The Places You Will Go

Hot Men of Children's Literature

In Tots to Teens today, I linked Fuse #8's final entry for her Hot Men of Children's Lit series. I'm starting my own list on this blog and choose Oliver Jeffers as my first Hot Man :-D!

Jeffers is an artist, designer and illustrator. He has written and illustrated four picture books: How to Catch a Star (2004), Lost and Found (2005), The Incredible Book Eating Boy (2006) and The Way Back Home (2007).

Jeffers is also a founder-member of the art collective OAR, along with Rory Jeffers, Mac Premo and Duke Riley. OAR's exhibitions so far include 9 Days in Belfast, book and the award winning BUILDING.

Jeffers was the official World Book Day illustrator for 2007.

He is from Northern Ireland and has a degree in visual communication from the University of Ulster. He lives in Belfast.

Lessing wins the Nobel

Doris Lessing has won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Her books include The Grass is Singing and The Golden Notebook.

Crab Village

I've owned this book, Crab Village, by Julia Clark, for a few years now, but only got around to reading it this past week.

It's a charming, slightly surreal story set in a seaside village. Fact and fantasy mingle seamlessly and the magical is described in such a matter-of-fact fashion that it becomes quite  a natural thing to expect and enjoy.

I was drawn to the book by its illustrations, by Bernard Brett, which are black ink, with lots of details done in simple lines.

Ballet Shoes

Noel Streatfeild's Ballet Shoes (first published in 1936) was illustrated by Ruth Gervis.

When Gervis was asked to illustrate the book, the publishers had no idea that she was Streatfeild's sister.

There is a bit in The Vicarage Family, which is based on Streatfeild's girlhood, where Isobel (the Ruth Gervis character) talks about illustrating Vicky's (Noel Streatfeild) books when they are adults.

Picture Book of the Month: No, David!

June 2007

NO, DAVID!
By David Shannon
Publisher: Scholastic, 32 pages
David is a little boy who behaves like a little monster, and David Shannon's vibrantly hued illustrations make him look like one too! Actually, David is just a regular kid. Like all children (most anyway) he gets into a whole lot of mischief.

I can relate to this book (or, rather, the mother in this book) because goodness knows I'm always crying, "No!" and "Stop it this instant!" and "Be silent! Now!" to my children.

David's sins include trying to empty the gold fish out of its bowl ("It was an accident! Honest!"), running naked out of the house (this is acceptable in some cultures and countries), picking his nose (this is acceptable in some households) and playing baseball in the living room (is this better or worse than trying to turn the bathroom into a swimming pool?).

But at the end of the day, no matter what he's done, his mum loves David all the same. And that's the way it should be!

Fifth Children's Laureate

Michael Rosen is Britain's new children's laureate.

And, starting next year, the US will also have a similar representative and champion of children's books, called the national ambassador for young people's literature.

Who will it be? I'm guessing (and hoping) Maurice Sendak.

Picture Book of the Month: Zen Shorts

May 2007

Zen Shorts
Written and Illustrated by John J. Muth
Publisher: Scholastic, 40 pages
ISBN: 978-0439339117
THREE siblings learn important lessons from their new neighbour, a giant panda called Stillwater. "I'm sorry for arriving unannounced," he says, speaking with a "slight panda acccent".

Stillwater is wise and gentle, and very, very "zen" about everything, hence the book's title. Stillater tells each child a tale, from Zen and Taoist literature, and there are lessons to be learnt from all of them, but they are also just good, interesting stories.

Muth's words are simple, and his style elegant and easy to read. His watercolours are lovely, the colours true and bright, reflecting a serene and beautiful world. Black and white ink sketches illustrate Stillwater's tales and are more cartoonish and quirky than the colour plates. Personally, I found "Zen Shorts" inspiring. Others may just think, "What an adorable panda!" However you feel, this book is destined to be a classic.    

Murder in China

I interviewed US-based Chinese author Qiu Xiaolong in April this year and the story was finally published today.

Since then I've also got around to reading the first book in his Chief Inspector Chen series. I really liked it and I want to read the other books.

HERE are their synopses as they appeared in Reads Monthly (StarMag, 27th May 2007) ...

 

Death of a Red Heroine

ONE afternoon, the naked body of a young woman is found wrapped in a black trash bag in an obscure canal in Shanghai. It is the corpse is of Guan Hongying (the name Hongying can be read as "red heroine"), a national model worker, thus bringing the case’s political aspects squarely into place. Chief Inspector Chen Cao and his older subordinate Yu investigate the case, eventually tracing the likely murderer as Wu Xiaoming, the only son of Wu Bai, a high-ranking Party cadre.

 

A Loyal Character Dancer

CHEN and Inspector Catherine Rohn of the US Marshal Service must work together to find a missing woman. She is married to an important witness in a US criminal case who has refused to testify unless his pregnant wife is allowed to join him. The Chinese government has reluctantly agreed to let her go and the Americans have sent a marshal to escort her. Then, inexplicably she vanishes....

 

When Red Is Black

WHEN Yin Lige, the author of a banned book, is found murdered in her Shanghai apartment, Chen and detective Yu Guangming must solve a case that may have far-reaching political and social implications. (The “red” of the title refers to Mao Zedong’s Red Guard, the “black” to the supposed enemies of the working class denounced during the Cultural Revolution.). 

Yu soon uncovers the long-ago romance between the victim and Yang Bing, a college professor.

 

A Case of Two Cities

THE Communist Party leadership appears to be vigorously investigating rampant corruption among the profligate power elite during China’s economic reforms of the recent past. 

After the head of the Fujian special case squad is murdered in sordid circumstances, Chen discovers that the dead man had been probing a wealthy businessman, Xing Xing, who fled to the United States to escape prosecution. 

Chen himself is then given the highest authority to carry on the investigation, which takes him to the United States, but he soon realises he’s not meant to succeed.

 

Source: Wikipedia, Amazon.com, FantasticFiction.co.uk

Dido and Pa

This week's featured illustrations are from Dido and Pa by Joan Aiken. The pictures are by Pat Marriott.

Dido and Pa is part of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase series.

Picture Book of the Month: The Lost Thing

April 2007

The Lost Thing: A Tale for Those Who Have More Important Things to Pay Attention To

By Shaun Tan

Publisher: Lothian Books, 32 pages

A boy encounters a "lost thing" on the beach. Despite it's huge size, no one else seems to notice it, being too busy with ... life. At home, it towers over his parents, as they read the papers and watch telly, but remains "invisible". When the thing is pointed out to them, they make irrelevant comments and then ignore it again. The boy decides to find a place for the lost thing to go. He sees an ad in the paper, posted by The Federal Department of Odds and Ends, whose motto is "Sweepus underum carpetae". It claims to  be the place for lost things. The boy sets off, with the thing, to find this department, but gets mysteriously directed elsewhere. Will the lost thing ever belong? And what about the other lost things in this world. Do we even notice them or do we have more important things to pay attention to?