By: Sally Murphy,
on 10/9/2008
More sample pages, especially relevant if you are a teacher of English, primary literacy or viewing. Today's sample comes from Writing the News, newspaper and media related activities, with an emphasis on writing. You can see the sample pages here. Enjoy.
By: Sally Murphy,
on 10/5/2008
Time for another cute site. More cute animals this time - at the Cute Cat Blog. My favourite is the Invisible Guitar Hero photo - my friend Sally's kids (the Murphlets) love Guitar Hero, but I've never seen a cat playing it!
Anyway, enjoy the site.
By: Sally Murphy,
on 10/1/2008
Time for a new regular feature here at my Writing for Children blog. Called Seven Answers to Seven Questions, it asks the same seven questions of any writer who cares to drop by and answer them. I’ve started by asking some of my writer friends to contribute and their answers will be posted here soon. In the meantime I figured I should have a go at answering them for myself. So, here are my own
By: Sally Murphy,
on 10/1/2008
My nonfiction frog book, Awesome Amphibians, is now available in downloadable ebook form (as well as in A4 format paperback), for AU$12.95. If you want to try before you buy, there is a free sample download of the book here. You can see some of the text and beautiful photos from the book. Enjoy!
By: Sally Murphy,
on 9/29/2008
Another famous bear for you to learn about - and this one, just like me, is the star of a book. Actually, this week's bear, Paddington has been the star of many books - for fifty years! That's even older than Sally.
Still Paddington might be cute, but I'm not sure he can sing like I can. He hasn't got a friend like Primula to teach him!
Check out Paddington's site.
By: Sally Murphy,
on 9/22/2008
It might surprise you to hear that I'm not the only famous bear on the planet.
So, to liven my blog up a little, and to share the love, I thought I might introduce my readers to other famous bears.
First up (drumroll please, Primula), this week's bear of the week is -
HUMPHREY. (Sorry for shouting but I'm excited, because Humphrey is a bit of a legend. He's been entertaining kids all over Australia for years and years. My friend Sally says he was even around when she was a kid - and that's a long time ago.
If you visit Humphrey's site you can see what he looks like and play games of all kinds.
Yay Humphrey.
By: Sally Murphy,
on 5/25/2008
By: Sally Murphy,
on 4/22/2008
ANZAC Day is coming up this Friday, April 25. This is the day that Australia pauses to remember both the first ANZAC Day, when Australian and New Zealand forces landed in Gallipoli, and all of Australia’s military involvement in international conflict. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about two new books coming out in time for ANZAC Day, but wanted to write about it again because this particular
By: Sally Murphy,
on 3/23/2008
Happy Easter. I’m celebrating this wonderful feast of new life and joy for all by spending time at home with my beautiful family. Lots of chocolate has been eaten, and everyone’s feeling good. What better way to celebrate ANYTHING than by eating chocolate. In between chocolate and joy I’ve managed to read a book, which I started yesterday and finished today – Claiming the Courtesan, by Anna
By: Sally Murphy,
on 3/17/2008
By: Sally Murphy,
on 2/28/2008
Have finished two projects today. Finished a final tightening of a midgrade novel which I had tightened many times before. This time, though, I’ve been reading the whole thing aloud, and did pick up quite a few errors and/or clunky patches. It’s a good way to see if your work really flows. I also finished my proofing of my new nonfiction Frogs book, which is looking really good and is due out
By: Sally Murphy,
on 2/21/2008
In my last post I suggested that if you’re a writer you should seize any opportunity to attend a writer’s conference. For me, the opportunities are few and far between. I live in rural Western Australia where writers’ conferences are unheard of. Even in Perth, conferences for children’s authors are almost unheard of, and for other writing genres also quite rare. This is why the wonderful SCBWI
By: Sally Murphy,
on 2/13/2008
Having just finished the first draft of my first ever verse novel, I’ve been doing some thinking about poetry and about what makes a poem a poem. This lead me to Google for some opinions on the subject and, ultimately, to YouTube (because where else would one go to seek literary wisdom?). I like this guy’s answer to my question.
By: Sally Murphy,
on 2/8/2008
By: Sally Murphy,
on 2/3/2008
By: Sally Murphy,
on 2/3/2008
The Murphlets have gone back to school today after the long Summer holidays. I love having my kids home for the holidays, but must confess to being happy to see them back at school, so I can get more writing done. And I think they were happy to be back at school, too, or at least acceptant of the fact that they were going there. So now the house will be quiet from 9 till 3, and I should have
By: Yankeerat,
on 1/16/2008
I don't read much adult literature these days (although I did recently read Steve Martin's Born Standing Up and highly recommend it,) and I NEVER read Dean Koontz, so this might have completely passed me by. But in a Publisher's Weekly article about the importance of post-Christmas bookstore sales, (December 3, 2007, Vol. 254, No.48, p. 20) it was mentioned that the paperback release of Kate DiCamillio's The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane has been bumped up. Why, you ask? And what does this have to do with Dean Koontz? Well, evidently the book features heavily in Koontz's Brother Odd, and Candlewick, the publishers of "Tulane" are hoping to snag some adult readers, all on the basis of that connection. I for one can't argue with their reasoning. As a high schooler I read Candide--which was brutal, I might add-- simply because of the lyric, "It's just like a scene out of Voltaire" (That's from Duran Duran's Last Chance on the Stairway, just in case you didn't already know!) And I read Moby Dick as a preamble to Nathanial Philbrick's In The Heart of the Sea (although I probably should have read them in reverse. I recommend that one, too, BTW.)
I'd love to know if the strategy works. If it does, I wonder if it will lead to product placement among authors--prearranged mentioning to connect adult readers to kids books and vice versa. Actually, now that I think about it, I hope the strategy fails spectacularly! Far too contrived. I guess it's a shame that I found no value in my reading of Voltaire, but at least I got there on my own.
By: Eric Orchard,
on 1/3/2008
By: Sally Murphy,
on 12/8/2007
By: Sally Murphy,
on 11/29/2007
I’m having a thoroughly chaotic couple of weeks, mostly not writing related. School finishes in two weeks, and I’m in the midst of writing reports, rehearsing for three presentation night items, ferrying the Murphlets to various events, attending end of year functions and so on. I counted eight functions I need to attend in the next two weeks – more than I’ve been to in the whole year to date.
By: Sally Murphy,
on 11/16/2007
I have been tagged by my dear friend (and official biographer) Sally at Scribblings. I’ve never been tagged before, but since I learned to come down from the shelf and sing, I’ve learnt that trying something new is usually a good thing. So, I’ll join in.
Here’s how it works:
Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
So here we go - 7 random facts about me:
1. My fur is a little worn on my bottom. This is from spending too long sitting all alone on my shelf.
2. I love to sing, but have yet to fulfil my ambition of appearing on Australian Idol. I went to the auditions once, but people kept picking me up and cuddling me, and pretty soon I smelt like cheap perfume and iced coffee, and I had to go home to get clean.
3. I love learning and using new words. My favourite word at the moment is perspicacious. If someone is perspicacious they are acutely perceptive or discerning. My friend Primula is perspicacious. When I was alone on my shelf she saw that, deep down, what I needed was company and for someone to believe in me.
4. My favourite book (apart from my life story, Pemberthy Bear), is Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems.
5. I once tried sky diving – in my sleep. Okay, maybe it wasn’t sky-diving, but it felt like it. See, I was asleep up on my high, high shelf, and was having a bad dream. I must have been tossing and turning in my sleep because the next thing I felt like I was flying and then WHAM I woke up on the toy room mat. Luckily I wasn’t hurt – just dreadfully embarrassed.
6. I like to write poetry, but haven’t written a new poem since the 9th of September. Oops – better get to work on a new offering.
7. This one is a little sad. I’m supposed to tag seven other people to also share their seven random facts, but I don’t KNOW seven other bloggers. And the bloggers I do know have all been tagged by Sally! So perhaps if you’re reading this, and you have a blog, you could pretend to be my friend and share your seven things. Leave a comment here and I’ll come and read them.
By: Jennie,
on 9/26/2007
Guess How Much I Love You by The Lucksmiths. It's my favorite rainy day song. Not that today is rainy, but rather because it fits in well with today's theme. This is cartography for beginners, on map the gap's three fingers but it's more than that, more than that...
By: Mary Lee,
on 9/25/2007
Christmas.
The catalogs have started to come. The displays are starting to edge out Halloween and dwarf Thanksgiving.
And the Christmas books are rolling out, beginning with
Great Joy
by Kate DiCamillo
illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
review copy compliments of Candlewick Press
This is a simple story of a girl who wonders about and worries about the organ grinder and his monkey who show up on the corner of the street below her window. She questions her mother, Where do they sleep? How do they stay warm?, but her mother is too busy getting the girl's angel costume ready for the Christmas play to give her a satisfactory answer. On the way to the church for the Christmas play, the girl puts a coin in the organ grinder's box and invites him to come to her play. The story holds its breath when the little girl takes the stage to deliver her angelic lines. She surveys the crowd, but does not see the organ grinder. When he enters the church, she shouts, "Behold, I bring you tidings of Great Joy!"
Like I said, it's a simple story. It's a story that mirrors the story of the Nativity -- of the poor outcasts who are invited to be witnesses to the Great Joy. Of the angel who invites all to share in the joy.
The illustrations are what gives this book layering and depth. The setting is WWII. You can see it in the cars, the hair and clothing styles, the fact that there are no young men in the church. The girl's father is in the Navy. His picture is on the dresser. (Is his absence the reason Mother is distracted?) Every picture in this book glows, is radiant, is luminous. Every face in this book is a particular face, every person seems to be caught mid-gesture. After the story is over, you can't help yourself -- you go back and look at the pictures, again and again.
By: Sally Murphy,
on 9/24/2007
Spring has sprung here down under. From the toyroom window I can see Sally’s garden all abloom with bright and beautiful flowers. There are ranunculi, anemones, sweet peas, gerberas, poppies and more all raising their beautiful heads to the sky. Earlier there were jonquils and daffodils, but they’re just finishing, as are the multi-coloured freesias.
Spring is such a wonderful season. People (and toys) no longer moan about the cold (I myself have been known to do this in winter) and it is not yet so hot it could singe your fur. There are birds building nests and people singing. Sally even sang as she did the vacuuming this morning. As if there were some joy in doing the housework!
But I suppose the point isn’t think whether the task deserves joy – but to carry that joy with you whatever you’re doing. Life’s too short to be grumpy and gruff. Whether it’s spring or summer, autumn or winter, we need to find pleasure in here we are and what we’re doing. Otherwise life is passing us by. So what song are you singing today?
By: Sally Murphy,
on 8/23/2007
The fifth day of my story sessions in honour of children’s book week. Today I thought I’d have a little fun and read my life story to the other toys. See, Pemberthy Bear isn’t just a story about me – it’s also about all the other toys as well, because they’re all there, in the beautiful pictures that my friend Jacqui painted of us. So, in a week where we are sharing and celebrating books, what better book than to share than one in which we all appear?
Anyway, I had a bit of fun with toys. They were all gathered for story time and I had hidden the book under a cushion before they got there. Then I made them guess which story I’d chosen. I gave them hints. ‘It’s a tale of a beautiful heroine overcoming overwhelming odds,’ I hinted. ‘It’s almost too sweet to bear,’ was the next hint. It took a while but eventually Robbie Robot guessed. Then I read them the story, and they all wondered anew at seeing themselves brought to life in the lovely illustrations.
It really was a lovely story session. It’s wonderful that we all have this book to share and remind us of how blessed we are to have each other. And of course I must admit that I love being the star of the book. How lucky am I to have a friend like Sally, willing to write my story down and share it with the world, and a friend like Jacqui who was able to portray me so beautifully in her illustrations.
I’m a lucky bear!
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