The Places You Will Go

Nicholas

Nicholas was written by Rene Goscinny (1926-1977), the author of the Asterix comics (with illustrator Albert Uderzo) and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempe (1932). It is the first of a series of five books about the adventures and misadventures of a French schoolboy. First published in 1959, it was released in English, by Phaidon, in 2005.

Junior Reading Room

It's graphics galore in this week's Junior Reading Room. Cut out the coupon (available only in the newspaper) to enjoy 25% discount, on the featured comics, autobiography and picture books, at Kinokuniya Bookstore.

Reading Pictures

Girl Reading, detail
from Town Green, a mural cycle in the Cambridge, MA, City Hall Annex.

Read more about the mural here.

Floyd in Singapore

I was in Singapore from 9th to 11th April to interview Keith Floyd who was in town for the 2007 Gourmet Summit.

Before Nigella, Jamie and Bourdain, there was Floyd. I used to enjoy his TV shows (in the 90s) and still watch him from time to time on Discovery Travel and Living. What I didn't realise was that some of the episodes aired now, were actually made several years ago. And so, I wasn't quite prepared for Floyd to look quite so weathered.

He's a very funny, interesting and charming interviewee and when he hosted his dinner, Uncorking Keith Floyd, he was hilariously, entertainingly irreverent, downing glass after glass of wine, breaking for "a fag, not a faggot" and calling all TV directors and producers prats and wamkers.

His latest book is A Splash and a Dash: Cooking with Keith Floyd, which celebrates a joyful, intuitive approach to cooking, sans measuring jug and weighing scales ... something he learnt from his mother. The book is dedicated to his parents.

Teen Misfits to the Fore

Originally published on Sunday, 6th February, 2005 in StarMag.

CHASING VERMEER

By Blue Balliett

Illustrated by Brett Helquist

Publisher: Scholastic

(ISBN: 978-0439372947)

Bone-chilling Thriller

Originally published on 24th May 2002 in StarTwo.

Review by DAPHNE LEE

CITY OF BONES

By Michael Connelly

Publisher: Orion, 448 pages

(ISBN: 978-0446611619)

Eats, lives, breathes books

Originally published on Sunday, 30th January, 2005 in StarMag.

SO MANY BOOKS, SO LITTLE TIME: A YEAR OF PASSIONATE READING

By Sara Nelson

Publisher: Berkley Books

(ISBN: 0425198197)

Illustrated Monday: Nurse Matilda Goes to Town

Edward Ardizzone (1900-1979) was a writer and illustrator.

Among the many books he illustrated was the Nurse Matilda series, written by his cousin Christianna Brand (1907-1988). The stories, which make up three books (Nurse Matilda (1964), Nurse Matilda Goes to Town (1967) and Nurse Matilda Goes to Hospital (1974)) were told to Ardizzone and Brand by their grandfather.

The Nurse Matilda series was re-issued in hardback by Bloomsbury in 2005. A movie tie-in version was also released in conjunction with the film Nanny McPhee.

Breaking Barriers

StarMag, 8th April 2007.

Breaking barriers

By DAPHNE LEE

An author who wrote about an Australian teenager struggling with her faith strikes a chord among Malaysian teens.

IN Does My Head Look Big in This?, Randa Abdel-Fattah describes the experiences of a young Muslim Palestinian-Australian after she decides to wear the hijab (veil).

For the Love of Books

Review by DAPHNE LEE

Finally, an easy-to-read book about books, written for those who love to read books.

THE YELLOW-LIGHTED BOOKSHOP:
A MEMOIR, A HISTORY
By Lewis Buzbee
Publisher: Graywold Press, 216 pages
(ISBN: 978-1555974503)