between nine and 16 years old.

David Walliams On Roald Dahl

A Daily Mirror feature ahead of the TV documentary:
David Walliams: The Genius of Dahl, ITV1, Sunday, 10.15pm.

Digital Talk

This Guardian summary of a panel discussion from the Digital Minds Conference makes very interesting reading...

Q&A with author Kate DiCamillo

An interview with Kate DiCamillo, from JSOnline...

Potter to join Curious Fox line-up

A new children's fiction imprint, Curious Fox, has announced the appointment of Catherine Potter as Key Account Manager.

Potter joins Curious Fox from Templar, where she was Sales Manager. Prior to her role at Templar, Potter worked for Random House and Kingfisher. She will be joining the new imprint on 16 April and will be jumping straight into meetings with trade buyers at the London Book Fair.

'We're delighted to have Catherine join us,' said Miles Stevens-Hoare, Managing Director. 'She has a wealth of experience in the children's publishing arena. She will play a crucial role in introducing the Curious Fox brand to the trade market.'

Curious Fox will launch in 2013 with a list of approximately 50 fiction titles, in both print and e-book format. Inspired by the curious nature of the fox, the new imprint is designed to spark the curiosity of young readers.

Visit www.curious-fox.com to find out more.

Nosy Crow - From The Slush Pile

The Slush Pile. Every publishing house has one (unless of course it has closed its doors to submissions). And every editor dreams of plucking the Next Big Thing from it. Which is exactly what happened seventeen months and two Nosy Crow offices ago to THE SECRET HEN HOUSE THEATRE by Helen Peters , published today!

Ereaders Boosting Reading

Washington Post reoporting results of a survey:

A fifth of American adults have read an electronic version of a book in the last year, a trend that is fueling a renewed love of reading, according to a new survey.

The portion of e-book readers among all American adults has increased to 21 percent from 17 percent between December and February, due in large part to a boom in tablet and e-reader sales this past holiday season.

All those devices are turning some consumers into super readers, according to a survey released Thursday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. E-book readers plowed through an average of 24 titles in the past year, compared with an average of 15 for readers of physical books.

"Those who have taken the plunge into reading e-books stand out in almost every way from other kinds of readers . . . They are avid readers of books in all formats," said Lee Rainie, director of research at Pew.

Curiously, e-reading somehow sparks a love of books in any format. Even as e-readers are downloading books on computers, tablets and smartphones, they are also checking out more books at libraries and buying more at bookstores and online. About nine in 10 e-book readers said they have also read printed books in the past year, Pew reported in its survey of about 3,000 people 16 and older.

2012 English 4-11 Awards for the Best Picture Books of 2011

The Shortlist for the 2012 Awards is as follows

Feel the Force! Pop-Up Physics Fun, Tom Adams, illus. by Thomas Flintham, Templar

Picasso's Trousers, Nicholas Allan, Hutchinson

Let's Look at Dinosaurs, Frances Barry, Walker Books

The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man, Michael Chabon, illus. by Jake Parker, HarperCollins

Dolphin Baby, Nicola Davies, illus. by Brita Granström, Walker Books

My Henry, Judith Kerr, HarperCollins

I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen, Walker Books

Pop-Up London, Jennie Maizels, paper engineering by Richard Ferguson, Walker Books

Charles Dickens: Scenes from an Extraordinary Life, Mick Manning & Brita Granstrom, Frances Lincoln

No!, David McPhail, Frances Lincoln

Little Manfred, Michael Morpurgo, illus. by Michael Foreman, HarperCollins

Into the Unknown, Stewart Ross, illus. by Stephen Biesty, Walker Books

Wonderstruck, Brian Selznick, Scholastic

It's A Book, Lane Smith, Macmillan

Press Here, Hervé Tullet, Chronicle Books

Saving Daisy - Telegraph Review

Second novels, like second albums, can be tricky because of high expectations but Earle has passed his test with flying colours.... says Martin Chilton of the Telegraph

How Moshi Monsters Ate The World

from The Independent

The popularity of Moshi Monsters is startling. The franchise was founded in east London in 2007 by Michael Acton Smith, chief executive of Mind Candy. Today, in 150 countries, more than 60 million children, mostly aged between seven and 12, log on to the Moshi Monsters website. They play games, chat with each other, solve puzzles and buy merchandise.

The new album was available to pre-order on Amazon from 5 March and has remained in its top five since, beating Madonna in pre-sales in its first week.

Children's Books for Easter

A Guardian gallery selected by Julia Eccleshare

Bram Stoker Awards

The 'Stokers' are an annual award given in honor of Bram Stoker by the Horror Writers Association. There were two joint winners in the Young Adult section.

The winners of the 2011 Bram Stoker Awards were:

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel:
Tie between The Screaming Season by Nancy Holder, and Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry

Superior Achievement in a Novel:
Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney

Superior Achievement in a First Novel:
Isis Unbound by Allyson Bird

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel:
Neonomicon by Alan Moore

Easter Roundup From The Independent On Sunday

This one slipped by all my tracking devices yesterday:

Susan Elkin's holiday roundup for IoS.

DRM - A Whip To beat Us With

Highly Recommended!

This is what DRM enables. Imagine Amazon and other platforms all reserving the right to lower your e-book prices to match a competitor's lowest advertised price. Imagine if Amazon decided to cut your $3.99 book to 99 cents for a promotion (while paying you royalties on $3.99 for the duration of the promotion). Its competitors would soon notice that Amazon is advertising your book at 99 cents and invoke their right to price match. The upshot: your book is never going back to $3.99, ever. Such baked-in price matching would have the effect of making all price drops permanent.

Stands 'Looted' At Bolgona

from The Independent:

British publishers have expressed outrage at what they describe as the widespread "looting" from their stands by people attending the world's leading children's book exhibition.

Michael O'Mara Books, an independent publisher, found nearly three-quarters of its titles had vanished.

Its staff took the titles to Italy for the Bologna Children's Book Fair to sell the rights to publishers worldwide - only to find themselves left without the tools of their trade.

Mauro Spagnol, senior foreign rights manager for the publisher, told The Independent that up to 70 of 100 titles were stolen from his stand, with neighbouring stands suffering similar thefts.

International Children's Book Day In Tehran

as reported by Tehran Times:

Members of the Iranian Children's Book Council plan to celebrate the International Children's Book Day (ICBD) during a ceremony in Tehran today.   Each year a national section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) has the opportunity to be the international sponsor of the ICBD.   The Mexican branch of the IBBY will sponsor this year's celebration, and Mexican artist and author Francisco Hinojosa has written a message for this occasion. The theme selected for this year's ICBD is "Once upon a time, there was a story that the whole world told".   The theme and a message sent by Hinojosa will be discussed at the ceremony, which will be held by the Iranian Children's Book Council.    The council also plans to review works of Iranian children's book illustrator Mohammad-Ali Bani-Asadi, who was nominated for the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Awards, which are presented by the IBBY. 

Lee & Low Expands

Low, 45, said his company published its first novels for teens last year because of the popularity of fantasy and science fiction, but also because of the lack of racial and ethnic fantasy characters.

"We noticed that those genres weren't diverse at all," said Low. "It seemed like a natural progression to extend the range of what we do to older kids."

Observer Review - Picture Books

reviewed by Lisa O'Kelly

Observer Review - Fiction for Older Children

Homecoming by Michael Morpurgo

A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton

Soonchild by Russell Hoban

The Donut Diaries: Revenge Is Sweet by Anthony,Milligan, Dermot McGowan

all reviewed by Kitty Empire

Observer Review - Teenage Fiction

After the Snow by SD Crockett

The Spider King's Daughter by Chibundu Onuzo

Secrets of the Henna Girl by Sufiya Ahmed

Socks Are Not Enough by Mark Lowery

all reviewed by Geraldine Brennan