What's going on? #9

We haven't done one of these in ages. Not since the start of the 2012-13 school year! So, here's a bit of what's been going on:

Anti-Bullying Week 19 - 23 November 2012
Next week is Anti-Bullying Week in the UK and We Sat Down will be running reviews of books where bullying is central to the stories. Plus, from Monday, there's a chance to win a copy of Wonder by RJ Palacio.

Novels that we'll be posting reviews on during Anti-Bullying week:

Wonder - RJ Palacio

Pigeon English - Stephen Kelman

Hold On - Alan Gibbons

For schools and educators, the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) has launched a new 'anti-bullying' themed book club withRandom House Children’s Publishers. The book club is open to schools and colleges from the ABA School and College Network. Book club members will be invited to nominate students to review the books. The ABA book club has selected Wonder by RJ Palacio as its launch book for the UK’s autumn term.

Those of you who have read our blog before will know that we are huge fans of this book. So we are delighted to have been invited to take part in this new book club!

Books In

Here are some books that we've received for review. recently. Many of them are proofs for books that'll be out in spring 2013. See if you can spot a big We Sat Down change in there too!

 

 

Where's Dogmatix? from Orion. "Aaaaah, it's like Where's Wally!" yelled Little M. Yep, Where's Wally Asterix style but this time you've got to find the dog. Cool. And you can play a game with it. There are all sorts of scoring options and we were both being very grabby-handy with it trying to spot the most first. But, our close observational skills are severely lacking and we didn't even get close to finishing the first page. Good luck to those with better eyesight and maybe a good one for parents who want to occupy their kids. But, spotting the characters is really hard.

 

Deadly Diaries by Steve Backshall (Orion): This is a heavy, glossy hardback with loads of photos. Basically, it takes you on location with the team from the BBC's Deadly 60 series. It's about animals that are deadly to other animals, not humans. Flicking through it, I've already learned a few things myself. This book is on sale now and you can expect a really wild review from some really wild tweens in a really wild location in December.

 

Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher (Indigo): From the award- winning Annabel Pitcher, Ketchup Clouds is very different but just as good (we both read it and will be jointly reviewing it in the new year). It's an epistolic thriller and is bound to strike all sorts of chords with teen readers - especially older ones. It is out just after Christmas.

 

A Month With April-May by Edyth Bulbring (Hot Key Books): originally published in South Africa as Melly, Mrs Ho and Me, April-May is a light-hearted contemporary schoolgirl comedy set in Johannesburg (with a lot of underlying social commentary too). Out February 2013, expect another joint review from us.

 

Darcy Burdock by Laura Dockrill (Red Fox): I met Laura Dockrill earlier this year when she did a reading from this. She was hilarious. This is a funny tween novel about people who notice. and then notice that they notice. Out March 2013, Little M's reviewing this one.

 

Quantum Drop by Sacci Lloyd (Hodder Children's): I've only read a few chapters of Lloyd's Carbon Diaries 2015 and her writing style in Quantum Drop seems to be slightly different. Still very, very contemporary though. Again, this one is futuristic and looks like a sci-fi type thriller. Out Feb 2013.

 

Spotted the difference yet? It's adult. And it's all because of Tinder Press (Well almost. It might also have to do with some YA stepping over hazy boundaries into what I definitely call adult fiction. It might also have to do with M reading a lot of adult fiction too.). Tinder Press is a new imprint from Headline, who aim to publish diverse fiction that provokes an impassioned response from readers. I couldn't resist. So that's where Snapper (Brian Kimberling) and Amity & Sorrow (Peggy Riley) fit in. What I can say now is, yes, empassioned response to both has been elicited. Not in a teary way. Neither novel is sentimental. Probably a publishing imprint that I'll look out for. Reviews up early next year - from M. Definitely from M. And tagged with Adult Fiction (just in case anyone's being picky with their shelving).

Here are some books that we've won:

How exciting, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Rebecca Stead's Liar & Spy are both signed copies!!!

Pig Heart Boy was the first book that Little M read by Malorie Blackman. This came home from a new school book club which I think has been supported by one of Booktrust's bookgifting schemes. Little M read it in a single afternoon and loved it. "Sad end," she said.

On the Day I Died by Candace Fleming was a Halloween win for Little M - thanks Random House. Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick (now longlisted for the Carnegie 2013) from Orion was won on the wonderful History Girls blog, and The Magic Pony by Patricia Leitch is from Catnip Books.

What's going on? #7

This week: new books, book group update, Bookcrossing

New Books:

Missing Me by Sophie McKenzie (review copy): this is the third and concluding book in the Girl, Missing series. Needless to say, Little M is whooping with excitement for this young teen thriller. Published by Simon and Schuster on 13 September.

The Diviners by Libba Bray (review copy):  it’s set in 1902s jazz New York. There are murders, secrets and something eeries going on.  Not my usual thing but Libba Bray’s writing has been highly praised so I'm looking forward to finding out what this is all about. For those of you who are cover mad, this one’s a good one – and it has full colour end pages too. Published by Atom on 18 September.

School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari (review copy): Children are referred to a summer course to have their fears conquered through unorthodox methods. It’s been described as Lemony Snicketish – so a lot to live up to and if it comes anywhere close, it’ll be a delight. This was published by Atom on 2 August.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. An old favourite and it's still going strong. Little M read it in a flash and would highly recommend it to 12 year olds.

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. This is another one of those novels where I don't know anything about the plot line but know that it comes highly recommended from a variety of people whose recommendations are usually good ones for me. And it comes as three separate books in a boxset!

Arthur: The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland. We're fans of the Arthur tales and this one's been highly recommended.

Book group - Angel Dust:

We had our first book group gathering this month, organised by Little M. Thanks to Hot Key Books for supplying copies of their launch title, Angel Dust by Sarah Mussi. The feedback from this will be up on the blog soon.

Bookcrossing:

We released our first books with Bookcrossing codes this month. They were both controlled releases given to individuals or organisations who particularly wanted these titles: Candyfloss by Jacqueline Wilson and Dolphin Song by Lauren St John. You can find out more about Bookcrossing here.

What's going on? #6

What's going on - the place where we spill the beans on any exciting booky things we've been doing, any booky news that we want to shout about, a round-up of competitions that we think look great, and a heads-up on books that we're going to read.

Summer Competitions & Giveaways

(note that these might just be UK only)

Little M didn't want us to mention this one because she wants to win it, but Susie Day's Bluebell Jones' Summer Snap photography competition is groovy-retro-cool. As well as the main prize, you'll also win a signed copy of the extraordinary The Twice-Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones (here's Little M's review). Closes 1 September 2012.

For 11-18 year olds: A drawing or painting competition to win the signed original painting by author Sarah Mussi for her new book Angel Dust. It's a wonderful prize. Closes 31 August 2012. Competition details here.

For the 12 year olds and younger, a writing competition run by Story Lab: The Summer Reading Challenge 2012: finish a story. There are six to choose from and they've all been started off by some big authors including Malorie Blackman, Jacqueline Wilson, Marcus Sedgwick and more. There are lots of books to win - and a laptop. Closes 1 September 2012.

We also have a fab giveaway on this blog running until the beginning of September where you can win a book of you choice from the new Vintage Children's Classics range.

Vintage also launched a new children's books website  - A World of Stories - which looks fantastic. And they have a drawing competition where you can win 30 books! And they'll come in a treasure chest. You have more time left for this one as it closes 15 November 2012.

Books for Review

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher from Hodder Children's. This was published a few years back and we can't wait to read it. Her forthcoming Obsidian Mirror (which we've had the privilege of reading already), is fabulous - a great children's Christmas buy.

A Sea of Stars by Kate Maryon from Harper Collins Children's; a story about two girls: Maya was an only child until Cat was adopted as her sister.

The Cloud Hunters by Alex Shearer from Hot Key Books. Forthcoming in November 2012. It's set in a world where there's no water and islands float in the sky. It's been described as a bit Charlie and Willy Wonka-ish. It's been inspired by the Maldives and has an eco-theme and old fashioned humour.

Kentucky Thriller by Lauren St John from Orion. This is the third book in the Laura Marlin mystery series, published just a couple of weeks back. In case you didn't know, Little M's the number one Lauren St John and Laura Marlin fan; so expect a review pretty soon!

What's going on? #5

New books for us:

Yes, we have nibbled on the Bluebell Jones rock!!!

The Fault In Our Stars - John Green

It’s been on our wishlist for a while and it’s highly recommended by people who know what we like.  But, our local library doesn’t have it in yet. So thank you lovely Zac the librarian all the way down there in Christchurch, New Zealand; you’ve come to our rescue by sending us a copy of. This is a highly acclaimed teen story about love, life and cancer.

My Brother Simple – Marie-Aude Murail.

Critically acclaimed in mainland Europe, it’s an alternative coming-of-age story involving flatsharing with a brother who has learning difficulties and girls. Publishing in the UK on 2 August 2012 (received for review, Bloomsbury).

The Night Sky In My Head – Sarah Hammond.

Mikey is damaged after an accident and can go backwards in time to see things in the shadows. Disappearances and murder might be involved (received for review, Oxford University Press).

The Twice-Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones – Susie Day. Blue is turning thirteen and she thinks she’ll need some help. So (obviously!), she calls upon Red, her fourteen year old self from the future, to help her have the summer of her life. We’re both very keen to read this. And the rock is such a sweet touch too! (received for review, Marion Lloyd, August 2012)

Breathe – Sarah Crossan Lottery-style winners get to live inside the Pod when the earth’s oxygen levels are able to plummet. Life inside the Pod becomes oppressive and stratified and threat of ejection from the Pod acts as a social regulator. This is the first title in a new dystopian trilogy. Publishing in October 2012 (proof received for review, Bloomsbury).

Fast forward, Rewind and Play

Here’s a heads up on some forthcoming time travel novels that have dollops of romance in them too:

-          The Twice Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones – Susie Day (August 2012, Marion Lloyd)

-          Time Between Us – Tamara Ireland Stone (25 October 2012, Doubleday)

-          When the World Was Flat (and We Were In Love) – Ingrid Jonach (late 2013 from Strange Chemistry).

What's going on? #4

To start with, it's the summer school holidays. Yay! And here's our roundup:

Firstly, a big thanks to Hot Key Books who provided copies of Angel Dust by Sarah Mussi (which is out in August) for We Sat Down's first impromptu reading group. We'll be reporting back on how that went. Hot Key Books' first books will be published on 2 August 2012.

Latest additions to our bookshelves:

For review:

Katya's World by Jonathan L Howard. This is a science fiction title coming from Angry Robot's new YA imprint, Strange Chemsitry in November 2012. It's set in Russalka, a colony that has sea but no land, where the people live beneath the waves. Katya is heading off on a submarine journey but of course, it's not going to go quite to plan.

The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket by Johne Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Barnabay is normal - except that he defies one baisc rule: gravity. (I've read this already, and it's a delight; review coming soon). It will be published in the UK on 2 August 2012 by Doubleday.

Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes Abroad, and Pippi In the South Seas by Astrid Lindgren (Oxford University Press). We have something wonderfully Scandinavian planned for these!

Gift

Flip by Martyn Bedford  - given to us from Martyn at a interview we did with him. We've both read Flip from the library before and loved it.  So we're very pleased to have a  signed copy all of our own now. Watch out for our review and interview with him coming up in September.

Codename Quicksilver giveaway winner

The winner of our Codename Quicksilver books giveaway is:  jb116094. Please contact us with your details. Thank you to Orion Children's Books for providing these books.

Competitions from Bloomsbury

A fabulous competition  - both for what you have to do and also for what you could win - is Elen's Awesome Adventures Award. Basically, you have to put together a collage of your own adventure. And you stand to win a set of all her books, Topshop vouchers, and an iPod touch. UK resident children aged 7+ may enter by 31st October 2012.

And of course, there's the big Harry Potter one which if you don't know about by now!......

What's going on? #3

What's Going On? - our news update. It includes books we've received, giveaway winners, events and anything yummy we think you'd like to know about.  Or that we want to shout about. So.....

Randomeater choosing winners - Briddles' feet in background!

3 Giveaway Winners

Winners of A Stallion Called Midnight by Victoria Eveleigh, our first giveaway, are:

 Miss Adkins
Anne
Ann Wright.

Please can you e-mail or DM (Twitter) us with your postal address. This will be given to Orion Children's Books who will post your book to you directly. 

Review copies

A little bit of Letterbox Love came In My Mailbox:

Now Is the Time For Running – Michael Williams (Tamarind)

- A story about escpaing from the war in Zimbabwe; very interested to read this.

These next 5 titles are all part of the new Vintage Children's Classics range that is launching in November and we're excited to be doing a special feature with these books throughout August. We have a few very distinguished guests coming to surprise us all on this one too:

- Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome (Vintage Classics)

- I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith (Vintage Classics)

- The Silver Sword - Ian Serraillier(Vintage Classics)

- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken (Vintage Classics)

- Emil and the Detectives - Erich Kastner (Vintage Classics)

Party Disaster – Sue Limb (Bloomsbury)

- This one was a surprise; the author is compared to Louise Rennison (whom we've never read) and it looks like it's funny and about boys, girls, chocolate and parties. 

Blog of the Month

We're very pleased to be featured as the Blog of the Month for July by Sunshine Smile Publications - a children's publishing resource.

Congratulations

To Annabel Pitcher who won the Brandford Boase award for her debut novel My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece.

Next week

We're heading off for We Sat Down's first ever face-to-face author interview.  Rain, rain, go away......

What's going on.....#2

What's going on?  We did a bit of a We Sat Down catch-up a few weeks back and thought we'd make it a bit more regular. What's Going On will be our catch-up on all things books and reading that have caught our eye.

And we thought we'd put a bit of Marvin Gaye and Cyndi Lauper into the mix :)

We Sat Down book love

Highlights of the last week:

Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity Dolls - have a look. These are awesome and the story is touching too.

Our first ‘We Sat Down’ chat series launched with Boundaries in YA fiction and it has started a lot of conversation already. It has featured the colourful Sita Brahmachari and more authors are lined up.

World Book Night – 23 April; we weren’t taking part but in a similar vein we did win a set of 10 books from Booktrust which we will be sharing with readers in a variety of ways (watch this space!).

There's been a bit of a shake-up in the shortlist for The Queen of Teen award; it’s glitzy, frothy image sparks controversy among authors and readers alike and this year has its first male nominee (James Dawson). This already has re-ignited the debate about gender and book awards. 

#fedbkgrp Twitter chat (Sunday 22 April) discussed the theme of war in children’s stories.  Great discussion and a good way to pick up new book recommendations. Next Twitter chat: Sun 6 May 8-9 follow #fedbkgrp or Adam Lancaster for updates.

The #DauntlessUK Insurgent promo from Dark Readers was really good book fun.  Take a look. http://youtu.be/ylhXEwOmb6Y  (We're Candor faction members, so we're just being honest!)

Coming up….

We’ll be looking out for 'My Suitcase is Packed' (published by English Pen), a project which produced a book by young people who have recently arrived in London from over 20 countries.

A Carnegie Shadowing cake contest is being run by Roundwood Park School Library (ask Miss Adkins for info). It’s open to schools and individuals.  Get your baking photos in by 13^th June.

Speaking of war stories, Hitler’s Angel by William Osborne (Chicken House) releases in May; Insignia by SJ Kincaid (Hot Key Books) is set in WWIII and that launches in August in the UK.

The In My Mailbox controversy among book bloggers has resulted in a bit of chirping about a British version taking off.  Some Spooky Letterbox Love might be up! Ask us on Twitter (or in the comments on this page) and we'll point you in the right direction.

1-8 May Insurgent release and Harper Collins UK has arranged a massive online promotion event involving some 70 or so book bloggers who’ve been split into five factions to battle it out for a prize at the end.  So, stay tuned for a week of Insurgent reviews and Divergent chaos. We’re having a bit of a party on here for #CANDORUK on Tues 1 May.  Do come and join us.

Competitions

Win £20 Accessorize vouchers by decorating your own flipflops as part of the Flip-Flop Club book launch. Send your photo to tradepublicity.uk@oup.com by 1 June 2012.

Win a signed copy of a Joshua Files book and goodies by MG Harris. 

That's it!  Do you have any fab book news you'd like to share?

YA lit is a blast!



Harper Collins

When we sat down on the sofa on the 14^th March, who’d have thought we’d end up here today? Little M just wanted to keep a list of her books….then share her thoughts and get inspiration for good authors and good books to read.

The past three weeks have been an absolute blast. We’ve heard about so many great books – new and old – and authors too.  And we’ve been chatting with so many lovely readers and writers who have been so helpful. Thank you!

Here’s what's been going on and a little heads up on some middle grade and teen/YA book news:

·        Little M’s bookshelves were on show at The Overflowing Library’s Bookcase Showcase. We signed up to The British Book Challenge 2012 hosted by the Overflowing Library. And we won the March’s prize pack from Simon & Schuster (more about that coming in our Easter In My Mailbox post). 

·         We’re following the very hot and brand new Hot Key Books who – like us – are at the beginning of their journey (woohoo). They invited us to guest post on how we choose our books where we highligted the importance to us of recommendation and the Carnegie Book Awards. And we’re also privileged to be reading a proof of SJ Kincaid’s Insignia – Hot Key’s first launch title coming out in august 2012.

·         We’ve seen the launch of the #UKYA site which is a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to discover authors of Young Adult and teen literature in the UK.  We’ll be using it loads!

·         We heard exciting news about Lauren St John’s Laura Marlin series for younger readers (middle grade/10-12ish)  Book 3 is being written – for horse lovers, it’s about the Kentucky Derby.  And she’s gone off to research Book 4 in St Petersburg, Russia!

And….yes, we were all waiting for it……

Team #CANDOR UK

·         INSURGENT by Veronica Roth. Our first two book reviews (Little M’s and M’s) were for Divergent.  And now the sequel, Insurgent, will be launched in the UK by Harper Collins on 1 May.

·         But the best bit for We Sat Down – we’ve been selected for the blogging Team #CANDORUK. Yes, we're part of a faction! WOOhooo!!! This means we’ll be among the first to get our hands on an advance copy of Insurgent – before 1 May!  Watch out for reviews coming up during that week. And to be honest, the #CANDORUK reviews will totally spill the truth on Insurgent.

To follow team #CANDORUK news, here is our fabulous team:

Bart’s Bookshelf

Big Book Little Book
Book Monkey 

Feeling Fictional (leader)

Gothic Angel Book Reviews

K-Books

Once Upon a Bookcase

Painting With Words

We Sat Down (that’s us!)

Writing From the Tub (leader)