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In today’s globalised and instantly shareable social-media world, heads of state have to watch what they say, just as much – and perhaps even more so – than what they actually do. The rise of ‘Twiplomacy’ and the recent war of sound bites between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton speak to this ever-increasing trend. With these witty refrains in mind, test your knowledge of world leaders and their retorts – do you know who said what?

The post How well do you know your world leaders? [quiz] appeared first on OUPblog.

Hopes for change on the issue in Australia were raised and quickly dashed following September’s leadership spill in the centre-right Liberal Party, in which Malcom Turnbull defeated Prime Minister Tony Abbott, 54 votes to 44. Once seen by advocates of law reform as a champion of marriage equality, the new Prime Minister stated his intention to maintain the coalition’s position on the issue.

The post Marriage equality in Australia: will 2016 bring a change in the law? appeared first on OUPblog.

I’m frustrated that we require ‘women who did well in their respective fields’ articles and blogs, occasionally even allowing myself to wonder how much we still need them or how useful they are any more. But then our ‘prime minister’ and, worse, ‘minister for women’ (and yes, I’m using those rabbit ears extremely deliberately—I called […]

Looking for a fantasy read that’s great for the classroom this fall? One stellar recommendation is The Copernicus Legacy: The Forbidden Stone by bestselling author Tony Abbott – now in paperback!

A perfect pick for kids who love Percy Jackson, Kingdom Keepers, or Seven Wonders series, The Copernicus Legacy is a Da Vinci Code-style story for young readers. The book follows four kids who stumble upon a powerful ancient secret of the famous astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus. Protected by notables throughout history, it now falls to our young heroes to become guardians of Copernicus’s secret, racing across the globe, cracking codes, and unraveling centuries-old mysteries in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of a vast and evil shadow network called the New Teutonic Order.

It’s the worldwide adventure and historical scope that makes the series both page turning and educational, earning it many great reviews including a starred review from Kirkus: “With engaging characters, a globe-trotting plot and dangerous villains, it is hard to find something not to like. Equal parts edge-of-your-seat suspense and heartfelt coming-of-age.”

There’s even a downloadable Common Core-aligned activities guide and star map poster so you can bring the adventure into the classroom.

Veteran children’s book author Tony Abbott is no stranger to epic adventure series having written over a hundred books including The Secrets of Droon. The Copernicus Legacy will include six full-length novels and six shorter novellas, each told from the perspective of one of the kids. The first novella, The Copernicus Archives #1: Wade and the Scorpion’s Claw, is available now and the next full-length novel, The Copernicus Legacy #2: The Serpent’s Curse, will be out on October 7.

To celebrate the launch of the next books in this exciting series, on Saturday, September 13th, Tony Abbott will be leading a scavenger hunt at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where four lucky winners of a national sweepstakes will work together to find hidden clues amongst the exhibits, crack codes, and earn prizes. You and all readers across the country will have another chance to win a trip to New York for the second Relic Hunt starting October 7 at www.thecopernicuslegacy.com!

After the Relic Hunt, Tony Abbott will be signing copies of The Forbidden Stone at 2:30pm at the Barnes & Noble on 82^nd and Broadway in Manhattan.  The Barnes & Noble event is open to the public, and we invite you to join us there for a pizza party! It’s no mystery—the whole family will be in for good food and fun!

He won’t read it.  He hates everything. #3

By David Teague, The Children’s Book Review
Published: July 7, 2012

On the first day of summer vacation when I was twelve years old, I got on my bicycle, rode three miles down the street through a tunnel of new leaves, emerged into lemon-colored sunshine in the middle of town, racked my bike, opened the front door of the library to release its peppery aroma into the juicy green afternoon, and saw a book with a fantastic cover awaiting me on the nearest wooden table: M.C. Higgins The Great.

On the first page, Mayo Cornelius, sporting lettuce affixed to his wrists with rubber bands (for reasons that became clear later) stared into the distance, imagining the freedom that lay in his future, wondering what to do with it. Just like me: In the deafening summertime silence made up of nobody telling me what to do, and with a bicycle I could theoretically ride until I fell into the Pacific Ocean, I’d spent the entire day thinking, “Now I’m gonna make something happen. But what?”

So I started reading to see what M. C. had done with all his freedom. On a hot, leafy mountainside overlooking the Ohio River, he set out to explore what it meant—the freedom to stand up to his father, the freedom to forge friendships with people very different from himself, the freedom to imagine a future no one else in his family had ever imagined, and the freedom to pursue it. His life was more dramatic than mine, more dangerous, odd, fraught, and strange, because he was a character in a novel, but M. C. himself, I understood. He was on a quest to find out who M. C. really was.

And so M. C. Higgins The Great made the summer of 1975 last forever. His story was the story of how he became himself amid trees and streams and the first hints freedom that come with growing up.

Which makes it a perfect summer book.

Here are a few more like it:

The Postcard

By Tony Abbott

Jason travels to St. Petersburg, Florida, and goes on a quest to uncover secrets that will change everything he ever believed about himself and his family.

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | April 2, 2008 | Ages 8-12

Hatchet

By Gary Paulsen

Brian survives a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness and comes of age facing the challenge of survival in a thrilling, dangerous land.

Just stay home. Please.

Find something else to do.

Each year I do this event, which features more than 60 amazing children’s book authors and illustrators, and it’s always such a disappointment. For starters, check out some of the people who’ll be there, and you’ll understand why I’m so bummed:

Tony Abbott, Nora Raleigh Baskin, Nick Bruel, Bryan Collier, Katie Davis, Bruce Degen, Jean Craighead George, Charise Mericle Harper, Susan Jeffers, Peter Lerangis, Gail Carson Levine, Carolyn MacCullough, Rafe Martin, Wendy Mass, Matthew McElligott, Helen Perelman, Wendell Minor, Gloria Pinkney, Lizzy Rockwell, Todd Strasser, Mark Teague, Jean Van Leeuwen, Eric Velasquez, Sarah Weeks, Ed Young, and more.

Why so down-in-the-dumps you ask? Because I never get to talk to any of them. I never get a chance to meet the new (to me!) people, like Will Moses (Mary and Her Little Lamb), Lena Roy (Edges), Daniel Kirk (Library Mouse), Peter Brown (You Will Be My Friend!) . . .

. . . and Jerry Davis (Little Chicken’s Big Day). Who are these people? Might they become my new best pals? Um, not likely! Because they are sitting at tables forty feet away, surrounded by happy children, shopping grandparents, and strong-armed educators, hauling bags of books like Sherpa guides.

Best I can do is throw rocks at ‘em.

And, oh, hey, look over there, it’s Jean Craighead George. She’s only a freakin’ legend. I can’t throw rocks at Jean Craighead George. She’ll throw them back — and her arm is a bazooka.

Oh,  wait.  Here’s old friends like Mark Teague and Helen Perelman and Peter Lerangis. Can I talk to any of them? Can we hang out? Maybe shoot the breeze? Commiserate?

Nooooooo. I’m too busy signing books, meeting young readers, gabbing with families, prostrating myself before the cheerful & smiling hordes.

Writing is a solitary business, folks. And it’s frustrating for me to sit there at gorgeous Sunnyside . . .

. . . just feet away from my peerless peers, and never have a free minute to chat with them.

So my dream is for just one year, nobody comes. No book sales, no signings, no musicians, no storytellers, no-bah-dee. Just us authors, finally (finally!) enjoying a few moments when we can hang out and complain about the crappy jobs our publishers do with publicity and marketing. It’s how we bond. We bitch and moan about Kindles.

So this coming Sunday, clean the garage, watch football, wax the car. But if you insist on coming . . . click

That's right, buckaroos, I'm the Kandy Kane Kid and I come around this time every year to blast any Grinches with two barrels of holiday cheer. I also like to tell you about some mighty good reads too. Here's a MIGHTY good one I like to tell you about every year. It's Kringle by the talented Tony Abbott. It's got everything guys love--action, adventure, and a big, destructive machine!

Kringle is named after the sound a bell makes when he's born. He's living with his guardian in Britain in the fifth-century A.D. The Roman armies have left, though, and that means order is breaking down That means the bad guys are taking over. And that means the goblins--and these aren't your cutesy fairy-tale goblins, either. They're the real thing--vicious, quick, and able to do serious damage to anyone who messes with them. After they capture his guardian, he goes out to rescue her but stumbles onto the goblins' true plan--and his destiny to become gift-giver to the world.

"Wait a minute," you might say, "We've been hornswoggled! You mean this book's about Santa Claus??!!" Well, yeah, but his isn't some Hallmark holiday story. This book's got danger, fights, escapes, magic--as I said, everything a guy could ask for in a book! So don't let this holiday season go by without reading Kringle!! Got that? Then go get it!!

Hey, guys, Carl again. The holiday season is always fun for me. Lots of fun, lots of food, lots of cool lights, lots of food, favorite TV specials, lots of food...well, you get the idea. Speaking of holidays, cyber kid 303 has written about a terrific Christmas book:

"Don't Kill Santa!" is the best book ever!(except Bone by Jeff Smith). Set in the North Carolina mountains, these funny and also true stories about Donald Davis (the author) are great winter tales set in the 1940s. It is a collection of short stories. One time the boys' presents get repossessed. It is funny. Since it is nonfiction, the call number is J813.54.

That's where you'll find it in the library, guys. cyber kid is right; Donald Davis is a very funny man. I've heard him tell his stories and they're great. The title story of the book Barking at a Fox Fur Coat is very funny.

I'll tell you also about a couple of other great holiday books. One is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. Imagine what would happen if the Herdman kids, "the worst kids in the history of the world," the kids who steal deserts from your lunch, have a cat so mean that the postman won't deliver mail, and who all smoke cigars--even the girls!--imagine what would happen if they took over the annual Christmas pageant. Also imagine what would happen if you heard the Christmas story for the first time--as the Herdmans do. A fantastic story! And the library has a really good audiobook version. And the Children's Theatre is doing a bang-up job of this book. Go see it!

The other is Kringle by Tony Abbot, the Secrets of Droon man. It's an epic fantasy about Santa Claus. Yes, Santa Cluas! I wasn't sure at first, but this one hooked me right away. Action, excitement, danger, really bad guys--this one has it all! See my review from last year here.

On oter news, I told Ms. Yingling, that cool middle-school librarian, about Darth Bill burping the alphabet. Here's her response:

Huh. My best friend, who's a GIRL, could burp about five letters at a time when she was 13. She could also light matches with her teeth, which as a mom I can no longer recommend.I hope that your boys are inspired to read as well as burp. It sounds like your library is a lot of fun!

Yes, we are! This is not your grandfather's library. And we do have a lot of great guys out there who read. But you know what--this sounds like a challenge! Will we be outdone by a 13-year-old GIRL? Yeah, she could burp 5 letters at once, but it takes manly endurance to get through the whole thing! Come on, guys, let's show what we can do! Besides, we're giving prizes to any guy who will let us video him burping the alphabet or wieldng a light saber or reciting the Gettysburg Address. See the post of 12-16 or the sidebar to see what the prizes are. You have until the end of the month-just when you'll be out of school and looking for something to do! Call Zack at 704-416-5000 or Bill or me at 704-973-2720 to set up a time.

Well, the three of us will probably post something before the holidays start, but let us take this chance to say how much we enjoy this, how glad we are to bring you terrific books, and how great you are. We sincerely hope you

ENJOY THE SEASON!!