The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket is the latest children’s book from John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. I’m reading it at the moment and absolutely loving it! John Boyne is coming to Christchurch at the end of August for the Christchurch Writer’s Festival and I’m very excited to be interviewing him on behalf of Christchurch City Libraries.
The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket is out in NZ on August 17.
The Magical Life of Mr. Renny and My Happy Life are the latest releases from the wonderful Gecko Press. I LOVE The Wonderful Life of Mr. Renny and reviewed it here on the blog in my Picture Book Nook feature. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of their ‘curiously good books from around the world.’
Thanks to Gecko Press I have a special pack of 4 of their latest releases to give away. The pack contains:
This competition is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered. The winner is Jenny.
Derek Landy hits New Zealand this week! If you’re a huge Skulduggery Pleasant fan like me you’ll be itching to meet Derek on one of his tour stops. You can meet him at The Children’s Bookshop in Christchurch this Friday (10 August) at 4:30pm.
In 2010 I got the chance to interview Derek Landy, author of the Skulduggery Pleasant books. He is a really cool guy and very funny. I asked him lots of questions about his characters, his inspirations and writing. Read the interview to find out the answers to these questions and more:
The latest Skulduggery Pleasant book, Kingdom of the Wicked is out now. Get your copy from your library or bookshop now.
If you don’t get a chance to get along to one of Derek’s events I’ll be giving 2 signed copies of Kingdom of the Wicked away on My Best Friends Are Books next week.
The wonderful Gecko Press introduced us to the remarkable Belgian picture book creator, Leo Timmers, when they started to publish his books in English. He is incredibly talented, not only as a storyteller, but also as an artist. His illustrations are vibrant and almost seem to jump off the page, so I can’t think of a better illustrator to create a picture book about an artist whose paintings become real.
Mr. Renny is a very good artist. Whatever he paints looks just like the real thing, but no one wants to buy his paintings. He has no money, and he’s hungry. One day a mysterious stranger offers to make Mr. Renny’s dreams become real. Now whatever he paints becomes real, including a hotdog, a car, and a ship. But what happens when his friend wants to buy one of his paintings?
The Magical Life of Mr. Renny is a colourful masterpiece that children and adults alike will love. Like Leo’s other books, including Who’s Driving? and I am the King, the illustrations are bright and vibrant, and he makes them look 3D so they jump off the page. This is one of those picture books that you want to pick up again and again just to stare at the illustrations and find what you might have missed last time you looked. Leo adds in lots of little details for you to find, like the goat who has dropped her eggs or finding all of Mr. Renny’s treasures in his mansion. The story itself is funny and thoughtful and would make a great read aloud. It promotes lots of discussion about art, greed and friendship, and you could have children talking for hours about what they would paint if their paintings became real. Local author, Bill Nagelkerke has done a fantastic job of translating the book into English and making it flow so well as a read aloud. Gecko Press’ books are always beautifully designed and this is no exception, from the front cover and the inside flaps to the back cover with its frame design.
Get your hands on the work of art that is The Magical Life of Mr. Renny by Leo Timmers.
5 out of 5 stars
You can always rely on Kyle Mewburn to write a book that will make kids laugh and keep them entertained from start to finish. Kyle’s latest book, illustrated by new talent Daron Parton, features a silly animal who likes being different.
Boo is the one and only blue gnu. Well he thinks he is, until he meets Hoo. Hoo tries to convince Boo that it’s more fun with two, but Boo likes being unique. So Boo tries to make himself look different by adding touches of colour. Boo has to decide whether it’s better to be the one and only striped or spotted blue gnu or whether things really are better with two.
Blue Gnu is a delightful, tongue-twister of a book about friendship and being different. You can tell that Kyle has had so much fun writing this book! You can get tripped up very easily with his wonderful, rhyming text. Kyle always uses lots of ‘noisy’ words and Blue Gnu is no exception. Sentences like “What a splotchy, spotty, dotty gnu!” and “What a hoopy, loopy, stripey gnu!” are fun to get your mouth around and it would be great to get the children saying it with you (try saying those sentences quickly three times!). I love Daron Parton’s illustrations, which seem to fit the story perfectly. He has brought Kyle’s silly gnu’s to life and made Boo and Hoo stand out from the herd. His style is really unique and his bright, bold illustrations make the book great to share with a large group of children. I’ll look forward to seeing more of his illustrations in future books. Book Design have also done a great job of positioning the text so that it doesn’t get in the way of these wonderful illustrations.
If you’re not already hooked on Kyle Mewburn’s books, you will be once you read Blue Gnu. Grab a copy from your library or bookshop now.
To celebrate the release of the latest book in Cristy Burne’s Takeshita Demons series, Monster Matsuri, I’m hosting an awesome competition! Thanks to Walker Books Australia, kids from from Australia and New Zealand can enter the Takeshita Demons Monster Prize Competition to win 1 of 10 $50 prize packs.
WINNERS!
Thanks to everyone who entered. Your monsters were fantastic! Here are the winners of a $50 book pack from Walker Books Australia:
To learn more about Cristy Burne and the Takeshita Demons series you can visit Cristy’s blog. Cristy also has some very cool free games and activities on her blog that you can check out too.
Fire in the Sea by Myke Bartlett was the winner of the 2011 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing. I loved it and gave 4 out of 5 stars (you can read my review here). I also interviewed Myke here on the blog today too, which you can check out here.
Thanks to Text Publishing I have 2 copies of Fire in the Sea to give away. All you have to do to get in the draw is enter your name and email address below. Competition closes Monday 6 August (NZ only).
If you’re a fan of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival you’ll want to enter this competition.
The Arrival has become one of the most critically acclaimed books of recent years, a wordless masterpiece that describes a world beyond any familiar time or place. How did it come to be created, and what inspired its unique and captivating story?
In Sketches from a Nameless Land, author Shaun Tan explains the origins of his ideas, using examples from early research and concept sketches through to finished artwork. In tracing this evolution, he sheds light on the silent language of images, the spirit of the migrant experience and the artist’s creative journey.
All you have to do to get in the draw is enter your name and email address in the form below. Competition closes Monday 6 August (NZ only).
Thanks to those who entered. This competition is now closed.
Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Myke Bartlett, winner of the 2011 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing, and author of the fantastic Fire in the Sea (you can read my review here). I asked Myke a few questions about Fire in the Sea, his characters and his writing experience. Thanks Myke!
1. What inspired you to write Fire in the Sea?
Being a teacher, really. There’s nothing better than seeing kids excited about books and I started feeling a bit envious about the attention other authors were getting. I was determined to write something exciting and challenging that students would enjoy. I think I also really liked the idea of YA fiction being gateway fiction. These were the stories that would, hopefully, get kids hooked on good quality books. If they were reading something good when they were young, then they might demand better when they were older.
2. Had the story been bubbling in your head long before you submitted it for the Text Prize?
I think I had the basic idea about Jake in 2009. But I didn’t start writing it until 2010, as I was working on something else. The actual writing was incredibly quick and painless, probably about six months in total on the first draft. It was a near run thing to get it in on time to Text. I think I posted it off on the last possible day.
3. How did it feel to win the Text Prize?
Unreal. In every sense of the word. I’d written the story specifically to win the Text Prize, so I suppose I felt as if I had achieved exactly what I’d set out to do. That was a great week. And then the editing process began… Which was also great, to be honest.
4. Mythology plays an important part in Fire in the Sea. Do you have a special interest in mythology and ancient cultures?
I’m probably much more interested in the real world, actually. But I was obsessed with that stuff as a kid. When I got older, I was more interested in ghosts and folk legends and things like that. Things that seemed like they might almost be real. That’s my favourite area of fiction — you know, through a glass darkly stuff. The sense that there might be a monster under the bed, or vampire bats in the fig tree. I think I drew on my memories of mythologies because they’re really where storytelling started. They were the first big blockbusters. Who wouldn’t want to borrow a bit of that genius?
5. Who was your inspiration for the character of Sadie?
I don’t know if I should say. There’s a lot of me in there, really. All that standing at the edge of the world, gazing at the horizon stuff. That’s me. That was me growing up in Perth and dreaming of the world outside. There’s quite a lot of my youngest sister in there too. All the difficult, dogmatic bits! No, my sister is pretty awesome (not that I’d tell her), so I probably borrowed of Sadie’s better qualities.
6. Why did you decide to set the story in Perth?
Because it felt like the sort of place where you’d never expect a story like that to be set! I wanted to tell a big, Hollywood-style story in a small place at the end of the world. Growing up in Perth, I would have loved to think that life could be exciting where I was, instead of thinking adventures only happened elsewhere.
7. Which of the ancient ones are you most like?
Ooh, tricky! Well, I’m quite fond of Agatha. When we make the TV/film version, I’d love my aunt Nicola Bartlett, who’s an extraordinary actress, to play her. I think I gave Jake some of the seriousness and the old-mannishness that I had at that age. I was in such a hurry to be old. I dressed like an old man. It’s only now that I am (relatively) old that I’ve started dressing like a teenager.
8. Do you plan to return to Sadie, Jake and the ancient ones in the future?
I do. They will return! As of today, I’ve written about six chapters of the sequel. Writing is either sheer pleasure or sheer pain (it changes on a day-by-day basis) but it feels pretty exciting to me. There are new (old) monsters, old (new) friends and possibly a car chase. If you can do a car chase in print. Can you? I’m about to find out.
The wonderful people at Text Publishing (based in Melbourne) launched a fantastic new award for authors across Australia and New Zealand a few years ago, called The Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing. This prize has introduced me to some of my favourite authors, including Richard Newsome and Leanne Hall. Last year they chose another very deserving winner of the prize, Myke Bartlett with his book Fire in the Sea, which has just been released.
Sadie is sixteen and bored with life in Perth. It’s summer, and lazing on the beach in the stifling heat with her cousins and Tom is a drag. Then something comes out of the sea.
Dark menacing forms attack an old man, leaving him for dead and Sadie wracking her brains to understand what she saw. Then there’s a mysterious inheritance, a strange young man called Jake and a horned beast trampling the back yard.
Sadie finds herself caught in the middle of an ancient conflict that is nearing its final battle, a showdown that threatens to engulf Perth and all those she loves in a furious tsunami.
Fire in the Sea is a story of gods, monsters, curses, immortality, war and the normal teenagers who get caught in the middle. Myke Bartlett grabs you within the first few pages and you get swept away in the story, not wanting to surface until you get to the very end. It’s one of those stories you want to devour all in one go because the writing is just so good and the action never lets up. There’s something for everyone in the story, from mythical creatures and body-swapping gods, to a genie-like demon who grants wishes and a lost civilization. There is plenty of violence and blood and guts to keep the guys interested, especially when the Minotaur is involved.
I love how Myke has weaved mythology into the story. I can see Fire in the Sea appealing those teens that have enjoyed the Percy Jackson series because of the way that Myke brings gods and monsters into the present day. Even though you don’t see the gods, you get the impression that they’re watching everything happen and will intervene if or when the time comes. The feel of the story also reminded me a little of Maurice Gee’s Under the Mountain.
Sadie is a strong, feisty heroine. She doesn’t seem to care what other people think of her and is prepared to do what she thinks is right to save the people she loves. She get caught in the middle of a war that they didn’t want to be involved in, but she handles the situation incredibly well.
The ending of Fire in the Sky left me wanting to read more about Sadie, Jake and the ancient ones, so here’s hoping Myke continues their story. If you’re looking for a fast-paced story, filled with action, adventure, fantasy and mythology, Fire in the Sky is the perfect book.
4 out of 5 stars
My Best Friends Are Books 