The UK’s 2016 Little Rebels Award shortlist has been announced – and once again it sets a challenge for the judges… It presents a good mix of books for all ages. There are some big names among the books’ creators – and notable is Gill Lewis’s Gorilla Dawn, … Continue reading ...
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By: Betsy Bird,
on 4/1/2013
Oh me, oh my, where does the time go? Here we are, it’s Monday yet again, and I’m running about like a chicken with my head cut off. This Friday I head off to Barcelona for a full week (weep for me), then back I come to promote my picture book (Giant Dance Party, or haven’t I mentioned it before?), but not before I’ve finished the promotional videos and my very first website. *pant pant pant*
With that in mind, let’s get through these mighty quick. Not that they don’t all deserve time and attention. And tender loving care. Mwah! Big kisses all around! And yes, I did consider doing an April Fool’s post today but thought better of it. If you’d like to see some of the greatest April Fool’s posts of the children’s literary world, however, please be so good as to head over to Collecting Children’s Books and read the ones that Peter Sieruta came up with. There was 2012′s post (“Selznick syndrome” is just shy of brilliant), 2011′s Charlie Sheen Lands Children’s Book Deal (still feels real), 2009′s Graveyard Book to Be Stripped of Newbery, and his 2008 Ramona piece de resistance. This is the first year he won’t have one up. Miss you, Peter.
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression is an organization that fights book censorship. We mostly work with booksellers, however, in Our Kids Right To Read Project, we advocate for kids when people try to ban books in libraries or classrooms. Our position is that parents have the right to decide what their own children read but they do not have the right to decide for others. Proceeds from the auction will go to our programming. Our website is www.abffe.org and for the auction we have set up a separate page where people can buy tickets and artists can donate art. It is: http://abffesilentauction.
wordpress.com/ .
On the flipside, how cool is this? The Eric Carle Museum has a simply lovely exhibit up right now called Latino Folk Tales: Cuentos Populares-Art by Latino Artists. As if you needed an excuse to visit. But just in case you did . . .
I haven’t gotten much from Cynopsis Kids lately for the old blog, but there was this little tidbit I almost missed the other day: “Montreal-based Sardine Productions will develop a children’s television show based on The Mammoth Academy, a book series by British author and illustrator Neal Layton, with TVOKids, a division of Ontario’s public educational media organization TVO.”
Meanwhile, from PW Children’s Bookshelf, this little nugget of very cool news: “Anne Hoppe at Clarion Books has acquired North American rights to a nonfiction picture book by Katherine Applegate about Ivan the gorilla, the subject of her Newbery Medal-winning The One and Only Ivan. Elena Mechlin at Pippin Properties represented Applegate. In a separate deal, Mechlin sold North American rights to two middle-grade novels by Applegate, to Jean Feiwel and Liz Szabla at Feiwel and Friends.” Well that’s 12 kinds of brilliant. And how clever of Hoppe to get Applegate for Clarion. She’ll do well there. Nonfiction always does.
I don’t know about you but I was thrilled to see The New York Times write a piece on Rachel Renee Russell. When we talk about bestselling children’s books it seems odd to me that no one ever points out that the top series in children’s literature (rather than YA) right now that is written by a woman is also written by an African-American woman. Now I just want to know who the famous author was that discouraged her from writing when she was in college!
Daily Image:
Flavorwire always has such good ideas. Example: 20 Bookish Murals From Around the World. A taste:
Thanks to AL Direct for the link.
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By: Zoe,
on 8/2/2012
It’s always handy to have a few activity sheets up one’s metaphorical sleeve when it comes to the summer holidays and so once again I’ve sought out some great free resources created by children’s authors and illustrators for us all to enjoy.
Click on the relevant image or coloured link to be taken to activity sheets you can download.
Debi Gliori has created an entire fun pack you can download
. It includes a wordsearch, a mask to make, colouring in and more.
On Neal Layton’s site you can find Emily B activity sheets and an Oscar and Arabella colouring Sheet
Illustrator Claire Sells has two colouring-in sheets (a fairy, and some dinosaurs) for a quick and easy 5-minute activity.
If you loved Maudie Smith’s Opal Moonbaby, you won’t want to miss out on her Mingle Maker
Clara Vulliamy has enough crafty goodness on her website to keep you out of mischief the whole summer. Although of it was created for an advent calendar, not all of it is wintery themed (and those bits which are may be just right for friends in the Southern Hemisphere right now). I particularly like the Bunny Rocket and the bear thaumatrope.
By: Zoe,
on 4/29/2012
Things-I-have-learned-as-a-parent number 359: A walk for the sheer fun of it, in our local park or nature reserve, is never complete without a stick.
The sooner the girls can find one which meets their ideals for the day the happier they are. A big one to lean on, a little one to become a wand, a bendy one to be a flag: a stick is an essential acquisition on any sort of exploration.
Image: Daniel Baker
And so it was with some eagerness that I accepted The Stick Book by Jo Schofield and Fiona Danks for review. Would the girls and I get new ideas and be inspired in new ways? Would it encourage us out on those days we were suffering from inertia? Would it make me look with refreshed, delighted eyes at the pile of sticks by our back door that grows and grows and normally has me rolling my eyes in slight desperation?
The Stick Book contains 70 different ideas for using sticks in outdoor play. There are 8 themed chapters, for example one on “Stick games” (including pick up sticks, capture the flag, and tracking with stick), one on “Adventure sticks” (including building dens, swords, catapults and spear throwers) and on on “Watery sticks” (including pooh sticks, making a mini raft and measuring the depth of a stream). Each activity is accompanied by a photograph and tips or brief instructions on the activity in question.
Essentially, this is a craft book, not unlike those you might get from the library packed with Easter crafts or Egyptian crafts. It’s just that this time the unifying theme is outdoor play with sticks. And like many craft books, with the advent of the internet, and great sites like Let the Children Play, the ideas you find within the pages are probably available for free somewhere online, and many of them are so simple (such as playing pooh sticks) that you might wonder if this really is a book worth buying.
It’s definitely worth seeking out. By bringing all the ideas together in one place it IS stimulating. It has motivated the girls and me get our shoes on and go walking and looking for good sticks. M in particular has enjoyed reading the book herself, and choosing an activity she’d like to do. I particularly like the fact that all the people who feature in this book’s photographs are kids. There’s not an adult to be seen in this idyllic, natural landscape full of potential for adventure.
As children increasingly lose contact with outdoor play, and adults become less confident and comfortable with it (after all, isn’t it easier to put on a DVD?), this book will hopefully be a useful reminder of how simple and enjoyable it is to play outdoors. All you need is a stick and a little bit of inspiration.
3 Comments on 1st set of free activity sheets from authors and illustrators – Summer 2012, last added: 8/5/2012
(Psst. There’s a little wonkiness in that Katherine Applegate link. I think you mean this.)
Oh! Usually I just link to PW Children’s Bookshelf since I can never figure out how to do the specific portions of their newsletter. I like this more, though. Cheers!
Great piece and great links – thanks, Betsy!