The Laureates' Table is the title of a new promotion by British bookseller Waterstone. It marks the 10th anniversary of the Children's Laureateship and features selections (seven each) made by children's laureates Quentin Blake, Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Rosen.
(Harry Potter doesn't make the list, but I'm not at LL surprised :-) )
Read more here.
It's the return of the mini review! The last time I wrote one was in May, 2007! A blog reader Terri Green has inspired me to start again. She asked, in an email, if I had written any mini reviews of my favourite Noel Streatfeild books, as I'd promised in one of my posts. I had to admit I hadn't - oh, the shame! Well, I'm going to, Terri, and here's the first:
The House in Cornwall
By Noel Streatfeild
Publisher: Dragon, 139 pages
ISBN: 583300979
Three children (siblings Edward, Sorrell and Wish) are sent to Cornwall to spend six weeks of the summer with their uncle Murdock as the cousin they usually stay with during the holidays is ill (their parents are abroad).
They are quite anxious at the thought of staying with Murdock as they have never met him. Murdock used to live in Livia (a fictitious country) where he assisted in toppling the monarchy. Murdock then worked as chief of staff of the dictator Manoff. A counter-revolution resulted in his return to his mansion in the West country.
At Murdock's mansion, the three children find that they are treated like prisoners. They are watched and guarded at all times and have no contact with the outside world - forbidden access to newspapers and the radio.
Their suspicions that something fishy is going on are confirmed when they hear a child crying in the gardener's house!
This is quite unlike most of the other Streatfeild books I own, which are set in the world of dance and/or theatre. It's more like an Enic Blyton mystery. In fact, it is very like Blyton's The Secret of Spiggy Holes, which is also set in Cornwall and features kidnapped royalty.
However, although the characters in Cornwall don't dance, act or sing, they are still recognisably Streatfeild creations, and this means they are much more developed than Blytons ever are. For example, although Sorrell is a young lady who is quite house-proud and motherly - like Anne in the Famous Five series - her character, unlike Anne, is an active one, and there is some attempt to explore her personality and develop it in tandem with the plot.
I do like corny mysteries with flashing lights and strange sounds in the night, mysterious strangers and pesky kids who are always able to outwit the grownups. Another book I am reminded of whenever I re-read Cornwall is Blyton's The Circus of Adventure, which features yet another Ruritanian royal. These stories require a huge suspension of disbelief, but this comes quite naturally, even automatically, to me when I enter such worlds as are featured in them.
I'm certain that i'm very guilty of repeating myself in book and music reviews, using "favourite" phrases and words to help me say what I want about a book/CD. It's only mildly comforting to know that I am not the only one guilty of it.
Read this article in The Telegraph, about cliches that crop up in book reviews. How many of them have you used?
First published on 8th March, 2002 in StarTwo
Review by DAPHNE LEE
ONCE
By James Herbert
Publisher: Macmillan, 400
(ISBN: 978-0333761403)
Originally published on Sunday, 6th February, 2005 in StarMag.
CHASING VERMEER
By Blue Balliett
Illustrated by Brett Helquist
Publisher: Scholastic
(ISBN: 978-0439372947)
Tots to Teens
Star Mag, 15th October 2006
Review of Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton
Star Mag
2nd July 2006
I was feeling very depressed today so I thought I'd cheer myself up by spending the book vouchers that I received for my birthday.
I bought Witches Abroad and Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett.
And Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain and Tim to the Rescue by Edward Ardizzone.
And, yes, I feel much happier now.
I've wanted to own the Ardizzones for more than 10 years, ever since I borrowed them from the Eastbourne Public Library. There are several more books in the Tim series. Kino has five titlesl and they would have cost me about RM300 so I just chose two and got the Pratchetts as well.
I have been trying to resist Pratchett because there are just too many Discworld books to get (if I like a book I have to own it). However, as I got rather attached to the Discworld witches when I read Wee free Men and A Hat Full of Sky, I decided that I had to have more. Edward got me two (Equal Rites and Wyrd Sisters) for my birthday and I found one (Maskerade) in a flea market in Australia - so that was cheap and easy! The two I got today complete my collection of Discworld books that feature witches. Yay!!
Dec 2009: Minfong Ho, illustrated by Holly Meade: Hush!: A Thai Lullaby
A Thai lullaby is the basis of Minfong Ho's soothing rhymes in this bedtime book. A mother rocks her baby to sleep and begs various animals to be quiet for the sake of the sleeping child. The animals make Thai-animal noises, that will sound and feel unique to Malaysian ears and tongues - for example, "Jeed-jeed," says a Thai mouse and "Hoom-praa" goes a Thai elephant. The illustrations, which won a Caldecott honor in 1997, are done with paper collage and depict Thai culture and simple rural life in a variety of earthy colours and interesting textures. "Hush!" was a Caldecott Medal Honor book in 1997. (*****)
