London Book Fair 2018

Yes, finally, I decided to go.

About 1535 exhibitors and 25 x A5 pages of events. Nielsen holds bibliographic data for over 20 million active titles and reports there are 3000 new publishers in the UK annually. Publishing is big.

Given this enormity, I made massive inroads over 4 days. I went to:

• 8 events, 
• 5 parties, 
• 1 timetabled meeting, 
• lots of spontaneous meetings/chats, 
• about 15 exhibitors stands.

And my takeaways were:

• a walletful of business cards, 
• a bookful of notes,
• a couple of proofs,
• a headful of thoughts.

Introduction to Rights

Introduction to Rights Conference, London Book Fair

While content is perhaps the essence of publishing – without it there would be nothing – it’s the rights that arise from the creation of that content that aids its distribution and makes the money. Perhaps I should learn a little more about this, I thought. So I signed up to the Introduction to Rights Conference.

This was an afternoon of intellectual property sessions covering how you acquired rights (where they came from and how you came to possess them), what did these rights actually mean, how you go about selling these rights, and things you should look out for in a contract when buying or selling rights. Now I had a better idea of what was going on that second floor for the next three days of the fair. Nifty stuff.

Leaving, I bumped into an author from New Zealand who was unhappy with her current publisher, a couple of rights newbies, like me, but from Portugal, China and the USA, and Alastair Horne who’d been at the Quantum Conference. It was good to have quick chats about rights, academic manuscripts and social sciences.

Things I noticed at the London Book Fair 2018 

• Data capture, audio, and self-publishing: these were the unavoidable phrases that wafted round the bits where my pink-laced soles took me.

• Capturing data: everyone is obsessed with it. My badge got scanned before I entered or left many stands. It’s a bit disconcerting when someone reaches out to seemingly grab your midriff. Fight or flight responses challenged. Not sure it ticks the ‘with consent or permission’ box either.

• Spotted Paul Black from Andersen Press and introduced myself as Rebecca Stead’s no.1 fan. There’s still no news of another novel from her.

• Olympia is big and has many twists and turns. Found some things by accident and others I never found at all.

• Visited the South African stand. A fair bit of start-up publishing represented there, showcasing local South African and broader African continental writers. Impressed to see that some of their books were being published in five languages (South Africa has 11 official languages) and that I could recognise the ones that were in Setswana! Interested to hear that in some radio productions they do a ‘back translation’, which is obviously time-consuming, but brings the original author closest to the translated interpretation.

• The food outlets in Olympia are very, very expensive, the queues are long and the staff start to lose their cool as the fair progresses.

• I spent a lot of time up at Authors HQ and The Writer’s Block. I expected to find swathes of aspiring writers – and, of course, there were – but in abundance too, and to my surprise – was a large group of ‘traditionally’ published authors grumbling about the lack of support (particularly for marketing) their books, and thinking about pushing out on their own. The support for self-publishing is booming, particularly at the production and marketing ends. Support for selling printed books was another matter – unsurprisingly, and Robin Cutler (Ingram Spark) was recommending authors get together under a collaborative imprint. And, while writers and freelance copy-editors were around, structural editors were not as visible.

Independent Publishers Guild party

• Some of the support and tips being dished out to aspiring writers (and especially those who might consider self-publishing) was to be brave and stop procrastinating (LJ Ross), go for walks (Mark Dawson), and maybe write non-fiction (at least, that was Joseph Alexander’s answer to writer’s block!). How do you know when your manuscript is ready? When you start moving punctuation around (Mark Dawson) and that the idea for getting something out there is often more frightening than the reality (LJ Ross). Overall, the advice is to play to your strengths: obvious but probably often overlooked.

• I attended a few of the Business Forum events down in the Olympia Hall (including live marketing campaigns, and non-fiction that matters). I was struck by the prevalence of the big budget teams on the platform (Penguin, Puffin, Southbank Centre, Waterstones). I was a bit surprised by the marketing session, to be honest. I think I expected a lot more of the unexpected.

• Other notable moments for me were that The Three Ages of Bookselling event was packed. Unlike some of the other venues, if you didn’t get inside this one, you couldn’t hear – so I left.  I also caught bits and pieces of other event snippets all about translation, prizes, illustration, literacy, export, Welsh, magic and legacy.

• The parties and networking drinks at the end of the day were packed and provided a real mix of fair goers: Byte the Book reciprocity circle, Author HQ (twice), and the Independent Publishers Guild. Forget the comfy lace-ups, next time I’m taking stilts.

• A security guard on the West entrance really doesn’t like people: he told me.

Really pleased that I went to this. Learned a lot. I'm so curious to see how I approach it next year!

Chill out time: Poets Corner, London Book Fair

Leeds Book Awards 2014

The winners of the Leeds Book Awards for secondary school children were announced today at a ceremony attended by about 200 Leeds students at Leeds Civic Hall. Geek Girl by Holly Smale and Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher won the 11-14 and 14-16 year categories respectively.

Holly Smale

The winners were voted for by Leeds’ school readers from a shortlist selected by the Leeds Book Awards organisers. Master of ceremonies for the day was poet Andy Craven-Griffiths who is always entertaining, and does a brilliant job of improvising when necessary. Only he could prove that 14-16 year old teens can’t roarrrrr!!!

Smale and Pitcher answered questions from the school audience alongside other shortlisted authors: Gillian Cross (After Tomorrow), Paula Rawsthorne (Blood Tracks), Alison Rattle (The Quietness), CJ Flood (Infinite Sky), Sarah Mussi (Siege), Lucy Christopher (The Killing Woods). Other shortlisted authors couldn’t make it (and that’s why there were no male authors there!).

Questions from the floor followed a pattern and there were many about influences and inspirations, and sequels!

I was delighted to hear that Lucy Christopher (The Killing Woods), a previous Printz Honor award winner, loves visiting South Africa. Interestingly, if you buy a US and a UK copy of her novel you will find that they are slightly different (now, how about that for narrative and textual analyses!).  If she could choose a mentor it would have been Shakespeare whereas Holly Smale’s mentor of choice would have been the late Sue Townsend. Smale is also very tall!

Both Paula Rawsthorne (Blood Tracks) and Alison Rattle’s (The Quietness) novels were inspired by court proceedings and trials! Rawsthorne wants to be excited by her own story whilst she is writing whereas Rattle really doesn’t enjoy the writing process – but loves editing her work.

CJ Flood’s first name is Chelsea and the character Iris, in Infinite Sky, is an idealised version of herself as a child. Sarah Mussi (Siege) had lived in Ghana for a number of years and I was very pleased to hear that she can’t remember all the books she’s read (ditto!). Gillian Cross (After Tomorrow) has always been a writer and says she's never had a 'proper job'. She thinks awards like these are precious to writers like her as they boost their self belief.

I was very interested to hear that Annabel Pitcher’s Ketchup Clouds was first written as a straight narrative and not through letters. She’s also a self-confessed perfectionist. Also, she had a very young guest with her – a babe in arms (and what would have happened without good old Nina D being there to step in when he refused to sleep).

I left all the smiling authors to sign away with queues of chattering school children and their teachers. How many of them noticed all the Leeds’ owls, do you think?

 

You can read our reviews of:

-        Ketchup Clouds here (M & Little M joint review) and here (teen book club)

-        GeekGirl

-        The Quietness

-        HostageThree (by Nick Lake who couldn’t make it)

 

You can read our interview with:

- Annabel Pitcher

 

 

World Book Night giving

In search of male humans on World Book Night 

23 April 2014 would have been William Shakespeare’s 450^th birthday, is our dog’s 7^th birthday, and is the first time I’ve been a World Book Night giver!

World Book Night is one of The Reading Agency charity’s programmes that aims to inspire a love of reading. Twenty books are selected for special edition World Book Night titles because they are brilliant reads. Thousands of volunteers apply to give one of these titles to people on World Book Night who are not regular readers or don’t own books. I chose The Humans by Matt Haig because it is hilarious and heartwarming, and Haig is a Yorkshire based author – and I’m giving in Yorkshire.

This special World Book Night  postcard was delivered with every copy of The Humans

It may not be night yet but my copies of The Humans have been given! Little M and I took a tote bag, a rucksack and a dog on a sunny trail around our local village and town in search of ‘non-readers’. After seeing this research that suggests 30% of men don’t read books, I went in search of men. Books were given (and turned down!) by men working on construction sites, in builders’ merchants and hardware stores, in garages, in bike shops, in pubs, and in their own homes. Four copies went to women (who were more regular though not prolific readers): a female plumber, a charity worker, a shopkeeper, and a receptionist.

Many of the recipients were gracious and excited, and at least one copy is set to go on holiday and be read by the pool. Some recipients were reluctant because they didn’t read and thought they would be more likely to pass it on to someone else. Some people turned the offer down outright because they didn’t want to read and a few were ineligible because their lives were already surrounded by books and the pleasure of reading (they weren’t sure if this response would delight or sadden me!!). We also met another Giver on our route who was giving Peter James’ The Perfect Murder and it was lovely to chat with him (he also loves The Humans!).

It was great fun chatting along the way with people who loved reading, or were delighted (and surprised) to give it a go (if they can find the time!). I hope they really enjoy The Humans!

World Book Night special edition of The Humans, front and back cover

You can read my review of The Humans here.

International Book Giving Day 2014

We think that there's something very exciting about giving and receiving books and that's before you even start reading them. Today is International Book Giving Day, which aims to get books into the hands of as many children as possible. So, we've been busy doing that.

Random House Children's Publishers offered us three copies of RJ Palacio's Wonder to give away. We've bought this book for oursevles, we've bought it as gifts for others and our teen book group has reviewed it too. We love Wonder and its 'choose kind' theme so of course we said, "YES, PLEASE!"

This got us thinking. We'd do three givings. Each book pack would have a copy of Wonder and some old review copies that we no longer have space for at home (and from publishers who are happy for us to pass them on). We would aim to reach many children and we'd give books to someone who was 'being kind'.


Our first pack went to Thornton Grammar School. I met Thornton's literacy leader last summer when I volunteered on the pilot scheme for Booktrust's Summer Active programme. This programme aims to support children's literacy during the summer of transition from primary school to secondary school. The programme was great fun, the children were great to work with, and they loved being surprised with book gifts. They've now implemented DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) where students read in form time (and in the library).

Our second pack was a contribution to a Year 7 Readathon. Their month long Readathon is also doubling as a charity fundraiser (and readers of this blog will know how much we love readathons). And our third pack went to a community cafe which supports adults with learning difficulties.

We loved giving these books. We hope everyone enjoys opening their packs and exploring the different books. And then we hope they'll enjoy the stories.

Faber book party

A par-tea with Faber and Faber? Oh, yes please.

I've long associated Faber and Faber with strong and culturally diverse literary fiction and poetry. Some of my favourite books and authors are from Faber. But, I was recently hardpressed to think of any children's titles from them, other than the excellent but recent Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell. So, an invite for us to their children's book bloggers afternoon tea was appealing - and as it turns out, both  illuminating and inspiring. Plus, full marks to the Faber cupcakes - "very fancy and tasted brill, and also cool sweets", says Little M; and not to mention M's favourite, dark and non-alcoholic fizz which she liked very much!

Leah Thaxton, publisher at Faber, said that a focus on children's books was relatively new for Faber, and has a new growing and clearly enthusiastic editorial and support team behind it.

Their current and defined focus for children's books (like many other publishers) is good stories (and from the looks of it, a whole bag of laughs too). If Rooftoppers is anything to go by, perhaps they'll also manage to combine both the literary and the good story.

From their forthcoming books, five books stood out for us:

Three young adult titles: 

• Dead Ends by Erin Lange is about a violent school bully who is befriended by the new boy in school who has Down Syndrome. M has read an early copy and it is heartwarming and also believable. Lange will be visiting the UK in April.

• Winterkill by Kate A Boorman is pitched as similar to Moira Young's Blood Red Road (which we own but have not yet read!). It's a dystopian idea where particular characteristics in a person are not favourably viewed by the society they live in.... Right up Little M's street.

• Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke is a gothic paranormal romance so usually not even close to our reading radars....and yet.....The author is shy but recorded her voice reading an extract. The writing is intense and M is strangely intrigued. Apparently, fans of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca will probably enjoy it.

And then, two junior fiction books that, quite surprisingly, had Little M rapt and the whole room laughing out loud. Coincidence that both authors were present, were charmingly friendly, and excellent readers of their own work? I think it's a bit more than that:

Jeff Norton, mentally adding a comma

Flora in Love by Natasha Farrant follows her debut, After Iris, in The Diaries of Bluebell Gadsby. It's about Bluebell's family and in this story, she falls...in love. It is properly funny. Even M laughed but Little M dived into reading it there and then.

Memoirs of a Neurotic Zombie by Jeff Norton is something that would normally be completely off our map. So our expectations were low and then we laughed. Quite a lot. Especially Little M. And Michelle. And most of the adult audience. Even funnier, the author was reading from a manuscript that has not yet been submitted! Even the editors are still watching out for this one due for publication later this year. Little M thinks this book sounds mega funny, like an older, funnier and more sophisticated Wimpy Kid type book. She can't wait til it comes out.

Then we stuffed cakes and sweets, snaffled a cupcake for dad, and chatted. Natasha Farrant and Little M chatted about learning languages (Natasha seems to have a flair for this) and Sherlock, the merits of the television series and its relationship to Arthur Conan Doyle's writings. Jeff Norton joined the conversation and, with Darren (Bookzone for Boys) we got speaking about hard drives, and the merits of challenging and inspiring middle grade fiction in comparison to some recent young adult fiction.

M was also very excited to finally meet Jim (YA Yeah Yeah) and Beth (Thoughts from the Hearthfire). And we also had an interesting chat with Caroline who, like M, tends to be more of a critical reader than out-and-out fangirl. Unlike We Sat Down, Caroline has been blogging about books since 2006! Great to see Andrew too, who as always, was in fine and exhilarated form!

And as we paged through the catalogue, lo and behold, here's the illuminating irony of the day: our bookshelves currently sport a fair few of Faber's children's titles: Betty G Birney's Humphrey the hamster series, horse stories by Jane Smiley and of course, Ted Hughes! How's that for variety?

Thank you Faber and Aitch Love for the invitation. We have had our eyes opened.

Faber: these are M's books that first came to mind.

How did we miss the ff on our children's bookshelves?

RHCP goes to the movies!

Popcorn, sweets, viruses, chat, books, a 6am wake up call and a bit of thieving. Sounds like a perfect Saturday!

Oh look! A gorgeous poster. And it tells you a lot about the most recent Random House Children's bloggers' brunch. Here are some of our memorable bits:

Yes, M snaffled this poster from the event - but she asked Jasmine first!

Like any big cinema, there was popcorn in little boxes, pick 'n' mix sweets, an audience and a big screen with adverts. No actual movie stars were present but author Matt Haig did a good job of standing in (see below for M's narrated and interpreted account!). Advertisement-wise, we'll mention the things that struck us most.

We'll start with the movies (note: RHCP has not become a movie production company; some of their books are being turned into movies). We want to see The Book Thief (but Little M wants to read it first); same goes for Andy Mulligan's Trash which is coming out in film. Little M liked the film trailer for Joseph Delaney's Seventh Son but M hasn't a clue who Jeremy Irvine is.

Forthcoming books-wise, top of Little M's list is Theresa Breslin's Ghost Soldier (publishing 31 July 2014). One of many books that'll be published around the World War I Centenary, this one's about the search for a father missing-in-action and uncovering a building full of soldiers suffering from shellshock and nervous disorders.

Bird by Crystal Chan is being pitched by RHCP as being in the same guise as John Boyne's younger fiction or David Almond's Skellig. They're crossing fingers that it'll be their Wonder for 2014. We both already knew about this book and the appeal for both of us is strong and the first few chapters are good. I'll say no more.

The Tin Snail by Cameron McAllister (8 April 2014). Set in 1939 rural France, it's about a thirteen year old boy who goes about inventing a car that'll be designed for and affordable to everyday people. RHCP is describing it as quirky and comparable to Sandi Toksvig's Hitler's Canary.

Crime/Thriller-wise, there's Web of Darkness by Bali Rai (June 2014) and Running Girl by Simon Mason (just out). Hilariously, one features a character called Benedict and the other features a character with an exceptionally high IQ. Everything Baker Street is the way to the thinking teen's heart, it would seem......

The Boy in the Tower by Polly Ho-Yen (July 2014) was described as Day of the Triffids meets Wonder. A bit sci-fiey but with a focus that's more on love, loneliness and inner strength. M's intrigued.

Then, of course, there's Matt Haig's Echo Boy. Basically, echoes are machines that are made to serve humans. Little M thinks it sounds good and it reminds her of Spielberg's film, Artificial Intelligence. M's a fan of Haig's The Humans and she has a hunch that she will enjoy this (and remember, Somni-451 is one of her all-time favourite book characters).

To be or not to be? Was that the question?
And is this the answer?

Matt Haig chatted with us all, Q&A style. He was very funny, in his typical self-deprecating way, and I'll follow his blog-writing suit and summarise in list style:

- Little M asked him a question in front of loads of people (good reason to sit in the front row - you don't realise what's behind you!). She asked him if he wrote a book about an event that happened in his life, what would it be? He said he thinks it would be about his life in his twenties because this was an exciting yet dark place in his internal space (a time when he was depressed). Or perhaps he would write a story about an author's book tour, a type of picaresque.

- Before being published, he worked in Oddbins and delivered crates of champagne for other authors (who were published!).

- The Outsiders by SE Hinton is probably his favourite book.

- He doesn't plan when he writes novels (except for The Radleys).


- Writing young adult fiction can combine the best of two worlds: the world of imagination (from children's fiction) and the world of ideas (from adult fiction).

- Young adult fiction can have an edge, or danger, without being all sex-and-drugs controversial.On writing about the human condition, "I'm basically a philosopher..(...)..but you need a good story to hang an idea on". His dad was an architect.

- There needs to be a strong, real reason to write in the first person. He thinks it helps to humanise speculative worlds, like the one in Echo Boy. Otherwise, these can be "a refrigerator world that you can't access".

- He gets bored easily.

- He thinks people may only be wise and stoic by age 40. He is 38. M thinks he's right.

- He is a Margaret Atwood fan.

- His new book, Echo Boy, is proper science-fiction even though he is not a big reader of the genre.

- He is not sure if Echo Boy is a love story or not.

- Echo Boy is his ninth book.

- The question he never gets asked but wants to answer (deep, deep down) is: "What makes you so brilliant?"


Matt Haig is funny. And now back to us.

We also caught up with a few of our book blogging friends like Georgia (Books and Writers Jnr), Michelle (Fluttering Butterflies), Jesse (Books 4 Teens), and Viv (Serendipity Reviews). And M was very excited to meet some of her twitter friends in real life: Anna (A Case For Books) and Sarah Jane (And Then I Read a Book). Also great to put a face to Clare Hall-Craggs and talk war stories and family reading!

Thank you Random House for inviting us and for serving popcorn. And thank goodness it didn't snow!

Next stop of the day: Bloomsbury for Faber and Faber!

Carnegie Advent...'twas the day before

'Twas the night before Christmas and time for a recap of our final Carnegie Advent Calendar books (22-24 Dec).

The War Zone

Different aspects of war are covered in these novels. Each one of these titles holds curiosity for either Little M or me although.So far we've only read A World Between Us (Lydia Syson, Hot Key Books), which explores the Spanish Civil War in a thrilling and passionate political romance.

Rose Under Fire (Elizabeth Wein, Electric Monkey) takes us into the world of women pilots in World War II; Eleven Eleven (Paul Dowswell) is about the final hours of World War I; One Day in Oradour (Helen Watts, A&C Black) is based on the true story of a French village that was wiped out in 1944; and The Wall (William Sutcliffe, Bloomsbury) is a story inspired by life on the West Bank, a territory whose troubled history has been shaped by the politics of war. 

Marley's Ghost?

'Twas the night before Christmas. Are all good little children excitedly tucked up in bed? Perhaps not, but these books are all about the ghosts...or anything else that comes after!  

For the younger ones (and perhaps the not-so-young too), there's still time for a scary laugh. We think you might get that from Gareth P Jones Constable & Toop (Hot Key Books) or Jonathan Stroud's  Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase (Doubleday).

And we think for the not-so-young, there could be that strange mix of romance and the afterlife (and other things which I don't know much about) in:

• The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo (Hot Key Books) - beautiful, atmospheric writing;
• Ferryman by Claire McFall (Templar)
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic).

So, it's sweet dreams from us - but not before you've worked our festive message out!

 

Your final 11 advent letters

E  L  O  R

T  B  U W

E  G  S

We've had fun. We hope you have. Tell us if you think you've worked our Carnegie Christmas message out!

#ckg14tree

Carnegie Advent - 3rd week

Third week of our Carnegie Advent Calendar (15-21 Dec) and this is what we found:

 

Secrets, stories and family....



• Red Ink by Julie Mayhew (Hot Key Books) is gorgeous and highly recommended by me (but probably better for KS4 readers). It's one of my favourites on the nominations list although it'll be interesting to see how this year's judges define 'children's' literature;
• Anthem for Jackson Dawes by Celia Bryce (Bloomsbury): young teens on a cancer ward; the first few pages didn't strike a chord with me but they might for you;
• By Any Other Name. Actually, this one is by Laura Jarratt (Electric Monkey): a witness protection type story; sounds interesting;
• Listening For Lucca by Suzanne LaFleur (Puffin) - secrets from the past and unusual abilities, plus some mutism. Mute - there are quite a few books on this list which explore this theme;
• Infinite Sky (CJ Flood) - what did I say about trees on covers.....:)

Trees and woods. Are you heading down the right path?

I've read all of these.

• All the Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry (Templar) is another one that explores mutism and, for now, it's knocked Ghost Hawk off my personal favourites top spot;
• Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher (Indigo) is a clever, gripping and thoughtful thriller;
• The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan (Doubleday) is thrilling but a bit disappointing for me;
• If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch (Indigo) has a wonderful ring to the voice (for the most part) and is recommended - by me - for mature readers (I'd put it in a similar pocket to Red Ink).

 

White. Snow. Eco. Dystopian/Apocalyptic

You get the picture. If you don't, you'd best start thinking about it.

That's the gist for these books and one that both of us find highly appealing.

Although I haven't finished it yet, I think Winter Damage by Natasha Carthew (Bloomsbury) shows the most promise: the writing/voice is strongly differentiated (in a similar way to how SD Crockett's After the Snow was last year). Interestingly, One Crow Alone by SD Crockett (Macmillan), the prequel to After the Snow, abandons Willo's voice and that's a pity for me. After Tomorrow by Gillian Cross (Oxford University Press) looks like an interesting eco-emigration-dystopian (though we've both struggled with the opening pages) and Breathe by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury) is a niceish-eco-teen-dystopian but it doesn't have the zing of last year's The Weight of Water.

Hints of red

 Our guess: action packed sci-fi/speculative fiction? 

Noble Conflict (Malorie Blackman) and ACID (Emma Pass) suggest dystopian-military. Our teen group had mixed responses to Noble Conflict so my guess is it's not likely to be on the shorter lists.

Silver (Chris Wooding, Scholastic) looks like sci-fi but the robotic type bug on the cover is scary!

The 5th Wave (Rick Yancey), sci-fi invasion?

An uncertain mix

We'd hadn't read any of these at the time of drafting and from their covers and a brief glimpse at the blurbs (we're afraid of spoilers), we've grouped them together. 

In the top row, there's bound to be some action. Action's really not my thing but Hostage Three is by Nick Lake (remember how much I loved his In Darkness?) and there's a hint of psychological thriller so it's near the top of my list to read. Action is Little M's thing and she's attracted to Chris Bradford's Bodyguard: Hostage. 

Further down, we're getting very blue and there's more than a hint of weird and strange. Nowhere (Jon Robinson) and The Bunker Diary (Kevin Brooks) look like they've both something to do with psychological thrillers and captivity. Keen, but maybe also scared, to read them.

 

I've since read Charm and Strange (Stephanie Kuehn) and it's a very dark thriller: it's psychological, it's physical and it tackles a very tough issue. It's one of those very dark ones that is pulled off really well. Definitely worth considering. For mature readers.

You've had 43. Here are 22 more advent letter tiles....

E  E  L  E

N  T  A I

N  A  E  N

N  R  R  D

R  S  A  I

T  V 

....which makes it 65 so far.

Clue

Have you been listening to any jingles lately?

Noble Conflict - Teen Book Group's creative response!

This year has been a Malorie Blackman year for We Sat Down. Little M was Booktrust's young reporter for the day when Blackman was announced as the new Children's Laureate and Little M's English class studied the screenplay of Noughts & Crosses.

Little M had already read, enjoyed and reviewed Noble Conflict, so our teen book group jumped at the opportunity to get reading group copies from the Reading Agency. They all read the novel and then devoted a long Friday evening to creating a video inspired by the novel.

Artwork by Catherine appears in the video but we thought you might like to see the 'stills' of them:

Art by Catherine

 

 

Art by Catherine

 

 

 

And here is the We Sat Down teen book group's video for Noble Conflict:

 

 

This video appears on the Reading Agency's Reading Groups For Everyone website along with some other inspirational ways teens respond to books.

Carnegie Advent - 2nd week

This is what we found in the second week of our Carnegie Advent Calendar (8-14 Dec). There are a few here that will make my personal shorter lists. For those of you collecting the anagram letters, they're gathered at the end of this post.

Pic 'n' mix

These three books are all illustrated and are also nominated for the Kate Greenaway medal.

It sounds like a cliche, but SF Said's Phoenix really soars. It's an absolute delight to read and Dave McKean's illustrations add a special something that lifts the story off the page. A great unexpected read for me.

There's also David Almond's (of Skellig fame) Mouse Bird Snake Wolf, also illustrated by Dave McKean. You should take the dust jacket off this one because what lies beneath is a colourful masterpiece. Then there's some non-fiction in the crowdfunded Is Daddy Coming Back in a Minute? by Elke Barber and her son, Alex, which deals sensitively with the traumatic death of a parent experienced by a young boy.

Fantastical cogs and wheels

Fantasy adventure with a hint of darkness (the blue ones) and a hint of raucous fun perhaps (the red ones)? Expect cogs and wheels, and steampunk aplenty? Plenty of appeal. Also, do you remember what I said about circles on covers in this nominations list....?

  

We've read The Obsidian Mirror. Note that our copy is a proof. The actual book cover looks like the picture below and I'd recommend it as adventurous Christmas reading.

From sea to sky.....

We haven't read many of these but my guess is these books may appeal most to middle grade readers (older primary and young teen) though if they're great and unexpected, they'll reach everyone.

The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas - David Almond (Walker Books; he has 2 nominations)

Far, Far Away - Tom McNeal (Jonathan Cape)

The Cloud Hunters - Alex Shearer (Hot Key Books; I started this - promising middle grade)

Sea of Whispers - Tim Bowler (Oxford Univeristy Press; my curiosity is aroused)

North of Nowhere - Lizz Kessler (Orion; our guest reviewer, Chutney (12), loved this)

 

I have read Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell (Faber). My expectations were sky high and it delivers. Pippi Longstockingish in character, it's an unusual delight, and the main character may well also remind some people of Neverfell in Frances Hardinge's A Face Like Glass. It's really quite lovely in so many ways. Another great unexpected.

Back down to earth.....

 with a little bit of history.....

• Song Hunter (Sally Prue, Oxford Univeristy Press) goes right back, to the time of mammoths and the Neanderthals;
• A Dream of Lights (Kerry Drewery, Harper Collins) is set in a North Korean prison camp;
• Out of the Easy (Ruta Sepetys, Puffin) is set in 1950s New Orleans;
• Ghost Hawk (Susan Cooper, Bodley Head) - depending on your interpretation this one is either more fantasy or more history; the only one I've read from this group, it's likely to be on my personal shortlist. It surprised me and I adored it. Another one of the great unexpecteds on the list for me.

When everyday goes badly wrong....

 These look like they tackle big, contemporary, UK issues: child abuse (Blood Family, Anne Fine), gun crime (Raining Fire, Alan Gibbons), an armed school attack (Siege, Sarah Mussi), and returned young army recruits (Heroic, Phil Earle). These might be too heavy for my personal taste (Blood Family definitely was) but we'll see (says she who once was an ardent Robert Cormier reader).

This week's 23 advent letters:

(bringing your current total to 43)

N  E  I  N

T  H  O  O

B  G  N  A

D  I  C  R

E  H  K  A 

E  E

!

Yes. we know it's not a letter, but the exclamation is a tile (we took inspiration from Rebecca Stead and lied a bit).

Clues

• The apostrophe is the only tile that is a punctuation mark
• Our message starts with a W
• Our message contains familiar phrases - but we may have taken small poetic liberties with one of them.
• The exclamation mark would fit well as either the 76th tile or as the ........ tile!

 

 

 

Carnegie advent - 1st week

A recap of what's been in our Carnegie Advent Calendar this week (2 - 7 Dec). If you're playing along with us, 20 letters are grouped at the end of this post.

Animalia.....

The theme for this selection is animals on the covers. But, genre-wise, there's a real mix and the stories take you to many places. We think this mix might reflect much of what we can expect from the remainder of the list.

The books we haven't yet read:

There's Brock (Anthony McGowan, Barrington Stoke), which addresses contemporary themes (and there's an animal in the bottom left hand corner) and my guess is it will be set somewhere in the UK.

The Last Wild (Piers Torday, Quercus) sounds like it's going to be an unusual dystopian, prison break, fantastical story.

East of the Sun, West of the Moon (Jackie Morris, Frances Lincoln) sounds like a fantastical journey, and there are illlustrations so it'll be good for the younger readers too.

The books we have read and loved:

Monkey Wars (Richard Kurti, Walker) is a fable that explores territorial politics and military strategies, in India. M really enjoyed this one.

The Child's Elephant (Rachel Campbell-Johnston, David Fickling) mixes animal poaching with child soldiers in Africa, and is good for younger readers too. Currently, this is one of Little M's favourites from this year's list.

Then, there're the funnies....

Quite a splash of blue in those covers!

For the younger set:

Darcy Burdock - Laura Dockrill (Corgi)

The Extincts - Veronica Cossanteli (Chicken House)

And if you're a bit older:

Waiting For Gonzo - Dave Cousins (Oxford University Press)

Binny For Short - Hilary McKay (Hodder)

Geek Girl - Holly Smale (Harper Collins)

The Savages - Matt Whyman (Hot Key Books)

From funny to......something a bit scary!

(Maybe we should have called this selection 'publishers beginning with a D'!)

It's in the eyes...or at least that's what the covers tell us for Doll Bones (Holly Black, Doubleday) and The Boy With Two Heads (Andy Mulligan, David Fickling Books). But for The Feathered Man (Jeremy de Quidt, David Fickling Books), apparently it's in the teeth!

An adventurous mix 

Sci-fi/Fantasy adventures with a mystery to solve or codes to crack, that's our bet for these three:

Secret Breakers: The Knights of Neustria - HL Dennis (Hodder)

The Reluctant Assassin - Eoin Colfer (Puffin)

The Claws of Evil - Andrew Beasley (Usborne, Ben Kingdom series)

Dodger (Terry Pratchett, Doubleday) is here because we bet it dodges category boundaries. Promises Dickensian inspired something! 

This week's 20 advent letters:

W  T  A  I  

T  E  E  A 

E  E  B  G

R  T  G  E 

S  O  G  S

56 more to go. You won't be able to solve the anagram message yet but here's a clue:

The first word has an apostrophe in it. 

If you don't know what we're on about, read here.