Not every book finds it audience right away, and those that take some time rarely get recognized by annual best book awards. New Zealand’s Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-loved Book addresses such oversights. Given by the Storylines Trust annually in memory of the late children’s author Gaelyn Gordon (1939-1997), it acknowledges a picture book or novel that did not win an award at the time of publication but has since become a firm favorite with children and adults.
The 2008 winners are New Zealand author Dorothy Butler and illustrator Elizabeth Fuller for their classic picture book My Brown Bear Barney, published by Reed Methuen in 1988. It was followed by two sequels, My Brown Bear Barney at School (1994) and My Brown Bear Barney at the Party (2001). Dorothy Butler, a veteran author and children’s book advocate for over 40 years, wrote the internationally acclaimed Babies Need Books and Cushla and Her Books. Elizabeth Fuller, well-known illustrator of Joy Cowley’s international best-selling Mrs Wishy-Washy series, also illustrated many “school reader” titles.
The award will be presented March 29, 2008 in Aukland at the Storylines annual Margaret Mahy Day, along with the Mahy Award.
Just wanted to give a heads-up to everyone that the group who organized the One Shot World Tour stop in Australia last August has decided to salute Canadian authors on March 26th. If anyone wants to participate you are more than welcome - this is 100% NOT a YA only event, so please feel free to post about your favorite Canadian author of fiction/nonfiction/picture books/comic books/whatever. I"ll run the master schedule here so just send me an email the night before with the url for your post - or drop it in a comment that day - and I'll be sure to include you in the list of links.
Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!
The month of October introduces my favorite season; that time of year not only when the weather turns (love that) but also when there is a thread of limitless possibility in the air. I like the fact that anything could happen - that something might happen - and all you have to be is aware of it's potential existence to see the magic. Halloween is of course the best example of all this and although I never got too excited about that holiday for myself, I'm loving it now with my son. (Joss Whedon captured the Halloween fantasy the best, and I will confess that the idea of becoming that mysterious and alluring gypsy I dressed as for years has always been a secret dream.)
Ray Bradbury was the one who coined the term "October Country" and he wrote extensively about the season and his vision of it in his short stories. When several of us decided to write about October's appeal it was a no-brainer for me as to what author I was going to focus on. It was through Bradbury's stories that I first began to see just how much more there was to the month than the obvious scarefest we are all familiar with. Bradbury's stories made me think; and also made me reconsider just what scary can mean in literature.
Many readers are familiar with Dandelion Wine, the author's fictional salute to the summer seasons of his youth. In "The Whole Town's Sleeping" he wrote about a confrontation between a killer and a small town "spinster". An alternate version of that tale can be found in "At Midnight in the Month of June", when Bradbury climbs inside the head of the killer and leaves readers with a thoroughly disquieting perspective with what a man can do - and how easily he can leave his humanity aside. (And the ending is beyond creepy with its very ordinary setting.) What I love about this story is says comparatively little while expressing so much, a hallmark of Bradbury's literary talent.
"The Lonely Ones" reads like a science fiction story - it is about a couple of astronauts on Mars after all. But it quickly shifts into something much more when Drew and Smith find the tracks of what they believe is a female Martian. After being gone from home for so long the men find themselves captivated by the chance of meeting a woman - even an alien woman. They come to blows - they are ultimately willing to kill each other - for the opportunity of being the first to find her. While Bradbury never has them discuss what they will do with her once they come face to face, it is clear that these two very decent men are now driven to a place where they feel they deserve something from this alien they have never met. Men how seemed noble and dedicated at the story's opening are revealed as monsters by the final page. You can see how easily that transformation can occur in the right set of circumstances - how anyone can lose all that makes them good and decent if pushed hard enough. "The Lonely Ones" is a very unsettling story and to me it gave horror a new name - it is scary in how close it brushes to reality, even with it's spectacular setting. (And another ending that truly rocks.)
"The Dead Man" is a more traditional October story, about a ghost and a woman in a very small town who feel overlooked by the world and find comfort in each other. Odd (the ghost) is truly confused about his status and Miss Weldon is simply, and quietly, unhappy. I love the image of them "walking out to Trinity Park Cemetery" as the story ends, giving an aura of sweetness to those who are gone. A ghost figures heavily in "On the Orient North" as well, where a strange traveler is desperate for the kind of sustenance that only true believers can give him - a frightful medicine found in the celebration of ghost stories. "You are English and the English believe!" the ghost thunders to his curious fellow traveler and like Miss Weldon, her loneliness draws her into the "life" of the mystery man before her.
There are a host of more traditional October stories in Bradbury's work, from "The Emissary" where a sick boy sends his dog out each night to bring back the smells of the season, only to receive a terrifying gift one night to "The Small Assassin" about every mother's nightmare and proof that not all babies are angels (this is a classic and should not be missed). My all time favorite of this group is "Trapdoor" about Clara and the noises from her attic. We all have heard those noises at night and we all have wondered. It is the universal nature of Clara's problem that lulls readers into he story and then it takes a turn (as so many things in October do) and we don't want to know so much about Clara's world anymore - we don't want anything to do with it all.
I am always amazed by the number of people who haven't read Ray Bradbury's short stories. His talent is so enormous that it dazzles me, even after all these years of loving his work. When it comes to October he is the author I think of first - the one who truly seems to appreciate and understand what this season means to me. Bradbury is my October magic and an absolute literary treasure.
Other Bradbury Season posts today:
Kelly at Big A little a on A Beasty Story, by Bill Martin Jr. and Steven Kellogg
Jackie at Interactive Reader on The Curse of the Rumbaughs
The Seven Imps talk to Alec Rex
Little Willow on some more Christopher Golden scary goodness with the Prowlers series
Liz is all about The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding
Sarah looks at some Diana Wynne Jones awesomeness over at Finding Wonderland
And Gwenda is also in on the fun at Shaken & Stirred
More links as the day goes on - and quotes from all the participating bloggers.
[Post pic taken by Ray Bradbury; appears here courtesy Little Willow.]
My first Nick Earls book was 48 Shades of Brown which I reviewed a couple of years ago for Eclectica. Brown is part of the Graphia imprint from Houghton Mifflin which highlights smart and hip books for teens that are anything but ordinary. It was a pretty simple story on the surface: teenage boy moves in with aunt and her roommate so he can finish out the school year when his parents are transferred out of the country for work. Things got complicated though as the aunt was very young and cool, the roommate was very hot and cool and Dan was pretty much overwhelmed by his deep desire to be some kind of cool but stuck with having no clue how to do that.
He’s your pretty typical teenager in that respect.
The book went so far beyond what it could have been though; it was as much about discovering that it is okay to like (and miss) your parents as it was about figuring out how to talk to girls. Dan’s attempts at being a witty conversationalist (or at the very least not sounding like a complete idiot) prompt him to study all sorts of esoteric subjects so he can be prepared for anything – hence the many shades of brown mentioned in the title along with a lot of other random bird information and a hunt for the perfect pesto recipe. In the end, 48 Shades of Brown was a great coming-of-age story that made me deeply care about the main character and put Nick Earls on my reading radar; I was really interested to see what he would come up with next.
After my review Nick and I stayed in contact and he let me know when his new book, After Summer, was coming out in the states. Summer is equal parts romance and coming-of-age and follows the trials and travails of Alex, who is waiting to hear about his university acceptance and hoping it will give him some idea just what he’s supposed to be doing with his life. Vacationing with his mom on the coast as he waits, he tries very hard to think about anything except the letter, which we all know is impossible, but you can’t blame the guy for trying. Then he meets a girl who won’t tell him her name (I won’t reveal it as guessing is part of the story) but does give him a whole new way of looking at the world. She isn’t waiting for her life to start; she’s living it and Alex just can’t imagine what that kind of freedom could be all about.
But wait – don’t think it’s all about running away from home or anything because that is totally not what’s going on here.
Alex falls hard for the girl and over the course of his two week holiday they spend more and more time together as he tries to figure her out. Her family is, for lack of a better description, a group of artsy hippies that do support themselves but spend a lot more time being happy instead of worried. And the girl is a true free spirit in every sense of the word – but a whip smart one who is no kind of fill in the blank aimless flower child from central casting. She makes Alex think about what he wants from life and who he wants to be, big questions he has most studiously been avoiding. This prompts some deeper thoughts about his parents (I can’t say how much I enjoy reading a YA author who treats parents as something other than stock background footage), and the future. In the middle of all the thinking there is plenty of room for romance and Earls nails the budding relationship with ease. Again, he proved to me that he knows teenagers, and more importantly he knows how to honestly portray thoughts and feelings that all of us, regardless of age, have experienced. There is nothing fake or forced about Nick’s writing and the sincere way in which he tells his stories is truly a wonder to read.
I hate comparing writers, but as I don’t think Nick is nearly as well known in the U.S. as he should be, I do want to make all fans of John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines aware of him. The same kind of smart and funny story, the same kind of three dimensional characters (especially of the male teen variety) and the same kind of small revelations about life can be found in Nick’s books. He’s an author who understands that growing up is not about shopping, screwing and being stupid. Yes, a lot of that does happen along the way but it’s not the point. The point is deciding who you are (and who you want to be) and Nick gets that and he writes great books that share that message without being full of self importance. His writing is sweet and true and it makes me laugh every time; he truly is a delightful wonder.
While I was getting ready for this special “Best Read With Vegemite” edition I emailed Nick to see what he’s up to literary-wise and he pointed me in the direction of the website for his new book, a collaboration with fellow author Rebecca Sparrow, Joel & Cat Set the Story Straight. In this go-round the teens in question are Joel Hedges and Catriona “Cat” Davis, who do not get along but have work together. Here’s the set-up:
Due to an unfortunate incident involving a leaking pen and suspected outbreak of Bird Flu, Joel and Cat are forced to sit next to each other in Extension English. To make matters worse, and to their mutual horror, they are paired together for a tandem story writing assignment.
When I read Cat’s description I pretty much fell in love with this book: “Cat enjoys listening to music (Ryan Adams, Silverchair, Ani DiFranco), watching old movies (Sixteen Candles, Roman Holiday, Barefoot in the Park), staring at her Orlanda Bloom poster and trying to find grammatical errors in restaurant menus.” It’s due out in the states in XXX.
She is so totally my kind of girl!
To get readers in the mood for the tandem story idea, the authors are hosting a contest at the Joel & Cat site for readers who want to give writing their own collaboration a shot. Head on over and learn about the book, the authors, and join in with readers and writers from all over the world who are chiming in with their own ideas. The contest ends September 9th. You can also find out about Nick's many other books at his site. He's a wonderful writer and I highly recommend his work.
Other Vegemite authors saluted today:
The Seven Imps interview Margo Lanagan after reviewing her new book, Red Spikes, yesterday: "�Red Nose Day” started off as a post-it note saying ‘Snipers picking off clowns’, and I can’t remember the circumstances in which I wrote that down, but I have to say, I thought the idea was a complete hoot, being a clown-hater from way back, and I have been told by fellow clown-haters that the world is a better place for someone having given the idea so much airtime."
Kelly Fineman is all about Melina Marchetta
Big A, little A writes about Anna Feinberg and her "Tashi" series
Jenn at Not Your Mother's Bookclub interviews Simmone Howell
Chicken Spaghetti reviews Kathy Hoopmann's award winning All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome
Gwenda at Shaken and Stirred is all about How Sassy Changed My Life, The Red Shoes by Ursula Dubosarsky and a wee bit more with Margo Lanagan
Jen Robinson discusses John Marsden's "Tomorrow" series: "The Tomorrow books are also a commentary on the horrors of war, and what war does to both soldiers and civilians. Because of the way we receive this message, through Ellie's eyes, Ellie who feels completely real to us, it doesn't feel in any way like a "message book." It feels like something that happened to a friend."
Finding Wonderland has a look at Undine by Penni Russon and a look at some of Jaclyn Moriarty's titles
Little Willow discusses Finding Grace by Alyssa Brugman
At A Chair, a Fireplace & a Tea Cozy it is all about Catherine Jinks and her four "Pagan" books
Jackie at Interactive Reader posts about Randa Abdel-Fattah's Does My Head Look Big in This? and John Flanagan's The Icebound Land
Trisha at The Ya Ya Yas interviews Queenie Chan
Betsy talks more about John Marsden (and his amazing book, The Rabbits) and also highlights a new Hot Man of Literature: Andy Griffiths
Jenny Davidson has interviewed mystery author Peter Temple.
Mother Reader will be posting on Am I Right or Am I Right? by Barry Jonsberg.
