Are You Booked Up?

A snappy title, and suitably lengthy advance notice for a seminar at Portsmouth Central Library on Wednesday, 18th October 1989. It's organised by British IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) at an all-in price of £20 which includes coffee, lunch and tea. The subject could hardly be more important - book funding and supply in the context of GCSE and the National Curriculum. Speakers include Keith McWilliams, Julia. Eccleshare, Bob Leeson and BfK's own Eleanor von Schweinitz.

Booking forms and more information from Ferelith Hordon (IBBY Seminar) at the Children's Book Foundation, 45 East Hill, London SW 18 20Z (Tel: 01-870 9055/8).

...and while we're offering advance notice, don't forget:

Children's Book Week this year runs from 7th-14th October with a launch at Book Trust on Thursday, 5th October. Brough Girling (see page 26) will be leading this annual campaign to focus the nation's attention on children's books, liaising with publishers, the media and local initiatives. What's being planned in your area?

Summer Storyboat

A free voyage on the Grand Union Canal? Along with storytellers and illustrators like John Ryan, Errol Lloyd, Bob Leeson, Kevin Crossley-Holland, Jan Mark, Molly Burkett et al? No pressgang needed for this vessel you may think - especially with painting, singing, fancy dress and nature walks also on offer. The Summer Storyboat casts off from Watford on Monday, 24th July and calls at Kings Langley and Apsley on Tuesday, Hemel Hempstead on Wednesday and Berkhamsted on Thursday before dropping anchor at Tring on Friday, 28th July. No passport needed.

Details from Hertfordshire Libraries by way of an SAE (A5 size) to Alan White, 69 Cromwell Road, Hertford SG 13 7DP, or telephone 0992 584530.

Obituary

PAMELA BROWN

Earlier this year, an in-service student of mine identified Pamela Brown's The Swish of the Curtain (John Goodchild, 0 86391 057 2, £6.95), originally published in 1941, as her favourite book as a child. Several other members of the group - established teachers with a keen interest in children's literature - instantly spoke up for it. 'Like Noel Streatfeild only less posh,' one of them commented. Of course, the serialisation for BBC Children's Hour in 1944 did much for its popularity at the time ... but doesn't account for my own daughter's enthusiasm some four decades later. She literally read her copy to pieces.

Pamela Brown was born in 1924 and began The Swish of the Curtain when she was only fourteen. She earned enough from the book to pay for her studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to work as an actress under the name of Mela Brown. Later she joined the BBC where her work included producing the television version of Little Women. She wrote more than twenty books, among them a story-biography of Louisa M Alcott called Louisa, but most reflecting her passion for the theatre. It would be interesting to know how many youngsters she encouraged into a stage career as well as into the reading habit. She died on 26th January.

Chris Powling

KIRI TALES CANADA

As radiant as her singing or just another celebrity-snare? We'll know in September when Pavilion publish Land of the Long White Cloud (185145 176 5,;E9.99), Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's favourite tales from her childhood - a personal selection from the myths and legends of the Polynesian sailors who discovered New Zealand. Half-Maori herself, Dame Kiri recounted these stories to her own children so the omens are good. And since the illustrations are by Michael Foreman, inspired by his attendance at the recent gathering of the Te Kanawa family, this may well be a collection to look out for. His jacket-design suggests a down-under Erik the Viking.

Books at Edinburgh

Back again this Summer, and running alongside the main Festival, Edinburgh's biennial Book Festival is to be opened by Roald Dahl on 12th August. Visitors during the following fortnight include Michael Rosen, Johnny Morris and Joan Lingard ... as well, of course, as luminaries from the world of adult literature. A publicity handout is available from the Festival Office on 031-225 1915.