ACHUKA: March 2005 Archives

Guardian Unlimited | Columnists | The greatest stories ever told

"We are right in the thick of a golden age of children's literature," says Dina Rabinovitch, at the start of a long feature in today's Guardian, arguing that it is now children's literature that is exerting the same gravitational pull that stage drama did in the Elizabethan Age, and the novel did in the nineteenth century.

So how is it, she asks, that it is only a handful of names that are widely known. It's certainly not the publishers' fault. Rabinovich gives examples of some of the more lavish launches of recent times. She rounds on the media... "The books pages in the national press are sticking to their occasional round-ups of children's books; non-specialist TV and radio aren't interested either... ...It is a mark of these fertile times that the arts reviewing is lagging behind the news."

Highly Recommended

Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | Author of the month: Ann Brashares

Dina Rabinovich's Author of the Month is Ann Brashares...

Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood

Macmillan Children's Books has announced the acquisition of world rights in four new novels by Gwyneth Rees. The deal, for a six-figure sum, was brokered by Caroline Walsh of David Higham Associates.

The Macmillan Press Release says that Rees qualified as a doctor and practised as a child and adolescent psychiatrist for some years, before giving up her medical career to write full time.

THE MUM HUNT won the Award for Younger Children in the Red House Children's Book Award 2004. MY MUM'S FROM PLANET PLUTO has been longlisted for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Sheffield Book Award. Her Fairies series achieves ever-increasing sales, with the third title, FAIRY DREAMS, publishing in May 2005. She has also been selected to write a World Book Day 2006 title.

This new four-book deal takes Macmillan's publishing programme of Gwyneth Rees's books up to the end of 2008.

Sarah Davies, Publishing Director of Macmillan Children's Books, says, 'Gwyneth Rees is a star. She has an incredible ability to connect with children in a way that is always entertaining but also very insightful. I am delighted that this new deal will enable us to continue building Gwyneth's profile and sales well into the future.'

Darren Shan Monthly 57

Darren Shan has posted his monthly newspage, Shanville Monthly, a bit early this month, because he's heading off on a short tour of Taiwan before the end of March...

I can heartily recoomend a visit to Shan's Taiwanese publisher's page, for a taste of the distinctive Far Eastern covers and, lowdown on the right-hand side, a mini-movie of a berobed Shan speaking directly to his Eastern fans.

Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | Macca the paperback writer

Michael Rosen can't understand the hissy-fitting of children's authors who resent it when celebs and other 'amateurs' have a go at writing children's books. After all, he says, writing a children's book "is not very difficult". This Guardian article was published last Tuesday, and my excuse for missing it was that I was engrossed in rehearsing my "hot chilly" act for the end-of-term staff variety show.

In normal circumstances it would have been blogged immediately. As it is, I'm thankful to Michael Rosen himself for drawing attention to it on ACHUKACHAT where, so far, there has been only one reaction. Perhaps this belated blogging will promote further discussion.

what possible objections can we have to anyone, anywhere, writing a book for children? After all, it's not terribly difficult. I'll rephrase that: it's difficult to write a brilliant one, but anyone who was once a child should have at least one children's book in them. Anyone who comes anywhere near children ought to be able to write at least one more. And in an ideal world, shouldn't every parent, teacher, grandparent, child-carer have a go?

In place of its regular page of children's book reviews, The Guardian has chosen Easter weekend to print two excellent features:

The first, by Joanna Carey, is called 'Fish Fingers And Chandeliers' and is a profile of Lauren Child.

The second, by Lyn Gardner, is an admirable overview of E. Nesbit.

The Railway Children is at the Peacock Theatre, London WC2, until April 10. Box office: 0870 737 0337.

Both links Highly Recommended

Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics-Cover Gallery

Excellent archive of comic cover art from 1935 to the present.

Publishing News - News Page

WHILE IT'S BECOMING almost de rigeur for adult authors to think it might be mildly diverting to have a go at a children's book, writes Graham Marks, it is noteworthy when their adult imprint decides to not only retain the right to publish, but backs up the whole project with a serious marketing and sales campaign. On 4 July this year, Headline will publish The Angel Experiment, the first book in the Maximum Ride trilogy by best-selling thriller writer James Patterson, who has come up with a series aimed straight at the 12 market.

Teen chick-lit: good, bad or just pukerama? - Home - Times Online

The Times has run a diverting 2-day feature on teen-lit, each time getting a parent and child to react to a selection of current titles.

This link is to yesterday's piece about teen chick-lit. In the paper today (I can't find an online link yet) the focus is dark fiction for boys.

Recommended

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Text of talk given by Philip Pullman at the University of East Anglia:

Thank you for inviting me to speak here in this distinguished series of lectures. Quite what prompted you to ask me to talk about religious education I can`t immediately see; you must have been desperate. As I`m not an academic, nor a member of the clergy, nor a teacher, whatever I say about the subject will be the observations of an amateur with no standing in the field. Furthermore, given that I`ve voiced some criticisms of religion in the past, and that various Christian groups have expressed their criticisms of me, it might be that whatever I said on the subject would be hostile in any case.

Well, I hope it won`t be that. But we shall see.

Opinion Page

A good column is part of the routine, like the caffeinated beverage of your choice or the sequence of landmarks on the way to work. When it is gone, you should miss it sharply...

We will miss Peni sharply and invite those of you who have enjoyed her columns to contribute to a leaving gift. The tin'll stay open till the end of the month.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Peter Pan prepares to go exploring

At the opening of the London book fair, it was announced that McCaughrean has been chosen as the new JM Barrie. Already one of the country's most popular children's writers, she was picked out of a field of 100 entrants for the "awfully big adventure" of writing the official sequel to Peter Pan.

Mistress of the multiverse - Books - Times Online

A longish feature by Amanda Craig who has been to Bristol to visit Diana Wynne Jones:

The world of one of our most original and fertile fantasists is about to become a lot more famous this year thanks to a film of her novel, Howl?s Moving Castle. The great anime director Hayao Miyazaki, whose Spirited Away became an international hit in 2003, has released the film in Japan, where it is breaking box-office records.

Highly recommended

Publishing News - News Page

BLOOMSBURY HAS ACQUIRED 14 of Alexander McCall Smith's backlist children's books, aimed at the 7-9 age-range, and is to publish them with new cover designs and illustrative look created by Ian Bilbey.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc today unveiled the cover designs for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K.Rowling, to be published on 16th July 2005. The cover illustration for the children?s edition is by Jason Cockcroft, who provided the cover image for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in addition to illustrating many other children?s books including Daddy?s Lullaby and Billywise (both published by Bloomsbury).

The cover design for the adult edition is from a photograph by Michael Wildsmith.

These covers will be used throughout the world excluding the USA.

Seven for a Secret: Woodall hopes to hit jackpot again - The Times of India

Supermarket manager Clive Woodall sat down in his lunch hour every day to write a fairy tale for his two young sons.

Now, after landing a $1-million deal with Disney to film his debut novel, stacking shelves is just a memory. One for Sorrow , a dark tale of magpies plotting genocide in the bird kingdom ? proved a surprise hit last year with the publishing rights sold to 20 countries within days.

Now, with the publication on Monday of Seven for a Secret, Woodall, 47, hopes the sequel could fulfil another Hollywood fantasy.

C21Media:

BBC Worldwide has agreed major deals (including sales into Australia, Denmark and Sweden) for its CBeebies/Tiger Aspect cartoon Charlie & Lola.

These new deals (for 26 episodes) follow sales to Disney in the US and TF1 in France.

The series is based on the award-winning children's books by Lauren Child and the animation reflects the distinctive cut-out style of the books.

Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | Rhymes and reason

Benjamin Zephaniah was the subject of yesterday's Home Entertainment feature The Guardian, a weekly item that looks at what music celebrity guests like to listen to, what films they watch etc.:

On the day we meet him, Benjamin Zephaniah has just finished a spoken-word album called Naked, and that evening he will be adapting his novel, Gangsta Rap, into a musical...

Times Online - Books

.... Writers and illustrators visit schools all the time, the books exist, various and brilliant enough for all ages and tastes, the publishers design them beautifully, there are dedicated librarians, teachers and booksellers working their socks off to engage children in reading and there are bold and imaginative initiatives such as World Book Day, the wonderful Book Start project and Storyquest. So why do we fail to engage so many children? Why do millions of them never become readers? ...

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Rumour has it: fans spread word on bestselling books

Asked to provide a book for the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, readers suggested If I was Boss by Kes Gray (25%)...

according to a World Book Day survey, which also found that word-of-mouth was the most significant factor in turning a book into a bestseller.

Six new stories by bestselling writers, including Roald Dahl, Garth Nix and Benedict Blathwayt, will be published for children of all ages on World Book Day, 3rd March 2005, priced at ?1.

Over 13 million school children will have received a ?1 World Book Day Book Token which can be exchanged for a World Book Day ?1 Book between Monday 28th Feb to Sunday 27th March or put towards any book or audio book costing ?1.99 or more.

The World Book Day ?1 Book Token is supported by National Book Tokens and funded by bookshops across the country

Each World Book Day ?1 Book is suitable for a different age range, which means that every child can enjoy at least one of the unique books being produced to celebrate the day. For the first time a ?1 board book has been specially produced for toddlers.

The six World Book Day ?1 Books are:

Teenlit festival - Literature - Arts and culture - British Council Bulgaria

Nicola Morgan and David Lee Stone (check out the new Illmoor Chronicles website) will be speaking in ten days' time at a British Council conference in Bulgaria on the subject of Teen Literature

Red House Centre for Culture and Debate
15 Lyuben Karavelov Street
11 and 12 March

Guided by local writer Alex Popov and by our two guest authors from the UK, Nicola Morgan and David Lee Stone, teenagers themselves will be arguing the pros and cons of literature for their age group in Bulgaria and how teenage authors can make a name for themselves. The answers will be of interest to all those of us who are keen to increase the number of teenagers reading for pleasure in Bulgaria.

Charlie Higson defends Young Bond criticism from fellow continuation author John Gardner