ACHUKAblog
A book about a group of tiny people who live in trees seems set, it seems, to be the start of a picture book series.
At the edge of the woods, there is a great tree. Peep through the branches and you might just see some little people who stand as tall as your thumb and have heads the size of hazelnuts.
Although this is her first picture book, Koomen has previously collaborated with Blurn to publish a collection of zines, and already has a very large (70k) following on Instagram.
I would have pounced on this book when I was a boy. There was a period when I was around 9 and 10 that all I borrowed from the library in Wembley were books that told stories about explorers. True stories told in the style of adventures, just like this book.
In the centre there are eight pages of black-and-white photos. The frontispiece maps and character identification illustration is by Sarah Lippett.
The author’s previous book, Into The White, was about Captain Scott.
This title publishes September 2019.
First presented in 1967 and customarily announced in June, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards are among the most prestigious honors in the field of children’s and young adult literature. Winners are selected in three categories: Picture Book, Fiction and Poetry, and Nonfiction. Two Honor Books may be named in each category. The winning titles must be published in the United States but they may be written or illustrated by citizens of any country. The awards are chosen by an independent panel of three judges who are annually appointed by the Editor of the Horn Book.
This year’s winners:
Nonfiction
Picture Book
I am shocked to discover that I omitted to report on the the Newbery and Caldecott winners at the time of the announcement this year.
Let me put that right!
The 2019 Newbery winner was Merci Suárez Changes Gears, written by Meg Medina, published by Candlewick Press…
There were also two Honor books:
The Night Diary, written by Veera Hiranandani and published by Kokila
The Book of Boy, written by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, illustrated by Ian Schoenherr, and published by Greenwillow Books
The 2019 Caldecott winner was Hello Lighthouse, illustrated and written by Sophie Blackall, published by Little, Brown…
There were also four Honor books:
Alma and How She Got Her Name, illustrated and written by Juana Martinez-Neal, published by Candlewick Press
A Big Mooncake for Little Star, illustrated and written by Grace Lin, published by Little, Brown
The Rough Patch, illustrated and written by Brian Lies, published by Greenwillow Books
Thank You, Omu!, illustrated and written by Oge Mora, published by Little, Brown
Look how Little Brown maxed out in the Newbery this year, publishing the winning title as well as two of the four Honor books.
The Bookseller reports that Bonnier imprint Hot Key has signed Elizabeth Acevedo (winner of this year’s Carnegie Medal) in a six-figure three-book 3-book deal, consisting of:
The UKLA Book Awards are the only awards to be judged entirely by teachers. The awards are presented to books that are considered to “enhance all aspects of literacy learning”. The judging process ensures teachers are able to share the books with their classes and discover what genuinely works with young readers in each of the three age categories. Judgements are therefore soundly based on pupil response.
For an unprecedented second year in a row the 3-6 category has been won by Morag Hood. She said “I am so honoured that I Am Bat has been chosen as the winner, and to win for the second time is just incredible! What better accolade than from the teachers who know and understand children the most. It fills me with joy to know that my little bat is being used in classrooms and, I hope, helping to encourage a life-long love of reading.”
Equally unprecedented was the fact that the judges, after intense debate, decided to award a Highly Commended in each of the three age categories to books that were very different but equally valuable and too good not to be specially recognised. So the Newbery Medal winning After the Fall by Dan Santat has been Highly Commended in the 3-6 category with S.E Durrant’s Running On Empty in the 7-11 and Carnegie medal winning Elizabeth Acevado’s verse novel The Poet X in the 12-16.
This has been a triumphant year for poetry. Indeed, the verse novel Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds won the 12-16 category, while The Explorer by Katherine Rundell took the 7-11 category.
The 2019 awards were presented at a special ceremony on July 12th at the UKLA International Conference, Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University. Student teachers from 20 universities around the UK take part in Shadowing the awards and read and use the shortlisted books on teaching practice in schools before having their own online vote to select their own winners. Mini Grey‘s The Last Wolf was the 3-6 winner and S.E Durrant’ Running on Empty won the 7-11 student vote too. The National Education Union sponsors student shadowers to attend the conference and they also announced and presented their awards at the ceremony.
10 teachers nominated from the 58 involved in the shortlisting, who came from Midlands region around Sheffield, formed the final judging panel and had the challenging task of reading all the shortlisted books in all three age categories, which meant nursery teachers reading fiction for teenagers and secondary teachers reading picture books.
Research carried out by members of UKLA (Cremin et al 2008) clearly demonstrated the links between teachers’ knowledge of children’s books and the likelihood of pupils becoming successful readers. Despite this evidence, teachers are seldom given time to read new books or funding to purchase them when they do.
The Shortlists in full
3-6
After the Fall written and illustrated by Dan Santat (Andersen Press)
The Last Wolf written and illustrated by Mini Grey (Jonathan Cape)
Bob’s Blue Period written and illustrated by Marion Deuchars (Laurence King)
Stardust written by Jeanne Willis and illustrated by Briony May Smith (Nosy Crow)
The Big Book of the Blue written and illustrated by Yuval Zommer (Thames & Hudson)
I Am Bat written and illustrated by Morag Hood (Two Hoots)
7-11
The Explorer written by Katherine Rundell illustrated by Hannah Horn (Bloomsbury)
Running on Empty written by S. E. Durrant illustrated by Rob Biddulph (Nosy Crow)
Sky Dancer written by Gill Lewis (Oxford)
The Wild Robot written and illustrated by Peter Brown (Piccadilly)
The Murderer’s Ape written and illustrated by Jakob Wegelius. Translated by Peter Graves (Pushkin Press)
Kick written by Mitch Johnson (Usborne Publishing)
12-16
Moonrise written by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury)
The Poet X written by Elizabeth Acevedo (Egmont Electric Monkey)
Long Way Down written by Jason Reynolds and illustrated by Chris Priestley (Faber)
Piglettes written and translated by Clémentine Beauvais (Pushkin Press)
After the Fire written by Will Hill (Usborne Publishing)
Mary’s Monster: Love, Madness and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein written and illustrated by Lita Judge (Wren & Rook)
Writer and illustrator, Cressida Cowell, who has just been appointed the eleventh Children’s Laureate, in succession to Lauren Child (with whom she was best friends at school), was born in London but spent most summers on Little Colonsay, a remote uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland owned by her father, an hereditary peer and prominent environmentalist, who was at various times Chairman of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and the RSPB. “The house [in Scotland] was lit by candle-light, and there was no telephone or television, so I spent a lot of time drawing and writing stories,” she remembers.
Cowell read English at Keble College, Oxford and studied illustration at Brighton University.
She has a track record of being heavily involved with campaigns to get children reading. In 2014 she launched a Christmas Reading Challenge for the Reading Agency. In 2015 she was one of the key participants in a huge World Book Day event held in Preston North End Stadium. In 2016 she had a spell as BookTrust Writer-in-Residence.
Cressida Cowell’s own books require no special campaigning on their behalf. Her titles regularly appear in lists of bestselling children’s books.
The Cressida Cowell Waterstones Children’s Laureate Charter:
Times Children’s Book of the Week, 15 June 2019
“If you go into the woods, Old Crony will get you.” Secrets, spies or maybe even a monster… What lies in the heart of the wood? Charlie, Dizzy and Johnny are determined to discover the truth, but when night falls without warning they find themselves trapped in a nightmare. Lost in the woods, strange dangers and impossible puzzles lurk in the shadows. As time plays tricks, can Charlie solve this mystery and find a way out of the woods? But what if this night never ends…? A timeless novel for anyone who’s ever felt lost.
“Rarely does an author have the courage to explain the metaphysics of time with crystal clarity in a book pitched at children as young as eight.” Alex O’Connell, The Times
“It isn’t every day that a novel for 8-12 year-olds reminds you of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets, Dante’s Inferno and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. There’s a dash of The Twilight Zone in there too, plus a hint of the Wild Wood from The Wind In The Willows…” Tony Bradman, Guardian Review
Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week, 30 June 2019
Harry in a Hurry is Timothy Knapman and Gemma Merino’s unique twist on the well-loved Aseop’s Fable, The Tortoise and the Hare. Harry the Hare is always in a hurry – he’s not even sure why! He eats fast and talks fast – and if he’s riding on his speedy scooter then you’d better watch out! But when Harry accidentally hurries his way into the local pond, and Tom the Tortoise fishes him out, Harry is forced to take a leaf out of Tom’s book and slow right down. In doing so he not only finds a new friend, but enjoys a whole new world of experiences.