T'was a dark and stormy... er... day

 So, October madness is upon us again and once again it's been a hoot so far. Last week, I took to the wilds of Waterford, braving thunderstorms, stroboscopic lightning, power cuts and hotel gyms. Thankfully, I was in good company, from my splendid reading material (left) to the dedicated librarians who looked after me, via the crazy chickens who came and cheered and chatted and wrote and read and were generally very cool to meet.

Room with a view

Here's to Niamh and Loretta, to Ardkeen and Tramore libraries, to the guys and girls (and aforementioned chickens) of Holy Cross, P.E.N.S., Saint Ursula, Scoil Eanna and Glor Na Mara. Here's, also, to Hamantha (a superhero whose secret weapon is... ham), a pig called Bacon, Super Bra (seriously, guys, tsk...), the Land of Popcorn, marshmallow hats and monster sleepovers.
We had fewer zombies and exploding frogs, but lots of minions and, you know, kettlemen.
Keep it up, Waterford!

Room with a sentient TV!

Kirkus Review - Starred, if you please!

Kirkus is a pretty cool website that looks at books for all sorts of people, in all sorts of genres, as well as at iPad book apps. And guess what it turned its reviewing eyes to this week? A "brisk and hilarious tale" about "A boastful young sleuth [who] obliviously aids a group of disguised dinosaurs".That's right, Dinos in Distress. Icing on the cake, our Dinos got a Kirkus Star, which they award(or so they themselves say) to "Books of Exceptional Merit".
It would have been extra nice for the writer (yours truly) and the illustrator (Claire Chavenaud) to be credited, but that info might appear along the reivew in the March print edition, right?
Meanwhile, I shall let you enjoy the review in full while I go and buy myself some wellies. And a submarine.

Carnegie and Greenaway long, long lists

That's it, they are out, the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals longlists. Both are really quite long, incredibly diverse and packed-full of talent. Let me tell you I do not envy the jury.
The Guardian have the Greenaway nominees in pictures (thanks, guys!) and the Telegraph will run you through the fiction selected for the Carnegie. It has to be said that Ireland is very well represented in the Greenaway with the likes of Yasmeen Ismail, Malachy Doyle, Oliver Jeffers and PJ Lynch. David Almond and Jon Klassen appear twice on the list(s). Well done all!

Here goes:
2014 CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL LONGLIST:
• The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas by David Almond (Walker Books)
• All the Truth That’s in Me by Julie Berry (Templar)
• The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks (Penguin)
• The Child's Elephant by Rachel Campbell-Johnston (David Fickling Books)
• Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper (Bodley Head)
• After Tomorrow by Gillian Cross (Oxford University Press)
• Heroic by Phil Earle (Penguin)
• Blood Family by Anne Fine (Doubleday Children’s Books)
• Infinite Sky by CJ Flood (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)
• Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn (Electric Monkey)
• Monkey Wars by Richard Kurti (Walker Books)
• Hostage Three by Nick Lake (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• The Positively Last Performance by Geraldine McCaughrean (Oxford University Press)
• Brock by Anthony McGowan (Barrington Stoke)
• Binny for Short by Hilary McKay (Hodder Children’s Books)
• Far Far Away by Tom McNeal (Jonathan Cape)
• Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher (Indigo)
• Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell (Faber & Faber)
• Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead (Andersen Press)
• The Wall by William Sutcliffe (Bloomsbury)

2014 CILIP KATE GREENAWAY MEDAL
• One Gorilla: A Counting Book by Anthony Browne (Walker Books)
• Open Very Carefully by Nicola O'Byrne (illustrator) and Nick Bromley (author) (Nosy Crow)
• The Paper Dolls by Rebecca Cobb (illustrator) and Julia Donaldson (author)(Macmillan Children's Books)
• Weasels by Elys Dolan (Nosy Crow)
• Puss Jekyll Cat Hyde by Joyce Dunbar (illustrator) and Jill Barton (author) (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)
• Time for Bed, Fred! by Yasmeen Ismail (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• The Day the Crayons Quit by Oliver Jeffers (illustrator) and Drew Daywalt (author) (HarperCollins Children's Books)
• The Dark by Jon Klassen (illustrator) and Lemony Snicket (author) (Orchard Books)
• This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen (Walker Books)
• Where My Wellies Take Me by Olivia Lomenech Gill (illustrator) and Clare and Michael Morpurgo (authors)(Templar)
• Mysterious Traveller by P. J Lynch (illustrator) and Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham (authors) (Walker Books)
• Mouse Bird Snake Wolf by David McKean (illustrator) and David Almond (author) (Walker Books)
• The Crocodile Who Didn't Like Water by Gemma Merino (Macmillan Children's Books)
• The Journey Home by Frann Preston-Gannon (Pavilion Children's Books)
• Abigail by Catherine Rayner (Tiger Tales)
• The Lemur's Tale by Ophelia Redpath (Templar)
• Oliver by Birgitta Sif (Walker Books)
• Jemmy Button by Jennifer Uman and Valerio Vidali (illustrators) and Alix Barzelay (author) (Templar)
• Too Noisy! by Ed Vere (illustrator) and Malachy Doyle (author) (Walker Books)
• Sidney, Stella and the Moon by Emma Yarlett (Templar)

No.Mi.Nate. The New Laureate na nÓg needs to hear from you!

It's everywhere, even on the Irish Times website. You have another 10 days to put in your nominations for the next Irish children's laureate: writers, illustrators and high achievers who can do both, take your pick. The 'only' requirements are that your nominees are Irish OR living permanently in Ireland, AND that they are really cool and madly talented people with an established body of work (one book won't do it, sorry).
This year, for the first time, you, yes YOU, are invited to give your input. Children's and class nominations are especially welcome, so go on, grab your nearest youth, put your thinking caps on, download the form and nominate!
You have until Saturday 15 February 5pm. More info here.

Wittgenstein, NTM and me or What happens when you Google yourself

A note before we begin: I don't normally Google myself. I have agents who do that for me. Or should that read 'parents'? Well, they know who they are.
Anyway, I've great hopes of updating my French website and I thought I should check on the etherweb if I'd missed any of my glorious recent publications. Yes, I could check my shelves, but Santa has taken over some of the house and the last thing I want to do is open Some Cupboards in front of Some People.
Googling yourself almost always brings up interesting results. You wouldn't believe the number of forthcoming publications I first heard of via web search (as opposed to being told by my publishers). It's the case, in particular, for stories that are given a new life in different compilations or as e-books. More rarely, and more annoyingly, it's Google (or Amazon) who gives me the heads up on the foreign editions of some of my titles. And then, there's the odd mention of my picture books in academia...
So, here goes:

First off, we have some intriguing worksheets and activities based around my one picture book that made it (so far) to the US, In Search of Happiness. The good folk at CrunchCrackleCreate have come up with tasks inspired by the books that come under the following headings: Empathise, Question, Innovate, Persist, Take Responsible Risks and Think Together. That looks to me like a very sound and promising program me.


Next we have this… On page 171 of Wittgenstein and Aesthetics: Perspectives and Debates ( edited by Alessandro Arbo, Michel LeDu, Sabine Plaud): 
"A true work of art requires a pure experience and requires exclusively an aesthetic interpretation. Any moral reflection is inappropriate. It is inappropriate to speak morally about The Straight Story - a movie by David Lynch - about Hamlet - a Shakespearian play, or about the youth book A la Recherche du Bonheur by Juliette Saumande and illustrated by Eric Puybaret, the songs of NTM, the TV series 24 or the whole of Céline's work. To evaluate these works of art from a moral (positive or negative) point of view is a mistake about their nature.













And then, on the NewSouth Books website… my first title to make it to Australia! It's, obviously, a rewrite of Oliver, with amazing illustration by Italian artist Daniela Volpari. Out in February down under!

Meanwhile, to celebrate the last few sleeps before 2014, the blog has gone all shiny. Hope you like it and see you all on the other side!

The Forbidden Poem

I was reminded of this Tony Mitton poem by an Inis reviewer recently and I thought you'd like it too. As simple as that…

FORBIDDEN POEM

This poem is not for children.
Keep Out!

There is a big oak door
in front of this poem.
It’s locked.

And on the door is a notice
in big red letters.
It says: Any child who enters here
will never be the same again.
WARNING. KEEP OUT.

But what’s this?
A key in the keyhole.
And what’s more,
nobody’s about.

“Go on. Look,”
says a little voice
inside your head.
“Surely a poem
cannot strike you dead?”

You turn the key.
The door swings wide.
And then you witness
what’s inside.

And from that day
you’ll try in vain.
You’ll never be the same again.

© 1998, Tony Mitton
From: Plum
Publisher: Scholastic, London, 1998
ISBN: 0439364094

 

Go get them!

As is the tradition, December calls for all sorts of reflexion, pondering and looking back. Yes, that's right, today I give you… my fave reads of the past year!

For the babas…

Faster! Faster! by Leslie Patricelli. In fact, pretty much anything by this amazing writer-illustrator whose pics are so warm, funny and inclusive that from 1 to 5-year-olds (and counting) are still fighting over them in our house.

For the budding artists (and their parents)...

I am an Artist! by Marta Altés. In fact, pretty much anything by this amazing writer-illustrator, etc. This is bold and bright and an inspiration for many a future famous artist. Don't worry about the mess, it'll pay off in the end.

For those who just like doing and being and liking...

The Naming of Tishkin Silk by Glenda Millard, because of the sunshine, the family legends and traditions, and the pancakes. (8+)

Let's Play!: Poems About Sports and Games from Around the World, a fantastic selection of poems about sports and games and fun, from cricket to scrabble, a gem.

After Iris by Natasha Farrant, because the attention to detail will make you think these people are real, and because the general craziness will make you want to go live with them. (10+)

The Sleepwalkers, by Viviane Schwartz, for a comic book with soul, humour and hand-made sock monkeys. (8/10+)

For those who can handle anything that's thrown at them, but had rather it was thrown at fictional characters instead...
The Last Minute by Eleanor Updale, a second by second account of the minute events taking place on a busy English street before a massive explosion destroys most of it. The massive cast is expertly brought to life and the realisation of dialogue (in one-second snippets) is impressive; I was in shock for days afterwards. (12+, YA)

Vivian versus the Apocalypse by Katie Coyle, where road-movie meets post-Apocalyptic speculation (quite literally), with plenty of interesting, refreshing, competent YA characters who do not hate the rest of the world and/or their parents (YA).

Far, Far Away by Tom McNeal, the tale of an uncommon boy, a daring girl, a well-intentioned, multi-lingual and slightly stuck-up ghost in a modern day American town that has its fair share of villains that seem to come straight out of some of the brothers Grimms' tales. (12+, YA)