ACHUKA: April 2005 Archives

Unique by Alison Allen-Gray, edited by Kathy Webb (OUP)

Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce edited by Sarah Dudman (Macmillan)

Dizzy by Cathy Cassidy edited by Rebecca McNally (Puffin Books)

Zeus on the Loose by John Dougherty edited by Sue Cooke (Random House, Young Corgi)

Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver edited by Fiona Kennedy (Orion)

How I live now by Meg Rosoff edited by Rebecca McNally (Puffin Books)

Last Train from Kummersdorf by Leslie Wilson edited by Suzy Jenvy (Faber)

The annual Branford Boase Award celebrates the most promising book for seven year-olds and upwards by a first-time novelist, and highlights the importance of the editor in nurturing new authors.

The Award has received financial support from Jacqueline Wilson who says: "I have a special affection for this prize since I was invited to be the first Author Judge in 2000. It can be such a struggle for new writers starting out that I am thrilled to be able to offer this support to a prize which can make a real difference to their prospects”.

The winner of the 2004 Branford Boase Award will be announced on 30 June 2005.

Website: www.branfordboaseaward.org.uk
Information about the Henrietta Branford Writing Competition for young people under 18 years is also available from the website...

Crain's New York Business news, lists, rankings, directory and more

US Children's book publisher Scholastic Inc. announced yesterday that it is acquiring Barry Cunningham's Chicken House Publishing Ltd...

:: Michael Rosen - The Website ::

Michael Rosen now has a website... a very good one too

Recommended

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Author of the month: Philip Ridley

Guardian Author Of The Month

Philip Ridley

whose new book, Zip's Apollo, will be published by Puffin in the summer...

coolkidzread.com

"Marketing maverick and acclaimed author of young adult fantasy novels, R.J. Nimmo, is making waves with an innovative new Web site and marketing campaign usually only employed by self-help gurus, purveyors of exotic diet regimens, and regular guests on Oprah..."

Comics, illustration, stories in GRAPHIC CLASSICS

Eureka Productions has just released the revised second edition of GRAPHIC CLASSICS: H.G. WELLS, the third volume in the
GRAPHIC CLASSICS series of comics adaptations of great literature.

Teaching Ideas & Resources - TES - The Times Educational Supplement 1

Anne Fine has attacked the dumbing down of the GCSE and A-Level English syllabus:

Anne Fine, the former children’s laureate, said: “This is a real sign of dumbing down. Many of the books which are put in front of children nowadays simply do not merit the amount of time which is spent on them.”

The top link takes you to a truncated TES report. This link takes you to a Guardian news report...

Children's books - Books - Times Online

Amanda Craig reviews fiven new fantasies and poarticularly likes The Secret Country by Jane Johnson - "stands out thanks to its charming and humorous mixture of the mundane and the magical"

and Barkbelly by Cat Weatherill - "the kind of classic tale that may have more resonance for adults than it does for children"

Craig also approves of the closing installment of Mary Hoffman's Stravaganza trilogy, City Of Flowers - "Hoffman has caught up all the threads from her first two books to weave a baroque thriller about art, murder, love and family".

Net Music Countdown: Mariah Carey Writing Children's Books

MTV reports that Carey is planning her own series of illustrated children's books called "Automatic Princess." The "It's Like That" singer started working on the stories last summer, but the project had to be put on hold because Carey was also recording "The Emancipation of Mimi."

Carey is now ready to get back into the stories...

Publishing News - News Page

Graham Marks looks back at this year's Bologna Book Fair...

Archbishop backs books by paedophile author - Britain - Times Online

THE Archbishop of Canterbury has defended the work of a children’s author jailed for 2 1/2 years for sexually abusing his young girl fans. Rowan Williams said that although his view of William Mayne had changed since the court case, this would not stop him recommending his work, in particular A Game of Dark, which he read as a child...

Faber have acquired Harry Hill's Tim The Tiny Horse for publication Autumn 2006.

BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | North East Wales | Beatrix Potter garden 'recreated'

A garden which inspired children's author Beatrix Potter in one of her classic books is being returned to its Victorian look... ...

Recommended

Look out for new search options that will take advantage of our categorised listings. These new search options will be uploaded over the next few days. In the meantime, I'm posting this link to beta test the basic author search function.

www.achuka.co.uk/search/search_author.php

EducationGuardian.co.uk | News crumb | Cook the books

Michael Morpurgo would be the first to admit he is no Jamie Oliver, but as children's laureate he is the closest pupils have to a books' champion, and he believes it is time to take a stand... ...

Highly Recommended

AlterNet: MediaCulture: New Adventures in Censorship

Since Judy Blume began writing frankly sexual books for young adults in the 1970s, the category has come of age and moved on to increasingly harsh and sophisticated topics amid persistent efforts to censor what female teens read...

Interesting, esp. for the number of responses (so far - you can add your own - there, or here)

Mailing Monkey

MAILING MONKEY Episode 5

We've published the latest edisode of Mailing Monkey in plain html (webpage) format, rather than as an animated Flash sequence, and would really appreicate feedback on which format you are happiest with. The new episode of course carries links to the previous episodes, all still in their original Flash format.

Episode 5 raises issues aired by Graham Marks in his recent Publishing News article on the effectiveness, or otherwise, of lavish launch events.

Don't forget to give us the feedback...

Toronto Sun: LIFE - Inside the teen brain

Dr. Ron Clavier, a Toronto-based clinical psychologist, is author of a soon-to-be-released book called Teen Brain, Teen Mind: What Parents Need to Know to Survive the Adolescent Years (Key Porter Books). Clavier says the teen brain should carry a "handle with care" label because the complex changes occurring inside the brain, especially between the ages of 12 and 15, make it vulnerable to damage.

A UK author will also be publishing a book on the workings of the teenage brain.

Blame My Brain by Nicola Morgan will be published by Walker Books in September.

Publishing News reports that Barn Owl Books, which specialises in reprinting oout-of-print titles, will receive an Arts Council project funding grant of £21,000.

Graphic-novel approach makes over Nancy Drew

In her comic debut, Nancy wears hip clothes (and what looks like a Wonderbra), carries a cell phone and a laptop, and drives a hybrid car.

Nancy Drew, who was created by Carolyn Keene, whose books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, has morphed from classic to cool. Her new image, created by Papercutz, a graphic novel company based in New York, is no wholesome Pamela Sue Martin type. Rather, this Nancy resembles Hollywood hottie Sienna Miller... ...

I have a copy of this first graphic Drew title, The Demon Of River Heights (written by Stephan Petrucha, artwork by Sho Murase, and published by Papercutz), in my lap as I make this entry. It'll sell for £4.99 in the UK.

There'll be a new graphic novel in the series every three months, with #2 publishing in July.

Nancy Drew...

Sophie Masson discusses new media and its role in delivering news and opinions to the public. - On Line Opinion - 4/4/2005

Sophie Masson writes, in a perceptive piece about blogging:

At its best, blogging, for the writer, can be a terrific experience, enabling you to have genuine discussions with readers, and engage in the kind of thoughtful and illuminating speculation that can often inspire new ideas and new trains of thought in you. However, that is the ideal situation, and it’s rare, and precious. All too often, what the comments box turns into is a kind of dialogue of the deaf, with the original post hopelessly lost in a welter of tangents, parti pris positions, shouting matches, and a certain amount of intellectual bullying which I have found quite intimidating at times. It’s not that I’m a stranger to unpleasant missives - if you write publicly anywhere, you’ve got to expect negative as well as positive feedback - but I think that the medium itself has an atmosphere which makes people confrontational.

Those interested in children's books seem far too polite to become confrontational, judging by the empty comment boxes on this the busiest section of the ACHUKA website.

Any of you interested in blogging generally should find this final entry in a personal blog of interest - and perhaps even worthy of comment ;-)

Also, some of you may have noticed the flickr link in the right-hand panel of ACHOCKABLOG. I have begun archiving both personal and ACHUKA shots on flickr and in the course of discovering some fantastic photographs and photographic talent amongst other flickr users, I also came across this blog, which I shall duly add to the ACHOCKABLOGGER listings. I can also recommend the various street graffiti sets that Patrick Barry Barr has uploaded to flickr

Barbara Marcus to Leave Scholastic After Publication of Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

PR NEwswire - Scholastic, the global children's publishing and media company, announced today that Barbara Marcus, President of Children's Book Publishing and Distribution and Executive Vice President of Scholastic Inc., has decided to leave the company following the July 16, 2005 release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book in the bestselling Harry Potter series. During Ms. Marcus's 22 years at Scholastic, she supervised the publication and release of all five previous Harry Potter books as well as innumerable other bestselling titles, and she helped guide Scholastic's growth to its position today as the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books. She will be succeeded by Lisa Holton, Senior Vice President, Publisher, Global Disney Children's Books... ...

Booktrust, the administrators of the Children¹s Laureate award have announced that from the end of May 2005 Ottakars Bookstores will be the new sponsors of the Children's Laureate. The fourth Children¹s Laureate will be announced by Sir Christopher Frayling (chair of Arts Council England andRector of The Royal College of Art) at a presentation on Thursday 26th May at BAFTA, Piccadilly, London.

Ottakars sponsorship will fund four major events where the new Children's Laureate will appear. They will also support the Children's Laureate with promotions in store and with a national tour of their bookshops. They have agreed to sponsor the award for two years.

Children's fiction: Give them fights, cameras, action - Sunday Times - Times Online

Charlie Higson asks why there aren't more action thrillers published for children:

I long to see at least one cover showing two big muscly guys pounding the crap out of each other while a building explodes in the background.

Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that children’s publishing is run almost exclusively by women, or maybe it’s that the moral guardians like kids’ books to be good for you rather than good for a fight. It wasn’t always like this; in the past, boys grew up on stuff such as Treasure Island and Kidnapped and, God help us, Biggles. But nowadays, well, it’s no wonder boys don’t read.

Entertainment News Article | Reuters.com

Longish Reuters feature on Darren Shan...

Recommended

Telegraph | Sport | Players show literary leanings

Players from the 20 Premiership clubs are linking their names to favourite books that will then be used by libraries to promote reading.

All clubs will offer tours, tickets and chances to meet so-called Club Reading Champions like... Chelsea's John Terry, who said: "It's important to act as a positive role model and I'm really pleased that people want to know about my favourite books." Terry chose the children's book Cool! by Michael Morpurgo.

Children's books were chosen by half of the players. Arsenal's Freddie Ljungberg selected Richard Scarry's Cars, Trucks and Things that Go while Aston Villa's Mark Delaney went for Ted Hughes' The Iron Man. Fulham's full-back, Moritz Volz, selected Antoine De Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, while Liverpool's Chris Kirkland chose Jeremy Strong's There's a Viking in my Bed.

See also this Independent article...

Read On for full list of selections:

Fine wine and fancy canapes sell no books, says Graham Marks:

Graham Marks uses his column in this week's Publishing News (an excellent issue by the way, brim full of children's books coverage) to question the effectiveness of smart launch events, arguing that they haven't led to any increase of review coverage and that anyway children's books sales do not respond to the number of column inches published by the media, but to personal appearances by authors in front of their target readership - children and families.

Of course, it's very difficult to disprove this age-old argument that reviews and media coverage don't sell books, and in particular children's books, and that it's all down to a combination of word-of-mouth and charismatic personal appearances by showbizzy authors at schools and festivals, but I happen to believe that reviews and media features can have an enormous impact, and that's why I agree with Dina Rabinovitch when she decries the fact that the media are obsessed with just three or four mega-children's authors and why I would want to support and encourage children's publicity and marketing departments to continue and further their efforts to promote new and rising authors with glitzy and innovative events.

The suggestion that it should all be left to school visits and book festivals... Well, I'm surprised atcha, Mr Marks.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Nursery rhyme contest aims to oust violence

Preschool channel Nick Jr thinks the time has come to end the bloodshed [found in traditional nursery rhymes]. It yesterday challenged the country to write new rhymes that can oust the "Pulp Fiction"-themed nursery rhymes of yesteryear.

Although reportedly supporting the initiative, Michael Rosen is quoted as saying, "Let's have pneumatic drills going through our feet, trees falling on us, and people going to bed and bumping their head. This is the language of folk and fairy story - kids like this. They help us explore our fears and delights."