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 ...
Add a Comment.jpeg?picon=3306)
By: Zoe,
on 1/3/2016
I wanted a brilliant book to start the new year with and I’ve unearthed real treasure with How to Find Gold by Viviane Schwarz (@vivschwarz), out later this week in the UK.
Anna is a girl with an inspirational can-do attitude. She decides she wants to find gold with her friend (a crocodile) and refuses to be put off or to give up, simply because the task might be risky or hard to achieve.
Issues which might seem like problems to some are acknowledged by young Anna, but they never put her off her stride. Instead, her positive take on life, her ability to see opportunities rather than obstacles and the power of her imagination enable her and Crocodile to have tremendous fun looking for (and indeed finding) gold, even if (or partly because?) it is dangerous and difficult.
Together the friends search high and low, sailing the seven seas and facing terrible monsters before finding a chest full of treasure in a sunken wreck. But having found the treasure do they keep it? What is more valuable to them? Piles of gold to have and to hold or the wonderful experiences they’ve shared by together being brave, hopeful and believing in themselves?
In some regards, this outstanding picture book echoes Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch, both conveying an inspiring message that anything is possible if you allow yourself to really go after your dreams. Both also happen to feature black girls, though in neither instance is this what the books are about. Their messages are much more universal – about having fun, about self-belief, about letting your imagination take flight to fruition.
Schwarz’s tale is full of humour, both in her words and imagery. The looks of determination and delight on Anna’s face, the unassuming dead-pan delivery of her decisions, her friend’s (mostly) calm absorption of Anna’s apparent impetuosity – all will make you smile.
Schwarz also uses colour brilliantly to intensify the adventure these two undertake. Monochrome real life is contrasted with a richly vibrant hunt for treasure.
Courageous, joyous and imaginative, Anna is a hero to enliven us all. This funny manifesto for adventuring with friends, for embracing challenges, for not giving up on looking for gold, whatever form it takes for you is outstanding. I can’t think of a better way to start my reading year, or yours.
Of course we were chomping at the bit for our own treasure hunt having read How to Find Gold but first we had to ensure there were plenty of gold coins to find in amongst the hoard of jewels.
We took inspiration from our box of coins from around the world, choosing those with designs on them which we especially liked.
We then placed these coins under gold confectionery wrappers (thin golden tin foil) in order to transfer their designs to the foil.
We also designed our own coins, using golden embossing paper and kebab sticks.
Next up we melted lots of chocolate and dropped dollops onto the foil (flipped over, so the gold side was face down).
An hour or two in the fridge later and we had our first glimpse at how our hoard of golden dubloons was coming along…
All that was left was to wrap the edges of the foil around the hardened chocolate to complete our chocolate coins and amass our amazing pile of gold:
Making our own treasure was definitely as much fun as finding it!
Whilst making money we listened to:
Other activities which might work well alongside reading How to Find Gold include:
If you liked this post you might like these other posts by me:
If you’d like to receive all my posts from this blog please sign up by inputting your email address in the box below:
Delivered by FeedBurner
Disclosure: I was sent a free review copy of this book by the publisher.
By: Zoe,
on 1/14/2015
Are you ever too old for a picture book?
Walk into a bookshop, and you’ll rarely find a picture book on the shelves labelled 5-8, 9-12 or Teenage/Young Adult (the age bandings used in the most widespread chain of bookshops in the UK), implicitly telling buyers that picture books are only for those under 5.
But what if you have a picture book about Descartes’s philosophical statement “Je pense donc je suis” or to put it another way “Cogito Ergo Sum”?
A book which not only explores learning to listen to yourself, to trust your own instincts but also what it feels like when you think you have failed and how to fight against the dark thoughts that then crowd in.
Gosh, if only we all knew everything we needed to know about these issues by the time we were five! Wouldn’t life be much simpler?
I am Henry Finch written by Alexis Deacon and illustrated by Viviane Schwarz is a new picture book which makes readers and listeners think about every one of these big concepts and more. It’s about being brave, about being independent, about feeling secure enough to not follow the crowd (though also being happy to be part of a community).
It’s also about totally adorable little birds and one terribly monstrous beast who wants to eat them all up.
Henry is just one of a huge flock of finches. They make a racket all day long, doing the same as each other over and again but one day Henry starts thinking for himself. He starts to have his own dreams, his own vision of who he could be, independent from the community he’s grown up in.
Alexis Deacon has written (although not specifically about Henry Finch):
“It seems to me that if every character in your story is entirely on message and engaged with the world you have created it can be very off-putting for the reader. I find that I am drawn to stories where not every character follows the grain: Reluctant characters, perverse characters, selfish characters, irreverent characters. They are often the catalysts for action too.”
And Henry Finch does indeed go against the grain, doing things differently to those around him, daring to be different. But he’s not selfish. In fact, his ability to think for himself gives him the courage to tackle the monster who threatens his family and friends.
Danger, doubt and darkness beset Henry, but he survives and shares what he has learned with his fellow finches, sparking a cascade of individual ideas and wishes as they each set off to explore the world, though not before reassuring each other that “We will come back“; the finches are thinking for themselves, but individuality doesn’t have to lead to the destruction of their community.
Deacon’s story is full of food for thought, opportunities for discussion and debate, whether you’re 4 or 40 or more. The meaty issues explored never become overwhelming, not least because Viviane Schwarz’s illustrations bring so much humour, delight and simplicity into the story.
The use of fingerprints to illustrate a narrative about what it means to be an individual is a stroke of genius; is there a more powerful symbol of individual human identity than the imprint left by the small ridges on the tips of our fingers? They also bring massive child appeal; mucky fingerprints on walls and furniture are unavoidable aspects of life with children, and so there is nothing like these marks to proudly proclaim, “Hey, I’m here, me, this child, and I can make a mark on the world around me!”.
I really like how Schwarz sometimes brings her real life community into her artwork. In her graphic novel The Sleepwalkers there are crowd scenes filled with real people she knows, and in I am Henry Finch, she’s included fingerprints from friends as well as her own. The joy she’s had in creating these images can be seen in the hugely expressive faces and wings of the finches, and that seeped into us: we just had to make our own flock of finches using the same technique.
We started out with inkpads, paper and lots of messy fingerprints…
…but soon we were experimenting with other sorts of prints too…
Then we added beaks and wings…
And soon we had our very own chattering of finches:
One or two elephants interloped! (these were made from prints using the side of our fists – click here to see what Viv Schwarz created with similar prints)
These finches were born from toe-prints, whilst the beasts were heel-prints:
They just kept on coming, causing havoc, and just getting on with doing their own thing.
Whilst fingerprinting and making our own flock of birds we listened to:
Other activities which could work well alongside reading I am Henry Finch include:
I’ve more philosophy in the form of illustrated books coming up soon on the blog, with offerings from the Netherlands and Spain. What are your favourite picture books which deal with the big issues in life?
Disclosure: I received a free review copy of I am Henry Finch from the publishers.
By: Zoe,
on 8/2/2011
Today’s first lot of free activities from children’s book authors and illustrators come from the fantastically talented Viviane Schwarz, author of There are Cats in this Book, one of J’s all time favourite books.
On Viv’s blog you can download knitting patterns to create the cats in There are Cats in this Book. Not a beginners’ crafty activity, but my goodness, the end results look fantastic!
Viv has an enthusiastic tutorial for making a sock monkey – with tips on how to make the process especially child-friendly. Viv’s book Timothy and the Strong Pyjamas, and her upcoming graphic novel both include sock monkeys!
Images used with permission. Copyright: Viviane Schwarz
If you’ve a colour printer Viv has created a fab sheet of cats to cut out and hide in books – they’re eager to get up to adventures with you so what are you waiting for?
Several of Viviane’s books have been published by Walker Books, and the Walker Books website has a wealth of activity sheets from other authors and illustrators on their books. Some of my favourite include:
But there are many, many more over at Walker Books so do go over and find some that are just right for you and your kids.
If you’ve downloaded and used any of the activity sheets I’ve linked to so far this summer do let me know what you and your kids thought of them!
By: Julie Fortenberry,
on 7/12/2011
Viviane Schwarz at work
Drawing Hamsters from John Peacock on Vimeo.
By: Zoe,
on 4/28/2011
At the start of this month I published a list 50+ brilliant picture books with contributions from several illustrators I’m fortunate to have “met” (at least online). The list was intended to be an source of ideas and inspiration.
One interesting aspect for me of that list was how many of the books chosen were published 30, 40 or even 50 years ago. This observation made me want to look for the best picture books of recent years – to find some inspiration amongst the newest, brightest picture books available.
To help me in this quest I turned to this year’s winners of the Booktrust New Best Illustrators Award. These illustrators “represent the best rising talent in the field of illustration today, [they] demonstrate remarkable creative flair, artistic skill and boundless imagination in their work“, so who better to ask for some suggestions as to the best, fresh picture books?
So now, as the month draws to a close I offer you another springboard into a selection of amazing picture books. I hope the list will whet your appetite, stoke your imagination and make you hungry to visit the library. Here’s what our award winning illustrators chose and why they chose it…
I love the invention of Serge Bloch. Well delivered message.
By: Zoe,
on 3/31/2011
Last week the UK Secretary for Education Michael Gove suggested that children as young as 11 should be reading 50 books a year as part of a drive to raise literacy standards. This raised a lot of eyebrows amongst the British book-loving public, not least as it comes following large cuts in funding for libraries in the UK.
Whilst most commentators of course agreed that reading should be encouraged, many argued against a prescribed list of set length:
In response to Gove’s 50 books a year suggestion, The Independent newspaper published an article “The 50 books every child should read“, containing books for 11 year olds suggested by Philip Pullman, Michael Morpurgo, Michael Rosen and others. This list gave me lots of food for thought. Of course I want to do all I can to encourage a love of reading in my children, and one of the ways I do this is by reading lots and lots to them – if they don’t love books when they are 6 it’s unlikely they’ll love books when they are 11 or 16.
So I try to let them read whenever or whatever they want, but I also try to ensure they’re surrounded by superb, stimulating, brilliant and breathtaking (picture) books. But how do I, you, or any other person discover and choose such books?
I approached six brilliant UK-based illustrators and asked them to contribute towards a list of books every child should be read. Tim Hopgood, James Mayhew, Jan Pieńkowski, Katie Cleminson, Viviane Schwarz and Clara Vulliamy all very gamely accepted my challenge of producing a list of 10 or so books each that they love.
This list is not prescriptive, this list is personal. This list does not claim to be the definitive top 50 picture books of all time, although it certainly would create a fantastic library for any child. This list is merely a starting point and this list, hopefully, will generate lots of discussion; I look forward to hearing what you think about the books, authors and illustrators which have been included (and those which have been left out).
Tim says “This is not my top 10 – that would be impossible! My top 10 changes constantly as I discover more and more new (or sometimes old) picture books to add to my collection. And I don’t claim to be an expert on what makes a great picture book. The list I’ve put together is simply 10 books that I find inspiring and enjoyable to look at time and time again and hope others will too!”
By: Julie Fortenberry,
on 12/2/2010
By: Lynne Chapman,
on 7/2/2010
The Greenaway Medal is a very prestigious annual award for children's picture books, which specifically awards excellent illustration. It has been going since 1955 and is named after the popular 19th century illustrator Kate Greenaway:
This year's winner is Freya Blackwood for Harry & Hopper. It is an extremely poignant and sad story about loss, written by Margaret Wild.
By: Julie Fortenberry,
on 3/13/2008
"Every little story has a message of some kind, can't be avoided, except with lots of hard work, or enormous luck."
Viviane Schwarz
By: Justine Larbalestier,
on 1/11/2008
Next weekend Scott Westerfeld and yours truly will be guests of honour at the 2008 High Voltage ConFusion science fiction convention. It’s our very first time being guests of honour and we are stoked. TOTALLY stoked. In fact I’m so very stoked I’m thinking of celebrating with the purchase of a new dress. Surely, being guest of honour requires new clothes, right? I gotta look pretty, don’t I? If you have an opinion on this Very Important Matter please to express it in the poll to your right.
I’m thinking this one, though with black gloves not white:
Vivienne Westwood’s Watteau ball gown
Here’s Scott and mine’s schedule. Because we are joint guests of honour we are doing everything together:
FRIDAY 18 JANUARY:
1900 Den 1 Interview: Author GoHs by John Scalzi
Tee hee! Mr Scalzi will ask us questions and we will plead the fifth and get away with it because we know where he buried the bodies. I suspect zombies will be mentioned.
2000 Salon FGH Opening Ceremonies
We will say a few words but there won’t be an actual speech speech. Some of my words will be “quokka”, “zombie”, and “oscillate”, or maybe not. Depends.
2100 Salon FGH Dessert Reception
Where we eat dessert and natter with folks what want to natter.
2200 Den 1 Originality is Overrated
There’s this idea that writers work entirely alone and create their work out of whole cloth. That’s rubbish. If a work were wholly original no one would be able to read it. All writers are influenced by those who came before them. Most writers talk to other writers. Many are in writers’ groups and even those that aren’t frequently read and comment on each other’s work. Let’s talk about the influence and community that writers share. Even when they don’t know each other. Justine Larbalestier, Scott Westerfeld (M), Patrick Nielsen Hayden, John Scalzi, Patrick Rothfuss and Doselle Young.
I confess that I wrote this description on account of it’s something that drives me crazy and I’m looking forward to talking about it with such esteemed and smart companions. Especially Doselle. Everything is better if Doselle is involved.
SATURDAY 19 JANUARY:
1100 Den 1 Fantastic Sports
Organized sports are a vital part almost every culture on the globe. But sf and fantasy novels tend to overlook this key aspect of world-building. We examine what sports are and what they tell us about a culture, and dig up some good examples in sf and fantasy. Justine Larbalestier (M), Scott Westerfeld, Steve Ainsworth, Dave Klecha and Catherine Shaffer.
Mmmm . . . sport. If I weren’t moderator I would just spend the session teaching USians cricket.
1300 Salon G Juvenilia
Writers dust off the storage trunks, turn off the shame meter, and read from their 5th- through 12th-grade works of unalloyed proto-genius. A great way for young writers in the audience to feel much better about their own efforts. Justine Larbalestier (M), Scott Westerfeld, Merrie Haskell, K. Tempest Bradford and Marcy Italiano.
I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that Scalzi is not on this panel. Laughing at his early writing efforts was the whole reason I agreed to go to ConFusion!
1400 Den 1 SF Is Not Dead
More sf is written and consumed these days than every before, in the form of manga, video games, rpgs, and YA lit. Yet our beloved field constantly bemoans its own demise, while ignoring those 100,000 crazy kids down the road at Comicon. How do we connect these two worlds of sf? Justine Larbalestier, Scott Westerfeld (M), Anne Harris, Jim Frenkel and Peter Halasz.
Because me and Scott are sick to death of hearing the folks in the old sf people’s home whingeing about the death of sf. It ain’t dead! It’s doing just fine, thanks.
1500 Den 1 Golden Age of Young Adult Lit
Some argue that the YA books being published now are some of the best the field has ever seen. There are more of them, the quality is better, and the authors are being paid more. Is now the Golden Age of Young Adult Literature? And if so what does that mean for the next generation of readers? Justine Larbalestier (M), Scott Westerfeld, Steve Climer, Suzanne Church and Peter Halasz.
I think it is. I also think it’s just going to get better and better and better.
1700 All-Author Autographing Session
If you have books you want strange author types to scribble on here’s your chance.
2100 Concierge Literary Beer
The only thing we’re doing that you have to sign up for. It’ll be me and Scott sitting around with a smallish group of interested folks and answering their questions while we all drink beer (or water or whatever you wish to drink. I wish to drink Krug—I hope the ConCom is on top of that!).
SUNDAY 20 JANUARY:
1100 Salon H Gluten-Free Fantasy
Most medieval cultures didn’t have chainmail, swords, horses, or wheat. Yet the overwhelming majority of medieval cultures in fantasy do. What do we stand to gain by breaking the bonds of Europe on our collective imagination? And what’s so scary about bolas, sled-dogs, and rice? Justine Larbalestier, Scott Westerfeld, John Scalzi, Karl Schroeder, Jim Frenkel.
This panel is also something me and Scott came up with. It has a backstory. Way back in the dark ages we were on a panel together about fantasy where we panelists suggested that there were other settings for high fantasy other than mediaeval Europe. Scott went as far as to say that wheat is not essential to high fantasy.
The audience turned on him. “We LOVE wheat!” they proclaimed. “We hate fantasy that isn’t set in mediaevel Europe. We hate wanky literary fantasy. In fact, we hate you writers on the panel who are trying to take away our wheat!”
Scalzi was in the audience along with the wonderful Karen Meisner and they both say it was one of the most extraordinary things they have ever seen. Karen even sent Scott a Canadian license plate wth a beautiful picture of wheat on it. Scott still contends that we were caught in the wave of an Atkin’s diet backlash.
Here’s the con’s full schedule.
Hope to see some of you there! I mean if this wussy Aussie girl can brave the dead of winter in Detroit. Surely some of you can?
just joking!!!!!!!!!! i want proof of you in it.
What a stunning looking book! Thank you for pointing it out, and Happy New Year!
Thanks Pippa, this is a gem of a book. And the excuse to make chocolate money was very welcome!
I have never thought about making my own chocolate coins – what a great idea!
This looks like a great book to kick off this year’s book recommendations. I love the illustration of the treasure ship