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...
ACHUKA: January 2005 Archives
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!?
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...
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 ... ...
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...
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
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), :
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."
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.
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.
Continue reading Puffin Announcement.
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 >
Continue reading HarperCollins Acquisition.
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 as Skipper!
What I like best about Skipper is that she is just so optimistic and nothing ever seems to get her down.
...
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | Madonna awarded Blue Peter badge
Pop star Madonna has been given a coveted Blue Peter badge by the long running BBC children's TV show. Presenter Matt Barker interviewed the singer about her fourth children's book The Adventures of Adbi.The interview will be shown on digital channel CBBC on Tuesday and on BBC One on Wednesday... ...
And more Madonna news here:
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/050117h.php
Madonna has persuaded Britney Spears to appear in the animated film version of her children's book "The English Roses," voicing the story's heroine Binah says M&C Movies. She has also managed to secure the vocal skills of David Bowie and rapper Snoop Dogg for the big-budget movie, whilst she will voice the Fairy Godmother...
Helen Oyeyemi, one of the thirteen authors in John McLay's young adult story collection Thirteen, which was launched last Wednesday, has also had her first novel, The Icarus Girl, published on Bloomsbury's adult list. She was interviewed by Helen Brown in the Telegraph a week ago.
Jane Yolen, in her online journal entry for January 15th, reflects on changes to the children's books market:
As to OWL MOON, when I first sent it around, in 1984-5, five editors turned it down as being too quiet, too gentle. The sixth editor, Patricia Gauch, bought it as her first book at Philomel. She was old school, as am I. The rest is history. But could that book (or would that book) be bought today and published successfully? I doubt it. I have much bouncier books being turned back as too quiet. I think if I sent it around now, I would pile up even more rejections. And if I were lucky, maybe a small house might take it on. But the houses that originally turned it down--like Viking and Harcourt--would still turn it down today. As would their big sisters. In a heartbeat.
Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | Review: The Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill
Philip Ardagh finds Stuart Hill's The Cry Of The Icemark 'fantastic fun':
"I find it difficult to take much interest in a man whose father was a dragon," said Dante Gabriel Rossetti by way of an apology for not appreciating the epic poem Sigurd the Volsung... and I know how he felt. Much fantasy writing remains a closed book to me, so I picked up the near-500-page The Cry of the Icemark with some trepidation. I'm delighted to report, however, that it was well worth the muscle strain.
Amanda Craig liked it too. Read her Times review, which also praises The City Of Ember by Jeanne Du Prau:
a thrilling novel, funny, sympathetic and full of action, precisely the kind that pupils of 11+ would love to study. Written in clear, direct prose, it asks moral questions: what if the world as we know it came to an end, and only a few could survive? Who would be chosen? What kind of society would we create, and how?
Farmyard Favourites To Feature On New Stamp Collection (from Wandsworth Guardian)
A pair of working dray horses from Young's brewery took time off from their deliveries to help launch the Royal Mail's farm animal stamp collection. Created by award-winning children's author and illustrator Chris Wormell, the stamps feature bright and colourful designs of farmyard favourites, including horses, sheep, pigs and geese... ...
The set of 10 stamps was issued on January 11th.
left to right: Michelle Paver Fiona Martin, Wayne Winstone, Claudia Mody and Fiona Nobel
Earlier this week, Michelle Paver presented a plaque to Ottakar?s commemorating the fact that they had sold 10,000 copies of WOLF BROTHER by December 2004 (although by the time of the presentation this had risen by a further 2500 copies). The plaque was received by Wayne Winstone, Ottakar?s Head Office Manager, who said: ?One of the most satisfying things in this trade is to promote a book with great commercial potential that is also a very good read. It gives me great pleasure to say WOLF BROTHER was both those things?.
The author said: ?Ottakar?s got behind WOLF BROTHER right from the start, and have given it the most fantastic support ever since. It?s just really nice to be able to say thank you?.
Spirit Walker, the sequel to Wolf Brother, is published in September.
The launch party for Thirteen, a collection of short stories about being on the brink of young adulthood, edited by John McLay, was launched at Soho House last night.
The thirteen authors included in the collection are: Paul Bailey, Kevin Brooks, Eoin Colfer, Mary Hooper, Margaret Mahy, Karen McCombie, John McLay, Helen Oyeyemi, Bali Rai, Marcus Sedgwick, Eleanor Updale, Jean Ure and Kay Woodward. Ten of the thirteen authors were present at the launch.
View the full picture gallery and see if you can spot which three were missing.
READ A LITTLE LOUDER is the latest Opinion Column from Peni Griffin and is, as usual, full of thought-provoking comment:
the reluctance of writers to toot their own horns is not just a dysfunction... ... We must find ways to make ourselves into semi-public figures, despite the naturally isolating nature of our business...
You can comment on this article by clicking the Comments link below, or by contributing to the discussion thread on ACHUKACHAT.
Unlikely hard man of children's fiction
Very useful biographical feature (by the ubiquitous Amanda Craig) on Eoin Colfer, tucked away in a Who's Who supplement in yesterday's Times.
EOIN COLFER?s meteoric rise in the world of children?s fiction since the publication of the first best-selling Artemis Fowl adventure in 2001 surprises few who have read his work. The former primary school teacher from Wexford, Ireland combines high-concept ideas that are a staple of Hollywood thrillers with immense charm, talent and wit.Now 39... ...
Highly recommended
Hans Christian Andersen won literary immortality with his stories of an outcast boy made good. But were his timeless fairytales thinly veiled parables of his own life as the illegitimate son of a future king? Neil Philip investigates... ...
Recommended
Meg Cabot feature...
"I definitely feel like a princess," admits Cabot, who recently purchased a second home in Key West, Fla. "At the same time, the work hasn't decreased. I'm working all the time. It's still pretty crazy."... ...
Sunday Times Children's Book Of The Week
Bad, Bad Darlings by Sam Llewellyn
What makes these stories so enjoyable is that they are anarchic in their attitudes and unexpected in their twists and turns, yet are written with careful skill and control. Every mad mannerism and wild notion is precisely intended. NICOLETTE JONES
INDEPENDENT feature on adult and children's writer, Livi Michael
Recommended
The Whispering Road (Puffin, ?9.99), [Livi Michael's] latest book for children, follows a brother and sister, Joe and Annie, as they escape the 1830s workhouse only to find worse threats are waiting for them in the unforgiving world outside.
Publishing News reports:
Macmillan Children's Books is launching an interactive poster campaign for Teen Idol, the new Meg Cabot title. Running from 3-16 January, this innovative promotion, which was planned by Total Media, uses ?mobile marketing technology" devised by Hypertag to get the market - in this case 10-14 year olds - to interact with outdoor advertising using their mobile phones.
Darren Shan's latest online monthly newsletter...
Amanda Craig praises those who manage to keep old favourites in print, and admires even more those who bring forgotten books back into the fold:
The granddaughter of Lucy M. Boston, whose ravishing and thrilling Green Knowe series about a small boy and his grandmother living in a haunted house, has just republished her work (under the Oldknow Books imprint at ?4.99 each), but few enjoy such a dedicated fan base. Not every reprint is going to appeal, of course. Philip Pullman has long cited The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay as his favourite ? ?the funniest children?s book ever written?. It has just been reissued by The New York Review Children?s Collection (?10) and, alas, did not raise a single smile in my own family.Two new champions of forgotten children?s fiction who seem to get it right are Jane Nissen and Young Spitfire. If you?re searching for something timelessly enchanting to give a child of 8 to 12, their lists are well worth checking out... ...
Julie Burchill defends the ease with which she wrote her first YA novel, Sugar Rush:
When my teen epic Sugar Rush (soon to be a major Channel 4 smut-fest) was published last year, there was a great deal of pointing and tutting over the fact that I was quite open about having written it in the space of ten scattered afternoons after what is euphemistically known as a 'good lunch'. But what's wrong with that? Why shouldn't work be easy?
