BfK News: January 2005
NEWS
Support for Bookstart
Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, presented the four millionth free Bookstart book last December. The Bookstart initiative, administrated by Booktrust, aims to give a selection of books to every baby in the UK. Bookstart was launched in 1992 and has gained support from Gordon Brown culminating in a pledge in 2004 for long-term funding in his July budget speech. The ‘Bookstart Bag’ contains two critically acclaimed books for babies and a range of guidance material for parents. The Booktrust scheme has reached over two million children in the last five years. There is a Bookstart pack available for every baby up to 12 months old in the UK.
The S-Word
Raymond Briggs, who refers to his creation The Snowman as ‘the S-word’, has cleared his attic of a mountain of Snowman merchandise (tea-towels, toothbrushes, cutlery etc) and is currently selling it on eBay. He plans to sign the items and donate the money to charity.
Room to Read
The Accenture Foundation has given a $200,000 grant to Room to Read, an organization that provides educational opportunities for under-privileged children in developing countries, specifically India, Nepal, Cambodia and Vietnam. Projects to be funded include establishing the first 50 libraries to launch Room to Read’s program in Uttaranchal province, one of India’s most disadvantaged provinces, giving 20,000 children their first access to libraries and launching the first Hindi-language children’s publishing program, including commissioning local artists and authors to develop culturally relevant children’s books in local languages. Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. For further information visit www.roomtoread.org
PEOPLE
Congratulations to Jacqueline Wilson who has been awarded the 2004 Children’s Book Circle’s Eleanor Farjeon Award for services to children’s books. She was described as a ‘real champion of children’s books who has done much to encourage reading’.
Cally Poplak has been appointed Publishing Director of the newly formed Egmont Press while David Riley has been appointed Publishing Director of Egmont Publishing. The restructuring of Egmont follows the departure of Managing Director Fiona Clarke in June last year.
Following Kate Wilson’s departure for Scholastic, Macmillan Children’s Books has appointed its Sales and Marketing Director, Emma Hopkin, to Managing Director. Sarah Davies becomes Publishing Director and Tracy Phillips Sales Director with responsibility for the UK market.
Marion Lloyd and Alison Green, formerly Associate Publishers at Macmillan Children’s Books, have joined Scholastic UK to head up two new eponymous children’s book imprints, Marion Lloyd Books and Alison Green Books. Marion Lloyd Books will be a children’s fiction imprint. Alison Green Books will be a picture book and novelty book imprint.
Prue Goodwin has left the National Centre for Language and Literacy (NCLL) at the University of Reading. She continues with her courses, conference talks and consultations on literacy and children’s books as a freelance lecturer. For further information, contact Prue on: pruegoodwin@tiscali.co.uk
COMPETITION
Write a Story for Children Annual Competition 2005
The closing date for entries for the 20th annual ‘Write a Story for Children Competition’ for unpublished writers over 18 of children’s books in the UK is 31 March 2005. The 1st prize will be a cheque for £1,000 with 2nd and 3rd prizes of £200 and £100 respectively. Entry forms, together with further details, are available from: Write a Story for Children Competition, Academy of Children’s Writers, PO Box 95, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 5RL on receipt of a stamped, addressed envelope.
Obituary
C Walter Hodges
1909-2004
Nicholas Tucker writes…
If the children’s book world had ever got round to making awards for long and distinguished service, the illustrator, writer and scholar C Walter Hodges would certainly have been one of the most popular as well as deserved names to have qualified. A meticulous artist of great charm who always worked hard at achieving a deceptively spontaneous look in his drawings, he illustrated over a hundred children’s books including William Mayne’s A Swarm in May and many of Rosemary’s Sutcliff’s Roman novels. Fascinated himself by history from childhood, the best of his own stories are The Namesake (1964), the first of two sympathetic studies of King Alfred, and The Overland Launch (1970), a subtly understated description of how the Lynmouth lifeboat took to the seas in January 1889 following a cross-country journey thought to be impossible. He was also a leading Shakespearean scholar, winning the Kate Greenaway medal for his Shakespeare’s Theatre in 1964.
NATIONAL AWARDS
The Nestlé Smarties Book Prize 2004
The ‘5 & Under’ category was won by Mini Grey’s Biscuit Bear (Cape); the ‘6-8 Years’ category was won by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell’s Fergus Crane (Doubleday) which also won the award chosen by after-school club members; and the ‘9-11’ category was won by Sally Grindley’s Spilled Water (Bloomsbury).
The Booktrust Teenage Prize
The winner for the best novel for 12-16 year-olds is Anne Cassidy’s Looking for JJ (Scholastic).
Blue Peter Book Awards 2004
The winners are Montmorency by Eleanor Updale (Scholastic) in ‘The Book I Couldn’t Put Down’ category; The Ultimate Book Guide edited by Daniel Hahn et al (A & C Black) in ‘The Best Book with Facts in It’ category; Man on the Moon written and illustrated by Simon Bartram (Templar) in ‘The Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud’ category. The winner of the Blue Peter Book of the Year is Man on the Moon by Simon Bartram (Templar Books).
The Young Minds Book Award
The winner is Miriam Toews’ A Complicated Kindness (Faber) which is set in a Canadian Mennonite community. Peter Wilson, a child psychotherapist who was part of the judging panel, said, ‘This book gave us a real insight into life as an adolescent and the turmoil that surrounds this period of change and uncertainty.’
The Times Educational Supplement’s SEN Children’s Book Award
The winner is Gennifer Choldenko’s Al Capone Does My Shirts (Bloomsbury) for its spirited depiction of a girl who has autism.
REGIONAL AWARD
10th Angus Book Award
The shortlisted titles for the 2005 awards are Alison Allen-Gray’s Unique (Oxford), Terence Blacker’s Boy 2 Girl (Macmillan), Martin Chatterton’s Michigan Moorcroft RIP (Scholastic), Graham Gardner’s Inventing Elliot (Orion) and Mark Roberts’ Tomorrow Belongs to Me (Andersen). The innovative scheme is designed to encourage pupils to read and enjoy quality teenage fiction. At its heart is the principle that pupils not only vote for the winner, but actively participate in all aspects of the award from the selection of the shortlist to the award ceremony.
EVENTS
Windows on the World
The ‘Windows on the World’ conference will take place from 1 to 3 April 2005 at the University of Hertfordshire. Speakers include Wendy Cooling, Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler, Jamila Gavin, Anthony Horowitz and Jonathan Stroud. Further information and booking forms can be obtained from Jayne Truran (email: jaynetruran@hotmail.com )
Expectations and Experiences: Children, Childhood and Children’s Literature
The 17th Biennial Congress of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature (IRSCL) will be held in Trinity College Dublin, Ireland from 13 to 17 August 2005. Speakers include Paul Muldoon, Declan Kiberd, Ann Higonnet and Michael Rosen. There will also be special panels on picture books, Hans Christian Andersen, poetry and much more. Proposals are invited for papers and panels exploring the conference theme. Aspects of the theme which the conference will focus on include Strand A: Childhood and families; Strand B: Childhood and morality: message and medium; Strand C: Childhood on display; Strand D: Childhood and theory. For information on the congress and about submitting proposals please see the IRSCL website www.irscl.ac.uk
Make a Noise in Libraries
The National Library for the Blind’s annual Make a Noise in Libraries Fortnight will run from 9 to 23 July 2005. The aim of the fortnight is to promote library services to blind and partially sighted people. Libraries will be encouraged to launch new services benefiting visually impaired people, such as new access technology, or to promote current services more widely through targeted activities, for example the development of inclusive reading groups. The fortnight is also designed to encourage more visually impaired people into libraries, as well as to engage them in the development of accessible, relevant service. For further information contact: Claire Briscoe, Press and Public Relations Officer on 0161 355 2050 or email Claire.Briscoe@nlbuk.org
Fiction for Children Comes of Age
A one-day conference organised by Morag Styles on Saturday, 23 April 2005, 9.00am – 5.30pm in the New Faculty Building, Hills Road, Cambridge. Speakers include Julia Eccleshare, Geoff Fox, Nikki Gamble, Peter Hunt, Jan Mark, Philippa Pearce, Kim Reynolds, Margaret Meek Spencer, Nick Tucker, Victor Watson. For further details and application form, contact the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 2BX (tel: 01223 366525, fax: 01223 324421).
PUBLICATIONS
Bookbird
Valerie Coghlan and Siobhán Parkinson have been appointed as co-editors of IBBY’s (International Board on Books for Young People) quarterly journal Bookbird to begin with the first issue of 2005. Valerie and Siobhán have edited Inis: the Children’s Books Ireland Magazine for the past four years. Siobhán, an author of fiction for children and adults, and Valerie, a librarian and lecturer, have been involved with books for young people for many years, both in Ireland and internationally. Articles for consideration for publication in Bookbird are invited. Articles must be original and of interest to an international audience, and are generally subject to a rigorous refereeing process. Contact bookbirdsp@oldtown.ie and bookbirdvc@oldtown.ie for submission guidelines and more information. More information about Bookbird and IBBY is available on the IBBY website www.ibby.org
GR8 TXTS
GR8 TXTS is an annotated booklist for teens produced by Tower Hamlets public libraries and Tower Hamlets Schools Library Service. Single copies available free from the Children’s Library Service (020 7247 9510 or childrenslibrary@towerhamlets.co.uk).
