Book Monitor - books from across the world

Engaging reads for children, from Books go Walkabout

SLA UK School Librarian of the Year Award 2016

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Amy wins!

‘The SLA School Librarian of the Year Award is the School Library Association’s prestigious honour to recognize the excellent work that is carried out in school libraries every day, highlighting the best practice of those whose work is outstanding.

This year Amy McKay at Corby Business Academy (www.corbybusinessacademy.org) has been awarded the honour of the School Librarian of the Year 2016′.

We were delighted to attend the award ceremony at The Judges Court, St. Martins Lane, Covent Garden, London on the 3rd October, 2016.

Award winning author Kim Slater was on hand to present Amy with her prize. The range of library activities, reader support and wider engagement with the library and literacy sector that Amy has achieved in her career so far made her a very deserving winner in 2016.

You can read more about Amy’s work at the Corby Business Academy here.

Books go Walkabout chanted in unison ‘…well done and congratulations Amy!’

Nomination forms for School Librarian of the Year 2017 will be available from the SLA website, at http://www.sla.org.uk/nominations.php

Previous Winners of the SLA School Librarian of the Year Award
2015: Annie Brady – St Paul’s CBS Secondary School, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
2014: Liz Millett – Weatherfield Academy, Dunstable
2013: Hilary Cantwell – St Paul’s Community College, Waterford, Republic of Ireland
2013: John Iona – Oasis Academy, Enfield, Middlesex
2012: Adam Lancaster – Monk’s Walk School, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire
2011: Carol Webb – Forest Hill School, London
2010: Duncan Wright – Stewart’s Melville College, Edinburgh
2010: Kevin Sheehan – Offerton School, Stockport
2009: Lucy Bakewell – Hill West Primary School, Sutton Coldfield
2008: Nikki Heath – Werneth School, Stockport
2007: Ingrid Hopson – George Abbot School, Guildford
2006: Anne-Marie Tarter – Ripon Grammar School, North Yorkshire
2005: Anne Robinson – Nicholas Chamberlaine Technology College, Bedworth

slalogobuttonThe SLA School Librarian of the Year 2016 is sponsored by Macmillan Children’s Books
(www.panmacmillan.com) and Softlink (www.softlink.co.uk).

 

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The Little Pioneer by Adam Hancher

This is a review of The Little Pioneer written by Adam Hancher and published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books.

The Little Pioneer

Review or purchase this book from Amazon.co.uk…

The Little Pioneer tells a story of one little girl’s adventures as she journeys through America with hope to find a better life in California.

She soon discovers the excitement and dangers of travelling from the east to the west coast of America.
As the journey goes on this little girl learns what courage and determination you need to become a pioneer.

The Little Pioneer was selected by Costco as one of their picks of Bologna Book Fair.

This book has amazing illustrations and I would suggest it is for ages 7-11.

Our guest reviewer: Emily Williams aged 12 years

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The Phillipa Pearce Lecture 2016

Minnow on the Say by Phillipa Pearce

Review or buy this book from Amazon.co.uk

The 2016 Phillipa Pearce Lecture promises great things… Allan Ahlberg has titled his lecture John Wayne & Sibelius or The Train Has Rain In It.

The lecture will be held on Thursday 1st September at 5.00pm at Homerton College, Cambridge.

It is an annual event and hosted as a tribute to the wonderful work of Phillipa Pearce who grew up close to Cambridge in the 1930’s. Her most famous books include;  Tom’s Midnight Garden, Minnow on the Say and A Dog So Small.

Allan Ahlberg is the author of over a hundred books for children and winner of many awards, including two Greenaway prizes for Each Peach Pear Plum and The Jolly Postman.

He tells brilliantly funny stories and he has some fine collections of poetry.

We are looking forward very much to the lecture.

Sue Martin     Books Go Walkabout

Cambridge

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Atlas of Animal Adventures from Wide Eyed Publishers

Atlas of Animal Adventures by Wide Eyed Publishers

Review or buy on Amazon.co.uk

New Release for 1st September is the Atlas of Animal Adventures by Wide Eyed Editions part of  Quarto Publishing group.  Illustrated by Lucy Letherland, written by Rachel Williams and Emily Hawkins

From the creators of the bestselling Atlas of Adventures .

A terrific book! A collection of nature’s most unmissable events, epic migrations and extraordinary behaviours.

It’s a large hardback book which feels and looks wonderful. Each page is packed with information in a beautiful style of illustration. Alongside a main section of text there are smaller bite size sentences amongst the images, great style and a great way to explore and find out.

Each continent has several pages with different countries. It is easy and very clear how to find the countries and their continents. In Europe, for instance, there are Polar Bears in Greenland, Puffins in Iceland, Honey bees in the British Isles and, my favourite Barn Owls in France. The owls are gorgeous and we have owlets with nightcaps on in the tree and a protective parent owl overseeing the lavender field at dusk, a beautiful image.

Further afield we have Narwhals in Canada, Black Bears in the USA, Hummingbirds in Costa Rica, Hippos in Botswana and Birds of Paradise in Papua New Guinea.

We recommend the Atlas of Animal Adventures for everyone really and I am about to buy this book for presents for the family!! And for children… well, we go for ages, 6 and above and all ages too!!

Sue Martin                                            Books Go Walkabout


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Dreamer, published by OtterBarry Books

Dreamer by Brian Moses and Bee Willey, buy from Amazon.co.uk

A beautifully written and illustrated picture book about a world where we all care for each other, for animals, plants and places. It will be inspirational for young children and for adults as they see just how the world is changing.

Each page has a scene which has amazing colours and images, including the child dreamer, lots to see, and lots of ways into discussions and questions.

 Brian Moses and Bee Willey are an excellent duo, they both have so much experience and good books to their names. Brian is one of Britain’s favourite children’s poets and he is featured on the National Poetry Archive with over 200 books published and 2000 schools visited.

Bee spent her childhood in France and now lives in Suffolk, her books include, The Wooden Dragon by Joan Aiken and How to be a Princess by Caitlin Matthews.

Otter-Barry Books are new publishers this year and have included Dreamer in their new titles, a great edition and a clear direction for their books, which will make a difference.

Sue Martin          

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Books across the World!

 

Adder, Bluebell, Lobster
Wild Poems by Chrissie Gittins

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Review or buy from Amazon.co.uk here…

There is more to this Wild Book of Poems from Otter-Barry Books than meets the eye!

From Adder to Wren, forty fantastic poems celebrate forty amazing animals, birds and plants and their beautiful names – names which you can help poet Chrissie Gittins save from EXTINCTION!

They are all words which have been left out of the latest Oxford Junior Dictionary. Join authors such as Michael Morpurgo and Margaret Atwood, who along with 28 other authors, protested against Oxford Junior Dictionary’s replacement of natural words with 21st century terms.

The poems are brilliant, each page has a poem from Chrissie and illustration from Paul Bommer such as.  Harry the Hamster

‘Harry the hamster, in his ball

rolled round the bedroom,

rolled round the hall.

He rolled to the bathroom,

he rolled to the stairs

where a huge teddy bear

took him clean unawares’.


We recommend for ages 6+ and for all ages.

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Ifeoma Onyefulu -Exhibition of Photography,
Archway Library, London

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Ifeoma and her Archway audience…

Ifeoma is a writer, children’s author and photographer. Her books and photographs reflect life in Africa and are an amazing collection of images and stories.

Ifeoma’s exhibition was held at Archway Library in Islington, London. The photographs were from Ifeoma’s travels over the last few years in Africa including Senegal, Mali, Nigeria and Ghana.

There was a well attended post exhibition talk at Archway Library on Monday 1st August and Ifeoma talked about her work, her travels and her books.The next day there was a workshop and activities for children.

Visit ifeomaonyefulu.co.uk and you will find lots of information about her books and her travels, a really interesting blog and series of adventures into African countries.

Our team work with Ifeoma and are delighted that her exhibition was such a success.

Her most well known book, A is for Africa, is out in a new edition this year and published by Frances Lincoln and is a great book to have.

A is for AfricaSue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers

Books Go Walkabout

 


 

Dinosaurs and Dinner Ladies by John Dougherty

Dinosaurs and Dinner LadiesWhat’s the real reason the dinosaurs died out? Can anyone rescue Class 3 from the wild dinner ladies? And what will happen when Class 2M meet a lion?

A book of brilliantly funny poems from John Dougherty, a well known fiction author, there are riddles, puzzles and haiku. There are illustrations from Tom Morgan Jones which give a great feel to the poems and even the most reluctant of readers will be smiling!

Published by the new children’s imprint of Otter-Barry, who has a commitment to four poetry collections a year and this is a terrific start.

Read all the poems in this book and my thoughts are that if they all have a final verse as Dinosaurs and Dinner Ladies, it’s going to make for some real fun reading!

….’ The dinosaurs are all long dead
Extinct,departed,sadly missed,
But survival of the fittest means
That dinner-ladies
Still exist.’

A great read for all ages and especially for 7- 10 years.

Sue Martin         Books Go Walkabout

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Spot the Bird on the Building Site by Sarah Khan

 

Spot the Bird

Buy this book…

Spot the Bird on the Building Site is a new book in this series of Spot the… by Sarah Khan and illustrated by Moreno Chiacchiera. It is published by Quarto Kids, QED.

A wonderful choice for Summer Holidays reads, they are packed with images of activities, around for instance, a building site. Trying to find the image amongst an array of pictures gets everyone searching, reading, looking and learning too. They are great fun!

These titles are part of the QED publishing for children’s books, which are excellently produced in style, content and feel. They are books to have and to read,which will linger on the table and the shelves.

Spot the Bird on the Building Site shows some major building projects, like cranes on buildings in London. There are facts on every page,such as, ‘ The world’s tallest crane is also the strongest. It can lift a load the weight of 12 blue whales over 50 storeys high.’

My favourite in the series is Spot the Seal around the World. It’s a tour around the continents of the world and images and a few facts to remember, such as, ‘ Oceania is made up of lots of islands- the biggest one is Australia.

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Buy this book from Amazon.co.uk

Spot the Mummy in the Museum cover image

But this title from Amazon.co.uk

Spot the Mummy in the Museum has a curious mummy figure in bandages with two wide open eyes as it finds its way around the museum; the collections of dinosaurs, masks, buried treasures, Ancient Greeks and Romans , great to follow and acquire more information as you go over the pages.

We would recommend these books for a wide age group, as they will be easily delved into by 9 and 10 year olds, as well as exploring with 5/6 year olds along with parents and teachers.

Have fun reading, exploring and finding out…

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers and Books Go Walkabout

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Michael Morpurgo: A Lifetime in Stories
at Seven Stories

Part 2: This article was written by Sue Martin, FRSA. Sue is our Partnership Bookseller and literacy and Early Years education specialist. Sue leads on our literacy projects at home and overseas.
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Discover Seven Stories on-line here…

Michael Morpurgo, A Lifetime in Stories; an exhibition curated by Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, Newcastle upon Tyne from the 2nd July 2016 to June 2017…

This is a unique opportunity to visit this remarkable collection of notebooks, manuscripts and correspondence that have been part of Michael Morpurgo’s story writing, life and dreams. The exhibition combines much of his life and ethos and is woven into an iconic display, on the fourth floor of Seven Stories.

Take your time…this exhibition requires that you stop and dream a while, reminisce or ponder on the way Michael can find stories in places, wherever he is; stories from the past, stories of animals, children and people, from war time and in present day. He is a great story-teller and story writer and the author of over 150 books for children, Children’s Laureate and a voice for reason and peace.

This blog will take you on our journey through the exhibition and point you in some directions, we hope it will mean you also will have chance to make this journey one day over the next year. It’s worth it!

Michael Morpurgo was born in 1943 and went to boarding school at seven, and eventually into military officer training at Sandhurst and then he became a teacher. He found the military life difficult and as a teacher he wanted to help children to be creative, give them opportunities, take them out into the world and fire their imaginations, tell stories. There was a clash between curriculum driven tasks and this approach. Later, with his wife Clare, they moved to Devon, where they developed Farms for City Children.

He became friends with Ted Hughes and learnt that, as he said, “I have a story of my own to tell and a voice of my own with which to tell it.

Interesting quotes from the videos at the exhibition in the Dreamtime corner are;
“Live an interesting life. Fill your head with this world, of which you are part, care about it deeply, make up your mind to write about events, memories, conversations and something will emerge.”

“Lose yourself in the story, get into it and go for it; know the people, the place, let the dreams in your head reach the pen on your page, tell it as if to your best friend, as a secret.”

There are many orange notebooks in the exhibition, school notebooks filled with Michael’s writing, thoughts, changes, crossings out and revision. He works and receives inspiration wherever he is, but his favourite place is his converted shepherds hut.

There are too many books to mention them all, but my favourites are; War Horse, which only sold a few thousand copies until it was made into a stage production and is now his most famous book. Farm Boy, the sequel to Joey the war horse, Why the Wales Came, set on Samson island in The Scillies. Along with The Wreck of the Zanzibar, Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea, The Dancing Bear and Waiting for Anya.

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Seven Stories – nestling on the river bank…

There is a curiosity about the books, the man and his talents at finding the story and retelling in a wonderful style, which will mean further reading and an excuse to add more of his titles to our bookshelves.

A final quote…
“I know it, lying under the sun on a summer’s night. I know it watching buzzards floating over the valley where I live. It is a learnt belonging from children who stop to gaze, to breath in the world about them, to feel part of it.”

Michael Morpurgo, A Lifetime in Stories at Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, Newcastle upon Tyne. A digitised archive is available on www.sevenstories.org.uk/collection

Sue Martin

Books Go Walkabout and Dolphin Booksellers

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Books and authors taken around the world…

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