A former Collins publicist remembers the day children’s author Alison Uttley (I loved her Sam Pig stories as a kid) attacked a group of children with an umbrella. Ahhh, they don’t make grumpy old authors like they used to. Imagine if she went on Oprah? I’m sure she’d be wielding the brolly within minutes.
Archive for the ‘children's book’ Category
Bribing Kids to Read
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009Desperate times call for desperate measures…I guess.
A Wellington School in New Zealand has resorted to bribing its students to read. Read two books and you get a can of Coke. Reading five earns a coupon for Subway. Reach the great total of ten books and the prize is a movie ticket.
15 Collectible Editions of Alice in Wonderland
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009Everyone seems to be chattering about the gorgeous teaser photos from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and I can see why - the rich color, fantastical distortion and surreal decor certainly lend an air of magic and excitement to the project.
And I can think of no better subject for Burton’s brand of weird, dark, beautiful and grotesque art than Lewis Carroll’s Alice books. From the hookah smoking caterpillar to the Cheshire cat, Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum to the white rabbit, the books were wonderful and nightmarish, hallucinogenic and marvellous, full of lush, strange imagery throughout.
If you’ve never read the book of Alice in Wonderland it’s well worth it. Carroll’s talking animals, funny backward logic and adventures are perfect for children, and the vivid imagery and bizarre story are dark and interesting enough to have adults turning pages, too.
Here are some more beautiful Alice in Wonderland pictures - this time, of some of the collectible, unusual and always gorgeous editions of Alice in Wonderland available on AbeBooks.
Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland
Monday, June 22nd, 2009Pretty pictures from Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.
Another Children’s Adventure Series Adapting to Film
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
In the wake of the success of the Harry Potter movies and the flop of the Inkheart film, another children’s adventure series will be coming to theatres. Rights to Ian Beck’s stories of Tom Trueheart, a boy who follows his older brothers into the Land of Stories have reportedly been picked up by Freelight Productions and David Uslan. In fact they’ve picked up rights to a trilogy - the third of which Beck is yet to write.
I haven’t read the books but from the comments I’ve seen, kids really seem to enjoy them.
Book 1: The Secret History of Tom Trueheart
Book 2: Tom Trueheart and the Land of Dark Secrets
Trailer for the upcoming film:
Harry Potter and the Plagarism Claims
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009It would appear that JK Rowling is facing not one but two accusations of plagarism.
John Buechler, director of the film Troll claims that Rowling used a script from the film to create her Harry Potter series. Buechler says the film is based on the experiences of a young wizard and wants to prove to Warner Bros that Troll was actually the beginning of Harry Potter.
Secondly, the family of late English writer Adrian Jacobs is suing Rowling and her publisher for £500million. They claim that Harry Potter was copied from Jacobs’ Willy the Wizard. The manuscript for Willy was sent to Bloomsbury Publishing’s literary agent Christopher Little who later represented Rowling, but the book was rejected. The book was published by a smaller company under the name The Adventures Of Willy The Wizard No 1: Livid Land. Jacobs died in 1997, before the success of Harry Potter played out but now his estate which includes his son and grandson, claim that Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire was plagarised.
Now doesn’t this also mean that John Buechler should be suing Jacobs’ estate and vice-versa?!
Tales for Tots Tuesday: Nursery Rhymes and Poetry
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009From Elizabeth Kennedy of About.com comes this article with 5 Top Picks - Children’s Books with Rhymes and Fun:
Young children love the sounds of rhythms and rhymes, from Mother Goose and other traditional rhymes to recently written rhymes. When the rhymes are coupled with engaging illustrations, children tend to enjoy hearing (and seeing) them again and again. A nice side benefit is that rhymes, alliteration, and other word play are great ways to begin to prepare children to learn to read.
- Good for You by Stephanie Calmenson
Subtitled Toddler Rhymes for Toddler Times, Stephanie Calmenson’s entertaining book celebrates all that toddlers can do, from playing on the playground to using the potty. Other topics include colors, manners, counting, the alphabet, animals, travel, families, and friends. The two dozen poems feature the bright and lively artwork of Melissa Sweet. - Four in All by Nina Payne, Adam Payne (Illus.)
Both the poetry and the artwork in Four in All are unusual and affecting. Written by poet Nina Payne and illustrated by her son, Adam Payne, the text features just 56 common nouns set in verses that are surrounded by dramatic cut-paper collages. The story of a young child’s adventure is told in such verses as “oats wheat corn rye / sun moon stars sky.” - Playtime Rhymes for Little People by Clare Beaton
Clare Beaton’s book features her imaginative fabric and trim collages and 40 well-loved rhymes and finger plays. Many, like “I’m a Little Teapot,” will be familiar to you; others may be new to you. The finger play instructions that accompany each rhyme are particularly helpful and ensure that you and your child will get the maximum enjoyment from the book. - Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose
This delightful book contains 200 rhymes, ranging from such familiar Mother Goose rhymes as “Old Mother Hubbard”, “Simple Simon,” and “Little Miss Muffet” to “Yankee Doodle” and other traditional rhymes. The folkart-style illustrations from the talented dePaola are full of good cheer and include a diverse group of children, adults, and farm animals. - The House That Jack Built by Diana Mayo
The constant repetition in this traditional rhyme is particularly appealing to young children. Diana Mayo’s large and vivid illustrations cover the pages, bringing life to each verse. There are a lot of details in the pictures that children will have fun identifying. This rhyme is one that three- to five-year-olds will enjoy learning to recite.
Meet Britain’s New Children’s Laureate, Anthony Browne
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
Anthony Browne, author and illustrator of such books as Willy the Chimp, Gorilla and Zoo has been named Britain’s sixth laureate for children. 
Browne intends to use his two year appointment as laureate to promote illustrated books which he feels are undervalued - “I’ve heard parents say, ‘oh you don’t want to get a book like that, come and get a proper book’. I think it’s a terrible shame that picture books and pictures in general (are viewed in this way),” Browne commented to Reuters.
Mal Peet - Pushing Barriers for Young Readers
Monday, June 8th, 2009
Australian newspaper The Age published an interesting article about British author Mal Peet this weekend.
Peet hates the title of “young-adult writer” and vehemently opposes comments about books being too ambitious, philosophical or complex for a teenage novel. “It’s like saying teenage fiction is a feast of the second best; because your readers are young they have to be given simple, straightforward, spoonfed, cliched bollocks,” he says.
Top 10 Rascals in Literature
Thursday, June 4th, 2009The bloggers over at weloveyouso.com put together a list of the Top 10 Rascals in Literature, as follows:
1. Max (Where the Wild Things Are)
2. Curious George (from H.A. Rey’s Curious George series)
3. Huck Finn (Mark Twain’sAdventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn)
4. Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking books)
5. Scout Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)
6. Oliver Twist (Dickens’ Oliver Twist)
7. Ramona Quimby (Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books)
8. Holden Caulfield (The Catcher in the Rye)
9. Brer Rabbit (Joel Chandler Harris’ Brer Rabbit books)
10. Harriet the Spy (Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy books)
It’s a pretty spot-on list, by my calculations, though I would definitely argue that Holden Caulfield doesn’t belong on there - he was too old, and too serious and too sad. I think we need Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox on there for sure - as a child I delighted in the brazen way he thumbed his nose at the three beastly farmers.
“But it’s not a children’s book.”
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
I love this story from Book Expo America about Paul Auster, who discovered that his 1999 novel, Timbuktu, had also been turned into a children’s book by his publisher - yet his publisher had never told him about it.
There’s two possible takes on this 1) Publishers can’t be trusted further than you can throw them 2) Publishers can very, very stupid.
The children’s version has a friendly fluffy dog while the adult version has a rather more threatening canine.
Tales for Tots Tuesday: Chester by Mélanie Watt
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
On May 19 student jurors chose Canadian author, Mélanie Watt’s Chester’s Back! as the picture book category winner of the 2009 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards.
As a tribute, Tales for Tots this week looks back at the first Chester book (published in 2007).
Chester is really a story within a story. Chester, an egomaniacal cat (go figure), attempts to take over Mélanie Watt’s tale of a mouse that lives in the country. (I guess he succeeds since the book is called Chester. ) The two battle for control as Chester scribbles his own ideas down in red marker. The mouse exclaims that he can’t work under such conditions and Watts brings out her ultimate weapon - you’ll have to read the book to find out what that is! :)
Chester is a clever book, full of humor, gentle sarcasm and an entertaining battle-of-the-wills. Both parents and cat-people will relate to the difficulties Watts faces throughout the story. :) Watt’s illustrations are priceless (I especially love the wet cat image!) and there’s lots of “little things” that can be seen outside of the main images.
I highly recommend Chester and I can’t wait to take a look at Chester’s Back!
There’s Waldo!
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
After starting off in the UK as “Where’s Wally?“, the question “Where’s Waldo?” globalized.
Waldo, created by illustrator Martin Hanford, dressed in a red-and-white striped shirt and hat and carrying a walking stick finds himself ‘lost’ amongst complex pictures and it’s up to readers to locate him.
Soon enough he’ll be easy to spot…in movie theatres. Chris Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment and Universal is bringing the popular character to the big screen.
The plot features a 30-year-old Waldo who, after accidentally activating a malfunctioning time machine, travels through time.
Puffin archive
Monday, June 1st, 2009
Lucy Mangan, from the Guardian, visits the Puffin archive. AbeBooks has 163,000 Puffin books for sale by the way. My six-year-old and I are reading a Puffin book right now - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis. It’s the 1975 paperback - the edition I read as a child. We’re steadily ploughing through the Narnia books at a rate of knots.
Daddy, what does honour mean?
Daddy, what’s a centaur?
Daddy, what’s an archer?
Daddy, how can I get into Narnia?
20 best adventure books
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
I really enjoyed writing this feature about the 20 best adventure books of all time - each one is truly timeless. Some are a little old fashioned but that’s OK with me. I became really nostalgic for my childhood as I was trying to remember all these books. And then it all came flooding back to me - the wild celtic tribesmen in Eagle of the Ninth, Davie Balfour fleeing across the Highlands in Kidnapped, Billy Bones and the black spot, the fort defended by deadmen in Beau Geste, Edmond Dantès’ revenge, Captain Nemo and Buck’s fight for survival in the Yukon.
Enjoy - here’s the full feature.