Spring has Sprung - books and Easter

It's the first day of Spring, what better way to come back to the Blog and make up for my remiss in not keeping you updated!

It is also the perfect day for all things outdoors and fun, plus as Easter is almost upon us some Easter activity doesn't go amiss either.

This afternoon I've been busy celebrating Spring, being outdoors and organising an Easter Egg Hunt for the local community in which my School is located. Over 50 families and 100 children came along for some fun and games all of which was fantastically supported by the gerous publishers of children's books and so it is that I extend my thanks to:

Egmont - I cannot extend a big enough thank you for providing me with enough Thomas the Tank Engine books for every family to take one home. 

PenguinRandomHouse and Walker Books - the children loved their stickers, thank you!

Bloomsbury, Hodder, HarperCollins - thank you very much for the books that went into our raffle and were much sought after!

Nosy Crow - the children loved the balloons and the outdoor goodies were perfect for the raffle, there were some very happy children... :)

Children made their own baskets, went on a hunt and then had the chance to meet the Easter bunny for their chocolate prize and extra gifts, they then all piled ono the School Quad to play games and enjoy the great outdoors.  May Easter nests were consumed along with yummy biscuits, colouring in was done and a great time had by all.

The books we had were perfect too - Thomas and the Easter Egg Hunt was a real hit not only with children who love Thomas already but with them all as they sat with parents and began to share the story - so lovely to see.  Emma the Easter Fairy was a popular choice among the older children and the bundles of books much sought after which was heartwarming to see - so many children who knew their book characters and were keen to get a new book.

So a large group of children in Leatherhead Surrey have this afternoon had their first Easter Egg hunt, played outdoors as the National Trust and their books urge us to do and they have hopefully all gone home ready to read and keep books alive and well.

Let's hope we can have more such occasions and grow more small people into big readers!

An Award Winning Book

Here at Armadillo Magazine we focus on literarure for children and young adults but occasionally something comes to our attention that we think it is important to share, this Blog post is about such a something … important for its coverage of a minority group of fiction writers read on to find out more and be inspired for your own reading if not for the reading of your children, just yet at least …

The Prize … The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2016 

The Winner … Anuradha Roy for Sleeping on Jupiter 

Anuradha Roy is Economist Crossword Prize for Fiction winner for her novel The Folded Earth.  Her first novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, has been widely translated and was named by World Literature Today as one of the sixty essential books on modern India. Anurdha lives in Ranikhet.

The Plot … A train stops at a railway station. A young woman jumps off. She has wild hair, sloppy clothes, a distracted air. She looks Indian, yet is somehow not. The sudden violence of what happens next leaves the other passengers gasping.

The train terminates at Jarmuli, a temple town by the sea. Here, among pilgrims, priests and ashrams, three old women disembark only to encounter the girl once again.

What is someone like her doing in this remote corner, which attracts only worshippers?

Over the next five days, the old women live out their long-planned dream of a holiday together; their temple guide finds ecstasy in forbidden love; and the girl is joined by a photographer battling his own demons.

Evil and violence lie beneath the serene surface of this town becoming evident when lives overlap and collide. Unexpected connections are revealed between devotion and violence, friendship and fear as Jarmuli is revealed as a place with a long, dark past that transforms all who encounter it. This is a stark and unflinching novel by a spellbinding storyteller, about religion, love, and violence in the modern world.

16^th January 2016; Sri Lanka:  In a glittering ceremony, the US $50,000 DSC Prize along with a unique trophy was awarded by Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to Anuradha Roy.

The six  shortlisted authors and novels in contention for the DSC Prize this year were Akhil Sharma: Family Life (Faber & Faber, UK), Anuradha Roy: Sleeping on Jupiter (Hachette, India), K.R. Meera: Hangwoman (Translated by J Devika; Penguin, India), Mirza Waheed: The Book of Gold Leaves (Viking/Penguin India), Neel Mukherjee: The Lives of Others (Vintage/Penguin Random House, UK) and Raj Kamal Jha: She Will Build Him A City (Bloomsbury, India).

Now in its sixth year, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is an established international literary prize that awards the best work in South Asian fiction writing each year. This year the DSC Prize received 74 entries with entries from publishers from the South Asian region as well as the UK, US, Canada, Australia and South Africa amongst others. The Prize specifically focuses on South Asian writing.  It is not ethnicity driven by the origin of the author and is open to any author whose story is based on the South Asian region and its people.  

The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2016 was judged by a five member jury panel comprised of Mark Tully, Chair of the jury panel and renowned journalist; Dennis Walder, Emeritus Professor of Literature at the Open University, UK; Karen Allman, highly respected book seller and literary coordinator based in Seattle, USA; Neloufer de Mel, Senior Professor of English at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Syed Manzoorul Islam, celebrated Bangladeshi writer, translator, critic and academic.

Speaking on the occasion, Mark Tully on behalf of the jury commented “We had a shortlist of six outstanding books. Their excellence made our task particularly difficult. We chose Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy because of its elegance, flair and readability. It raises many issues succinctly and with commendable economy of words. The South Asian setting is described faithfully and evocatively. Among the issues raised are the power of memory and myth, religious hypocrisy, sexuality, abuse and other forms of violence. The novel contains powerful portraits of both major and minor characters. We believe this book will be a source of inspiration to other writers.”

Surina Narula, MBE and co-founder of the DSC Prize said The winning novel highlights the changing dynamics in South Asian life and culture in a unique way.

The last five winners of the DSC Prize have been Jhumpa Lahiri (The Lowland:  Vintage Books/Random House, India), Cyrus Mistry (Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer: Aleph Book Company, India), Jeet Thayil (Narcopolis: Faber & Faber, London), Shehan Karunatilaka (Chinaman: Random House, India) and HM Naqvi (Home Boy: Harper Collins, India). Each of these winners has gone on to be published internationally and their work has reached a larger global audience which has been one of the central visions of the DSC Prize.

Read this year’s winner or one of the previous and find out for yourselves how great this literature is.

Books with meaning

Now I know all books have meaning, to any author or illustrator associated with them, to their editors and publishers but perhaps most of all to their readers ... and so with this in mind I have two very special books to recommend.

Both books are from Nosy Crow, a small, independent and very high quality publishers whose books each year are few but amazing.

The first book, a Christmas title with a supremely important message is linked to the ongoing refugee crisis and as such is Nosy Crow's way of doing something to help by raising money and also helping parents to address the difficult questions children may raise when they see the news coverage.

The book is incredibly moving, so beautifully written it will take your breath away and its text is so well matched to its illustrations that although the story may seem familiar it is also at once new and different.  No money will go to Nosy Crow if you buy this book, all those involved in its sale and distribution have waived their fees, and only the printing costs need to be covered which means £5 from each and every copy sold will go directly to War Child 

This is an important book not only this Christmas but throughout the year too, those who have children in the family or who work with children will find it moving and invaluable and I encourage you all to find a copy.

So what is its story? It is the Christmas story focusing on the fleeing of Jesus and his parents from the soldiers of Herod, into sanctuary in Egypt.  Told from the perspective of the donkey who carries them on their journey this is a clever, thoughtful, lyrical and beautiful book.

Another, completely different book from Nosy Crow yet still a very special one, is The Many Worlds of Albie Bright by Christopher Edge.   Published on 14th January this is a short insight for you into what promises to be an early hit in 2016.  I ma quite certain that this book will find its way into the hearts of children and adults alike with its honest and curious Albie searching for meaning after loosing his mother to her battle against cancer.  Whilst the book is amusing, easy to read and fun it is also serious at its heart and helps us all, adults and children alike, to understand how we can cope when we lose a loved one and also how the universe and quantum physics may have a bigger role to play than we could ever imagine!

A Christmas Round-Up

What a wonderful selection of Christmas books have been made available this year for readers of all ages and whilst for the younger members of our audience many of these have a Christmas theme some are just very good books that Christmas allows the leisure of time to read!

It is with enormous thanks to Macmillan books that I present you with the first part of my selection, a wonderful parcel of goodies that arrived in my office just this week , part two is a pair of books from Hot Key Books and Picacdilly Press' Christmas highlights, then if you head over to Armadillo Magazine you will see a great selection from a variety of publishers to read this Christmas (these are featured as a round-up in the Also Out section but don't forget all the other great books that we feature too!)

Now back to my current selection, sitting next to me on the desk and begging for readers just like you are ...

The Macmillan Alice, Advice for Modern Women: What Would Alice Do? with a foreword by Lauren Laverne.  In this wonderful pocket-sized book are selected quotes from Alice on the themes of Inspiration, what to do when having a bad day or a tough day at work - keep your sense of humour and remember that each day will come to a natural end!.  And so it goes on with plenty of wit and humour these selected quotes will help you get through the day and maybe even encourage you to read Alice all over again, a real treat and beautifully illustrated too.

If getting through the day means having a good colouring in or doodle session then Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: A Colouring Book could be just what you need and in fact is featured in the Winter edition of Armadillo.  Or why try something from our current Children's Laureate, Chris Riddell's Doodle a Day should keep many a doodler happy for an entire year ... packed with Chris' own illustrations and plenty of tips and hints this book could create some master doodlers in a year's time!

Three stories in one slim book make up the very special The Christmas Star: A Festive Story Collection from Eva Ibbotson.  Read and discover how a young Viennese girl discovers the magical meaning behind the family celebrations or how the words of a fortune teller can change the life of a family and finally a heroic fish who, destined for the Christmas dinner plate wins over his would-be eaters!

For comedy at Christmas try William at Christmas by Richmal Compton or for comedy of a non-christmasy but still very funny type why not pick up Mooneboy: The Fish Detective by Chris O'Dowd and Nick V. Murphy, the hardback has a great front cover cut out feature and the story - well it is just a laugh a page!

A Thousand Nights by E. K, Johnston is a classic re-imagining of the famous 1,001 Arabian Nights story and has been reviewd in Armadillo so I won't go into detail again here suffice to say it is an arresting, clever and unusual read.
Another title already mentioned in our main magazine is Julia Donaldson's What the Ladybird Heard Next with its glorious glittery cover this is a must read for fans of the little ladybird and the wonderful creative imagination of Julia Donaldson and her illustrator Lydia Monks.

From Hot Key and Macmillan not only two charming books but they were in a delightful red envelope complete with snowflakes and a mini candy cane, quite charming.  snowball: The Baby Bigfoot is a delightful addition to The Secret Animal Society series by Ruth Symes and illustrated by Tina Marchington.  The story is perfect for younger readers with its mix of fantasy and reality, the delightful characterisation and the warm appealing story.  Lily and the Christmas Wish by Keris Stainton is a magical Christmas story abut how wishes really can come true, in the most unexpected of ways.  This magical story of mix-ups is a delightful read, perfect for sharing at Christmas and ideal for helping to realise that there are many ways in which wishes can come true - not always for the best ...

To conclude this blog two very Christmasy titles, from Macmillan imprint Campbell books Busy Santa a board book introducing the youngest of readers to the busy time that Santa has every Christmas with plenty of options to 'push, pull and slide' keeping little fingers busy... then The Best Christmas Present Ever by Ben Mantle with its glorious glittery snowy cover and wonderful story of love and friendship at Christmas what could be a better way to round off this Blog?

As always your comments welcomed...

Barrington Stoke at its very best

A round-up of titles from Barrington Stoke …

In this week's Blog, reviewer and teacher Simon Barrett rounds-up and reviews a selection of some of Barrington Stoke's excellent titles...

Barrington Stoke's latest publications offer great reads for young people with a reading age of eight.  There are a number of books aimed at young readers from eight to twelve years old.  As ever, it includes new stories by great authors, this time including Jonathan Stroud (The Ghost of Shadow Vale) and Terry Deary (The Hat Trick), not reviewed here but certainly recommended reads. 

A book I do want to tell you more about is written by Tony Bradman and tells the story of the legendary king, Harald Hardrada in Harald Hardnut.  Harald had fled Norway when he was fifteen, using his sword to carve out a fierce some reputation.  With his comrades-in-arms Ulf and Haldor, Harald became a bodyguard to the Emperor himself, before winning the hand of a Russian Princess.  Upon becoming King of Norway, Harald eventually became bored of court life.  Then, he accepted one last challenge, to take the throne of England.  Harald couldn’t have been happier than meeting Harold, son of Goodwin in battle at Stamford Bridge in 1066.

In addition there a number of books of interest to teenagers: Dream On, The Return of Johnny Kemp and The Devil's Angel and The Diary of an (Un) teenager.

In Dream On, Baljit dreams of being a football star.  His teacher thinks he is good enough even to go for trials at Leicester City.  Baljit’s parents however want him to stop dreaming.  They think he should focus on a doing well at school and getting a good job.  Then his cousin Mandip comes up with a brilliant idea of a school trip to fool Baljit’s parents, allowing him to go to the trials.   Baljit however will have to overcome racism off and on the pitch if he is to prove he is the better player.  It also means lying to his parents.

Dan, in The Return of Johnny Kemp, is in deep trouble.  The school bully – Johnny Kemp – is back and Dan is the one who was responsible for him being excluded for two weeks.  The message from the Baxter brothers and all his classmates is that Dan is a dead man.  No one seems to listen and no one is on his side.  So it is up to Dan to face Johnny.  There can only be one winner.  This is a brilliantly written story about school bullying with one surprising twist at the end.

The Devil’s Angel by Kevin Brooks explores the growing friendship between Jack and new bad boy in town, Dean.  In an intense summer, involving drink and drugs, Jack and Dean seem to relish the rock and roll life, until Dean picks a fight with the wrong people.  It is an interesting story of a band nearly making it and an unlikely friendship, beginning and then drifting apart.  This book will interest teenage readers with a reading age of 8.

Spencer is in shock.  His best friend Zac turns thirteen and changes into a skater, complete with a hoodie and a skateboard.  Spencer is thirteen in a few weeks, but vows to not change.  He is going to be an (un) teenager.

Diary of an (Un) teenager by Pete Johnson is the hilarious story of Spencer refusing to change.  His lego and model airplanes are firmly staying in his room.  Neither is he going to buy new trainers, when his old (and slightly smelly) ones are perfectly suitable for a kick about in the park.  Spencer's resolve is however fully tested when he receives an anonymous birthday card and a badly drawn heart in the corner.

Spencer is back in Return of the (Un) teenager.  This time Spencer has to contend with the fact his voice is breaking and that his best friend Zac has made loads of new friends on Facebook, including his new girlfriend Sarah.  Spencer's relationship with Emily is not going very well. Return of the (Un) teenager is another comic story of miscommunication.

The anniversary of WWI has inspired a number of novels from Barrington Stoke.  The two latest books by Alan Gibbons and Tony Bradman fictionalize their own personal, family histories relating to WWI and WWII.

Street Corner Dad by Alan Gibbons tells the story of Jimmy and his sister Molly who are forced to meet their father secretly on a street corner when a family tragedy tears the family apart.  Their Dad’s promise that nothing will keep them apart in this world or the next seems ill-fated as news arrives that his ship has been torpedoed.  This is an excellent story aimed at a reading age of 7 and an interest age of 7-12 years old.

ANZAC Boys by Tony Bradman is based upon the lives of his Grandfather Bert and his brother Frank.  Orphaned, the boys are transported by priests to the otherwise side of the world.  Upon arrival Bert’s promise that he will always look after Frank is quickly broken as Bert is sent to Australia and Frank to New Zealand.  Bert tries with no success to find Frank, until remarkably, they meet up by chance preparing for the WWI battle of Gallipoli.  Sadly the reunion is not the happy one Bert intends.  This is a story for a reading age of 8 and interest age of 9+.

Also published is a new story by Malorie Blackman illustrated by Matthew Griffin entitled Robot Girl.  The author brilliantly subverts the genre as Claire becomes jealous of her father’s new creation.  Once again he is spending hours in his laboratory, working on a new project to create an artificial intelligence, using Claire’s own brain patterns without her permission.  Claire’s new friend Maisie is the only person who seems to understand.  The story is intended for a reading age of 8 and an interest age of 8-12 years old.

Quite a selection so hopefully something for everyone and a great variety too!

Starting Summer with a Celebration!

I love a summer celebration and there have already been a few with more to come … these have been celebrations of the book launch and party kind, for new books in the meantime however there are also celebrations of old books to note this summer.

Well when I say old, I mean the books are having their anniversaries and as such there are in fact new editions and spin offs to celebrate.

Let us start with Thomas the Tank Engine, he must be everyone’s favourite little engine I am sure and so it is only right that we celebrate 70 years of being able to enjoy his stories with a charming new series of picture books and a wonderful slipcase, hardback edition of the first and absolutely classic title.  This wonderful celebratory edition introduces us to Thomas and friends in a classic story that has withstood the test of time and includes too photographs and sketches that have not been seen before and will delight fans and enthusiasts old and new.

An older book is Alice in Wonderland, which, this summer is celebrating 150 years in print and there have been a wealth of titles published to help the celebrations along.  A Little Folks Edition puts the story into the smallest of hands in a charming hardback edition with wonderful watercolour illustrations.  This miniature was in fact first published by Macmillan in 1907 and at only a sixth of the length of the story is perfect for the youngest reader as an introduction to the story.  Then there is the story with a foreword by Hilary McKay in a charming classic edition from Macmillan Classics, this is a hardback book for collectors to treasure.  The Nursery Alice, first published in 1890 as the very first colour edition has been faithfully reproduced and adapted for the younger reader to enjoy an then for the very youngest there is a board book complete with holes to poke fingers through, sliders and even flaps giving a wonderful interactive feel to the story.  Busy Alice in Wonderland  is a delight!

If all this is not enough to fill your book case then look to Andersen Press who also have an Alice title, this one retold and illustrated by Tony Ross.  The Andersen Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a perfect abridgement of the original story magically retold and stunningly illustrated.

Brandon Robshaw's Guest Post

The author Brandon Robshaw, who has recently has his book The Big Wish published by Chicken House, writes here for us about his experiences of Writing for Children.  Before you read his piece however a few words about his charming book.  The book features Sam, a young boy who is given what many children may consider the best gift ever, unending wishes.  The trouble is he soon learns that you really do have to be careful what you wish for and that perhaps this gift that keeps on giving is not really what he wanted...

WRITING FOR CHILDREN

Children hate being bored. Everybody hates being bored, of course, but when we are young there is something peculiarly painful and intolerable about it. I can remember as a child being ready to scream with boredom on long car journeys, or in afternoon lessons where time seemed to have stopped. And I didn't put up with boring books. If a book was boring I threw it aside and found something else to do. On the other hand, if the book was interesting it could put me into a trance. I would lose myself in it completely.

If you want to write for children, it's important not to forget this. An adult reader might put up with a few boring pages, and be prepared to wait for the good bits. But a child reader, justifiably enough, wants it all to be good bits, starting from page one. This is even truer today than it once was, for now there are far more rival attractions than there used to be. Kids can spend their time playing Minecraft, or surfing the net, or going on social media instead of reading books. So reading has to be fun, if it's going to compete.

What makes reading fun, then? I'd say there are four important things:

1)    The book has to be written from the heart. If a writer thinks, ‘I know, I'll write a book about superheroes because that's really popular with kids’, it's unlikely that the book will be very interesting. But if the writer thinks, ‘I wonder what it would be like to really have superpowers, that would be amazing!’, then the book will come from the heart, and that will carry across to the reader.

2)    The language. It has to be fresh and clear and bright. No waffling. Descriptions should be vivid but short. Dialogue should be quick and punchy – no long speeches – and it should sound natural. This doesn't mean the vocabulary has to be simplistic. Children like learning new words, and they like silly, quirky, made-up words, too.

3)    The pace. It should be swift. Something happening on every page. Enough said.

4)    The story. Children have a strong sense of wonder, and they like stories with wonderful, crazy, unlikely or impossible events – as long as the author can make those events feel real. ‘What if’ is one of the most powerful engines to get a story going. What if my best friend turned out to be a spy? What if I could go invisible? What if there was buried treasure under my house and a gang of criminals found out about it? What if my dreams came true? Whether the story is a realistic one or a fantasy, whether it's serious or funny, children want to be able to satisfy that sense of wonder.

But the secret of writing a book that children want to read isn't to tick off these four things one by one. It's to get them all working together at the same time!