BfK News: May 1992
Watch out for a Wordless Winner – Caldecott’s Tuesday
This year’s Caldecott Honor Medal, America’s top award for children’s book illustration, has been won by David Wiesner for his wordless picture-book, Tuesday.
Well, who needs to be verbal with an illustrator who can draw on burlesque, animated cartoons,- silent movies and the superhero comic books of the 60s to present some odd goings-on one Tuesday in the USA’? Here be flying frogs … on aero-dynamic lilypads … pursuing a Kermit-kaze mission to dive bomb a small American town one dark Summer night. Whether interiors or exteriors, close-ups or wide-angle, David Wiesner’s sharp draughtsmanship and lush use of colour make a perfect page-turner for that rarely catered-for category, persons aged 3-93. Stephen Spielberg couldn’t frame the events better. Issued in Britain by Victor Gollancz, Tuesday (0 395 55113 7, £8.99) is not to be missed.
Villiers High School, Southall, receives First Prize in the BfK/BFC Competition
Children from Year 9 and their librarian, Georgina Daines-Wright
(right), seen here having just received the first prize of £2500 worth
of books from Sally Grindley, Editorial Director of Books For Children (left), and Angie Hill from Books for Keeps.
A new School Bookshop at Hayes School
We were invited to a rare event on the 11th March 1992, to celebrate
the opening of a school bookshop at Hayes School near Bromley in Kent.
Rare, not just because we don’t seem to hear of such occasions very
often these days, especially in secondary schools, but also because of
the sheer brilliance of the opening itself. On the very day the
Election was called, the guest of honour was Glenys Kinnock, a
long-standing friend of the children’s book world. The star though was
Jeff Hynds who, for almost an hour and superbly aided by two pupils
reading extracts, provided his audience of over 500 parents, pupils and
staff with one of the best, witty and professional cases for valuing,
buying and treasuring books. Not surprising then that the bookshop ran
out of stock within an hour! This and the whole business of selling
books in schools is something we will be returning to in a later issue
of BfK.
Beyond Words
Homerton’s Second Children’s Literature Conference,
4th-6th September 1992
The Language Team at Homerton College, Cambridge, are organising their second conference with the same mix of lectures, seminars and workshops. Guests speakers/performers include Anthony Browne, Wendy Cope, Robert Leeson, Ben Haggarty (of the Crick Crack Club) and Michael Armstrong. If you’d like more information, contact Morag Styles or Carole Bennett at Homerton College, Cambridge CB2 2PH (tel: 0223 411141).
An outcome of the 1990 Conference was a book, After Alice, with essays on aspects of children’s literature from, amongst others, Margaret Meek, Michael Rosen, Chris Powling, Philippa Pearce, Jan Ormerod, Liz Waterland and Morag Styles. It was recently published by Cassell (0 304 324310, £12.99).
Towards the 21st Century: Books and Media for the Millennium
Queen’s University of Belfast,
20th-24th July 1992
Speakers at the 21st Annual Conference of the International Association of School Librarianship will include Peggy Heeks, Aidan Chambers, George Nicholson, Peter Dickinson and a range of contributors from around the world. Also on offer are visits to school and college libraries, museums and libraries of historical interest, book displays, an introduction to Irish culture and a full social programme. Further information may be obtained from Anne Taylor, School of Education, 69-71 University Street, Queen’s University, Belfast BT7 1HL (tel: 0232 245133; fax: 0232 239263).
Children’s Literature Summer School
Worcester College of Higher Education,
27th-31st July 1992
A well-established summer school of lectures, seminars and workshops. Speakers this year include Michael Rosen, Nicholas Tucker, Catherine Brighton and Adele Geras. For more information, contact The In-Service Office, Children’s Literature Summer School, Worcester College of Higher Education, Henwick Grove, Worcester WR2 6AJ (tel: 0905 748089).
