5 Stars The Stray Dog Marc Simont HarperCollins Children's Books 978-0-0644-3669-4 No. Pgs. 32 ….. Ages 4 and up ……………….. Inside Jacket: When a little dog appears at a family picnic, the girl and boy play with him all afternoon, and they name him Willy. At day’s end they say good-bye. But the dog has won their [...]
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By: Zoe,
on 7/29/2012
Blog: Playing by the book (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Mo Willems, Food, Simon James, Picnics, Polly Dunbar, Bob Graham, Axel Scheffler, Exploration, Salvatore Rubbino, Lauren Tobia, Petr Horacek, Atinuke, Chris Haughton, Sue Heap, Jon Blake, Sally Lloyd Jones, Add a tag
By: Zoe,
on 5/6/2012
Blog: Playing by the book (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Friendship, Dogs, Trees, Kindness, Sharing, Picnics, Apples, Claudia Boldt, Behaviour (good or bad), Add a tag
Wally (UK) vs Waldo (US) – Where’s Wally? by Martin Handford (“When Handford first designed his leading man, he named him Wally – a shortened formed of Walter or Wallace but commonly used in Britain as a slang term for a somewhat spacey person. However the American publishers of the books felt the name would not resonate with the North American readers“
By: Zoe,
on 7/6/2011
Blog: Playing by the book (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Adventure, Humour, Mini Grey, Picnics, Summertime, Beaches, Exploration, Sealife, 2011, Add a tag
By: Kristin Nelson,
on 1/2/2008
Blog: Pub Rants (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: New York Times, deals, bestseller lists, publishers marketplace, Add a tag
By: Kristin Nelson,
on 10/22/2007
Blog: Pub Rants (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Kristin Nelson,
on 10/12/2007
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By: Kristin Nelson,
on 10/11/2007
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By: KidLitReviews,
on 8/9/2012
Blog: Kid Lit Reviews (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Awards, Children's Books, relationships, pets, Favorites, families, picnics, stray dogs, Caldecott Honor Book, new pet, dog pound, 5stars, dog wardens, lost dogs, Add a tag
Blog: Kid Lit Reviews (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Awards, Children's Books, relationships, pets, Favorites, families, picnics, stray dogs, Caldecott Honor Book, new pet, dog pound, 5stars, dog wardens, lost dogs, Add a tag
By: Zoe,
on 7/29/2012
Blog: Playing by the book (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Mo Willems, Food, Simon James, Picnics, Polly Dunbar, Bob Graham, Axel Scheffler, Exploration, Salvatore Rubbino, Lauren Tobia, Petr Horacek, Atinuke, Chris Haughton, Sue Heap, Jon Blake, Sally Lloyd Jones, Add a tag
Thanks to the very generous folk at Walker Books I got to do something which makes me very happy earlier this week – read aloud lots of fabulous picture books with friends and their kids, and then give the books away, all part of a Picture Book Picnic…
The day started early, baking “Walker Bear” Gingerbread biscuits…
With the first of our “emergency supplies” ready for scoffing, we got to to the main business of the day – reading together!
We started with The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems, humorous take on why it’s so nice to be polite.
Full of chocolate chip cookies (we used this recipe) and cold milk I then read How to Get a Job by me The Boss, actually by Sally Lloyd-Jones & Sue Heap. After a long conversation about what everyone wanted to be when they grew up, I interviewed the kids for the post of Explorer. All the kids sailed through their interviews (Do you like being outdoors? Yes! Are you afraid of snakes? No! Do you like climbing trees? Yes!) and so we got down the map of our local area and off we set on our bikes to have an adventure.
We set up our first camp by a sunny stream, perfect for a reading of Arthur’s Dream Boat by Polly Dunbar.
After the story we made paper boats and floated them off down the river.
Then we climbed up a hill to one of my favourite climbing trees, and in we all clambered to read Anna Hibiscus’ Song by Atinuke and Lauren Tobia.
Anna Hibiscus’ Song is an exuberant, joyous book about what makes people happy – just perfect for me on a day doing what makes me happy!
Anna Hibiscus (yes, the very same character as in the fabulous early chapter books also by
4 Comments on A Perfect Picture Book Picnic, last added: 7/29/2012
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By: Zoe,
on 5/6/2012
Blog: Playing by the book (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Friendship, Dogs, Trees, Kindness, Sharing, Picnics, Apples, Claudia Boldt, Behaviour (good or bad), Add a tag
Odd Dog by Claudia Boldt is an ever so slightly absurd tale about a rather unusual dog, a dog who prefers apples to bones.
Helmut has a prized apple tree, laden with ripening fruit. Helmut also has nightmares: His neighbour, Igor, may at any time be plotting to steal all of Helmut’s much loved apples.
One day the juciest apple falls from Helmut’s tree… but onto the wrong side of the fence. Disaster appears to have struck. Igor has Helmut’s prized possession!
What is Igor going to do? How is Helmut going to respond?
For those wanting to unpick this quirky story there’s plenty packed into Odd Dog; the encumbrance of desire and possession, what it feels like to be different, the power of sharing, the acceptance of difference, and whether the world is full of threats or opportunities.
For those just wanting a fun read there’s a lot to enjoy in Odd Dog; the offbeat humour (what? a dog that doesn’t like bones?), the stylish, characterful illustrations, the reassuring reminder that the world is actually a good place, full of good people. The dogs, the classy illustrations, the anxiety all make this a great book to pair with Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton.
For those interested in translation and cultural differences, it’s fun to see that the names Helmut and Igor are “untranslated” in the German version of Claudia Boldt’s offbeat tale (do watch the video, even if you don’t understand German, for it will give you a good flavour of Claudia’s illustrations):
And yet, in the US version of this book, the dogs have been renamed: Helmut is Peanut and Igor is Milo.
With my British/European sensibilities, this “translation” doesn’t work for me; the names Peanut and Milo are just too sweet, and don’t have the same quirky, old-fashioned, absurd feel about them, that I think Helmut and Igor have, and which really adds that little bit of hard-to-put-your-finger-on-flavour to the tale. I’d love to know what my North American readers think about this… And I’d love to hear from German readers too – I suspect Helmut and Igor don’t have the same feel in German (where they are – I believe- far less unusual than here in the UK) as they do in English.
All this got me thinking about name changes in different English versions of the same book (rather than translations into other languages). Here are some other examples:
4 Comments on An Odd Dog and onomastics, last added: 5/7/2012
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By: Zoe,
on 7/6/2011
Blog: Playing by the book (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Adventure, Humour, Mini Grey, Picnics, Summertime, Beaches, Exploration, Sealife, 2011, Add a tag
What with the turning of the calendar to July and the activity books I’ve been researching, Summer is definitely in the air. And nothing sings summertime more than a trip to the seaside!
Today’s books is perfect for anyone, adult or child, dreaming of a day on the beach. Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey, the latest book (published today!) from Mini Grey, follows the adventures of superhero Traction Man and his fearless, loyal sidekick, Scrubbing Brush.
Traction Man, the favourite toy of a young boy, is taken on holiday to the seaside where a series of perilous adventures befall him; he is swept out to sea, then washed up in a dank cave, found by another child on the beach, and nearly lost in a tremendous earthquake when the sandcastle he is inhabiting is enthusiastically attacked by a dog.
This story will thrill any child who brings their toys to life and creates adventures, journeys and real-life personas for them. Like the two earlier Traction Man stories (Traction Man is Here and Traction Man Meets Turbodog), this too is pacey, creating just the right amount of manageable anxiety that dissolves in wonderful relief with the resolution of the story. It’s packed with humour and provides parents with plenty of perfect opportunities for silly voices and even singing theme music from thrillers should they really get into the swing of it (I like to read it to my kids with a Sean Connery-esque accent!)
Image reproduced with permission. Inside spread of Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey. Click for large scale image.
Appropriately enough, some of the illustrations recall Marvel comics. They’re eyecatching and reward repeated readings for all the added details tucked away in them. If you’re looking for a superhero story that’s got all the action, excitement and adventure you could possibly want, but without any violence or malevolence, the Traction Man stories are for you. Particularly loved by the boys I’ve been reading to in the year 1 classes at M’s school, the girls too have been asking each week for another Traction Man story.
Those who already love Traction Man will not be disappointed with this new story (let’s hope there are more in the future!), whilst those who are new to the delights of this superhero and his sidekick will be able to adore this book in its own right, before (I’m confident) wanting to track down the two earlier stories.
Now, where we live is just about the furthest you can get from the seaside in
3 Comments on A landlocked trip to the seaside, last added: 7/7/2011
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By: Kristin Nelson,
on 1/2/2008
Blog: Pub Rants (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: New York Times, deals, bestseller lists, publishers marketplace, Add a tag
STATUS: What a way to kick off 2008! First I get an offer for a project I have on submission which is how I always like to start the year. Then I get the big, big news. Ally Carter's I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU lands on the New York Times paperback bestseller list at #4 and CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO SPY, which has already spent 5 weeks on the NYT hardcover list, is back on coming in at #9. Woohoo!!!!
What’s playing on the iPod right now? I ALONE by Live
Thank you all for all your lovely blog comments on my last entry of 2007. I did have to chuckle though. Selling 22 books over the course of one year is not actually a lot. I have many agent friends who sell double or triple that number (although I have to add here that they’ve all been in the biz for a lot longer than I have).
It’s not a high volume and I have to admit that I don’t see myself as ever being a high volume agent. I don’t take on that many clients or that many projects in a given year so there’s a limited quantity of projects to sell. I don’t want to say quality over quantity because that’s not necessarily the case. I have many agent friends doing a quantity of high quality projects and deals. I imagine as my clients grow their careers, the number will increase over the years just on repeat deals alone.
But here’s what’s interesting and why I bring this up. Publishers Marketplace has a new feature called Top Dealmakers on their website. Let me tell you, this has caused some interesting consternation amongst agent friends and here’s why. Our agent reputations are the key to getting future good clients; we want to be known as top dealmakers! Publishers Marketplace can only rank top dealmakers on quantifiable criteria. In other words, they can’t verify that deals actually sold for the money highlighted by the editor or agent (or by the authors themselves) in the announced deal. The only criteria they can use for rating top dealmakers is based on the number of total sales in a given period (and that is, of course, only if the deals are reported). Many agents don’t report deals for a variety of reasons.
I like to think that might be the reason why Michael Cader implemented this new feature to begin with—to encourage deal reporting. Very smart on his part.
But it also means, quite sadly I have to say, that I’ll probably never be a top dealmaker on Pub Marketplace. Right now, I come in at #40 for Fiction as a whole, #26 for women’s/romance, #15 for children’s (that ain’t shabby I guess!), #8 for young adult.
You get the picture. And I have to admit, this entry is solely self-serving. Big smile here. I might not sell a lot of books in any given year but because that is true, I also have to sell what I take on for more money and that’s not captured in the Top Dealmaker ranking.
Is it better for an agent to sell many projects (but all in nice deals) or just a few projects in good, significant, or major deals—in Deal Lunch terms? And the answer to this is purely subjective because it really depends on how each individual sees it.
Unfortunately, Top Dealmaker on Pub Marketplace can’t use that criterion for obvious reasons (although when I was chatting with Michael before the break, we did talk about it).
Maybe that needs to be my 2008 goal. More deals and all for a lot more money. I’m sure my clients wouldn’t say no to that!
What’s playing on the iPod right now? I ALONE by Live
Thank you all for all your lovely blog comments on my last entry of 2007. I did have to chuckle though. Selling 22 books over the course of one year is not actually a lot. I have many agent friends who sell double or triple that number (although I have to add here that they’ve all been in the biz for a lot longer than I have).
It’s not a high volume and I have to admit that I don’t see myself as ever being a high volume agent. I don’t take on that many clients or that many projects in a given year so there’s a limited quantity of projects to sell. I don’t want to say quality over quantity because that’s not necessarily the case. I have many agent friends doing a quantity of high quality projects and deals. I imagine as my clients grow their careers, the number will increase over the years just on repeat deals alone.
But here’s what’s interesting and why I bring this up. Publishers Marketplace has a new feature called Top Dealmakers on their website. Let me tell you, this has caused some interesting consternation amongst agent friends and here’s why. Our agent reputations are the key to getting future good clients; we want to be known as top dealmakers! Publishers Marketplace can only rank top dealmakers on quantifiable criteria. In other words, they can’t verify that deals actually sold for the money highlighted by the editor or agent (or by the authors themselves) in the announced deal. The only criteria they can use for rating top dealmakers is based on the number of total sales in a given period (and that is, of course, only if the deals are reported). Many agents don’t report deals for a variety of reasons.
I like to think that might be the reason why Michael Cader implemented this new feature to begin with—to encourage deal reporting. Very smart on his part.
But it also means, quite sadly I have to say, that I’ll probably never be a top dealmaker on Pub Marketplace. Right now, I come in at #40 for Fiction as a whole, #26 for women’s/romance, #15 for children’s (that ain’t shabby I guess!), #8 for young adult.
You get the picture. And I have to admit, this entry is solely self-serving. Big smile here. I might not sell a lot of books in any given year but because that is true, I also have to sell what I take on for more money and that’s not captured in the Top Dealmaker ranking.
Is it better for an agent to sell many projects (but all in nice deals) or just a few projects in good, significant, or major deals—in Deal Lunch terms? And the answer to this is purely subjective because it really depends on how each individual sees it.
Unfortunately, Top Dealmaker on Pub Marketplace can’t use that criterion for obvious reasons (although when I was chatting with Michael before the break, we did talk about it).
Maybe that needs to be my 2008 goal. More deals and all for a lot more money. I’m sure my clients wouldn’t say no to that!
28 Comments on Top Dealmaker?, last added: 1/4/2008
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By: Kristin Nelson,
on 10/22/2007
Blog: Pub Rants (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: bestseller lists, Add a tag
STATUS: Frustrated!
What’s playing on the iPod right now? AFRICA by Toto
I have to admit that I was a little too distracted this morning to actually work because I was online attempting to buy Colorado Rockies World Series tickets instead. The tickets were only available for sale via the web.
And now they’ve just posted a press release stating that because there were 8.5 million hits to the website, it went down in about 15 minutes and only 500 lucky buyers were actually able to purchase tickets.
I should apologize to all my clients right now that I did indeed waste 2 futile hours trying to buy tickets…
Oops.
As for the Surrey Writers Conference genre lunch, it was a hoot and an absolute blast. Everyone at my table said “of course chick lit is dead.” Old news (those Surrey Writers are so savvy!) and we ended up chatting about all sorts of great topics. Truly a delight.
And since we’ve just been talking about New York Times Bestseller lists, I saw this article today about that very same subject. Not sure it sheds too much more light on the subject but it is interesting.
From tidbits from the article by Clark Hoyt:
“THE New York Times best-seller list is a powerful and mysterious institution that both reports and drives the sales of books around the nation…”
“One of the first things I learned is that much of what the publishing world thinks it knows about the list is wrong or out of date…”
“Another misconception is that booksellers are surveyed only on a list of titles determined by publishers’ shipments, keeping “sleeper” books — distributed in smaller numbers — off the list…”
4 Comments on Speaking of NYT Bestseller List, last added: 10/23/2007
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By: Kristin Nelson,
on 10/12/2007
Blog: Pub Rants (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: bestseller lists, Add a tag
STATUS: It’s kind of hard to top yesterday but still, it is Friday and that’s worth celebrating too!
What’s playing on the iPod right now? MY GIRL by The Temptations
How books make the NYT list is actually closely guarded proprietary information that the New York Times does not share.
However, what little is known about it is this: titles are selected based on a percentage of sales done in a certain period of time.
I’d tell you more but then, you know, I’d have to kill you.
11 Comments on The NYT List, last added: 10/16/2007
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By: Kristin Nelson,
on 10/11/2007
Blog: Pub Rants (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: bestseller lists, Add a tag
STATUS: We are over the moon!!!!
What’s playing on the iPod right now? SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY by Donna Summer
Sara and I can barely sit still because we’ve just heard the news.
Ally Carter’s CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO SPY has just hit the New York Times Bestseller List (Oct. 21) coming in at #8.
Congrats Ally!!!! You are now a New York Times Bestselling author.
31 Comments on NYT List Baby!, last added: 10/30/2007
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Love, love, love this!! What a super fun day you must have had.
Stacey recently posted..The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
What a great way to spend the day & that called looks fantastic
Damyanti recently posted..Interview with Sarah McIntyre
Hi Stacey, it was indeed a great day
Not least because of all the yummy things we had to eat!
Hi Damyanti, thanks, it was a super way to spend a summer holiday day.
Zoe recently posted..A Perfect Picture Book Picnic
Sorry it should say ‘cake’ looked fantastic,I blame blurry morning eyed typing
Damyanti recently posted..Interview with Sarah McIntyre