Please stop leaving unwanted comments

Would the person who insists on sending unwanted and unreadable comments in Chinese to my blog please stop doing so. All comments are moderated by me and so do not appear on the blog. You are wasting my time and yours.

Message from Dorothy

Hi! Thanks for visiting and supporting Kids Books UK. For various reasons I have decided not to continue posting to this blog. I will remove or update posts with out of date information, but leave posts which are still relevant. You will still be able to access Kids Books UK to read previous posts.
I am in the process of setting up a new blog, Storyadore  for anyone who loves reading and/or writing stories The blog will provide regular information, tips, prompts, competitions and more. I'll post a link to this here and on social networks, to my groups etc once it's live. I hope you'll adore Storyadore!

Lancashire Book Awards

Apologies for not posting to my blog for such a long time. I've been very busy, writing and reading children's fiction. I have written two pieces of children's fiction for the Writing for Children module of the MA and two traditional animal folk tales in verse for the Letters to Africa book.

I've also read all ten booksshortlisted for the Lancashire Book Award. This shortlist was drawn up by children from schools across Lancashire. The winner will be announced on 28th May during a special event at which children will discuss the books and vote for their favourite. I was part of a group of adults who shadowed the event. We met at the University of Central Lancashire last week to discuss the books and vote for our own favourite. I'm not allowed to say which book won the vote until the winner of the award is announced, but will reveal all then.

The shortlisted books are:

Bloodchild by Tim Bowler (OUP Oxford)

Stolen by Lucy Christopher (Chicken House)

The Spook’s Sacrifice by Joseph Delaney (Bodley Head)

Grass by Cathy MacPhail (Bloomsbury)

Bang Bang You’re Dead by Narinder Dhami (Corgi Children’s)

Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera (Puffin)

Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison (Harper Collins)

Out of the Blue by Val Rutt (Piccadilly Press)

Numbers by Rachel Ward (Chicken House)

Saving Rafael by Leslie Wilson (Anderson Press)

My personal top five are: Bloodchild, Saving Rafael, Stolen, Grass and Numbers.

Letters to Africa

Writing this from Kabwe where I'm with the Sport in Action Students getting letters for The letters to Africa project. I've made lots of contacts and will be going to my first school tomorrow. Yesterday I saw the Sports In Action team in action for the first time, playing sports and traditional games with well over a hundred children from on eof the poorest areas of Zambia. It was an amazing experience and I got some fabulous photographs. Paulka, the photographer has taken about four or five hundred.

Letters to Africa

Next week I am going to Zambia to research and write material for a book produced by students of the MA in Writing for Children and MA in Publishing at the University of Central Lancashire. My visit is in conjunction with an Education through Sport project, whose aim is to educate on health issues through sport and games.
Other members of the writing/publishing team will be visiting Kenya next month. On both visits, we will take letters written by primary children across Lancashire, to which African children will write replies. We will also aim to get answers to the many interesting questions the children asked in their letters.
The book, Letters to Africa, will include some of those letters between English and African children as well as facts and fiction on Africa, a glossary of the Maa language and photographs and illustrations by university students. All profits from sales of the book will go to provide educational resources in Africa. I will produce both fact and fiction for the book, so will be keeping a journal and conducting interviews as part of my research while I'm in Zambia. If I have access to a computer/web I'll post updates on my blog while I'm away, otherwise I'll do so when I return.

David Almond shortlisted for Hans Christian Andersen Prize

David Almond up for double honours

Once again, congratulations are due to multi-award-winning author David Almond, who has been shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen prize, awarded biennially since 1956 to an author “whose complete works have made lasting contributions to children’s literature”. An impressive line-up of past winners includes Eleanor Farjeon, Tove Jansson and Astrid Lindgren. This year's winner will be announced on 23 March.

As we announced in an earlier newsletter, David is also nominated for The Astrid Lindgren award, which is presented a day later, on 24 March, at Lindgren’s birth place in Vimmerby, Sweden. The award is worth SEK5m (£460,000) and is given to a body of work “in the spirit of Astrid Lindgren, with a focus on a profound respect for democratic values and human rights”.

(March 19th New WritingNorth Newsletter)

As regular blog readers know, David is my favourite children's author. In fact he's my favourite author all round. His nominations are well deserved as anyone who's read his books will agree.

Read to a Million Kids

Did you know that you can listen to the stories featured in this year's World Book Day books read by famous authors and actors online. This is available through a project called, Read to a Million Kids. Click on the link: http://www.readtoamillionkids.co.uk/ Then click on the red videos tab at the top of the home page. Scroll down the page and choose the books you want to hear. You might like to read about the authors too. If so click on the blue tab.
 The books themselves are still available for just a pound. They're especially good value this year as they contain two books in one. Children: If you've still got your token don't forget to trade it in by the end of March for one of the free books or use it to get a pound off a book or audio book of your choice. Adults: check out the fabulous books and recordings which cover the full age range of children's books from pre-school to teenage. Let me know which you read or listen to and what you thought.

Revealing Article from The Independent on Children's Reading

Don't miss this research-based article from the Independent. It's extremely interesting to anyone interested in children's reading.

Boys read as much as girls, but prefer the simpler books



At all ages, girls score more highly on reading tests, survey shows

By Richard Garner, Education Editor

The Independent: Monday, 1 March 2010

Girls are reading Stephanie Meyer's 'Twilight' saga, while boys are turning to Peter Lancett's 'Dark Man' series

First the good news: boys are reading as much as girls. Now the bad: the books they choose are far less challenging and easier to comprehend than those selected by girls, and this gets worse as they grow older.

The findings of a major study of 100,000 children's reading habits coincide with national curriculum test results which show that – at all ages – girls score more highly on reading tests. "Boys are clearly reading nearly as much as girls, a finding that may surprise some onlookers," said Professor Keith Topping, of the University of Dundee's school of education, who headed the study. "But boys are tending to read easier books than girls. The general picture was of girls reading books of a consistently more difficult level than boys in the same year."

The gap in the standard of their reading habits becomes most marked between the ages of 13 and 16, the report says. The favourite girl's book in this age group is Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer, the first in the vampire romance series that has sold 85 million copies worldwide. This was ranked far more difficult to read than the boys' favourite, The Dark Never Hides, from the British novelist Peter Lancett's Dark Man series, illustrated fantasy novels aimed at reluctant teens and young adults struggling to read.


The study notes that both sexes tend to choose books that are easier to read once they reach the age of 11 and transfer to secondary school. Compared with a similar study two years ago, the Harry Potter author JK Rowling has tumbled down the top 10 most popular children's authors, from second to ninth place.

Boys, in particular, chose not to read her books, which are considered more challenging than many other children's titles. "Perhaps the lapse in popularity of the Harry Potter books ... has left boys with few high difficulty books they have the urge to attack," Professor Topping added.

One author to shoot into the top 10 for the first time - at number two - is Roderick Hunt, whose 300 The Magic Key books, following the lives of three children and their dog, Floppy, are used in 80 per cent of British schools to teach people how to read. Roald Dahl still tops the chart.

The report, commissioned by Renaissance Learning, which pioneers online reading tests widely in use in US schools to determine the reading age of children, recommends that teachers should closely monitor the reading habits of their pupils, particularly the boys. "As with adult reading, kids will not always read to the limit of their ability," Professor Topping said. "Even high-achieving readers do not challenge themselves enough as they grow older."

The report recommends an expansion of the school library service, with schools encouraged to stock every book which appears in the top 10 favourites for each age group. The children's reading habits were confirmed by taking online quizzes on the books they had read.


The findings reverse the conclusions of a similar survey two years ago when boys were found to be opting for harder-to-read books than girls.

WOW! Women On Writing Issue 37: Fall in Love with Romance Writing

WOW! Women On Writing Issue 37: Fall in Love with Romance Writing

Book Review: The White Giraffe by Lauren St John

The White Giraffe by Lauren St John was so good I read it in one go. Eleven-year old Martine loses both parents in a house fire. She goes to live with her grandmother on a game reserve in South Africa, but this is a mixed blessing as her grandmother makes her feel unwelcome and the reserve is out of bounds. Martine uncovers secrets about her past and that of her family and befriends the mysterious white giraffe she calls Jeremiah. Shunned by her classmates, who call her a witch, Martine finds solace in her special friendship with the giraffe. But Jeremiah's life is in danger and Martine doesn't know who, if anyone, she can trust. The White Giraffe tackles difficult subjects  including death, prejudice and animal cruelty through sensitive storytelling combined with compelling plot and realistic characters. David Dean's illustrations are as beautiful as Lauren St John's writing!

Costa Book Awards Children's Book Winner

The winner of this year's Costa Book Awards Children's Book Category is Patrick Ness for The Ask and the Answer, the second book in his Chaos Walking trilogy in which Todd and Viola are separated and forced to make seemingly impossible choices.

Shortlisted books were: Troubadour by Mary Hoffman, an historical story of love and war set in 13th century France, Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera, in which a fifteen year old Muslim boy is abducted and taken to Guantanamo Bay while on holiday in Pakistan and Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd a novel described as both heartbreaking and hilarious in which unhappy heroine, Holly, transforms her character when she discovers a blond wig. The shortlist offers something for all tastes for teenager readers upwards. So choose one or two and get reading!

The Gruffalo, Bridge to Terabithia and The Hunger Games on film

Did you watch the Gruffalo film on TV? I did and I really enjoyed it. The animation and voices were fabulous.

I also watched The Bridge to Terabithia today. Christmas is a great time to watch children's books which have been made into film, isn't it?

Talking of which, does anyone know when the film of The Hunger Games is going to be released? I learned from the web that its in production. It's one of the best children's books I've read and I can't wait to see the film version. I bought my son the second book for Christmas. Apparently you can pre-order the third book, so look out for that too!

Rhyme for Pudsey

Check out this show, all in rhyme.
It's really good, you'll have a fun time.
There's poems and limericks;
one was written by me,
a little love poem to my hero, Pudsey!

(Well it is for Children in Need!)

www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire  Ted Robbins Show Fri 20th Nov

www.juliadonaldson.co.uk

The Gruffalo was revealed yesterday as the nation's favourite bedtime story in a poll by Radio 2. Find out more about the Gruffalo's  author Julia Donaldson at http://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/. Julia's official website is a delight. It's worth setting aside an hour or so to have a good browse and find out more about Julia, her amazing career as a children's writer and the books, plays and songs she has written. The home page opens to reveal a gorgeous picture of Julia surrounded by some of her characters. You can click on the strapline to find out about her latest picture books, The Troll and Tabby McTat. There's a list of clickable page links down the left hand side of the home page. My favourite section was About Me, where I discovered lots of fun and amazing facts about Julia and her writing. If you read all the way down to the bottom of the page, or scroll down the beanstalk, you will find a link to a podcast in which Julia talks about her life and work. It's worth browsing the other sections too. You might discover some inside information such as the fact that The Giants and the Jonses is going to be made into a Warner Brothers' film. The beatiful website is very easy to navigate so take a tour today. You'll meet some amazing characters along the way.

Hugh Lupton, Storyteller

Hugh Lupton is a well known British Storyteller. He co-founded the Company of Storytellers with Ben Haggarty and Pomme Clayton in 1985. Lupton tells a wide variety of stories, including Epics such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, but also collections of shorter stories such as fables and folk tales from Britain and around the world.
The following books are published by Barefoot Books and can be purchased by clicking on the link at the top right of my toolbar. Most of them are accompanied by CDs of Hugh himself telling the stories and the illustrations are fabulous. They would make perfect Christmas presents as there's something for everyone from toddlers upwards, including those hard to please boys looking for excitement and adventure.

 

 

The Story Tree: Tales to Read Aloud

Delight in reading these quirky tales aloud to the under-five crowd. Each of the seven stories imparts an important lesson while using humour and loveable characters to keep listeners engaged. Book with CD editions include stories read by Hugh Lupton.

Ages 3 to 4 years

Retold By: Hugh Lupton

Illustrated By: Sophie Fatus

Tales of Wisdom and Wonder
Prepare to be amazed, intrigued and enchanted by these astonishing tales. The seven stories gathered from sources around the world are full of magic, mystery and transformations. Book with CD editions include stories read by Hugh Lupton.

Ages 5 to 11 years

Retold By: Hugh Lupton

Illustrated By: Niamh Sharkey

The Adventures of Odysseus
Travel back in time to experience one of the greatest epic stories of all time. Once the Trojan war ended, Odysseus thought his journey home would begin. But what he assumed was the end of his adventure was truly only the beginning.

Also available in full-length story CD read by Hugh Lupton.

Ages 8 and up

Retold By: Daniel Morden, Hugh Lupton

Illustrated By: Christina Balit

Pirican Pic and Pirican Mor

Meet two rascally boys who have a disagreement beneath the walnut tree, and set off to find revenge. This retelling of a Scottish folk tale gathers pace as the cumulative items build page after page, with lessons that are both humorous and thought provoking.

Ages 4 to 9 years

Retold By: Hugh Lupton

Illustrated By: Yumi Heo

Book Review: Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd

The double story line and rather challenging language make this a book I'd recommend for teenagers and adults rather than children. It's very much a coming of age novel, but there's much more to it than that.

Seventeen-year old Fergus discovers the body of a girl in a peat bog on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The author uncovers the historical account of the girl's tragic life alongside the present drama of Fergus' own life. Fergus' brother is on hunger strike in the Maze prison and the family's loyalties are divided. When asked by a friend to ferry parcels with an unknown content across the border, Fergus agrees in the hope it will help save his brother's life. But every day his brother is getting close to death.

The plot of the book is compelling and has all the ingredients of a page-turner: suspense, humour, red-herrings and unexpected revelations. Add to this the dual historical backgrounds and well developed characters and you have a book well worth reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
You can read excellent reviews of this book on amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/ and USA http://www.amazon.com/ .

Don't forget to vote for your favourite UK Children's Author Site

Please vote for your favourite author site by the end of October. So far only one person has done so! The sites I've listed are well worth a visit. They are fun and informative and tell you about authors, books, tips on writing and so much more. You can play games, watch videos, listen to and read interviews and maybe even contact your favourite author. Each one has been specially chosen because it has a lot to offer.

The Secret Seed Society: Let You in on their Secret

On the 10th July 2009 the Secret Seed Society launched the first in a series of adventure packs that make growing and eating your own food simple and so much fun that it is quite literally child’s play!
Each pack in the series contains an illustrated storybook, seeds, growing instructions and a recipe so children can follow their food on a journey from plant to plate. The books tell the stories of the inhabitants of Seed City; an urban environment populated by vegetable beings.
The first pack comes with a membership card for children to sign up online to become Seed Agents. Seed Agents get emailed missions that involve growing and eating, as well as being supported and encouraged with prompts and tips on the website. Growing isn’t always easy and it requires a lot of patience in the early stages.
The Secret Seed Society will engage children - and through them their families and communities - in a move towards fresh, local, organic food that they have grown themselves, perhaps on an urban balcony or a rural allotment.
Who's behind the project? The Secret Seed Society is a social enterprise. The founding team brings together a teacher, an anthropologist, a filmmaker, a sustainability strategist and an illustrator. In March 2009, they decided to independently finance, publish and distribute these adventure packs.
“There aren’t many things that I’d launch in a recession but this pack makes so much sense right now. Growing your own food saves cash, reduces carbon and tastes delicious.” Shena Cooper, co-founder of the Secret Seed Society.
They have had huge amounts of support for the project - photographers, lawyers and designers have all pitched in and given their time, they have received a Millenium Grant from UnLtd, discounts from suppliers and the enthusiasm of a bunch of friends who worked through the night assembling 2,500 packs by hand.
More info
Visit www.secretseedsociety.com.
Contact Menka for more information, photos and a pack.
press@secretseedsociety.com
mobile: +44 (0) 797 070 6516
Let Peter Parsnip keep you up to date
twitter.com/peterparsnip
facebook.com/peterparsnip

Secret Seed Society is running its 3rd story writing competition, for a storybook starring a personified Onion!

If you’ve always wanted to be a published children’s author, put it on your to-do list: 700 words, for £700, by 5th October.
The stories are set in Seed City and are full of the challenge, adventure, the wonder of active urban living, and a sprinkle of fantasy.
Full details here: http://secretseedsociety.com/writing-competition/
Good luck!

Vote for Your Favourite UK Children's Author Website

At the bottom of this post are links to my top ten favourite UK children's author websites:

I'd like you to roam all the sites using the links below then vote for your favourite. To vote, just send me a comment with the name of the author whose site you like best and why. Don't forget it's the site you're voting for, not the author.

I will announce the winner at the end of October and post a blog featuring the winning site the first week of November. I'll also let you know which site or sites are my favourites and why. Please also let me know if you have any favourite author sites not included on my list.
Have fun and don't forget to vote!

Michael Morpurgo     http://www.michaelmorpurgo.org/    
         
Jaqueline Wilson        http://www.jacquelinewilson.co.uk/

Malorie Blackman      http://www.malorieblackman.co.uk/

Anne Fine                   http://www.annefine.co.uk/

Philip Pullman             http://www.philip-pullman.com/

JK Rowling                 http://www.jkrowling.com/

Darren Shan               http://www.darrenshan.com/

Eric Carle                  http://www.eric-carle.com/

Terry Deary\              http://www.terry-deary.com/

Julia Donaldson           http://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/

North East author David Almond is chosen as Liverpool Read

Graphic novel The Savage, written by David Almond and illustrated by Dave McKean, has been chosen as the Liverpool Reads book for 2009. The city-wide initiative, coordinated by The Reader Organisation at the University of Liverpool, encourages the reading and sharing of one book each year. 20,000 copies of The Savage (published by Walker Books) will be given away across the fomer City of Culture from 15 September. 

(New Writing North, September Newsletter)

David is my favourite children's author and my 12 year old son Ben has become a fan too. He particularly loved The Savage and Skellig. Congratulations David!