An ovedue reading roundup!

Having a passion for anything can sometimes lead to disappointment, particularly if you have set your hopes on it and so it can be with reading.  I have a passion for reading; I want to read every book that comes my way, I then want to share the joy that I have experienced.  Rarely is there a book that I do not enjoy and because I am reading for myself as well as to share with others I am conscious of the fact that even if I did not enjoy the book others will, it may just be that it was not quite the book for me.  This happens.  Very rarely am I ever truly disappointed by a book.  Very often I love a book and the books take me by surprise with their enjoyability!

And so it is, as someone with a passion for books and reading that I read A LOT!  Usually a book a night, thus with a train journey into and out of London this week I had the chance to read more …

From Usborne and Tamsyn Murray came Tanglewood Animal Park: Baby Zebra Rescue a delightful story that is perfect for animal lovers.  Zoe and her little brother have grown up around zoo’s – that is where their parents work and now they are about to live in their own zoo, but all is not well, with poorly and injured animals, a physical structure in need of repair and a very moody vet’s son to contend with will the zoo open on time and will everything be in place?  This is a charming story for those who love animals yet at the same time also a story about friendship, understanding and learning to give and take.

Sedric and the Roman Holiday Rampage by Angie Morgan, Egmont, continues the medieval adventures of Sedric and the gang, this time trying to undo all the trouble caused by Baron Dennis’ rather unpleasant son.  Packed with humour and delightfully illustrated by the author this is a wonderful addition to the series and will have readers laughing with every turn of the page.

Moving up the age groups I came to Magrit by Lee Battersby (Walker Books).  This is a sparse and haunting tale, appropriately set in an abandoned cemetery where Magrit lives with her friend Master Puppet.  They live happily and peacefully until a passing stork drops a bundle and despite his best efforts to dissuade her Master Puppet sees Magrit growing ever closer to the new addition with unfortunate consequences.  A masterful and moving story, delicately and beautifully told.

Then the book that truly took me by surprise, Songs About a Girl by Chris Russell (Hodder Children’s Books).  As a book about a boy band and a young girl I am sure you can imagine where I thought this was going … but it didn’t.  This is an honest and truthful story about the trials and tribulations of fame, about understanding people and friends, how they work and why.  Charlie is a great character the true geek yet hiding a streak of rebellion whilst Melissa, the archetypal best friend may not be all that she seems and the same applies to the boyband.  With a rollercoaster ride of emotions this book is packed with page-turning elements and is a really good read.

Father’s Day was last Sunday and what better way to celebrate that by asking dad to read you a story about … Dad’s?

If your dad is new to his role then you could start off with School for Dads by Charlotte Guillain and illustrated by Ada Grey (Egmont) through which your dad will learn about how not to be late for pick up, how to pay attention to you and not his phone and how sometimes the children just need to take charge!  Dad’s will learn an lot from this delightful book, children will love the action in the pictures and it will have created a wonderful sharing experience too.

The Best Bit of Daddy’s Day by Claire Alexander (Egmont) anthropomorphises the roles of father and son into Daddy and Bertie, two dogs, both delightful and appealing to small children.   Bertie’s daddy is a driver of wonderful trucks and diggers and of course Bertie would love to do this too so when he discovers a special surprise waiting for him at school it seems that their days may well be just the same.  This is a lovely, simple story, about understanding, overcoming anxiety and sharing experiences.

Amazing Daddy by Rachel Bright (Orchard Books) features two pandas, Daddy Panda and Little Panda sharing a day together all their special moments.  Celebrating the special relationship between father and son this is a warm, loving book and the perfect title for father’s day.

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!

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.

Picture Book Joy

I really can't believe it has been so long since I last posted I actually thought it had only been a week or two so my sincere apologies, in all that time I have not stopped reading but once again I am posting this on a Friday evening after a more hectic than ever week so once again I am indulging in my favourite past time of picture books and what a delight they have been. 

If you ever need to bring a smile to your face these books can really help, they are quite honestly disarmingly wonderful, simple yet complicated, intricate in their images yet just stunning to admire and books that make you want to shout out loud from the rooftops just how wonderful they and their creators are.  I could not get through my week without some gorgeous picture books to read and share and I defy anyone not to love at least one of what is to follow.

In no particular order what follows is a few of my thoughts on my small(!) pile of reading!

Ace Dragon Ltd is a collaboration between Russell Hoban and Quentin Blake a classic story published by Walker Books and a dream team collaboration of words and pictures that will have you laughing out loud.  This is an adventure in the sky, a story of a little boy and quite a big dragon.  It is a story about learning to believe that if you want to do something you need to try it, nothing is impossible (in the imagination at least) and you just never know where you might go, who you might become and why a bale of hay may be just the thing you need!

Little Bell and the Moon by Giles Paley-Philips and Iris Deppe is a gentle, warm and delightful bedtime story.  From its front cover  - a big round smiley moon holding hands with a little girl, you just know that this is going to be a very special adventure that will produce the sweetest of dreams and demand regular nightly reads. Its soft and muted pallet is the perfect relaxant and its simple but evocative words will lull the reader into a place of warmth and security in time for sleep.  Its subject - growing old - is rare and it is dealt with in a very sensitive way, charming, unusual and a delight, thank you Fat Fox for publishing this one.

Now for a splash of colour and perhaps even a splosh in the ocean join Mouse in a glorious rhyming sea adventure.  The Mouse Who Sailed the Seas by Amy Sparkes and Nick East (Egmont) is funny and silly a great book for sharing and for using to delight children with the idea of rhyme and great adventure going hand in hand.  Remember to look closely at the artwork too and see what Mouse really gets up to and discovers on his adventures - hours of fun!

Out of this world adventures are always fun to read and Space Walkies is one such book with a difference, here we have a dog in space!  Suspend disbelief for who knows, this could really happen ... however when Bailey the dog finds himself in space he may meet alien life but what he really thinks he would like is to have a walkie with his very own Orson again.  This title, by Robert Dunn, along with Fins Fluff and other Stuff by Bruno Merz and Dreda Blow are both in the QED Storytime series and offer a wonderful rhyming introduction to stories and their sharing.

This next one came in a noisy box - a clever marketing tool that really did get me looking at the book to see what all the noise was about. What did I find?  Nina Goes Barking Mad by Anita Pouroulis and Agata Krawczyk (Digital Leaf) is the mystery picture book story investigating the reason that Nina just won't stop barking but will Jules get to the bottom of all the noise before everyone is driven completely mad?  A silly, funny and lively story about one of the joys of having a pet!

Perhaps what Jules needed was Dinosaur Police by Sarah McIntyre (Scholastic) maybe they could have solved the problem but of course they are busy trying to save the day and the town from a very greedy T-Rex, exuberant fun!

Finally three delightful books from Andersen Press.  Go to Sleep Monty! by Kim Geyer is another lovely bedtime story but not in the way that you might expect.  The naughty culprit who won't go to bed in this one is actually a new puppy and we soon learn that whilst they may look cute they are not always the easiest of pets so just wait and see who it is that ends up going to bed!

Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni is a simple and muted yet lively book about learning how important it is to accept and be just who you are.  This story follows a little tadpole who becomes a frog and finds a new world opening up before his eyes.  But can a frog become a fish and should he?  A clever and insightful story told with great sensitivity.

The Little Bookshop and the Origami Army by Michael Foreman is perhaps a little bit of a favourite, being about bookshops which are of course akin to libraries!  Will the closing down of a bookshop in favour of a supermarket really be allowed to go ahead?  Can Hoey and Origami Girl come to the rescue with their army of characters?  Find out in this exuberant and important story all about the power of reading...

Celebrating Difference

As the summer holidays - for teachers and children at least - draw to a close what better way to be invigorated for the academic year ahead than by reading?  The government may be doing all that it can to encourage reading in all the wrong ways but thankfully authors, booksellers, readers, reviewers. librarians and many teachers are continuing to ensure that children of all ages develop a love of reading that will stay with them for life.

By Celebrating Difference in teen fiction three writers are ensuring that the older readers have plenty of story as well as many issues to get to grips with.

R J Palacio, Sally Gardner and Laura Jarratt were interviewed by Catherine Woodfine from the Booktrust and grilled by an audience of new and avid fans at an event held at Waterstones Piccadilly (London) on Wednesday 14th August.

R J Palacio had quite literally just stepped off a train from Edinburgh where she and Sally Gardner had been part of a panel event.  Laura Jarratt and her husband were just in London for the event and a short overnight stay, the first without the newest addition to their family!  All were wonderfully enthusiastic and full of insightful thoughts on children's literature and how to celebrate difference.

Beginning the evening with a challenge - how to get on the very comfy but high chairs - certainly broke the ice for all and was followed by a brief introduction from Catherine Woodfine to the authors, their books and the concept of celebrating difference - looking at characters who are profoundly different from those around them.

For R J Palacio it is Auggie a 10 year old boy with a cranial facial difference.  Sally Gardener introduces Standish Treadwell, a severe dyslexic and Laura Jarratt uses Jenna, an average teen who wants to fit in and Ryan a traveller boy.  The books, Wonder, Maggot Moon and Skin Deep are all fantastic reading, gripping from page one despite an apparent lack of quest, detective or spy thriller or even vampirical theme!  It just goes to prove that great writing is great writing and can be gripping for itself.

Back to the books and the discussion ...

In Wonder Auggie feels that he is normal, and RJ explores the way in which he faces a world who do not know how to react, this theme of courage is one that is shared by all the books.  So what motivated the authors?  For R J it was personal experience - not knowing how to react when her son was upset at seeing a girl with a facial deformity.  for Sally it was having become so cantankerous when on a diet that she had to shut herself away and write whilst for Laura it was pastoral work with children.

In each book the celebration of difference becomes a strength for the character in question, they begin to accept themselves, gain more empathy with those around them and think outside of the traditional box.

Writing outside the 'box' is however not easy.  R J explained how she had a book about gay characters rejected as marketing were not convinced it would sell and Sally explained how she felt many were too quick to judge.  Read and understand, allow writers to challenge and children to think from within the safety of fiction - this is the message.  A message that is beginning to break through, certainly for R J who has seen a shift in the US book market towards a celebration of difference that does not mean turning into a vampire or werewolf!

For the authors exploring and celebrating difference is not only important for their audience it is important for them too.  Readers can use the books to explore, find themselves, have fun, be individual.  It is a challenge, to create a character who, on the surface appears not to fit in but in reality with a little work, does.  In effect all fiction is about difference, it is the way in which authors approach it that really matters.  Difference is a common theme in humanity and deserves to be celebrated.

So to all those in the audience and now to those of you reading this Blog the message was to be a good writer extrapolate.  Write about what you feel from the gut, imagine.  Believe in your story, tell it over and over again until you get it right and when it burns inside you don't ignore it - write it!