Issue No. 166 - September 2007
Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration by Kev Walker is from William Nicholson’s Noman. William Nicholson is interviewed by Clive Barnes. Thanks to Egmont for their help with this September cover.
Articles In This Issue
With the much heralded publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows an astounding publishing phenomenon has finally come to an end. The history of Harry Potter is well known – how, after eight rejections, a first novel written in coffee shops by single mother Joanne Rowling was finally accepted by Bloomsbury and published in 1997. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was to become the first of seven titles, one volume for each of Harry’s years at Hogwarts. The books’ instant popularity with adult as well as child readers then led to the simultaneous publication of each new title in two editions – one aimed at adults and one at children.
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In 1807 Parliament abolished the British slave trade. In this bicentenary year a number of books for children have been published with slavery as their theme. How accurately do they depict historical events? Will they engage young readers? Brycchan Carey discusses.
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How has the reading world available to Middle age range readers in the 21st century changed? What is the role for them of visual texts in books and on screen? Is there a new type of literacy? Prue Goodwin explores.
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The CLPE Poetry Award, for a book of poetry for children, was launched by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education in 2003. What do the titles submitted for this year’s award tell us about the state of poetry publishing for young people? Award judge Fiona Waters explains.
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The poet Michael Rosen has been appointed the fifth Children’s Laureate and his term of office will run until the summer of 2009. What are his priorities? Morag Styles reports.
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William Nicholson was a phenomenally successful writer before he began writing fantasy for children and young people about ten years ago. His screenplays for Shadowlands and Gladiator are but the most visible peaks of a career which began with the coveted position of BBC trainee after a double first from Cambridge, and has included documentary film work, play writing, film directing and, more recently, novels for adults. Yet he has said that Noman, the book which completes ‘The Noble Warriors’ trilogy, is probably the most important work he has ever done. It tackles a big subject: ‘Who is God? What is it that lies behind this entire existence of ours?’ And, as he tells me when we meet, ‘The Noble Warriors’ contains ‘the most important thoughts I am capable of having’.
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Dear Editor
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A father’s favourite book from childhood may not equally delight his son. Psychodynamic counsellor Roger Mills explains what happened when he read Stig of the Dump to his six-year-old son Hal.
MORE »Chosen by Class 8 (14-year-olds) from York Steiner School. Thanks to Teachers Jonathan Tapp and Annabel Gibb.
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Lang Scots miles and a baubeejoe in an alley: the adventures of David Balfour in Kidnapped and Catriona…
MORE »Reviews In This Issue
A storyteller, a shadow puppeteer, and an expert in folk tales from around the world with many picture book versions of the same to her credit, Jessica Souhami’s latest title offers a Chinese varian
Having a dad who is a ‘bearded, batty fraud, a liar, a cheat and full of nonsense’ lands the long suffering Oswald in all kinds of difficult situations.
Middle is the middle monster in a family of three ‘children’. He can’t seem to do anything right; everyone else has a purpose.
This is a short book, considering the cultural and emotional journeys that are made in its pages.
Amelia is independently minded, somewhat of a loner with a huge imagination and suspicious turn of mind, living in a world of her own making.
I think this novel is a masterpiece. It stands head and shoulders above most current writing for children, and merits all the prizes for which it may be eligible.
‘Are you a dung beetle that’s down in the dumps? Or a bird that’s feeling blue? My friendly advice is only a letter away.’
A celebration of the huge variety of insects, spiders and other creepy-crawlies that make up the arthropod family.
The treasure map on the inside covers is a fun start to the book – Wag Island has features such as Bone Dry Desert and Sharp Teeth Mountains and other dog referenced places.
With the in and out of care, abandoned at birth life that Nicky Nelson has had it is little wonder that he is a damaged loner with a record of violence.
This is a record of the first children’s literature conference at the University of Hertfordshire, which took place in April 2006.
The omens were not favourable: yet another ‘new dark fantasy trilogy’; verses from Shakespeare and Milton (again) set as epigraphs; recommendations from two members of the author’s writing group
These are two informative American picture books providing gently neutral introductions to the cultures of these two countries.
These are two informative American picture books providing gently neutral introductions to the cultures of these two countries.
Exaggerated characters are used to comic effect in this medieval romp of a story. Tom has secretly bought himself a pet, a baby dragon called Sparky, which he has hidden in the stables.
Its no coincidence that, as radical political movements claim the mantle of Islam and Jihad, and George Bush resorts to the language of good and evil to justify United States policy in the Middle East
Damian Drooth has met up with his gang who are also members of his Detective School, but he is alarmed that Lavender is in tears.
This is a collection of 18 stories about wizards and wizardry, between them taking the traditional magician into many new, ingenious and exotic forms.
Illustrated in full colour on every page and with a large typeface, the ‘Chameleons’ series is aimed at bridging the gap between picture books and chapter books.
Ring! Ring! Dr Miaow is such a busy cat with so many patients to look after at the Kiss-it-Better Hospital!
The fairy tale has been fortunate in recent years in attracting serious attention from major thinkers who have unpacked the manifold meanings of the genre in studies with a broad cultural and intellec
This story covers some of the same ground as Jacqueline Wilson’s The Illustrated Mum and will appeal to a similar age group.
In the nine fascinating stories gathered here, folk tale enthusiasts will recognise many familiar figures in new settings.
Two diminutive beings, Sweet Pea and Boogaloo are taking a woodland walk ‘under the trees, under the sun and the green leaves’, when Sweet Pea spies ‘Giants’.
This is the latest in the enormously popular ‘Girl, 15’ series and it is very much the mixture as before with its bubbly heroine, Jess, veering wildly between ecstasy and despair as she negotiates
This is a valuable addition to a series on ‘21st Century Debates’.
With so much silly chick lit around it is a relief to come across a novel intent on honesty rather than shallow escapism.
These little books are made of heavy card and so a child from about two years old could handle the pages and lift the strong flaps easily.
Anyone who observes young children for any length of time will soon discover how completely they become absorbed in the detail of the here and now – what Margaret Donaldson calls the point mode.
It would need a Thesaurus to do full justice to the sheer awfulness of this book. Obnoxious, offensive, objectionable, odious – and that’s just the entries beginning with ‘o’.
This is the kind of book kids will read in one sitting and feel all the better for it. All the girls want to get to know the narrator Dorian, but he just doesn’t get it.
This one starts off on the wrong foot when it defines immigration as ‘the movement of people from their own country to settle permanently in another’.
Nanocam is an imaginary camera, bristling with lenses, lasers and other gadgets, yet small enough to be swallowed and sent on a journey around the body. It will send back amazing pictures!
Dual language books are an invaluable resource as wars, the EC and migration bring more and more children whose first language is not English to our schools.
In this brief telling narrated in the present tense, Little Red Riding Hood, hotly pursued by a huge grey wolf, sets off for her grandmother’s.
This is a beautifully produced book – paperback cover with end-flaps enclosing cheerful endpapers, a lovely quality of matt paper printed in soft-edged muted colours, with an unusually nice smell.
Illustrated in full colour on every page and with a large typeface, the ‘Chameleons’ series is aimed at bridging the gap between picture books and chapter books.
‘Adventure, treachery and deadly danger – one boy’s journey into the unknown…’ Thus the allurements of the blurb for New World, allurements which, while not, perhaps, offeri
Stories set in Ancient Egypt are rare so this is very welcome as it is a fascinating period of history.
Jeanne d’Arc Umubyeyi, known to her family and friends by her pet name, Dédé, was eight years old at the time of the Rwanda genocide.
Dottie Duck watches as animals play games with each other. Squirrels play acorn tennis, caterpillars chase each other across a leaf.
At first this looks like the archetypal contemporary ‘girl book’ – pink flowery cover, punningly catchy title, horrible gritty glitter stuff all over the front – and in some ways it is.
Three sisters, real princesses with people to serve them at every turn: what more could they wish for?
Two stories about a little girl called Poppy who lives in Honeypot Hill, a quaint rural setting where we find places such as Lavender Lake, Blossom Bakehouse and other local features with suitably flo
Two stories about a little girl called Poppy who lives in Honeypot Hill, a quaint rural setting where we find places such as Lavender Lake, Blossom Bakehouse and other local features with suitably flo
Following a brief term of imprisonment in the attic suffered at the hand of the very non-maternal Aunt Candy, Sam Khaan’s life takes a dramatic turn due to revelations outlined in a Witch Doctor’s
Derek Landy is a young Irish writer who possesses in spades the literary equivalent of the gift of the gab.
An excellent resource for studying the history of the slave trade in the year that marks the passage of 200 years since the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act.
In this small format novelty board book we see Mr Croc drawing different objects. Children learn to relate colours to objects by seeing them through Mr Croc’s eyes.
This is a gorgeous romp of a book. Within pages, it flings its reader headfirst into a battle with a pirate ship and seldom lets up pace.
Spy Dog is plain, good formulaic fun. And thank goodness it is because the formula works and children love them.
Squeak Street stories are a set of tales, each about one of the mice who live in the street.
Squeak Street stories are a set of tales, each about one of the mice who live in the street.
These little books are made of heavy card and so a child from about two years old could handle the pages and lift the strong flaps easily.
This dazzling historical novel is set within the medieval Mongol Army at its peak of conquest, responsible among other things for slaughtering 100,000 Indian men, women and children prisoners in one g
Like her first book, Does My Head Look Big in This? this is the story of the coming-of-age of an Australian-Muslim teenager.
These two titles are part of the abbreviated Greek tales series. Deary has reinvigorated a selection of fables and legends for younger readers.
These two titles are part of the abbreviated Greek tales series. Deary has reinvigorated a selection of fables and legends for younger readers.
Towards the end of Rai’s novel the action shifts to a derelict Scottish farmhouse which Jit, the teenage narrator, describes as smelling ‘of grit and dirt and faeces’.
Ibby has gone to stay with her aunt and cousins, and although she likes them, she is still apprehensive.
Dale has taken the nursery favourite, ‘The Wheels on the Bus’, as her starting point for this jaunty picture book.
Set in Warsaw during World War II, this picture book format story draws on accounts written by members of the Jewish Resistance.
One of a series on ‘The Earth and Space’, this is a clear and accurate account in 20 spreads of the motion, history, surface appearance, structure and atmosphere of the Earth and Moon, explaining
‘The Elephant’s Child’ is Kipling’s explanatory myth from the Just So Stories of how the species acquired its trunk when an over-inquisitive calf got into a deadly tug of war
Dual language books are an invaluable resource as wars, the EC and migration bring more and more children whose first language is not English to our schools.
Set in Umbria in 1316, this story describes a series of baffling murders in and around Italian monastic life.
Carol Ann Duffy is alone in winning both the most important prize for adult poetry (T S Eliot prize) and for children’s poetry (Signal Poetry prize).
Thompson has provided a sequel to the quietly intriguing and award-winning The New Policeman, a contemporary fantasy concerning a young Irish fiddler’s adventures in Tir na n’Og.
The ‘Worst Boy’ of the title is Will, second of a crop of boys in a busy family: so busy that it’s hard for him to have anyone listen to his problems.
An introduction to Christianity, its history, beliefs and traditions, generously illustrated with maps, photographs and diagrams.
The beautiful young Alessandra, daughter of Lorenzo de Medici, is to pose for a celebratory portrait by the young Arnaldo in preparation for her marriage to an almost senile old man.
From time to time a book crops up that needs several visits to realise its potential.
‘When a man’s youth has been kicked and starved out of him, it can’t be put back.’ It is with this reflection that we leave Yuri at the end of Fine’s superb novel, having followed him on a j
The awful murder of a girl mirrors similar murders in another part of Germany.
A remarkable story of courage and resistance during WWII, when a group of young Jewish people in a village in Czechoslovakia created a secret newspaper.
Set in the hustle bustle of an Indian market, this story of a little girl who sets off with some pocket money to spend is told in rhyme with strongly coloured illustrations depicting her meandering th
The two friends are Rachel and Sam, the narrator, and the summer is their 17th.
A warlike desert people, the Alds, have invaded the once-peaceful city, which used to be known as Ansul the Wise and Beautiful.
Readers of Rosoff’s previous books, How I Live Now and Just In Case, will know what a disturbing writer she is, and how disconcertingly she shifts the perspectives
The experience of seeing a barn owl for the first time is narrated by a little girl whose grandfather has put a nest-box high in an old oak tree.
The fairy tale has been fortunate in recent years in attracting serious attention from major thinkers who have unpacked the manifold meanings of the genre in studies with a broad cultural and intellec