I’m just back from a tour of (mostly indie) London bookshops. My visit to the Tower of London was enhanced after seeing Sonya Hartnett’s Children of the King, which alludes to the missing princes held captive by their uncle Richard III in the Tower, in a Notting Hill bookshop. Australian YA, as well as children’s and […]
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By: [email protected],
on 7/9/2015
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: YA, Book News, shaun tan, Sonya Hartnett, margo lanagan, Emily Rodda, Morris Gleitzman, Melina Marchetta, Patrick Ness, john flanagan, Jaclyn Moriarty, marcus zusak, kirsty eagar, lian hearn, liane moriarty, Isobelle Carmody, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Anna Feinberg, graeme simsion, karen foxlee, Joy Lawn, Australian YA, AJ Betts, Add a tag
By: [email protected],
on 9/8/2014
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Jackie French, Andy Griffiths, John Boyne, Morris Gleitzman, Tristan Bancks, david malouf, Dave Eggers, McSweeney's, pamela rushby, Nick Earls, Jennifer Byrne, Kate Eltham, Isobelle Carmody, Stella Prize, a.j. betts, Joy Lawn, 100 Story Building, 826 Valencia Writing Centre, analogue men, BWF, Clare wright, Dangerous Allies, David Hunt, forgotten rebels of eureka, Girt, Josephine Moon, malcolm fraser, Martian Embassy, Sydney Story Factory, Will Kostakis, Book News, Author Interviews, Book Links, Add a tag
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By: Monica Zepeda,
on 5/25/2014
Blog: The Librarian Writer (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book review, audiobook, Morris Gleitzman, Once, Add a tag
By: [email protected],
on 5/11/2014
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Paul Jennings, Dimity Powell, two wolves, Galactic Adventures, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Little Chef Big Curse, mid grade readers, moral dilemmas, Tilney Cotton, Morris Gleitzman, Tristan Bancks, Michael Gerard Bauer, Nit Boy, New Book Releases, Random House Australia, Mac Slater, Scholastic Press Australia, my life and other stuff i made up, Add a tag
By: Susanne Gervay,
on 4/25/2014
Blog: Susanne Gervay's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Morris Gleitzman, Writers Festivals, The Children's Bookshop Beecroft, Aleesah Darlison author, Tim McGarry Director of Monkey Baa Theatre, Lend lease Darling Quarter Theatre, Oliver Phommavanh's Thai-riffic!, I am Jack adapted by Monkey Baa Theatre, Montessore Literature festival Sydney, Add a tag
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By: Sue Purkiss,
on 3/30/2014
Blog: An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Morris Gleitzman, Julia Wills, Add a tag
How comic writer Morris Gleitzman helps children face difficult things
So, I wondered, was this also something that happened when they read a humorous book about a difficult situation?
In Gleitzman’s “Two Weeks with the Queen,” rather than accept the reality of his brother’s plight, Colin decides that the doctor is wrong. A better doctor, he decides, would be able to cure Luke. Such a doctor must obviously be really smart, like the one who looks after the Queen of England. Consequently it’s not long until Colin happens on the “obvious” solution of breaking into Buckingham Palace
By: Susanne Gervay,
on 9/27/2012
Blog: Susanne Gervay's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: News, Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman, Tim McGarry, MONKEY BAA THEATRE, Eva Di Cesare, I Am Jack by Susanne Gervay, Sandra Eldridge, Duncan Ball's Emily Eyefinger, actor Carl Batchelor for Tim Winton's 'Bugalugs the Bum Thief', Lend lease Darling Quarter Theatre, NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner., Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, Tristan Bancks 'Nit Boy', Add a tag
By: michelle lovric,
on 6/9/2012
Blog: An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: diana wynne jones, David Almond, Morris Gleitzman, Michael Morpurgo, Michelle Paver, Carol Ann Duffy, Penny Dolan, Independent Booksellers Week, Gervase Phinn, The Bookcase, Jane Streeter, Eve Griffiths, Add a tag
The second in our new series of Sunday guest blogs by booksellers who work with children’s authors. These guest blogs are designed to show life behind the scenes of a crucial but neglected relationship – the one between a writer and a bookseller. These days, such relationships are more intense and more important, as increasing numbers of authors go on the road to promote children’s books – a goal shared by the booksellers who will contribute to this series.
The Bookcase is a ‘small independent bookshop with a big imagination’ situated in the village of Lowdham, eight miles north of Nottingham. The Bookcase’s proprietor is Jane Streeter (second from right), who runs the shop with a friendly team: Louise Haines, Jo Blaney, myself, Marion Turner and Kendall Turner (pictured left to right above).
Three years ago I (as one of the assistants) began a reading group at our local village school. This coincided with our 10th Annual Book Festival. So, to celebrate, I went in once a month until we had read 10 books. The 12 children read each book and then wrote a review, which formed the basis of a display at our book festival. We read all sorts – from contemporary authors to Enid Blyton and Richmal Crompton – and one poetry book. I have used a few different poetry books, but the first was Carol Ann Duffy’s The Hat, which was very timely as I’d handed it out to the children just before she was announced as the Poet Laureate! We’ve also used Gervase Phinn’s There’s an Alien in the Classroom, and others over the three years we’ve been involved in the project.
Each month I went into school so that we could have a discussion, which made the youngsters feel very grown up!
The idea became so popular that I have been approached by other schools, so this year I am working in four schools – always with Year 6 children. The group is aimed at the more able readers. (The thinking behind this is that so much is done to encourage the less able readers: those who are keen readers need some sort of outlet for their enthusiasm.)
This year, I have found a real difference in ability from one school to another. Not only is the reading ability markedly higher in one school, but the children are much more mature. This makes it harder for me to choose appropriate books, so I’m always keen to hear of the experiences of others who work with children of a similar age.
Michael Morpurgo is, of course, unfailingly popular, but I’ve also had real success with Michelle Paver’s Wolf Brother and Morris Gleitzman’s Once. In both cases, several of the children have gone on to read the sequels. We have offered a discount to reading group members who have ordered sequels.
After Christmas I will be discussing David Al
By: Susanne Gervay,
on 5/29/2012
Blog: Susanne Gervay's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: News, Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman, Literary events, Belinda Murrell, Catriona Hoy, Ships in the Field by Susanne gervay and Anna Pignataro, author Michael Wagner, Speach Pathology Australia's Book Awards 2012, Add a tag
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By: [email protected],
on 7/9/2015
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: YA, Book News, shaun tan, Sonya Hartnett, margo lanagan, Emily Rodda, Morris Gleitzman, Melina Marchetta, Patrick Ness, john flanagan, Jaclyn Moriarty, marcus zusak, kirsty eagar, lian hearn, liane moriarty, Isobelle Carmody, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Anna Feinberg, graeme simsion, karen foxlee, Joy Lawn, Australian YA, AJ Betts, Add a tag
By: [email protected],
on 9/8/2014
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Jackie French, Andy Griffiths, John Boyne, Morris Gleitzman, Tristan Bancks, david malouf, Dave Eggers, McSweeney's, pamela rushby, Nick Earls, Jennifer Byrne, Kate Eltham, Isobelle Carmody, Stella Prize, a.j. betts, Joy Lawn, 100 Story Building, 826 Valencia Writing Centre, analogue men, BWF, Clare wright, Dangerous Allies, David Hunt, forgotten rebels of eureka, Girt, Josephine Moon, malcolm fraser, Martian Embassy, Sydney Story Factory, Will Kostakis, Book News, Author Interviews, Book Links, Add a tag
The 2014 Brisbane Writers Festival had an inspiring launch on Thursday night when author/publisher Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, What is the What – about the lost boys of Sudan) told a full tent about the genesis of McSweeney’s publishing company and its 826 Valenica Writing Centres. The tutoring behind these pirate, […]
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By: Monica Zepeda,
on 5/25/2014
Blog: The Librarian Writer (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book review, audiobook, Morris Gleitzman, Once, Add a tag
Title: Once Author: Morris Gleitzman Narrated by: Morris Gleitzman Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Publication Date: February 2, 2006 Listening copy via Sync Once is the first in a series following Felix, a young Jewish boy, during World War II. But, of course, it's more than that. Felix is living in a Catholic orphanage in Poland when the novel begins. His parents were booksellers and left
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By: [email protected],
on 5/11/2014
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Paul Jennings, Dimity Powell, two wolves, Galactic Adventures, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Little Chef Big Curse, mid grade readers, moral dilemmas, Tilney Cotton, Morris Gleitzman, Tristan Bancks, Michael Gerard Bauer, Nit Boy, New Book Releases, Random House Australia, Mac Slater, Scholastic Press Australia, my life and other stuff i made up, Add a tag
Mid-grade readers, tween fiction, early YA; call them
what you will, but books for 8 -13 year-olds must satisfy vital criteria. They require substance, humour be it belly-busting or cloaked as parody, and a completely honest rendering of imagination, no matter how fantastical the premise. Little Chef, BIG Curse and Two Wolves fulfil on all counts. Both are heftier reads for mid to upper primary aged kids (in excess of 200 pages). And ones I could have gleefully gobbled up again immediately I reached the end.
Little Chef, BIG Curse is the debut work of Tilney Cotton and possibly one of the most exuberant reads I’ve enjoyed in ages. I’m not sure if it’s because of the foodie in me or the zealous, ribaldry with which Cotton writes but Little Chef, BIG Curse is utterly delectable and insanely moreish.
It’s an off-beat ta
le about hapless 11 year-old, Matty Swink who dreams of being a famous chef. He is practically enslaved by the foul-tempered, mean-spirited Fenella as her live-in dishwasher. With no means, family or support, Matty’s future seems confined to sleeping under the sink in Fenella’s diner. But dreams as big as Matty’s cannot be suppressed forever and when the King of Yurp announces a grand Cook-Off and the chance to break a 500 year-old curse on his only daughter, Matty finally forges his way to fame and freedom.
This is a zinger of a tale tickling with intrigue, bubbling with soul and simmering with an underlying sinisterness that kids will find electrifying. Cotton’s brilliant mix of colourful characterisation and original one-liners like, ‘roll with pumpkins’ produces a story that is full of punch, flavour and fun. Peppered with a generous helping of comical metaphors (‘breath like dog poo’ is a favourite), sprinkled with danger and seasoned with revenge, Little Chef, BIG Curse has all the humorous and gross ingredients of a Morris Gleitzman adventure and some. Top notch nosh! That gets 10 out of 10 from me.
Scholastic Press February 2014
Tristan Bancks’ junior adventure books including the My Life, Nit Boy, Mac Slater Cool Hunter and the Galactic Adventures series rival those of Paul Jennings, Morris Gleitzman and Michael Gerard Bauer. Like kids 8 – 13 years-old, I can’t get enough of his quirky, comedy-loaded, layback style. Two Wolves however is a decisive departure from previous offerings aimed at the slightly older reader, demonstrating more drama, stronger conflicts and more thought-provoking themes. It blew my breath away.
Using the Cherokee Indian allegory that we all have good and bad (wolves) dwelling within us as the catalyst for conflict, Two Wolves explores moral dilemmas, innocence versus experience and family blood being thicker than water. Which wolf ultimately wins the internal battle depends on which one we feed, as thirteen year-old Ben Silver discovers.
Ben aspires to be a detective but naively lives in a world of limited resources and shaky real-life experience. He re-lives much of his life through the lens of an internal camera, ‘playing on the cinema screen at the back of his eyelids’.
This movie-making processing of events allows him to deal reflectively and safely with some pretty confronting issues, the most recent being the inexplicable, unplanned retreat into wildness with his parents.
Life on the run with them and his young sister, Olive, soon deteriorates into a painful battle of survival and family ethics. Ben is desperate to figure out what his parents are fleeing from and why but is uncertain of what to do with the truths he may uncover.
Ben’s most daunting concerns, apart from remaining alive with Olive, are the choices he is confronted with; right vs. wrong, family loyalty vs. honourable action. How Ben decides to end his movie makes for a gripping novel heaving with adventure and mystery.
Bancks’ delivery of Two Wolves is tight and crisp. Fragmented internal thought and observation are favoured over rambling descriptive narrative which keeps the reader firmly in Ben’s moments of extreme agitation. Ben is a believable hero. His naïve, almost tongue-in-cheek humour works beautifully against the darker aspects of this story resulting in a novel tweens can and will relate to even if they have never been in Ben’s situation.
Can money buy happiness? What scruples do you possess when it comes to family, or having to confess to a crime? Does deceit ever pay dividends? Two Wolves is destined to keep kids pondering over questions like these for months. Sensational stuff.
Random House Australia March 2014
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By: Susanne Gervay,
on 4/25/2014
Blog: Susanne Gervay's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Morris Gleitzman, Writers Festivals, The Children's Bookshop Beecroft, Aleesah Darlison author, Tim McGarry Director of Monkey Baa Theatre, Lend lease Darling Quarter Theatre, Oliver Phommavanh's Thai-riffic!, I am Jack adapted by Monkey Baa Theatre, Montessore Literature festival Sydney, Add a tag
Montessori is one of those beautiful philosophies that centre on the child.
Morris Gleitzman. Oliver Phommavanh, Aleesah Darlison and many more.
Ist May – I’ll be there Thursday sharing all my books from Gracie and Josh (Ford St) to my I AM JACK series to young adult books – Butterflies and That’s Why i Wrote This Song.
Friday the fabulous Tim McGarry and I will be in conversation about the theatrical adaptation of I AM JACK which will be performed for BOOK WEEK – 18-22nd August at Darling Quarter Theatre:-
www.monkeybaa.com.au
The kids and teachers and parents are beautiful in a rustic style school in Sydney’s South.
The Children’s Bookshop Beecroft is the bookseller.
Come along: Montessori Literature Festival Bookings – email: Deborah Browne Festival Director at – [email protected]
ph: 9526 3000
The post Everyone Welcome to Sydney’s Montessori Literature festival ~ 30 April to 2nd May! appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.
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By: Sue Purkiss,
on 3/30/2014
Blog: An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Morris Gleitzman, Julia Wills, Add a tag
How comic writer Morris Gleitzman helps children face difficult things
As a comic writer for children and starting my Master’s course soon after the long decline and death of my mother with Alzheimer’s, perhaps it was unsurprising that the topic I chose to research was how humour helps children cope with seriously unfunny issues in their lives, particularly in the work of Morris Gleitzman.
Laughter is important at any age, but how much more can it offer the child reader, already so less empowered to deal with the big stuff than we are, to have that someone between the pages, calling them in and making them laugh about the things that worry them, thereby shrinking those problems and offering the child the sense that they can master their fears, too?
Much has been written about humour and three big theories still dominate. Superiority Theory says we laugh at someone because we feel smarter than them; Incongruity Theory holds that funny is when we are surprised by two contradictory things coming together; Relief Theory maintains that we laugh at the things that scare us.
Whilst none of these theories on its own can explain every instance of what we find funny, I felt that Relief Theory seemed most likely to answer my particular question, not least because a model of children’s humour proposed by Wolfenstein[1], with its roots in the same theory, seemed able to neatly explain why, unlike adult’s humour, which tends to remain fixed, children’s humour changes as they grown up.
In short, Wolfenstein linked children’s laughter to fear. Her theory explained why a very young child mastering toilet training finds potty jokes hilarious whilst a slightly older child, grappling with language, revels in puns and riddles that play with words. By laughing at the things that worry them, Wolfenstein maintained, the child gains an affective mastery over them.
So, I wondered, was this also something that happened when they read a humorous book about a difficult situation? Interestingly, when a child reaches school age, a time when socialisation is much greater, homemade jokes are discarded in favour of ready-made ones. Might this mean that when they are becoming aware of some of life’s more unpleasant realities – such as death, loneliness, divorce – a ready-made fictional character in a book, rather than a joke, allows them to gain control over their own issues?
Morris Gleitzman, a children’s author of more than thirty books, has achieved the remarkable feat of making the most extraordinarily difficult subjects funny. His stories deal with topics as gloomy as parents’ over-ambition for their children, euthanasia, famine and crippling loneliness. In “Two Weeks with the Queen,” Colin’s brother is terminally ill; in “Bumface” Angus’s mother forces him to become a substitute parent for two under-fives. Yet, without a doubt, the books are laugh-out loud funny.
So if the character is allowing the reader the opportunity for the affective mastery that Wolfenstein talks about, how do they do it?
According to the writer John Vorhaus[2], despite coming in all shapes and sizes, comic characters have one thing in common: comic distance. This is their out-of-stepness with reality and us. It might be physical - the crazy clothes and red noses that clowns wear, or the fact that The Simpsons are bright yellow. Or it could be an exaggerated trait – Harold Lloyd was accident prone, but it was the exaggeration of that flaw that led him to hand off a civic clock-face a hundred feet above the city. In Gleitzman’s work the comic distance comes from the main character’s attitude: the distance between the reality of a situation and the child’s perception of it. The character’s misguided “Can-do!” determination inevitably leads to things becoming funny.
In Gleitzman’s “Two Weeks with the Queen,” rather than accept the reality of his brother’s plight, Colin decides that the doctor is wrong. A better doctor, he decides, would be able to cure Luke. Such a doctor must obviously be really smart, like the one who looks after the Queen of England. Consequently it’s not long until Colin happens on the “obvious” solution of breaking into In “Bumface” Angus is desperate to stop his mum having any more children for him to look after. All he really wants is to be a pirate in the school play and not have to be mum’s “Mr Reliable”. His desperation to “fix” the problem even sends him to the Family Planning Clinic to try and sort supplies for her.
In both these stories, as in the rest of Gleitzman’s oeuvre, it is his astonishing ability to use hilarity to bring home the characters’ plights in a way that no amount of writerly hand-wringing ever could that sets them apart. The characters’ attitudes give the reader license to laugh. But do they give the reader affective mastery too?
Significantly, in both books, the child cannot fix the problem. Colin’s quest leads him to a man whose partner is dying of AIDS and the realisation he must accept Luke’s fate. Angus befriends another child whose parents are pre-determining her path and together they “break free” as children.
And this, I think, is where the true affective mastery lies.
In correspondence with Gleitzman, he told me that he “liked to write humour that helps young readers feel that insoluble problems won’t crush them and celebrates their capacity to never give up on the rest of life”.
In conclusion then, the humour in his books doesn’t seek to give the reader an emotional control over a particular problem in question. His books don’t say, “Laugh at this and it will no longer be a problem”. Much more importantly, it offers them a more sophisticated sort of mastery: the insight - through laughter - that beating every problem isn’t possible, but that choosing to remain optimistic despite them, is.
And I can’t think of a better use of humour, or indeed a more important “mastery”, to help a young person through life. Can you?
[1]Wolfenstein, Martha Children’s Humour: A Psychological Analysis, Glencoe III, Free Press.
[2] Vorhaus, J. The Comic Tool Box: How to be funny even if you’re not (Los Angeles: Silman-James Press, 1994)
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By: Susanne Gervay,
on 9/27/2012
Blog: Susanne Gervay's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: News, Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman, Tim McGarry, MONKEY BAA THEATRE, Eva Di Cesare, I Am Jack by Susanne Gervay, Sandra Eldridge, Duncan Ball's Emily Eyefinger, actor Carl Batchelor for Tim Winton's 'Bugalugs the Bum Thief', Lend lease Darling Quarter Theatre, NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner., Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, Tristan Bancks 'Nit Boy', Add a tag
A beautiful sunny Sydney day
- the largest playground in Australia in Darling harbour
- delicious canapes, Guylian chocolates
-kids, balloons, music, writers, actors, community
- Lend Lease, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner…
gathered to launch the first Australian dedicated youth theater with resident theatre company MONKEY BAA THEATRE!!!!
The hilarious Bugalugs Bum Thief had kids and adults rolling in the aisles.
Shows for 2013:-
I AM JACK – NO to School Bullying – by Susanne Gervay with actor Tim McGarry 11-16th March
NIT BOY – hilarious story – by Tristan Bancks 19-27 June
EMILY EYEFINGER – much loved books in a wild & woolly romp -by Duncan Ball 9-11 October
Creative Directors of Monkey Baa theatre are the brilliant team of Tim McGarry, Eva Di Cesare, Sandra Eldridge
Patrons of Monkey Baa Theatre: Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman and Susanne Gervay
Bookings 02 8624 9341 www.monkeybaa.com.au
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By: michelle lovric,
on 6/9/2012
Blog: An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: diana wynne jones, David Almond, Morris Gleitzman, Michael Morpurgo, Michelle Paver, Carol Ann Duffy, Penny Dolan, Independent Booksellers Week, Gervase Phinn, The Bookcase, Jane Streeter, Eve Griffiths, Add a tag
Three years ago I (as one of the assistants) began a reading group at our local village school. This coincided with our 10th Annual Book Festival. So, to celebrate, I went in once a month until we had read 10 books. The 12 children read each book and then wrote a review, which formed the basis of a display at our book festival. We read all sorts – from contemporary authors to Enid Blyton and Richmal Crompton – and one poetry book. I have used a few different poetry books, but the first was Carol Ann Duffy’s The Hat, which was very timely as I’d handed it out to the children just before she was announced as the Poet Laureate! We’ve also used Gervase Phinn’s There’s an Alien in the Classroom, and others over the three years we’ve been involved in the project.
Each month I went into school so that we could have a discussion, which made the youngsters feel very grown up!
The idea became so popular that I have been approached by other schools, so this year I am working in four schools – always with Year 6 children. The group is aimed at the more able readers. (The thinking behind this is that so much is done to encourage the less able readers: those who are keen readers need some sort of outlet for their enthusiasm.)
This year, I have found a real difference in ability from one school to another. Not only is the reading ability markedly higher in one school, but the children are much more mature. This makes it harder for me to choose appropriate books, so I’m always keen to hear of the experiences of others who work with children of a similar age.
Michael Morpurgo is, of course, unfailingly popular, but I’ve also had real success with Michelle Paver’s Wolf Brother and Morris Gleitzman’s Once. In both cases, several of the children have gone on to read the sequels. We have offered a discount to reading group members who have ordered sequels.
After Christmas I will be discussing David Al
7 Comments on BOOKSELLER SUNDAYS: What greater pleasure? – Eve Griffiths at The Bookcase, Lowdham, last added: 6/11/2012
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By: Susanne Gervay,
on 5/29/2012
Blog: Susanne Gervay's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: News, Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman, Literary events, Belinda Murrell, Catriona Hoy, Ships in the Field by Susanne gervay and Anna Pignataro, author Michael Wagner, Speach Pathology Australia's Book Awards 2012, Add a tag
Ships in the Field joins some of my favourite talented authors in one of my favourite awards – short-list for Speech Pathology Australia’s Book of the Year.
Jackie French
Morris Gleitzman
Catriona Hoy
Belinda Murrell
Pamela Freeman and fabulous authors.
It’s special to think our books help young people and adults.
Secret of the Swords: Sword Girl 1 |
Frances Watts | Allen & Unwin |
| The Little Refugee | Anh and Suzanne Do | Allen & Unwin |
| Ships in the Field | Susanne Gervay | Ford Street Publishing |
| Billie B Brown: The Little Lie | Sally Rippin | Hardie Grant Egmont |
| The Great Expedition | Peter Carnavas | New Frontier Publishing |
| Nancy Bentley: The First Australian Female Sailor | Tracey Hawkins | New Frontier Publishing |
| Ready, Set, Boris |
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By: Susanne Gervay,
on 7/31/2010
Blog: Susanne Gervay's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: Susanne Gervay, Morris Gleitzman, MONKEY BAA THEATRE, Deborah Abela, Nina Rycroft's Ballroom Bonanza, Hitler's Daughter by Jackie French, Mark Macleod, Nicola Robinson Laguna Books, Add a tag
 ‘What a wonderful show. It’s the best Monkey Baa production I’ve seen yet – gripping, funny and moving and the young performers were outstanding’ from Mark Macleod author and publisher.I sat between Jackie French and Morris Gleitzman – we’re the three patrons of Monkey Baa Theatre for Young People – see watch ‘Hitler’s Daughter’ opening at the Seymour Theatre Sydney.
Jackie and I squeezed hands as this moving, powerful, emotional performance. The story is inspired by many stories of the Holocaust. It challenges young people and old to question not only Hitler who lead Germany and Europe into insanity, but what is still happening today.
Will we let it continue – Rwanda, Bosnia, the Kurds, the Ba’hais, Camodia?
The experience is funny, sad, joyous, confronting – truly great theatre. Huge applause to the director Sandra Edridge who is also one of the Directors of Monkey Baa Theatre. I am still thinking about ‘Hitler’s Daughter.’
The actors were brilliant – Michael Gupta who played the teenager Mark who was on this great quest for meaning
Robert Jago was a myriad of characters -he has such a natural comic talent. Such a great balance to the seriousness of the play.
Melle Stewart waqs a moving Anna and amazingly transfored into Fraulein gelber.
Kate Worsley was a shere delight.
GO, GO, GO – I promise you’ll come aware with so much.
PS The fantastic sound and music designer Jeremy Silver did I AM JACK – he was just as amazing in Hitler’s Daughter.
They have been invited to take ‘Hitler’s Daughter’ to the USA and have opend their ANGEL WITH WINGS APPEAL – please support it because Australian theatre, Hitler’s Daughter and this production needs to go beyond Australian shores.
Nicky for donations – nicky@monekbaa,com.au
By: Susanne Gervay,
on 4/10/2010
Blog: Susanne Gervay's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: News, Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman, Tim McGarry, MONKEY BAA THEATRE, Seymour Centre Sydney, Evi Di Cesare, Fox by Ron Brooks and Margaret Wild, Sandra Eldridge, Siron Theatre Co, Add a tag
FOX is sensational on so many levels:- - the brilliant Monkey Baa Thetre production team of Eva Di Cesare, Sandra Eldridge & Tim McGarry - Siren Theatre’s Director Kate Gaul who brings power and raw emotion onto the stage - the music by gifted composer Daryl Wallis creating an opera of our time - young powerful actors who give all in a play of exquisite movement and story
- Jay Gallagher FOX - Jane Phegan Magpie -Sarah Jones Spirit and opera singer As one of the three patrons of Monkey Baa Theatre – Morris Gleitzman, Jackie French and myself – I feel honoured to be associated with this outstanding theatre company. Congratulations to ARTS NSW, ARTS on Tour NSW, NSW Communities Arts NSW and Australia Council for being key sponsors and the Minister for the Arts Virginia Judge for speaking so supportively at the World Premiere. FOX is at the Seymour this week, before it begins its 5 month tour around Australia from Darwin to Hobart to Perth. Have an experience that you will remember and see it: www.monkeybaa.com.au
By: Aline Pereira,
on 9/6/2009
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: Uncategorized, I Am Jack, Susanne Gervay, Morris Gleitzman, The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom, Cathy Wilcox, Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen, Meredith Hooper, Lynne Cherry, Mark J. Plotkin, The Shaman's Apprentice, Albert Uderzo, Aaron Boyd, Babu's Song, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Bert Kitchen, Bettye Stroud, Erin Susanne Bennet, Ezekiel Kwaymullina, Not so Fast Songololo, René Goscinny, Super Jack, The Two-Hearted Numbat, Toad Away, Tom Crean's Rabbit, Add a tag
I realise that the last update I gave of our progress in the PaperTigers Reading the World Challenge 2009 was just beyond the half-way point - however, the deadline was over a month ago now, at the end of July, so I thought I’d better round it off! For our last three books we read together:
Older Brother rounded off his Book Challenge with
If you took part in this year’s Challenge, it would be great to hear from you - whether you completed it or not. Next year may or may not follow a similar rubric - we are open to suggestions…
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By: Susanne Gervay,
on 5/15/2009
Blog: Susanne Gervay's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: News, Susanne Gervay, Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman, MonkeyBaa Theatre, MonkeyBaa Theatre for Young People, Seymour Centre Sydney, Sonya Hartnett's Thursday's Chld, Add a tag
 Susanne getting ready for launch What a special day with the extraordinary MonkeyBaa Theatre. The talent of the creative directors of MonkeyBaa Tim McGarry, Eva di Cesare and Sandie Eldridge and the talents of the Australian theatre community took my breath away at the Premiere of Thursday’s Child at the Seymour Theatre Sydney. Morris Glietzman, Jackie French and I accepted with pleasure the role of Patrons of MonkeyBaa Theatre on 15th May at the premiere. The theatre was packed, the energy high and everyone seemed to be there from actors, Australia Council, the NSW Arts bodies, directors, critics, theatre lovers, writers and creators. Launched by the Rt Hon Virigina Judge a Minister for the Arts NSW Government. Loved it all. For information on MonkeyBaa - www.monkeybaa.com.au  Morris Glietzman, Jackie French. Tim McGarry, Kerry Comerford
 Jackie French and Eva di Cesare 
By: Mike Shuttleworth,
on 5/28/2008
Blog: Read Alert (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: Carole Wilkinson, Dragonkeeper, Morris Gleitzman, News, Events, Centre for Youth Literature, Shelf Life, Add a tag Morris Gleitzman marks the publication of Then, a companion novel to Once, with a special in-conversation event at the Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre Elsternwick, next Tuesday, 3 June. The event is from 4.30pm for 5.00 start, winding up at 6.30. You can reserve seats by phoninng (03) 9811 2416 or email [email protected] Then continues the story [...]
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By: Laura,
on 12/16/2007
Blog: Picture Book Junkies (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: Gifts/Recipes, Add a tag
0 Comments on Holiday Gifts/Recipes as of 12/16/2007 10:18:00 AM
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By: janee,
on 12/14/2007
Blog: Picture Book Junkies (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: Gifts/Recipes, Add a tag
Feel free to download and print a set of these snowman gift tags to use on your own presents. Merry Christmas, y'all!
2 Comments on Holiday Gift For You, last added: 12/18/2007
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By: roz,
on 12/10/2007
Blog: Picture Book Junkies (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: Gifts/Recipes, Add a tag
Last week, I shared how much I enjoy having a puzzle going throughout the Winter. Here's a fun way to give the gift of a puzzle that has sentimental value. You can use your own illustrations, photographs or child's artwork. FUN!
0 Comments on Theme- Gifts/Recipes as of 12/11/2007 4:07:00 PM
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We need more people doing this sort of thing! I always feel sorry for the more able readers - all too often left to their own devices. I had a group of more able readers once - took them off to meet one of our local and very well known authors - they reminded me of this years later!
What a terrific idea! Who supplies the books, I wonder - the bookshop or the school?
What an inspiring blog! It's so good to know that booksellers are working with schools in such a proactive way and it sounds as though both you and the children get a great deal of pleasure from it. How fascinating as well that, as an 'outsider', you can see differences in reading ability between schools.
What a brilliant idea Eve and what a great way to introduce children to authors that they may not know about I run a couple of reading clubs in a local primary school.Josh Lacey's Island of Thieves and Ali Sparkes's Frozen in Time went down well. I also did a football theme with Tom Palmer and Helena Pielichaty's books.
The children will love A Boy called M.O.U.S.E.
What a great job you are doing!
This is such a good idea! More strength to your elbow. I love the Bookcase and have very happy memories of my visit there some years back during the Lowdham Festival. Regards to all.
So the children are all reading the same books? Do they ever recommend the books themselves? That might be interesting, to see what they choose.
Sounds a wonderful idea and like others, I agree that more able readers deserve attention as much as the strugglers. Often, inevitably, there isn't much in their school library if they are advanced readers in Year 6.
How about Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh? Lots to discuss there.
Or if they enjoyed Just William then why not read some more contemporary funny authors as a comparison - I've just posted a new ABBA blog with plenty of suggestions! I think The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara
Robinson would be lots of fun and would also be full of ideas for them to discuss.