children

Congratulations to Shaun Tan!

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Shaun Tan, the award-winning author of some of the most amazing picture books, has won the biggest prize for children’s books.  The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was set up in memory of Astrid Lindgren, the creator of Pippi Longstocking, and is awarded every year to authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and those who promote reading.  It is the richest award for children’s literature, with a grand prize of close to $NZ1 million!

If you’ve never read or looked at a book by Shaun Tan you don’t know what you’re missing out on.  He has illustrated more than 20 books, including The Lost Thing, Rabbits, The Red Tree, The Arrival, and my favourite, Tales from Outer Suburbia.  His illustrations are weird and wonderful, and he can tell an amazing story without using words.  Shaun Tan has been super lucky recently because his short film of his book, The Lost Thing, won an Oscar at the Academy Awards.

Congratulations Shaun!

Scare yourself silly with the Invisible Fiends

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Did you have an invisible friend when you were younger?  If you did you probably can’t remember what they looked like now.  Kyle had an invisible friend when he was younger whose name was Mr Mumbles.  Mr Mumbles lived in the loft and would come and tap on Kyle’s bedroom window when he wanted to play.  Kyle had completely forgotten about him until, one night, Kyle hears the tapping on his window.  This time though, Mr Mumbles doesn’t want to play, he wants to kill Kyle and he’ll stop at nothing to do so.  With the help of a mysterious girl called Ameena, Kyle races to escape his invisible fiend.  Kyle realizes that the only way to defeat Mr Mumbles is to use the thing that created him – his imagination.

Mr Mumbles is the first in the series of Invisible Fiends books by Barry Hutchison.  The second book, Raggy Maggie is also out, with the third book due soon.  These books are great for anyone who likes creepy horror stories, especially fans of Skulduggery Pleasant.  They’re creepy, gruesome, suspenseful and action-packed.  Invisible Fiends is definitely my new favourite series!   Recommended for 9+ DON’T READ AFTER DARK! 10 out of 10

Farewell to Brian Jacques and Redwall

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I was sad to learn today that the author of the Redwall series, Brian Jacques, died on 5 February 2011. Brian has written many books in the Redwall series, including Rakkety Tam, The Legend of Luke, Marlfox, and The Pearls of Lutra, as well as the fantastic Flying Dutchman series. Here’s some interesting facts about Brian Jacques:

  • He was caned by a teacher, who could not believe a 10-year-old could write so well, when he wrote a short story about a bird who cleaned a crocodile’s teeth.
  • He left school at 15 and traveled the world as a merchant seaman.
  • He wrote his first story, Redwall, for children at Royal Wavertree School for the Blind in Liverpool. Because the children were blind, he made his writing as descriptive as possible, painting pictures with words so that they could see them in their imaginations.
  • He has worked as a railway fireman, a longshoreman, a long-distance truck driver, a bus driver, a boxer, a bobby (Police Constable), a postmaster, and a stand-up comic.
  • He has sold over 20 million books worldwide and they have been translated into 29 languages.

What’s your favourite Brian Jacques book?

Three of the best from Gecko Press

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Gecko Press have been keeping up their tradition of producing English language versions of curiously good books from around the world. Here are three of the best recent releases.

The Noisy Book by Soledad Bravi is a board book filled with bright, bold illustrations and lots and lots of noises (over 100 pages). There are noises you would expect to find, like ‘The cat goes meow,’ ‘The horse goes neigh,’ and ‘The rooster goes cockadoodle doo.’ But what I like most are the noises you don’t expect, like ‘The cold goes aachoo,’ ‘Mummy goes kiss kiss,’ and ‘The power socket goes NO!’ This is the perfect book to share with babies and toddlers because everyone can enjoy making the noises.

The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate is a newly illustrated edition of one of Joy Cowley’s most loved picture books. I loved this book as soon as I set my eyes on it! Sarah Davis’ illustrations are absolutely stunning and she has captured Joy Cowley’s characters perfectly. Thank you Gecko Press for giving this wonderful story new life.

H.O.U.S.E (or Habitable, Objects, Unique, Spatial, Extraordinary) by Aleksandra Machowiak and Daniel Mizielinski is a fascinating book about contemporary architecture for kids. It’s a book for all those children (and adults) who are fascinated with buildings of all shapes and sizes. Inside, you’ll find spiky houses, inflatable houses, houses in trees and houses underground, from all over the world. The authors explain the inspiration behind the design of each house, as well as the materials used to build it, and where in the world it can be found.

These are just three of the latest and greatest books from Gecko Press. I’m sure we can look forward to more curiously good books from Gecko Press next year.