Category Archives: Children’s books

Six Year Old Novelist, Smashes World Record

Posted on November 25, 2006 by Aurel

In a not so surprising play by Scottland based, Aultbea Publishing, who have become known for pushing the works of “child prodigies”, a 1,500 word book by six year old Christopher Beale was launched yesterday in the UK, garnering both a place in the Guiness Book of World Records for youngest published author.  Though some questions have arisen as to past “investment” from parents, Beale’s book, Last Season’s Excursions, is proported to be non-subsidy published and expected to be a hit with collectors.

Read more here

Posted in Booksellers, Children's books, Newly Released Books |

Carnegie longlist

Posted on November 21, 2006 by Mark

The nominations for the 2006 Carnegie medal – the UK’s most prestigious children’s literary award – have been unveiled, and titles range from Jeanette Winterson’s ideas-fuelled novel of time and space, Tanglewreck, to Conn and Hal Iggulden’s attempt to get boys climbing trees and building go-carts, The Dangerous Book for Boys.

Guardian Unlimited Books has the full story, which gives a more detailed summary of the nominations.

Posted in Awards, Children's books |

Best Selling Children's Classic Heading to Big Screen

Posted on November 20, 2006 by Aurel

Judith Viorst’s 2 million plus selling children’s book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, has been acquired by Columbia Pictures. Mike Bender is penning the adaptation and Neil Moritz is set to produce. Moritz credits his son for the project’s inception.

“This is one of my son’s favorite books, and I would read it to him every day,” Moritz said. “And a few months ago, out of the blue, he asked, ‘When are they making this into a movie, Daddy?’ And I said, Why didn’t I think of that?”

Read the Book Standard/Hollywood Reporter Article

Posted in Children's books, Movie Adaptations, Uncategorized |

Parents against gay penguins

Posted on November 16, 2006 by Mark

And Tango Makes Three cover artA picture book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin is getting a chilly reception among some parents in this village [Shiloh, Ill.] who worry about the book’s availability to elementary students — and the reluctance of administrators to restrict access to it.

You can read the AP article over on Yahoo News. If memory serves, this isn’t the first time people have tried to get And Tango Makes Three banned at a school library.

Posted in Banned Books, Children's books |

Uncovering the woman behind Mary Poppins

Posted on November 16, 2006 by Aurel

The easy answer is that she was the author of the Mary Poppins books that resulted in a beloved Disney movie and a Broadway musical.But Travers played other roles during her 96 years: she was an actress and a journalist in Australia and the U.K.; she wrote propaganda for the U.S. during the Second World War; she was a poet respected by the great Irish poets.

Read the full article on The Chronicle Herald.

Posted in Articles, Authors, Book Release, Children's books, Film |

Canada Post launches 24th annual Santa letter-writing program

Posted on November 14, 2006 by Aurel

Canada post announced on Monday, Nov. 13, that Santa Claus’ North Pole Post Office at HOH OHO is open for business. Postal Elves across the country are ready and waiting to help Santa handle the satchels of mail he’ll receive this holiday season. Holiday spirit was in the air during an event held at The Salvation Army’s Christmas distribution centre. Santa looked on while post office representatives made a special delivery of $25,000 to the not-for-profit organization for its ‘Christmas Appeal’ fund.

For each of the past five years Santa has received more than one million letters from children around the world. Santa’s North Pole Post Office has processed more than 14 million letters since the national program began in 1982. More than 11,000 Canada Post employees (current and retired), known affectionately as Postal Elves, volunteer their time to help Santa respond to his letters in the language in which they are received, including Braille.

Children are reminded to include a complete return address and to send their holiday letters to Santa at his North Pole Workshop:

SANTA CLAUS

NORTH POLE H0H OH0

CANADA

Santa can also receive e-mails through a special website at www.canadapost.ca/santascorner. Children and parents can check the Canada Post site for holiday games and activities.

Original Northumberland News Article here

Posted in Children's books, Events, Resources, Science fiction/fantasy, Websites |

Maine Humanities Council announces writing contest for students

Posted on November 5, 2006 by Aurel

The Maine Humanities Council is sponsoring an essay contest entitled, “Letters About Literature.” This free annual contest is open to all students in grades four through 12.

Students are invited to write a short letter to an author, either living or dead, explaining how that author’s book changed their way of viewing the world and themselves. The deadline for entries is Friday, Dec. 8.

Applications, samples of winning letters and tips and resources for teachers are all available online at www.mainehumanities.org, or by contacting the Maine Humanities Council at 773-5051.

(more…)

Posted in Children's books, Contests, Education |

Unfinished book taken from writer's car

Posted on November 2, 2006 by Aurel
A WRITER who has spent the past two years penning her first novel has been left devastated after all her work was stolen by thieves.
Kim Wise, 40, from Clanfield, was horrified to discover her half-finished novel had been taken from her car by thieves who smashed the windows to gain entry.
The mother-of-two had parked her car at Holy Trinity Church, Blendworth, near Horndean, last Wednesday morning, while she went to visit a friend.
When she returned at 2pm a bag containing her novel had gone, along with two china mugs.
She said: ‘While I was out I thought I heard a really loud bang, which the police have told me was probably the car being broken into.
‘At the time I thought just the china mugs had been stolen but then I woke up at 3am and thought “oh no – my book was in the car”.’
Mrs Wise said she was in the habit of taking the book with her when picking up her children from school.
All her research and ideas for a trilogy of children’s adventure novels were written down in the book.
Mrs Wise thinks the culprits will most likely have dumped the book and she is appealing for members of the public to keep an eye out for it.
‘The chances are they just threw it in a bin because it is not worth anything to anyone else, even though it is really valuable to me,’ she said.
read full story here
Posted in Authors, Children's books |

Countdown to Final Harry Potter

Posted on November 2, 2006 by Aurel

On her official website this morning, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has added a new diary entry. After previously telling fans that she thought of a second title for the final Harry Potter book in New York City, she now discloses she’s thought of another one!

“I’ve now got a third title. I’ve been thinking back, and I know that I’ve had more titles than this for a couple of the previous books, so I’m not too worried by this. Title three currently ahead by a short nose, or perhaps that should be a vowel and two consonants.”

Fans who are anxious to read the final Harry Potter volume and hoping the book might be out by 7/7/07 might be slightly worried that J.K.’s still not finished writing it yet. In her diary she also said,

“I’ve just had a great writing week. There are few feelings more joyous than reading back over the week’s work and thinking ‘that’s not bad at all’, as opposed to the all-too-frequent, ‘it’s rubbish, I’ve wasted a week and I’ll have to re-write the lot.’ And if you think that’s an exaggeration or false modesty, you are very, very wrong. It’s perfectly possible to put in eight hour days and have nothing to show for them but a single idea that, if reworked completely, might be passable.”

read original article here

Posted in Authors, Children's books, Science fiction/fantasy, Upcoming releases |

Author Matthew Skelton on his book "Endymion Spring"

Posted on October 28, 2006 by Keren

Matthew Skelton, author of bestselling children’s book Endymion Spring, discusses his life, career and experience writing the novel.

Having his first novel plucked from an agent’s slush pile and commissioned as a movie let Matthew Skelton make the leap from a failed academic who once couch surfed across Europe to an adored author on a book tour that puts him up in posh hotels.

Yet more than creature comforts, Skelton says the success of “Endymion Spring,” a history-fueled fantasy that has been described as a “The Da Vinci Code” for children, has allowed him to escape the Ivory Tower and accept himself as a dreamer who relates best to adolescents.

“They don’t just read books — they live inside them,” Skelton, 35, says of the young readers whose enthusiasm for fiction made “Endymion Spring” a best seller the week it was published in August.

Link to the Yahoo News story.

Posted in Articles, Authors, Children's books, Interviews, Reading |