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Comics your Kids should Read (and you should too!)

To say that Comics are a gateway reading to ‘real’ books or that they are a way to ‘trick’ your small people into reading is to demean their true worth. Comics are a bone fide artform in their own right, reading comics and decoding images and text stimulates the brain more than reading text alone.

This is a *small* selection of comics that are recommended for all ages. This list will evolve and grow over time.

Hilda by Luke Pearson

The series is an ode to adventure, fun, friendship, exploring, family and learning. The artwork is beautiful, the stories epic in scope yet focusing on humanity and growth. There is also a beautiful Netflix adaptation and a some novelizations (that I have not yet read, but they do seem to have fans).

The Phoenix Comic

Weekly subscription comic for readers aged 7 – 14 (& beyond) – many of the strips are also collected as graphic novels. A range of authors and artists work on this beautiful comic.

Hilo by Judd Winick

A robot boy from another dimension falls to Earth, makes friends and fights evil while trying to discover where he came from and why?

Nightlights by Lorena Alvarez

An achingly beautiful graphic novel about a young girl, her imagination, school, friendship, belonging and a spiral into terror with phantasms coming to life to steal her away for her creative spirit.

Illegal by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin & Giovanni Rigano

No punches are pulled in this gripping child’s-eye view of the refugee crisis. From Ghana to Tripoli and the perilous journey across the sea to safety in Europe.

Scarlett Hart: Monster Hunter by Marcus Sedgwick & Thomas Taylor

High adventure and monster hunting collide in this epic tale of an orphan (& her loyal butler) who wants nothing more than follow in her parent’s footsteps and become a monster hunter.

Secret Coders by Gene Luen Yang & Mike Holmes

A graphic novel series for computer nerds, you can learn coding while reading this fantastic series or just read and enjoy the story – no pressure!

Akissi by Marguerite Abouet & Mathieu Sapin

Join Akissi and friends as they get up to all sorts of antics around their town in the Ivory coast. A funny, heartfelt and a very real look into the lives of children!

Full Tilt Boogie by Alex de Campi & Eduardo Ocaña

A high-octane, edge of your seats space opera featuring galactic empires, errant princes and a multi-generational bounty-hunting team in the middle of an intergalactic war.

When Secrets Set Sail

Usha is devastated when her grandmother Kali Ma passes away. Then straight-talking Imtiaz arrives – her new adoptive sister – and the two girls clash instantly. They both feel lost. That is until Kali Ma’s ghost appears…with a task for them.

Immy’s and Usha’s home is full of history and secrets. Many years ago it was The House of the Ayahs – for those nannies who couldn’t return to their Indian homeland – and Kali Ma made a promise she couldn’t keep. She can’t pass on to the other side until the girls fulfil it.

Today, Usha and Immy’s over-worked parents run the house as a home for refugees, but eviction threatens. The precious documents that could save them are lost. As the house slowly fills up with ghosts, that only Usha and Imtiaz can see, the girls realise they have more to save than just one grandmother’s ghost.

With help from their new friend Cosmo, Usha and Immy must set off on a quest through London, accompanied by two bickering ghosts, working together to find a series of objects that shine a magical light on their family’s past and hold the clues to securing their future.

If they can set the secrets of generations free, will they be in time to save their home?

Endorsed by Amnesty International

Hachette

Sita Brahmachari seems to be one of the hardest working children’s authors in the UK, and one of my favourites. I had the great pleasure of asking her some questions about her latest book WHEN SECRETS SET SAIL, and her answers are fabulous.

Your books always have “issues” at the heart of them and provoke the reader to discover a piece of history they might not know about, or consider impacts or viewpoints they might not have recognised before. How difficult is it to ensure that they are always exciting stories and not just didactic tomes?

First and foremost I’m fascinated by people’s lives and how the events in their lives, their actions or the things that happen to them impact on the world. I don’t think when people become refugees or are affected by climate change, face mental health challenges, are newly adopted, experience a death in the family or face homelessness or racism or child hunger that they experience these moments in life as ‘issues.’ I don’t shy away from some of the great challenges young people face today but as a writer I’m interested in nuance and getting beyond ‘issues’ to a multi-layered story. I feel that stories are superpower empathy portholes…and in these reactionary times that feels like a vital porthole to be able to open.

When I set out to write a story I might think I know what’s at the core of it, but my synopsis often bears little relation to the final book! The process of storytelling is an adventure for me. I always get taken by the characters into unexpected realms and it’s a real joy when these discoveries and unravellings are experienced and enjoyed by the reader.

It’s always finding characters, symbols and landscapes that really take me into the dreaming space of stories. The artichoke charm from my first story ‘ Artichoke Hearts’ is a guiding symbol for me; I’m constantly unpeeling the layers of characters and wanting to explore their sensibilities; their hopes, fears and dreams. This is what sparks my imagination and takes me into the heart of the story.  Often, as I write, it’s the characters I had thought were on the periphery that take centre stage because, as in life, it is fascinating to get to know people even when, or perhaps especially when, they may seem to be polar opposites to ourselves.

This is how I discovered characters like Themba and Luca in ‘Where the River Runs Gold’ and Imtiaz and Cosmo in ‘When Secrets Set Sail’. Originally ‘When Secrets Set Sail’ was written only from Usha’s point of view then Imtiaz made me see the error of my ways! And I’ve found that Imtiaz not done with me yet, she and Cosmo wanted their own adventure so they appear again in my World Book Day story next year ‘The River Whale.’

The subjects you include in your stories can be very upsetting, do you sometimes find it difficult to do the research?

I hope that my stories contain the gamut of human experience and although I’m not afraid to tackle the most complex of emotions, I always want my stories to scatter hope-seeds. They are inter-generational stories and one thing I’ve realised that no matter what dire situations the characters face there is always someone there to hold them.

I tend to do hands on research. My preference is to work with people. My work with refugee people since I began work in community theatre has informed my characters in many stories and plays. In art as in life once you take people to heart you don’t want to turn your back on them. So If I write about a difficult subject like someone I know or have worked with has faced then my main concern is to find the truth in that experience and to convey the empathy I feel for the characters that grow out of my research and engagements in community. I think engagement is everything and when you engage with people you are naturally moved by their stories, laughing as well as crying with them.

I often place a space in time between research and writing to allow the thoughts and feelings to distil and settle and to find the freedom to move from fact into fiction.

If I was to set out to write a novel at the stage that the research is on top of me I think there would be a real danger that the work would become didactic, something I would hate for my stories to be. An example of this is the experience of helping an elderly homeless woman bathe her feet in a refuge led me to create the character of Elder in ‘Red Leaves’ who is part bark-skinned homeless woman , part tree and ancient spirit of the ancient caring wood!

When children like Pari in ‘Tender Earth’ or Shifa and Themba in ‘Where The River Runs Gold’ are going hungry and needing to use food banks, as so many children are today, children and young people are feeling the discomfort of that sometimes in their own hunger pains, but when I write I think about creative narrative that both recognise the realities of that and offers hope seeds for transformation.

I think a lot about where children place these feelings that the real world ignites in them.  For me stories are magical empathy portholes… they allow us to dream of coming together to change the things that disempower us and to overcome what might seem insurmountable.

In writing fiction I need to know my story is grounded in truths I have discovered from research but then I need to immerse myself in the storytelling adventure and step into dream time.

Perhaps because of late the world, in Wordsworth words has been ‘too much with us’ in my recent novels I have wanted to explore the potential of magical transformations in relation to the realities the children in my stories face.

The idea of unheard stories and oral histories not being forgotten is huge and important, and  the author’s note at the end of WHEN SECRETS SET SAIL tells us the fascinating inspirations for the Ayahs’ story, but where did Imtiaz and Usha, and the idea of them becoming sisters, come from?

 In unravelling the story of the Ayahs – one of abandonment and care- I was looking for contemporary characters who in one way or another would deeply understand why the Ayah ghost ‘Lucky’ would need to set her spirit free by having her story told.

What moved me about the story of the Ayah nursemaids was the dual abandonment. Ayahs found themselves far from home and abandoned but the children they had cared for must have suffered so deeply too from being torn away from each other. That idea is what led me to grow the characters of Imtiaz and Usha.

I don’t think I realised when I set out how the story is as much about Imtiaz and Usha’s contemporary herstory as it is about the Ayahs… the waves of the colonial story from the Ayah’s time is literally in the bricks and mortar of the home they set aside their differences to save. As I wrote I realised that for contemporary readers the journey of these two very different girls to becoming loving sisters had to be central to their discovery of the history of their home.

I often write about family, friendship, belonging and community and have presented many different kinds of families in my stories. With Imtiaz my idea was to see how a looked after child with the most difficult of starts in the world, given the opportunity to feel secure and loved, might grow.

Usha doesn’t have to make an effort to belong but Imtiaz does. It seemed to me that in microcosm that is a theme that also links to the untold stories of the ayahs … if you know that your story is told you have assurance and ease of your place in it… if like the Ayahs and Imtiaz’s your story is hidden or ‘blocked’ (in the ear of the conch)… then there is effort involved to strive to be heard.

This tension between the girls gave me a lot. Here are two girls with shared migrant identities, but very different starts in life who can’t see each other’s ghosts or empathise with each other- but need to believe in each other if they are to stay sisters and save their home. They were, in many ways, the key to me releasing the Ayah’s story into the world.  I have often said stories are an act of communal making and I have to thank my insightful editor Tig Wallace for keeping the historical quest in this story grounded in the ups and downs of Imtiaz and Usha’s relationship!

I also found in their different early lives an interesting contrast. Between them they share wide diaspora birth families, crossing class, cultures, religions and oceans but who they identify with most strongly are those who care for them and love them. Their deep understanding of this gives them keen instincts to uncover the Ayah story.

I love that you found out about the campaign for a Blue Plaque for the Ayahs’ Home as you were finishing writing the book, the videos on the Hachette schools page are great, and I like the idea of encouraging children to make nominations for a blue plaque, have you thought of any yourself, and has it inspired more story ideas?

It was incredible to press send on my story and then discover this event. Some of the adult characters like Valini in ‘When Secrets Set Sail’ talk about ‘fate’ and ‘things being meant!’ but this really did feel like serendipity at its superpower best!

At this brilliant event at Hackney Libraries I met Rozina Visram whose research was central to discovering the Ayah story and I also met Farhanah Mamoojee a wonderful young historian and activist who has been campaigning for a Blue Plaque to recognise the Ayahs Home. Watch this space!

Sita Brahmachari with Farhanah Mamoojee, outside the Ayahs Home

It’s been a real joy to work together with Farhanah @ayahshome to sit on the steps of the real life houses where the Ayahs lived together and to share in the launch of this story into the world… in many ways I feel as if I have met a grown up Imtiaz!

If I could nominate a Blue Plaque to anyone it would be to

Elyse Dodgson (1945- 2018)

Adopted Londoner!

Visionary educator, international new writing director and enabler of young people’s talent the world over.  Some of her fierce equality seeking spirit and a little of her name has found its way into the character of Delyse in my story. Her first play created with students in her Vauxhall School ‘Motherland’ has been a lifelong inspiration to me.

Elyse gave my first job as a young person leaving university at The Royal Court Young People’s Theatre… as community theatre worker. She told me that my work first and foremost was to listen to the communities and ‘welcome them to storytelling’ so that they find their voice. I’ve never forgotten that.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/nov/02/elyse-dodgson-obituary

(I’m breaking the Blue Plaque rules that someone needs to be deceased for twenty years and I encourage young readers who want to take part in the project to do the same! If they want to nominate a quiet hero or heroine whose alive for this imaginary project – why not!)

Have you done any virtual events this year?

I’ve done quite a few virtual events in different formats this year. In the build up to publication it was wonderful to be invited to be part of the South Asian Literature Festival and to have such positive responses to that from people joining from around the world – a sort of virtual globe window – that’s a real positive.

The virtual launch with The Children’s Book Shop in Muswell Hill was perhaps my favourite because it was in a wonderful real life bookshop! I felt connected with the community.

Jane Ray and I have been continuing our work with refugee people running our art and writing class by gathering around what we’ve now named out ‘Virtual Hearth’ – no matter how hard it is – the connection is so worthwhile.

At this time teachers and librarians have been amazing in their resilience. In the face of so many day to day challenges they have kept the reading for pleasure banner flying high. Like so many authors I’ve been busy adapting and learning new zooming skills and doing virtual events… Dominic Kingston and Felicity Highett at Hachette has been a real support in helping me with this and also Pop Up Festival has offered excellent training… BUT… We’ve all discovered things about ourselves during this time and one of the things I realise is how much I love being in a reality-room/ hall with readers! Over the years I have visited many schools and it is here, in the direct and indirect engagements with readers that I have understood so much about writing. Very often, as I’m talking I will notice there is a child at the periphery of the room who is perhaps doodling and not obviously engaging. I’ll catch their eye and know that something I have written and am talking about has impacted them… I have a treasure hoard of letters and art from these children that often inspire me to write the next book.  

Your recent post for the YLG blog about Library Hearths was brilliant, such tremendous support for libraries and librarians. You talk about imagining pinpointing for your characters “who planted the seeds that make them grow into who they will become”, can you share any of your own influences?

Here are just three of my writer-potential-seed-planters….there are many!

I’ll start at home… with my dad who I believe taught me what a storytelling voice was all about. My little memory in ‘The Book of Hopes,’ envisioned by the wonderful Katherine Rundell during Lockdown, is dedicated to him. Jane Ray gifted this beautiful illustration to accompany my little vignette but readers of my work will have spied dad’s brave, adventurous, caring and good humoured spirit before in Granddad Bimal and in the man in the hat in my co-theatre adaptation of Shaun Tan’s sublime graphic novel ‘The Arrival’. 

Dad by Jane Ray

I had an English and Drama teacher who also acted as librarian who always told me I should be a writer and when I wrote ‘Artichoke Hearts’ and returned to my school Mrs Smith, then quite elderly, queued up for a signed copy. ‘You made me wait but told you so!’ she said! In truth this teacher was also an inspiration to Pat Print – the writing tutor in that story and she knew it!

Elyse Dodgson (whom I nominated a Blue Plaque for above) who took a punt on me… and even though I had little experience employed me as community theatre worker for The Royal Court Young People’s Theatre as my first job as a student straight out of university.

What are you reading at the moment and who would you recommend it to?

I’m reading a lot of new writing manuscripts for ‘The First Chapter Awards’ for the Scottish Book Trust at the moment so as contrast I’m dipping in and out of David Almond’s short stories ‘Counting Stars’ (2016 Hodder Children’s Books). For me voice is such an important aspect of being a writer and I love Almond’s storytelling voice. In these stories about David’s childhood in Tyneside I find so much connection, joy and awe at the natural world. I’m loving them because I have been exploring the universal in the global in my own work and I feel a deep connection to this idea especially now when so many people may feel isolated – These stories are a wonderful reminder that in the drift of a cloud or a river’s flow we are so deeply interconnected and I hear in them a heartening song to the power of children’s imaginations. I would recommend it to anyone who is or who has ever been a child!

What are you working on next?

I’ve been putting the finishing touches to my World Book Day story for next year ‘The River Whale’ illustrated by the wonderful Poonam Mistry in which readers will meet Immy again free-diving in prose and verse! I’ve loved writing it and discovering what a year of having access to fulfilling her dreams has brought her and the world!

On another track I’m working on an illustrated YA story (title not quite set yet!) that I began writing in 2008. It will be published in late 2020 by Stripes. In it my older teen characters are walking a high stakes tight rope between myth, dream and reality.

Thank you so much for your wonderful answers Sita! WHEN SECRETS SET SAIL is out now!

Is It A Plane? Is It A Library? No It’s A Flybrary!

EASYJET’S BOOK CLUB LIFTS OFF TO GET CHILDREN HOOKED ON A BOOK THIS SUMMER

  • easyJet launches new initiative to encourage children to get into a good book by installing holiday reading libraries across its entire UK fleet this summer
  • Campaign follows research by easyJet, which reveals that over 8 in 10 British parents (83%) say children are reading less in comparison to when they were younger
  • Campaign ambassador and leading children’s author Dame Jacqueline Wilson has selected books for kids to enjoy in-flight
  • Children’s classics including; Peter Pan, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, The Railway Children and The Wizard of Oz, will be made available in passenger seat-pockets
  • The easyJet Book Club will see seven thousand copies of the books take to the skies as 147 ‘Flybraries’ lift off today
  • Statistics from the Department of Education show that one in five children in England cannot read well by the age of 11*
  • Figures from the National Foundation of Education Research show most children in England do not read on a daily basis with just over a third (37%) of 10 year-olds surveyed reported reading for pleasure every day**
  • easyJet launch new 'Flybraries' from Taylor Herring on Vimeo.

    LONDON, Tuesday 18th July 2017: Europe’s leading airline easyJet have launched a new initiative today to launch ‘Flybraries’ (flying libraries) following new research that suggests that the number of children reading for pleasure is at an all-time low.

    This summer easyJet will fly 750,000 families out of UK airports on their holidays. That means it has a unique opportunity to get kids hooked on a book while they’re on the plane.

    Former Children’s Laureate Dame Jacqueline Wilson, who is supporting the Flybrary campaign designed to promote literacy and encourage kids to read, has selected a range of classic children’s books to be stocked on board that encompass the spirit of travel and adventure. Dame Jacqueline unveiled her selection at the official launch of the Book Club at Gatwick Airport.

    Seven thousand copies of children’s classics including Peter Pan, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, The Wizard Of Oz, and The Railway Children will be made available on easyJet’s UK fleet of 147 aircraft as the new holiday reading campaign takes flight today across European destinations for free. Kids can start reading them on the flight and then when they land download free samples of other classics to try, plus a sample of Wilson’s latest bestseller, Wave Me Goodbye, from easyjet.com/bookclub. Children will leave the books on board for the next passenger to enjoy.

    Speaking at London Gatwick Airport where she launched the initiative, Dame Jacqueline Wilson, whose 106 children’s books have collectively sold over 40 million copies in the UK alone, said: The long summer break is the ideal opportunity for children to get stuck into a great story. Books stimulate a child’s imagination and development. Reading soothes, entertains, grows vocabulary and exercises the mind and a flight is the perfect place to escape into a literary adventure. That’s why I think this campaign is such a clever match. I’ve chosen books that children might not have 
read, but are familiar with, maybe from film and television. I also
wanted stories that would appeal equally to boys and girls.

    easyJet CEO Carolyn McCall said: This summer easyJet will transport three quarters of a million families from UK airports to popular holiday destinations across Europe – the largest number yet due to our range of parent-friendly initiatives to make it easier for parents and kids alike. The launch of our summer kids book club is another initiative designed to make flying with us more fun and help to get kids hooked on a book at the start of the holiday season at the same time. Our in-flight lending library means young passengers can pick up a brilliant book during their flight and then return it to the seat pocket at the end of the flight for the next customer to enjoy onboard. We think it will be popular with parents and children alike.

    The initiative follows research by easyJet who polled 2,000 British parents with children aged 8 – 12, which reveals that over 8 in 10 parents (83%) say children are reading less in comparison to when they were younger. The research reveals that kids are reading an average of three books over the course of their entire summer holidays, in contrast to an average of four books which their parents would have devoured at the same age – a drop of 25% over the course of a generation.

    The study found that the majority of respondents (84%) agreed that people tended to read more for pleasure 25 years ago than they do today, due to us living in a fast moving digital world with endless entertainment options. The research reveals a seismic shift in reading across generations, with the decline in the number of books being read by children today attributed to the vast choice of entertainment available to them on digital devices.

    Statistics from the Department of Education show that one in five children in England cannot read well by the age of 11*. Figures from the National Foundation of Education Research show most children in England do not read on a daily basis with just over a third (37%) of 10 year-olds surveyed reported reading for pleasure every day**.

    Gatwick Airport’s Head of Terminals & Passenger Services Nikki Barton said: We are right behind this brilliant summer initiative by easyJet and were honoured to welcome Dame Jacqueline to Gatwick to launch the Book Club and sign some of her books for our younger passengers. There’s nothing like a great book, and kids heading off to the many holiday destinations served by easyJet from Gatwick this summer will certainly have plenty to keep them amused on-board.

    Of those surveyed, nine in ten parents (90%) said that they believed the breadth of electronic entertainment devices available to children has led to a decline in reading for pleasure.

    Questioned on why they believe this trend has occurred, over a half (57%) said it was due to an increase of availability of digital devices from a young age.

    Furthermore, of those surveyed eight in ten (80%) believe that the widespread presence of digital entertainment has had an adverse effect on literacy levels. Over half (53%) of British parents charted the rise of ‘digital devices’ (smartphones and tablets) as a reason for the decline in children reading for pleasure on holiday.

    * Statistics from the Department of Education show that one in five children in England cannot read well by the age of 11 – https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/409409/Reading_the_next_steps.pdf

    **Figures from the National Foundation of Education Research show most children in England do not read on a daily basis: in 2011 just over a third (37%) of 10 year-olds surveyed reported reading for pleasure every day- https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/PRTZ01/PRTZ01.pdf

    A few thoughts on Zoella, Ghost-writers & Getting Teens to Read

    aaZoe Sugg (Zoella) and Penguin seem to have taken a lot of flak over the weekend as rumours (now confirmed) abounded about the use of a ghost-writer to produce Girl Online, the fastest selling début novel ever. I have seen a number of sub-tweets about this in my twitter network, and thought that the furore would die down, but if anything it has grown larger and more frenzied.

    I am not totally sure why people seem to be getting more upset than usual; it is not as if ghost-writing is a new phenomenon, even in the YA and Children’s book market; series like Sweet Valley High, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew spring to mind.

    The thought of celebrities getting publishing deals because of who they are upsets a lot of people, some of whom may feel that authors should be published on the merits of their manuscripts rather than because of who they are. Publishing is a business much like any other and books are published to make money, authors that do well are groomed and promoted to sell more.

    Superstars get publishing deals because publishers know they come with a built-in fan-base, a percentage of whom are almost guaranteed to buy the book, even if they have not purchased (or read many) books before.

    As someone who knows absolutely nothing about fashion, beauty and the difficulties of being a young woman I am pretty sure that Zoella is doing something right with her Youtube channel – she has over six million followers that listen to her for a reason.

    As a librarian I am less concerned with the perceived iniquities of ghost-writing and more interested in how celebrity books can be used to get young people hooked on reading. Around 78 thousand copies of Girl Online were sold last week – I am sure that a percentage of those went to teenagers who do not often pick up a book through choice. As many librarians, teachers and anyone that works with young people may know, getting teenagers that view reading as a pointless waste of time to read is one of the more Sisyphean tasks that we can face. So when someone that young people look up to attaches their name to a book I will not question its provenance too deeply.

    I will celebrate anyone who will get young people enthusiastic about books & reading so I am a BIG fan of Zoe Suggs – more power to her!

    So if you had a student or child that read and loved Girl Online by Zoe Suggs and would like to encourage them in their reading pursuits then they may also enjoy:

    adorkable
    Adorkable by Sara Manning

    Jeane Smith’s a blogger, a dreamer, a dare-to-dreamer, a jumble sale queen, CEO of her own lifestyle brand and has half a million followers on twitter.

    Michael Lee’s a star of school, stage and playing field. A golden boy in a Jack Wills hoodie.

    They have nothing in common but a pair of cheating exes. So why can’t they stop snogging?
    white barrier

    adEleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

    Eleanor is the new girl in town, and she’s never felt more alone. All mismatched clothes, mad red hair and chaotic home life, she couldn’t stick out more if she tried.

    Then she takes the seat on the bus next to Park. Quiet, careful and – in Eleanor’s eyes – impossibly cool, Park’s worked out that flying under the radar is the best way to get by.

    Slowly, steadily, through late-night conversations and an ever-growing stack of mix tapes, Eleanor and Park fall in love. They fall in love the way you do the first time, when you’re 16, and you have nothing and everything to lose.
    white barrier

    addGuitar Girl Sara Manning

    Seventeen-year-old Molly Montgomery never planned on becoming famous. Molly’s band, The Hormones, was just supposed to be about mucking around with her best mates, Jane and Tara, and having fun. But when the deliciously dangerous Dean and his friend T join the band, things start happening fast. Soon The Hormones are front-page news, and their debut album is rocketing up the charts. Molly is the force behind the band, but the hazards of fame, first love, screaming fans, and sleazy managers are forcing the newly crowned teen queen of grrl angst close to the edge. Fame never comes for free, and Molly’s about to find out what it costs.
    white barrier

    adddGeek Girl by Holly Smale

    Harriet Manners knows a lot of things.

    She knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a “jiffy” lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. What she isn’t quite so sure about is why nobody at school seems to like her very much. So when she’s spotted by a top model agent, Harriet grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her Best Friend’s dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of the impossibly handsome supermodel Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves.

    As Harriet veers from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, she begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn’t seem to like her any more than the real world did.

    And as her old life starts to fall apart, the question is: will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything?

    abFan Girl by Rainbow Rowell

    Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

    Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan…

    But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

    Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

    Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

    acCode Red Lipstick by Sarah Sky

    Models, spies and lipstick gadgets… When Jessica’s father, a former spy, vanishes mysteriously, Jessica takes matters into her own hands. She’s not just a daddy’s girl who’s good at striking a pose; she’s a trained spook who knows how to take on MI6 and beat them at their own game.

    Eight Questions With… Simon David Eden

    Hi Simon, welcome to Teen Librarian! Can I ask you to introduce yourself to the audience please?

    Greetings and salutations from Sussex-on-toast (as Steve Martin once called it) it’s great to be ‘virtually’ joining you. As a former singer-songwriter turned artist turned screenwriter turned playwright turned novelist, it won’t surprise anyone to learn that I’m open to embracing new frontiers, and the whole blogging universe is totally new to me, so cool, let’s do this! Eh, do I need to wear special goggles? A safety harness of some kind? I get a little woozy in confined spaces (and in deep water, and on top of very, very tall buildings with low guard rails), you know, just so’s you know, in case this becomes one of those things I have to add to the list next time. Blogs, well, I’d love to but after the Teen Librarian experience …

    The Savage Kingdom is your first novel; can you describe it in one sentence to hook a potential reader?

    THE BEST BOOK YOU’LL READ ALL SUMMER BY FAR! Okay, fair enough, I would say that right. You want more. In one sentence? OK, what they call in Hollywood the elevator pitch:

    MANKIND VS THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, WHICH SIDE ARE YOUR PETS ON?

    You were originally self-published, how did you go from being an indie author to being picked up by Simon & Schuster?

    I’m a great believer in ‘be the miracle’. If you have a dream, believe in it, go after it whatever it takes. It may take years. If it’s a dream that’s worth anything it’ll probably also be a really tough road full of rejection and disappointment and setbacks. And most likely it’ll lead you to a destination you didn’t expect. But the journey will be an experience all the same. And that’s the true reward. I didn’t get paid to write my novel originally. I wrote it because l had to. I had to get it and those characters out of my head, out of my system, and I wanted to share some stuff I felt about the world with my smart, feisty, inquisitive, beautiful daughter. I don’t know what my agent (the wonderful Zoe King of The Blair Partnership) would say, or the amazing team at Simon & Schuster, but I think they picked it up because it was written from the heart, because I completely ignored ‘the market’ and just wrote a story I was burning to tell, one that surprised and thrilled me and kept me awake at night. Chances are if it does that to you as a writer, it’ll do it to someone else too.

    You are also a writer of stage and screenplays, do you find yourself having to think in different ways when writing a novel as opposed to a play?

    Hmmm. Great question. The obvious difference is that novels are a marathon while plays/screenplays are a sprint (to this writer anyway). But actually, I think there are more similarities than differences between books and film/TV. Both, when they work well, are very visual. In the latter the creator makes the choice about exactly what it is you are seeing, just like comics and graphic novels, whereas in novels the author seeks to create a picture in the mind’s eye of the reader, and of course that film that’s playing inside your head is different from mine and for every other person reading it. That’s why dedicated fans of novels are often disappointed by adaptations of their favourite works/characters, but it would be impossible to put something on the screen that represented everyone’s idea of what it should be. Stage plays are a different challenge altogether, as with few exceptions, they rely much more heavily on dialogue to carry story and convey character. I love working across all the disciplines – songwriting too – and find it creatively stimulating to move between them. Right now though I’m thrilled to be writing The Savage Kingdom Book II and seeing where Drue and Will-C and the other main characters lead me and whether the survivors of Book I can find a way to live together. Some very big twists and turns in store!

    What inspires you to write?

    Originally it was Dan Dare (The Eagle comic circa 1964). Him and Spiderman and my dad. They fired my imagination and encouraged me to make stuff up and scribble it down when I was still a kid learning joined-up writing. Because we barely had two pennies to rub together, I had to get inventive about feeding my habit for comics as I couldn’t afford to buy them. So what I did, is I drew my own. Frame by frame. Page by page. Copying others at first, before branching out and inventing my own characters and stories. Below is a snap from a pencil rendition (with apologies to Stan Lee, I was 12 and knew nothing about copyright!) of the origin of Spidey. I drew the whole comic. Spent months on it. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was a great tool for learning about the economy of storytelling. That’s why I love writing for YA and younger readers. You can’t get away with anything. The story either works or it doesn’t. The Pulitzer Prize winning playwright/novelist David Mamet said an interesting thing about story: All a reader/viewer really cares about is what happens next. What’s inspiring me to write TSK Book II today is exactly that. What happens next!

    spidermannn

    What is your favourite part in the writing process?

    Typing The End! Always a moment of great satisfaction. But I also love all of the stuff that precedes the actual writing. First hand research is key to me and something I really enjoy. Not just trawling the web (though it’s a very useful tool) but hanging out in cafes listening to people, visiting far flung places, experiencing new cultures, discovering new things. What’s also magical, is that moment when you are so absorbed in the tale that the characters begin to lead you where you didn’t expect to go. You’re writing it, supposedly in charge, but they are demanding to take a different path than the one you had planned. That’s always thrilling and a sign to me that a piece is really flying.

    Were you a reader as a child/teen and do you read works by other YA authors?

    If I wasn’t kicking a ball or building a den in the woods, my nose was always in a comic or a book. I particularly loved stories that explored the wild and involved animals or animal/human relationships: Watership Down, The Call of the Wild and White Fang. I’m still an avid reader of fiction and non-fiction, and yes, there’s some brilliant YA on my shelves. I loved The Book Thief, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, the Dark Materials Trilogy, and though I haven’t bought a copy yet, Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park looks like a great read too.

    What do you have planned next – after The Savage Kingdom?

    The Savage Kingdom Book II! And I’m also thinking about revisiting that world with a third instalment, but I can’t say too much about that yet. If I promise not to drone on for too long, perhaps you’ll invite me back on Teen Librarian for an update down the line. It’s been great sharing some thoughts with you.

    And remember, creative writers aren’t much use without creative readers!

    With best wishes,

    SDE
    www.SimonDavidEden.com

    www.TheSavageKingdom.com

    CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Awards long-lists

    Now THESE are long-lists – 68 titles for the Carnegie Award and 64 for the Kate Greenaway Award. As my colleague and friend CazApr1 said on her blog I too am a bit put out by the lack of Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne. HSB was excluded because it had first been published as an adult novel rather than a simultaneous adult/YA publication. There are some excellent titles on the list, I even know some of the authors – but will try not to play favourites. I will have a look at who I think will make it onto the short-list at a later date.

    Books are nominated by librarians that are members of CILIP (The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals), the nominated books are then checked for eligibility before being placed on the long-list. You can view the criteria for the Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Awards here: Carnegie Award Criteria and the Kate Greenaway Award Criteria.

    I am going to start my Shadowing of the Awards now to flex my reading and reviewing muscles in preparation for becoming a judge in 2014 when there will probably be over 100 titles on each list.

    The CILIP Carnegie Medal longlist:

    Goldilocks on CCTV by John Agard (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
    The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean by David Almond (Puffin Books)
    Soldier Dog by Sam Angus (Macmillan Children’s Books)
    The No. 1 Car Spotter and the Firebird by Atinuke (Walker Books)
    The Traitors by Tom Becker (Scholastic)
    The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne (Doubleday Children’s Books)
    Jasmine Skies by Sita Brahmachari (Macmillan Children’s Books)
    Spy For The Queen of Scots by Theresa Breslin (Doubleday Children’s Books)
    Naked by Kevin Brooks (Puffin Books)
    Kill All Enemies by Melvin Burgess (Puffin Books)
    Dead Time by Anne Cassidy (Bloomsbury)
    VIII by H.M. Castor (Templar Publishing)
    Dying To Know You by Aidan Chambers (Bodley Head)
    The Broken Road by B.R. Collins (Bloomsbury)
    The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Walker Books)
    15 Days Without a Head by Dave Cousins (Oxford University Press)
    After the Snow by S.D. Crockett (Macmillan Children’s Books)
    The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury)
    Scramasax by Kevin Crossley-Holland (Quercus Publishing)
    Mortal Chaos by Matt Dickinson (Oxford University Press)
    Sektion 20 by Paul Dowswell (Bloomsbury)
    A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle (Marion Lloyd Books)
    Saving Daisy by Phil Earle (Puffin Books)
    Buzzing! by Anneliese Emmans Dean (Brambleby Books)
    The Things We Did For Love by Natasha Farrant (Faber and Faber)
    Trouble in Toadpool by Anne Fine (Doubleday Children’s Books)
    Call Down Thunder by Daniel Finn (Macmillan Children’s Books)
    Far Rockaway by Charlie Fletcher (Hodder Children’s Books)
    The Double Shadow by Sally Gardner (Indigo)
    Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner (Hot Key Books)
    After by Morris Gleitzman (Puffin Books)
    To Be A Cat by Matt Haig (Bodley Head)
    A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan Children’s Books)
    Unrest by Michelle Harrison (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)
    Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Doubleday Children’s Books)
    The Seeing by Diana Hendry (Bodley Head)
    Daylight Saving by Edward Hogan (Walker Books)
    Hero on a Bicycle by Shirley Hughes (Walker Books)
    The Abominables by Eva Ibbotson (Marion Lloyd Books)
    The Girl in the Mask by Marie-Louise Jensen (Oxford University Press)
    The Prince Who Walked With Lions by Elizabeth Laird (Macmillan Children’s Books)
    In Darkness by Nick Lake (Bloomsbury)
    The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan (David Fickling Books)
    Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer by Derek Landy (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
    Itch by Simon Mayo    (Corgi Children’s Books)
    At Yellow Lake by Jane McLoughlin (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
    The Apothecary by Maile Meloy (Andersen Press)
    The Treasure House by Linda Newbery (Orion Children’s Books)
    All Fall Down by Sally Nicholls (Marion Lloyd Books)
    This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel (Random House David Fickling Books)
    Hitler’s Angel by William Osborne (Chicken House)
    Wonder by R.J. Palacio (Bodley Head)
    Gods and Warriors by Michelle Paver (Puffin Books)
    Burn Mark by Laura Powell (Bloomsbury)
    Black Arts: The Books of Pandemonium by Andrew Prentice and Jonathan Weil (David Fickling Books)
    Mister Creecher by Chris Priestley (Bloomsbury)
    This is Not Forgiveness by Celia Rees (Bloomsbury)
    Goblins by Philip Reeve (Marion Lloyd Books)
    Black Heart Blue by Louisa Reid (Puffin Books)
    Pendragon Legacy: Sword of Light by Katherine Roberts (Templar Publishing)
    Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick (Indigo)
    A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton (David Fickling Books)
    The Sleeping Army by Francesca Simon (Profile Books)
    The Flask by Nicky Singer (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
    The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic)
    A Skull in Shadows Lane by Robert Swindells (Corgi Children’s Books)
    A Waste of Good Paper by Sean Taylor (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
    Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Electric Monkey)

    The CILIP Kate Greenaway Longlist:

    The Big Snuggle-Up by Nicola Bayley (illustrator) and Brian Patten (Andersen Press)
    North: The Greatest Animal Journey on Earth by Patrick Benson (illustrator) and Nick Dowson (Walker Books)
    How Do You Feel? by Anthony Browne (Walker Books)
    The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle (Puffin Books)
    Have You Ever Ever Ever? by Emma Chichester Clark (illustrator) and Colin McNaughton (Walker Books)
    The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Emma Chichester Clark (illustrator) and Michael Morpurgo (Walker Books)
    Lunchtime by Rebecca Cobb (Macmillan Children’s Books)
    The Goggle-Eyed Goats by Christopher Corr (illustrator) and Stephen Davies (Andersen Press)
    Croc and Bird by Alexis Deacon (Hutchinson)
    Soonchild by Alexis Deacon (illustrator) and Russell Hoban (Walker Books)
    The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle (Templar Publishing)
    Arthur’s Dream Boat by Polly Dunbar (Walker Books)
    Rabbityness by Jo Empson (Child’s Play International)
    Friends by Michael Foreman (Andersen Press)
    Wild Child by Lorna Freytag (illustrator) and Jeanne Willis (Walker Books)
    Azzi in Between by Sarah Garland (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
    Robin Hood by Anne Yvonne Gilbert (illustrator) and Nicky Raven (Templar Publishing)
    A Bus Called Heaven by Bob Graham (Walker Books)
    Again! by Emily Gravett (Macmillan Children’s Books)
    Matilda’s Cat by Emily Gravett (Macmillan Children’s Books)
    Toys in Space by Mini Grey (Jonathan Cape)
    Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton (Walker Books)
    A First Book of Nature by Mark Hearld (illustrator) and Nicola Davies (Walker Books)
    The Great Snortle Hunt by Kate Hindley (illustrator) and Claire Freedman (Simon & Schuster)
    Goldilocks and Just the One Bear by Leigh Hodgkinson (Nosy Crow)
    Children’s Books)
    Jonathan & Martha by Petr Horáček (Phaidon)
    The Hueys in The New Jumper by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
    Stuck by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
    This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
    The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by W.E. Joyce (co-illustrator and writer) and Joe Bluhm (illustrator) (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)
    Goldilocks on CCTV by Satoshi Kitamura (illustrator) and John Agard (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
    I Want my Hat Back by Jon Klassen (Walker Books)
    An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales by Kate Leiper (illustrator) and Theresa Breslin (Floris Books)
    Demolition by Brian Lovelock (illustrator) and Sally Sutton (Walker Books)
    The Skeleton Pirate by David Lucas (Walker Books)
    The Frank Show by David Mackintosh (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
    The Cat and the Fiddle: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes by Jackie Morris (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
    Pirates ‘n’ Pistols by Chris Mould (Hodder Children’s Books)
    The Worst Princess by Sara Ogilvie (illustrator) and Anna Kemp (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)
    King Jack and the Dragon by Helen Oxenbury (illustrator) and Peter Bently (Puffin Books)
    My Big Shouting Day by Rebecca Patterson (Jonathan Cape)
    Black Dog by Levi Pinfold (Templar Publishing)
    Where is Fred? by Ali Pye (illustrator) and Edward Hardy (Egmont Books)
    The Twelve Days of Christmas by Jane Ray (Orchard Books)
    The Yoga Ogre by Simon Rickerty (illustrator) and Peter Bently (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)
    One Cool Cat by David Roberts (illustrator) and Susannah Corbett (Egmont Children’s Books)
    Who Am I? by Tony Ross (illustrator) and Gervase Phinn (Andersen Press)
    Fly, Chick, Fly! by Tony Ross (illustrator) and Jeanne Willis (Andersen Press)
    Just Ducks! by Salvatore Rubbino (illustrator) and Nicola Davies (Walker Books)
    Just Imagine by Nick Sharratt (illustrator) and Pippa Goodhart (Doubleday Children’s Books)
    A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton (David Fickling Books)
    ABC London by Kate Slater (illustrator) and James Dunn (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
    Claude at the Circus by Alex T. Smith (Hodder Children’s Books)
    Ella by Alex T. Smith (Scholastic)
    Red Car, Red Bus by Susan Steggall (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
    How to Hide a Lion by Helen Stephens (Alison Green Books)
    Jack and the Baked Beanstalk by Colin Stimpson (Templar Publishing)
    Naughty Kitty by Adam Stower (Templar Publishing)
    The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse by Helen Ward (Templar Publishing)
    Leave Me Alone by Lee Wildish (illustrator) and Kes Gray (Hodder Children’s Books)
    The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems (Walker Books)
    Eric! by Christopher Wormell (Jonathan Cape)
    Dog Loves Drawing by Louise Yates (Jonathan Cape)
    Hans and Matilda by Yokococo (Templar Publishing)