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.

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/

Story Website for Deaf Children

A website that teaches deaf children classic stories has won its North-East inventor an honour. Malcolm Wright, from Darlington, was named a 'Reading Hero' by the Prime Minister's wife, Sarah Brown.

Mr Wright caught the attention of judges for his new website, which makes reading more accessible to deaf children. The site, at http://www.signedstories.com/, features stories brought to life with sign language, sound, text and vision.

The service, launched by ITV, is expected to grow into an online library of more than 300 children's books.

Mr Wright said: "Being acknowledged at Downing Street for helping children to enjoy and benefit from reading is an unexpected honour. Through no fault of their own, deaf children in the UK have been disadvantaged by poor levels of literacy. We hope our website will make a real difference to their lives.

It's a place where all the family can share the fun of stories together. I hope signed stories.com will encourage thousands of children to get pleasure from reading some brilliant books."

The Northern Echo: Tues 3rd March