ACHUKA Children's Books UK

children's & YA recommendations on the go

You are here: Home / Archives for campaign

Pictures Mean Business

By Leave a Comment

The #PicturesMeanBusiness campaign has just launched a new expanded website…

What Does It Mean If You Support #PicturesMeanBusiness?

  • It means you believe illustration (and cover design) contributes to people’s decisions to buy books.
  • It means you respect the profession of illustration as a proper skilled profession and not some cute little hobby.
  • It means you think top-quality illustrators should be able to make a living from their work.
  • It means you recognise that illustrators are significantly disadvantaged by quirks in the publishing world. EVERYONE in the industry would benefit if this was properly addressed!
  • It means you think it’s unfair that illustrators are often ignored and not mentioned in reviews, lists and media, and that it has to stop.
  • It means you believe illustrators should be listed on databases with the books they’ve created, just like writers, in ways that their books and sales can be tracked. (If business can’t see illustrators’ contribution to business, they will assume illustration doesn’t contribute.)

ACHUKA says a resounding YES to all of that.

http://www.picturesmeanbusiness.com

Seven Stories Crowdfunding Campaign – Life-Changing Stories

By Leave a Comment

NATIONAL CENTRE FOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO BRING STORIES TO LIFE FOR CHILDREN WITH ADDITIONAL NEEDS  

SEVEN Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books has launched a crowdfunding campaign to bring books and stories to life for North East children with additional needs. The Life-changing Stories campaign goes live on Crowdfunder UK from 26th February 2018.

The museum and gallery, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, is seeking support to raise £7000 to fund a range of fully accessible events and experiences that will allow children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to step into their favourite stories in an inclusive and sensory environment.

Kate Edwards, chief executive of Seven Stories said, “Our ambition is for Seven Stories to be a hub for parents and carers of children with disabilities to socialise, play and learn more about how to enrich their children’s lives through the wonderful world of children’s books.

“All of the money raised will go towards making our activities more accessible to children with additional needs and their families by providing sensory resources that will bring our exhibitions, events and stories to life in a whole new way.

 “All children deserve the chance to enjoy books and stories, however they experience the world. We already work with parents, carers and schools across the UK to inspire children and families to choose, enjoy and share books together and this is a chance to bring this offer to even more young people.”

Award-winning author and illustrator Nick Sharratt (Tracy Beaker, Shark in the Park, You Choose) recently donated his archive to Seven Stories and added his voice to the campaign. Nick said, “I love coming to Seven Stories and this campaign will open up the magic and power of children’s books to even more families, in a completely new way. I am always amazed at the creativity and dedication that goes into making Seven Stories an inclusive and immersive experience for every child and I urge everyone who has ever been transported by the power of stories to get behind this campaign. I am extremely excited to see all of the fantastic offers that it will help deliver.”

As well as providing additional sensory experiences and BSL / Makaton interpretation for performances and story times, the money raised will also allow the team to increase opportunities for children with additional needs and their families to experience Seven Stories in a calmer, quieter environment.

Beth Coverdale, learning and participation co-ordinator and access champion said, “Hustle and bustle can be overwhelming and we want to offer high-quality sensory performances tailored for children with additional access needs.  Our relaxed story times and performances will have all the magic of a Seven Stories event and will provide a supportive but informal atmosphere for everyone that needs it. These sensory performances have a slightly smaller audience capacity than other showings, to help contribute to a calmer environment for children experiencing stress or anxiety.”

Seven Stories is one of the leading inclusive cultural venues in the region and was awarded the Inclusive Tourism Award at the annual North East England Tourism Awards in 2017.

The ceremony, held on Thursday 16th November, celebrated the very best of the North East’s prestigious tourism businesses, recognising excellence in a variety of categories and credited Seven Stories for their ongoing partnership with St Oswald’s Hospice to create accessible experiences for children with life limiting illness and their families. This project kick-started the cross organisational initiative to make Seven Stories as accessible and inclusive as possible to all public visitors, including an extensive building refurbishment in 2015.

Money raised through the campaign will be eligible for match funding though the Newcastle Culture Investment Fund, in partnership with Newcastle City Council and the Community Foundation for Tyne & Wear and Northumberland if they successfully reach their target.

Join the conversation online by using #lifechangingstories.

>>> http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/life-changing-stories

Major Fundraising Campaign to Build CLPE Literacy Library

By Leave a Comment


Earlier this week the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) launched an ambitious and timely campaign to raise funds aimed at refurbishing their central London headquarters with the creation of a permanent collection of children’s books to be used to support their work.

The announcement of the campaign (made on Monday 15th January) ran in key trade magazines The Bookseller and BookBrunch, which helped get things off to a great start. Louise Johns-Shepherd, CLPE’s CEO, has been interviewed on London Live.

As key champions of children’s literacy, the CLPE hopes that creating a Literacy Library will significantly help it continue to provide top-class training and resources for teachers, as well as providing a creative, engaging and accessible hub to be used across the children’s books industry.

As a charity, CLPE has long been instrumental in providing key support to educationalists through training and materials, and is responsible for the widely recognised Power of Reading and Power of Pictures projects, as well as the acclaimed CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award). Their literacy centre, rather fittingly a former school near Waterloo station, is used widely for events and meetings by other charities that often don’t have their own in-house facilities.

Everything I’ve learnt today has been something I could use in the classroom to improve the enjoyment that children get from books. Thank you so much. Each time I come to CLPE I leave with a revived interest in teaching. CLPE User

The refurbishment is designed to allow a dedicated and permanent space for a collection of 23,000 children’s books, chosen by the CLPE’s in-house experts, creating a comprehensive collection of titles for all primary ages that can be browsed and read with a view to their use in the classroom. Funds raised will also allow for the space in the centre to be enhanced for events, and as a fully resourced venue for large or smaller meetings.

Organisations and individuals are invited to pledge any amount between £100 and £10,000 in return for  having a bookshelf, bookcase, alcove or collection at the centre dedicated to them. High profile names, including BookTrust, Beanstalk and key authors have already lent their support to the campaign.

The Crowdfunding campaign can be found here, where it is also possible to donate smaller amounts.

Having seen the inspiring work CLPE do to help schools to use drama, poetry and stories in creative ways I fully support their bid for improving the building. It’s so exciting to think of their library being able to display all their 23,000 books, and that it could become a nationally renowned training centre for teachers, librarians and literacy charities.
Julia Donaldson, Children’s author, former Children’s Laureate and CLPE Supporter

Mr Underbed Declared Winner In The Battle of the Monsters

By Leave a Comment

 

Waterstones

The so-called Battle of the Monsters has proved a canny and lucrative winner for independent publisher Andersen Press and past laureate Chris Riddell.

Andersen Press has seen unprecedented reaction to their marketing campaign, with over 4,500 copies of the book leaving their warehouse before Christmas, the number of orders of the book 9,582% higher in November 2017 than the previous month.

Support across the trade has been incredible, with book shops up-and-down the country tweeting support and ordering in copies to capatalise on the media interest.

Andersen Press created special Mr Underbed posters which over 500 shops received.

Speaking about the campaign Chris Riddell has said; “I have been so heartened by the wonderful support that my picture book Mr Underbed has received after I pointed out similarities with the John Lewis Christmas ad. I think this has sent a powerful message to John Lewis who I hope will work more directly with picture book authors in the future. This Christmas, why not visit a bookshop and buy a picture book as a gift for someone you love? Sharing a book is a gift that keeps on giving.”

Middle Grade Strikes Back: Cover Kids Books

By Leave a Comment

Author SF Said is heading up a campaign to increase the amount of children’s books media coverage, particularly reviews…

#CoverKidsBooks is a campaign for more children’s books media coverage. Our research shows that children’s books currently get just 3% of all book review space in UK national newspapers, despite accounting for over 30% of the market. We believe this needs to change.

In a series of blogs, we’ll be talking to people for whom children’s books coverage is important, and hearing why. We’ll be interviewing booksellers, librarians, teachers, parents, writers & illustrators.

via Middle Grade Strikes Back: Cover Kids Books.

Notes from the Slushpile: Slow Books

By Leave a Comment

Nicky Singer, who launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund publication of a novelisation of her stage-play Island just over a week ago, writes compellingly about her reasons for doing so.

Like Slow Food, and even Slow TV now, Slow Books will be about those quiet, deep things beneath the current market shout of the world. And I have this quiet dream that, one day, Slow Books will gather together writers from all over the world with such stories to tell. And then, maybe, there will be whole shelves of Slow Books. And people who care about such things will walk past the glittery branded covers knowing that, on the Slow Books shelf, they will find something worth dreaming about.

via Notes from the Slushpile: Slow Books.

CBI reveals Stories Are For Everyone line-up – includes Dav Pilkey!

By Leave a Comment

Children’s Books Ireland (CBI) has announced the line-up for Stories Are For Everyone, a year-long campaign to get children across Ireland reading.
 
Throughout October, the first month of the campaign, local authors including Louise O’Neill, Nicola Pierce and Andrew Whitsun, will read from their books in libraries and schools, alongside international authors such as the German writer Binette Schroeder, American Dav Pilkey and Jeremy Strong from the UK.

via CBI reveals Stories Are For Everyone line-up | The Bookseller.

Ba Ba Dum Language Extension Campaign

By Leave a Comment

The Polish husband and wife team Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielińscy have been running an online fundraising campaign to finance the addition of more languages to their vocabulary learning game Ba Ba Dum.

The campaign ends today and has already reached its initial target ($900 dollars to add Portugues), but there is still time to contribute funds for additoinal languages and to become eligible for the incentive rewards which kick in for a las little as $5.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ba-ba-dum-language-extension/

Waterstones Supports Campaign to end gender-specific children’s books

By Leave a Comment

guardiansmall

A national campaign to stop children’s books being labelled as "for boys" or "for girls" has won the support of Britain’s largest specialist bookseller Waterstones, as well as children’s laureate Malorie Blackman, poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Philip Pullman and a handful of publishers.

The Let Books Be Books campaign seeks to put pressure on retailers and publishers not to market children’s books that promote "limiting gender stereotypes".

In the week since its launch it has been backed by publishers Parragon and Usborne, as well as authors including Ros Asquith, Mary Hoffman, Eileen Browne, Pippa Goodhart, Laura Dockrill, James Dawson, Harriet Evans and the former children’s laureate Anne Fine.

via Campaign to end gender-specific children's books gathers high-profile publishing support | Books | The Guardian.