On selective reading....(and the Carnegie)

About four months ago, after a horrible spell with disease, I decided to rekindle this blog. It coincided  with the Carnegie nominations and so I launched myself in to 'shadowing' from the beginning, as I had done a few years ago.

Since our 2014 Carnegie cavortings, a few things have changed: I'm doing it alone (that's a bit boring), the nominations list has jumped from 76 to a whopping 114 books, and I hadn't read a single book on the list (so no head starts).

This meant that I was going to be ultra selective in the books I managed to read: remember, I'm also a slow reader! So this is how my meticulous narrowing down went (yes, I'm a bit like this in real life):

1. Nominations list announced: already a narrowing down of every 'children's/YA' book published in the last awards calendar year; plus, they've 'met' the criteria for being considered an outstanding piece of children's literature (oh yay, lit crit the fun way!).

2. Many publishers send me review copies of their nominated titles (yes, it's a marketing and publicity period of the awards) so I focus on these eighty-one (81! Hardly makes a dent!).

3. I pick up the book, maybe read the blurb, definitely read the first page. This makes three piles: yes, no, maybe (these piles go in boxes and on shelves). The Yes pile: catchy first page (either lyrical, distinctive, or suggestive of subtle humour), or maybe just about a plot or character or theme that interests me (very subjective!). The No pile: voices that whine within the first few sentences, topics or genres that I don't really enjoy, crass humour, first pages that lack a distinct voice. The Maybe pile: neither a Yes nor No but I-don't-think-I'm going-to-have-the-time. And then they're organised by publisher (yep, try to give each one some coverage because, selective as I am, I still try to be a bit fair like that).

4. I start reading - fast (well, for me). Book after book, and making the odd note. It's a headrush and then things start to get a bit samey (jaded me). I slow down, get off my butt and do some non-sedentary activities that get my heart and head pounding. And then I swap the piles of unread books around a bit because my idea of Yes, No, Maybe has changed a bit (fickle!). Plus, some of the books I was excited about didn't go my way so they've been tried-but-not-finished-and put-in-a-box.

5. I start some - and quite enjoy them - but for some reason, I'm pulled away from them (this happens a lot) so they get moved to the 'with-a-bookmark-still-in-them' shelf (The Bombs That Brought Us Together, Girl on a Plane, and The Dog, Ray). Another couple I started and was quite taken by but haven't finished because I've simply logged them as a couple of books that I might recommend for more age-intended readers than myself (Illuminae and Perijee and Me).

6. I start running out of time because my mind has drifted to some adult novels and biographies and some new teen titles and I've been doing a lot more heart-pumping and head-pounding stuff and what do you know, it's longlist day tomorrow!!!!! Oh. So, I've reviewed 17, have tried but not liked 11, and still have quite a few that I would genuinely still like to read whether they're longlisted or not. So, yes, my selective reading, often starts with a list (an awards list, a reading list, a curated list, or an advance-copy list.

7. Everyone will be pleased that I'm not a judge (because I'm so fickle and so slow - plus I'm not a librarian). Longlist tomorrow!

And I made 3 videos (hen I wasn't reading or doing the heart-pumping stuff) showcasing the 81 (or so) titles that I was sent. I had fun with that and made up some categories to put them in. Some of them I'd read, some of them I'd just contemplated. Here's one of them.

Alpha – Bessora and Barroux

Alpha - Bessora & Barroux (translated: Sarah Ardizzone)

Alpha is a book I would have on my coffee table, my reception area table, the boardroom table, the canteen, and definitely in every classroom or library: big, bold, great to look at, immediately immersive, whichever pages you are flicking through and something that I want everyone to see.

This is the story of Alpha, a cabinet maker who journeys from Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire, Africa) to meet his family at the Gare Du Nord (Paris, France, Europe).  Along the way, he compares himself to a backpacking adventurer, although without a visa and dwindling cash, he finds that most other people regard him as an illegal immigrant.

More of Me - Kathryn Evans

More of Me - Kathryn Evans

More of Me - Kathryn Evans

This was the first debut I’ve discovered on this year’s Carnegie nominations list and I was very impressed. Seems a silly thing to say – being impressed by a debut – but, there, I was: More of Me is a lovely solid novel that weaves a gripping and fascinating concept into time loved high school frolics and dramas.

The story concept is intriguing and it maintained my interest the whole way through. Teva is sixteen. She’s just stolen her previous self’s life both literally and not so literally. Horrifyingly and painfully, every year, a new Teva tears her way physically out of the previous Teva. So Teva lives with her mother and no siblings  - but lots of younger Teva’s. But nobody else knows. So, obviously, things are going to be socially tricky and emotionally, mentally, physically torturous for the Teva who is soon to be 17!

More of Me delivers a quietly funny sixth form school story full of boyfriend troubles, friendship circles and worries about personal statements and career choices as well as a sci-fi element exploring the essence of Teva’s being (and maybe even stretching to touch upon self-harming). By weaving the two strands together, the novel also convincingly manages to look at the different stages of childhood and captures the changing emotional and intellectual moods and swings of the teenage years very lovingly.  Talk about an identity crisis!

For all the horror that the concept involves, the novel is actually a light pageturner and probably easily suitable for readers of all ages. I really enjoyed this one. And, there is no cliffhanger!

There are some great book group questions that Kathryn Evans has posted on her website (there are spoilers though so read the book first!).

More of Me won the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Award 2016 and has been nominated for the 2017 Carnegie Medal.

Publication details: Usborne, 2016, London, paperback

This copy: review copy from the publisher

Paper Butterflies - Lisa Heathfield

Paper Butterflies - Lisa Heathfield

Paper Butterflies is an immersive, shocking, beautifully hopeful and single-sitting read. From the first to the last sentence, I loved reading Paper Butterflies. From the first to the last sentence, Paper Butterflies was an emotional experience.

The novel starts with June when she is ten and where we find that she is heinously bullied by her stepmother, Kathleen, and stepsister, Megan. Her stepmother’s behaviour towards June is so awful, it’s really unbelievable. She can’t be doing that, can she? And me asking myself this question is important because it holds a central point of this novel. Will anyone believe a child who claims an adult is doing this to them? Nobody could be so cruel, could they? And if she is, then Kathleen must be a monster.

A few years ago, I read Blood Family by Anne Fine, which also explored child abuse. It was a really dark read and it’s an understatement to say I was not particularly fond of it. I was worried that Paper Butterflies would have the same effect on me, but it didn’t.  It didn’t because Paper Butterflies – although teen novels don’t get much darker than this – threw in a beautiful and enduring hope. This came in the form of a home-schooled boy who made paper sculptures in a field of old trailers. His name was Blister and he lived with the chaotic family of Wicks.

Blister is a fantastic character. He’s welcoming, fascinating, thoughtful, kind – and he’s often scared (of the dark and rollercoasters). He is just what June and the reader needed. Together, June and Blister form a fictional relationship that, for me, rivals that of Maddie and Queenie in Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity (also published by Electric Monkey!). While this is a novel that explores difficult physical, psychological and moral issues linked to abuse, it is also a novel about a beautiful and blossoming friendship.

Paper Butterflies is straightforward storytelling and the writing flows effortlessly. A before/after structure adds a little suspense to the plot but it also offers the reader some clues as to where this novel might take them.

I finished this novel and went to sleep but I kept waking up in the night playing things over in my mind. Notably, this is not a customary habit of mine in response to a novel. But here I was, pondering and a bit heartbroken. I really wanted time to turn back - for June. Oh yes, this was a fiction. I forgot.

Highly recommended.

Some questions that the novel raises (for me)

• Where does blame or fault for abuse lie? Where does it begin and where does it end?
• What makes a functional or dysfunctional family? Is it biological parents? Is it families who send their children to school? Is it nothing to do with the form and more to do with their behaviour?
• Was Kathleen a monster? How about Megan? Or June’s dad? Or June? And what do you think about June’s dead mom?
• Can monstrous actions be excused?
• Because of the age of the characters throughout, is this really YA? I think it is and that the age of characters isn’t always the most important aspect.
• On a light note, can you use glue when you make paper sculptures?

****

Paper Butterflies has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2017.

Publication details:

Electric Monkey (Egmont), London, 2016, paperback

This copy: review copy from the publisher

Sophie Someone - Hayley Long

Sophie Someone – Hayley Long

Sophie Someone - Hayley Long

Sophie Someone is a pacy mystery full of more laughter than tears with an intriguing use of wordplay.  I really enjoyed this novel.

The plot is about fourteen year old Sophie whose family moved them in cloaked circumstances to Belgian. She finds the new language difficult but by the time she’s fourteen, Sophie starts putting bits and pieces together that make her wonder who exactly she is, and that things might not be the way her parents say they are.

From the get go, I was drawn to the mixed up language. Initially, I thought the novel was going to be about dyslexia but quite quickly realised the story was going to be slightly different and quite suspenseful. I was intrigued to find about about this story that was difficult to put into words.

Initially, it was a bit of a challenge to remember what the words meant but, as it went along, I realised that I was working it out contextually. A bit like we do in life and with foreign languages, an aspect that the novel explores a little. 

There was also a definite playful element to the word play, eliciting little chuckles from me, picturing women as wombats and men as maniacs, and those wearing uniforms were actually in a unicorn. But, I also enjoyed how replacing a word with another unrelated word meant there were occasionally layers of meaning in paragraphs or sentences, a kind of sub-text. Whether intentional or not, this played along in my mind, e.g. introvert/internet, computer/companion. An additional aspect to the language meant that while there was swearing it didn't sound like it. I imagine younger readers would find this hilarious and it certainly removes any potential grit from the novel.

The novel is divided into sections that show how Sophie comes to see herself as the mystery about their lives deepens, unfolds and twists. On another level, it’s a novel about language and names not defining individuals, and that the way we view things in life – especially our troubles and anxieties - are all a matter of perspective.  Along the way, Sophie does this with the help of a cast of (mostly) warm and loveable characters.

***

Sophie Someone has been nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2017.  It was shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards 2015.

Publication details:

Hot Key Books, 2015, London, paperback

This copy: review copy from the publisher

CKG17 Judge chat

We Sat Down for a Chat....with a CKG17 judge

Where do we begin with our chats for the 2017 Carnegie awards? 

Hmmm, why not where it all begins and start with a CILIP librarian and judge?

Caroline Fielding is the London Judge for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway 2017 medals. I’ve known Caroline on Twitter as CazApril1 probably since We Sat Down began. She always delighted me with her tweet length reviews: straight-talkingly succinct. I’m going to miss reading those for the next few years. As well as having to read and judge all the Carnegie and Greenaway lists, Caroline is also working and, importantly, newish mum to Bea as well. She describes herself as a bea-keeper!

Bea, Caroline and Michael Rosen

M: Caroline, thanks for agreeing to do this. I know you must be really under the pump right now, what with juggling judge and bea-keeper at the same time. Which do you think will prove trickier?

CF: Hah, that's a tough one - pre-Bea I think judging wouldn't have been nearly as daunting because I'd read on the bus, during lunch breaks, when hubby was working late...nowadays it can only be while Bea's asleep and my one-day-a-week commute so hubby's going to be lonely of an evening!

M: Do you like bees? Or honey?

CF: A big fan of bees, we want to have a hive in our garden one day.  There were three reasons for the name Beatrice.

1) nice & traditional but not too common.

2) Dennis the Menace's little sister is called Bea Menace & I love Dennis.

3) hubby really liked the idea of dressing her like a bee!

M: I see that Bea's met many authors? Who was her favourite and do you agree with her choice?

CF: Before she arrived I hadn't planned to drag her around events, but when she was 4months old I decided I needed some bookish company and took her to the launch of Mango and Bambang, and unexpectedly met the national treasure that is Shirley Hughes there. 

Bea and Shirley Hughes

Bea was so content and everyone was so happy to see her that I decided that while she was portable we would make the most of it and so I took her with me to a dozen more events to meet, amongst others, 5 children's laureates!  She was particularly unhappy on the evening she met Michael Rosen and Chris Riddell, they were very nice about it but we left pretty early! 

She was probably happiest at last year's Hachette picturebook preview, mainly because she enjoyed playing with everyone's name badges...she had a good chat with Pat Hutchins that evening and didn't seem to mind being passed around a dozen illustrators for photos! 

I couldn't pick a favourite, they were all so lovely to Bea that they automatically all became our favourites.  I'm sad that she's too grownup and grumpy to come to evening events now, but hopefully she'll choose to come to events with me in 10 years or so when she can be excited about occasionally missing bedtime.

M: Wow, isn’t Bea lucky?!

 

Caroline, as a geologist, what prompted you to librarianship?

CF: I'm afraid I didn't enjoy English at school, I just wanted to 'read for pleasure', science and geography were always my favourite subjects so those were the A-Levels I picked and that led to a degree in geology! 

I had no plan of what to do afterwards but, after considering being a geography teacher, I remembered I'd always wanted to be a librarian.  My intention was to go into a scientific library, ideally the Natural History Museum Earth Science library. But, after volunteering in a public library during the summer to get some experience, I realised that I did want to work with children after all and that as a librarian I could encourage them to love books like I did without having to set them homework. I did my MA while working in public libraries and then decided to go into school librarianship for the captive teen audience.

M: What's the craziest thing you've done in a library?

CF: What happens in the library, stays in the library...

M: Ha! You got me!

So, you're a CKG judge, which takes a lot of commitment, so you obviously love the awards and/or think they're important. What do they mean to you?

CF: For as long as I have known about the awards I have wanted to be a judge and I still can't quite believe that I've managed to wangle myself into the position of the London Judge.  As the official blurb goes, authors and illustrators describe it as "the one they want to win" and I love that, with shadowing, it is becoming more and more influential on the reading habits of generations of children.

M: I think I remember you being a fan of lego (or was that superheroes)? Am I right?

CF: When the lego librarian came out I managed to convince my kids at school that it was modelled on me because it does look ridiculously like me! I do also love superheroes but don't think I know enough about any to call myself a massive fan.

Bea among the books

M: What are your other hobbies/personal interests?

CF: Reading really is my main hobby. I was a Beaver leader (tiny Scouts) before Bea arrived but won't be able to go back to that until she's much older because of timings.  A small obsession with Dennis the Menace started when I had really short hair at uni and my Mum compared me to him, so I have a lot of Beano or black and red striped things. I also love owls and bees...and have 13 piercings (ears and tongue) and 15 pairs of Converse All Stars :-)

M: A bit of bling and shoe girl then!

Dinner party: who's invited and what's on the menu?

CF: I am rubbish at social situations because I am a massive introvert: if there are more than maybe 5 people in the room I stop talking, even if I know and love everyone there.  So I respect many people from afar but honestly would choose to have dinner with hubby and a couple of old friends.  Menu is easy though: roast beef with all the trimmings followed by rhubarb crumble and custard!  If pressed, I would loved to have had dinner at the same table as Terry Pratchett and just listen to him...

M: Do you like dogs? This is important. 

CF: I feel like I have to answer 'yes' now!  I don't dislike dogs, some of my best friends are dog owners <ahem> but I'm a cat person I'm afraid.

M: *silently rages* What do you think, people, is she in or out on this one?!

Thank you so much for chatting with me, Caroline. I wish you all the best with your judging (and bea-keeping) and look forward to seeing what you and the other judges come up with on 19 June 2017!

*****

You can read more about Caroline’s judge role on the awards website.

And now I’m wondering if my old school librarians were harbouring any lego figurines!