I’m just back from Melbourne for the second time in a month. Despite busy May in the book world, this was my long-awaited chance to attend ‘Reading Matters’ conference, which is organised by the Centre for Youth Literature (CYL) and focuses on YA literature and storytelling. Presenters aimed their content at librarians and teacher librarians; […]
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By: [email protected],
on 5/31/2015
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: YA, Book News, Laurie Halse Anderson, margo lanagan, Reading Matters, Sally Gardner, CYL, Jaclyn Moriarty, Karen Tayleur, Melissa Keil, Text Publishing, Leanne Hall, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Tom Taylor, Claire Zorn, Sean Williams, Joy Lawn, Will Kostakis, Kyle Hughes-Odgers, Abe Nouk, Clare Atkins, Creative Rebellion Youth, Kimberley Starr, Penguin Teen Australia, Add a tag
By: bookkm,
on 4/10/2015
Blog: Books 'n' stories (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Gregory Maguire, Avi, Sally Gardner, John Corey Whaley, Dana Alison Levy, book reviews, Add a tag
Catch You Later, Traitor by Avi. Baseball, hard boiled detectives and Joe McCarthy tangle with each other in this page turner. I loved it. Avi draws the period so well in this book, the mistrust, the bullying, the radio shows, the family drama. I think I will buy this book.
Where Things Come Back By John Corey Whaley. Just exactly what the large reputedly extinct woodpecker, the Lazarus bird, has to do with the other events in this book is a mystery to me. No matter. In the space of one summer, 17-year-old Cullen has to identify the body of his druggie cousin, figure out what to do with very attentive girls, and search for his suddenly missing younger brother. It is Gabe's disappearance that absorbs the reader's attention against the backdrop of Lazarus Bird mania. The way Whaley plays with timelines of different people's stories kept me turning pages.
The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher by Dana Alison Levy. Although this appears to be fourth-grader, Eli's, story, his three brothers get a lot of attention as well. This family of four adopted boys and two loving fathers deals with new schools, fractured friendships, secrets and grouchy neighbors in this fun family novel.
And I think there was another book!. More later.
By: Stacy A. Nyikos,
on 10/1/2014
Blog: Stacy A. Nyikos (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: young adult, England, conspiracy theory, Sally Gardner, fascism, alternate reality, Maggot Moon, authoritarianism, moon landings, Vaterland, Add a tag
Maggot Moon
Sally Gardner
YA
I used to say I was a closet case trekkie, but this is my second post about a story with a scifi bent in less than a year. I think I've trekked out of the closet...in a Dr. Who sort of way. But that's another story.
Maggot Moon, truth be told, is less science fiction than alternate reality (along the lines of Vaterland). Basic premise - England (or something very near it) has been taken over by an fascist authoritarian regime that wants to put a man on the moon to prove its prowess to the rest of the world. Snag - the moon is too radioactive. Any possible human visitors would fry in orbit. It's a minor technicality for the Motherland. One easily solved with good old-fashioned smoke, mirrors, and Egyptian brutality. However, they don't count on Standish Treadwell (oh, the symbolism in that name!) to stand in their way.
I enjoyed Gardner's mash of alternate reality, conspiracy theories that the United States' moon landing was a hoax, and flawed, painfully human main character. She does an excellent job of building foreboding, of making sure the reader knows this cannot end well without, however, knowing how the story will end. Writing genius.
The chapters were also amazingly short, reminiscent of Kevin Henke's Olive's Ocean. The effect was, for me, choppy. However, both author and main character are dyslexic, and that much white space can be a godsend to a struggling reader. So, my discomfort may actually be a struggling reader's greatest comfort.
The additional illustrations throughout the book of the rat and fly give visual reinforcement to the decadence inherent in the world in which Standish is caught.
The issue that's kept me mulling is Standish's character and his development. I like Standish. He's real. He has real problems. He doesn't seem to have any real personality flaws, however. Yes, Standish has all of these problems - parents have disappeared, dyslexia, different eye colors, outcast of society, grandfather who's been reeducated, evil, brutish teachers - but they aren't personality flaws per se. He struggles with them because the world around him sees them as issues that make him less of a person. He is basically the good guy fascist systems destroy, not the conflicted protagonist whose personality shortcomings lead to destruction and, out of that, growth, such as Sara Louise in Paterson's Jacob I Have Loved.
Ah, characters. They come in all shapes and sizes!
For a cornucopia of fall delights, check out Barrie Summy's website. Add a Comment
By: Candy Gourlay,
on 2/5/2013
Blog: Notes from the Slushpile (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Publishing, Self Publishing, New Realities of Publishing, Patrick Ness, Sally Gardner, Hilary Mantel, Costa Prize, Open Book, A Monster Calls, Jim Kay, Add a tag
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By: Zoe,
on 4/17/2012
Blog: Playing by the book (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Helen Oxenbury, Axel Scheffler, Sally Gardner, Korky Paul, Federation of Children's Book Groups, Eileen Browne, Add a tag
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By: [email protected],
on 5/31/2015
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: YA, Book News, Laurie Halse Anderson, margo lanagan, Reading Matters, Sally Gardner, CYL, Jaclyn Moriarty, Karen Tayleur, Melissa Keil, Text Publishing, Leanne Hall, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Tom Taylor, Claire Zorn, Sean Williams, Joy Lawn, Will Kostakis, Kyle Hughes-Odgers, Abe Nouk, Clare Atkins, Creative Rebellion Youth, Kimberley Starr, Penguin Teen Australia, Add a tag
By: bookkm,
on 4/10/2015
Blog: Books 'n' stories (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Gregory Maguire, Avi, Sally Gardner, John Corey Whaley, Dana Alison Levy, book reviews, Add a tag
I finished these books in the last few days:
Operation Bunny by Sally Gardner. This book is very "Matilda"-ish. Emily, a baby found in a hat box, is adopted by a quite fashionable couple. When the couple have their own triplets, Emily becomes the housekeeper, nanny and laundress - all at the tender age of 6 (?). Luckily, Emily's neighbors, a pleasant old woman and a large tortoiseshell cat, help Emily get her work done and teach her to read and write - in four languages - including Middle English. An accident, a daring escape and lots and lots of brightly colored bunnies add up to truly magical adventures.
Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire - An imprisoned monk tells a tale of swapped identities, witches, firebirds, ice dragons and Tsars. Historical fiction meshes with Russian folklore in this cautionary tale. It's hard to do this book justice in a few sentences.
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| I LOVE this cover. |
Catch You Later, Traitor by Avi. Baseball, hard boiled detectives and Joe McCarthy tangle with each other in this page turner. I loved it. Avi draws the period so well in this book, the mistrust, the bullying, the radio shows, the family drama. I think I will buy this book.
Where Things Come Back By John Corey Whaley. Just exactly what the large reputedly extinct woodpecker, the Lazarus bird, has to do with the other events in this book is a mystery to me. No matter. In the space of one summer, 17-year-old Cullen has to identify the body of his druggie cousin, figure out what to do with very attentive girls, and search for his suddenly missing younger brother. It is Gabe's disappearance that absorbs the reader's attention against the backdrop of Lazarus Bird mania. The way Whaley plays with timelines of different people's stories kept me turning pages.
The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher by Dana Alison Levy. Although this appears to be fourth-grader, Eli's, story, his three brothers get a lot of attention as well. This family of four adopted boys and two loving fathers deals with new schools, fractured friendships, secrets and grouchy neighbors in this fun family novel.
And I think there was another book!. More later.
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By: Stacy A. Nyikos,
on 10/1/2014
Blog: Stacy A. Nyikos (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: young adult, England, conspiracy theory, Sally Gardner, fascism, alternate reality, Maggot Moon, authoritarianism, moon landings, Vaterland, Add a tag
Sally Gardner
YA
I used to say I was a closet case trekkie, but this is my second post about a story with a scifi bent in less than a year. I think I've trekked out of the closet...in a Dr. Who sort of way. But that's another story.
Maggot Moon, truth be told, is less science fiction than alternate reality (along the lines of Vaterland). Basic premise - England (or something very near it) has been taken over by an fascist authoritarian regime that wants to put a man on the moon to prove its prowess to the rest of the world. Snag - the moon is too radioactive. Any possible human visitors would fry in orbit. It's a minor technicality for the Motherland. One easily solved with good old-fashioned smoke, mirrors, and Egyptian brutality. However, they don't count on Standish Treadwell (oh, the symbolism in that name!) to stand in their way.
I enjoyed Gardner's mash of alternate reality, conspiracy theories that the United States' moon landing was a hoax, and flawed, painfully human main character. She does an excellent job of building foreboding, of making sure the reader knows this cannot end well without, however, knowing how the story will end. Writing genius.
The chapters were also amazingly short, reminiscent of Kevin Henke's Olive's Ocean. The effect was, for me, choppy. However, both author and main character are dyslexic, and that much white space can be a godsend to a struggling reader. So, my discomfort may actually be a struggling reader's greatest comfort.
The additional illustrations throughout the book of the rat and fly give visual reinforcement to the decadence inherent in the world in which Standish is caught.
The issue that's kept me mulling is Standish's character and his development. I like Standish. He's real. He has real problems. He doesn't seem to have any real personality flaws, however. Yes, Standish has all of these problems - parents have disappeared, dyslexia, different eye colors, outcast of society, grandfather who's been reeducated, evil, brutish teachers - but they aren't personality flaws per se. He struggles with them because the world around him sees them as issues that make him less of a person. He is basically the good guy fascist systems destroy, not the conflicted protagonist whose personality shortcomings lead to destruction and, out of that, growth, such as Sara Louise in Paterson's Jacob I Have Loved.
Ah, characters. They come in all shapes and sizes!
For a cornucopia of fall delights, check out Barrie Summy's website. Add a Comment
By: Candy Gourlay,
on 2/5/2013
Blog: Notes from the Slushpile (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Publishing, Self Publishing, New Realities of Publishing, Patrick Ness, Sally Gardner, Hilary Mantel, Costa Prize, Open Book, A Monster Calls, Jim Kay, Add a tag
By Candy Gourlay Hilary Mantel (Photo: Harper Collins) Go, Hilary! After winning the Booker Prize a second time (with the second book of her trilogy), Hilary Mantel also grabbed the Costa Prize. £30,000 prize money. Blimey. Sally Gardner of course won the Children's Costa for Maggot Moon. Go, Sally ! Mantel's historic win brought back fond memories of the children's book industry's own
16 Comments on We children's authors are a supportive bunch, cheering each other on through gritted teeth, last added: 2/7/2013
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By: Zoe,
on 4/17/2012
Blog: Playing by the book (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Helen Oxenbury, Axel Scheffler, Sally Gardner, Korky Paul, Federation of Children's Book Groups, Eileen Browne, Add a tag
Within just a few hours of arriving back in the UK last week I was off to the annual conference organised by The Federation of Children’s Book Groups (FCBG). The FCBG is a UK charity which works both locally and nationally to promote reading for pleasure amongst children.
Local groups run meetings for both adults and children interested in children’s books, author visits, and book themed activities. On a national level, the FCBG organises the Red House Children’s Book Award, promotes National Share a Story Month, and National Non-Fiction Day, and hosts an annual conference packed with author, illustrator and publisher talks amongst other things.
Having recently joined the National Executive of the FCBG this was my first time at conference. I had a tremendous, inspirational time, and here’s a flavour of who I saw and what I got up to:
Friday night saw a special party to celebrate 25 years of Winnie the Witch. Winnie’s illustrator, Korky Paul, gave a great talk about his work (revealing the reason behind Winnie’s crumpled hat). He also showed us his stripy socks which was a particular delight to me as last time I met him we talked about underpants.
Saturday morning kicked off in the most fantastic fashion, with Eileen Browne (author and illustrator of Handa’s Hen amongst many others) interviewing Axel Scheffler. Axel was quiet, unassuming and charming.
Axel revealed that the Gruffalo we now know and love started life as something rather more menacing – I hope you can see the grumpier, meaner Gruffalo in the photo below. Later he also revealed that the BBC are currently working on an animation of Room on the Broom for Christmas 2012.
First thing Sunday morning Sally Gardner gave an passionate talk about her background and her life with dyslexia. Sally did not learn to read until she was 14, and by this time she had been labelled as “unteachable”. Her’s is a remarkable life story, almost impossible to believe if you have read I, Coriander, a book set partly in 17th-century London and partly in a magical fairy world, which is both beautiful and lyrical, and a book I think many 8-12 year old (girls) would adore as much as
4 Comments on The Present, last added: 4/18/2012
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Great post, Candy!
Fascinating post. It has made me think a lot and I still know that I am not confident enough to self publish. I need that publisher to validate my writing. I think that says more about me than anything else though.
Fab post - I recall very clearly Greg Mosse telling all of us Creative Writing MA graduates to remember that the industry needs US - not the other way round. As for the gritted teeth bit - oh yeah! It makes me reluctant to say too much about any good news, though.
I have argued often for publishers to work better with their authors, in partnership, not with the publisher occasionally patting the author on the head and saying "Run along now." I've done some self-publishing and it brings me a nice/modest regular income but it has stopped me writing because the publishing/distributing/selling side is so time-consuming. And that has taught me
Great post, Candy - interesting and thought-provoking. I know that Nosy Crow have done an infinitely better job than I could ever have done at packaging, marketing, publicising and selling my book. But I'm sure that the more people are talking about books, buying books and reading books, no matter who wrote them or who published them, the better it is for all of us, because it all creates a
It's interesting, the idea that publishers are the ones with a self-confidence problem - it turns the usual model on its head! I'm a publisher and a writer - how neurotic does that make me now?!?
Bookmarks ... which reminds me to have some more made!
Thanks for the thoughtful ramble. The publishing world is a fascinating mix of the commercial and the sublime ... by definition I guess it's hard to combine doing things for money with doing things for love (something we authors know only too well). When publishers get the balance right it's just magic.
Tis true ... but so much also depends on writing the right book at the right time. How many rejections have you had saying it's not right for their list? I was chatting to an editor friend the other day about a book we both loved which editor friend sadly passed on. The reason? It really wasn't right for their list because it was too similar to a book they'd only just signed.
The good news with this expanding digital world is now more than ever there's a huge need for storytellers.
Yes! I was surprised too! But it didn't surprise me that much... the changes our industry is going through are seismic. Hugely heartened though by the verdict that a lot of great books are getting published anyway.
Independent publishers like Nosy Crow are quickly building author cred because they appear to have more personal engagement with their authors and look positively fleet of foot next to more corporate publishers!
Thanks Colleen!
Lets cheer their success as without the best sellers there won't be any bookshops to sell in<br />And then what?<br />Cheery thought for the day
I found that interesting too. There's probably been quite a few meetings that have begun with 'Right, guys, Amanda Hocking. Discuss.'<br /><br />And Nick - you're doomed.
I've had the 'not right for our list' line quite a few times in the past - then after the fact once met one of the editors who told me just what you said (it resembled the work of another author so they couldn't do it). So perhaps not just a line all the time!