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.