Month: November 2010

The Children’s Bookshow

cbThe Children’s Book Show 2010 came to a triumphant end last night (17 November, 2010) with a sell out event at L’Institut Français, London. The popular event was also part of the Youth Festival.

Quentin Blake, the inaugural Children’s Laureate who has also been referred to as a ‘national institution’ and one of France’s most highly acclaimed illustrators illustrator Francois Place (best known in the UK for his illustrations for Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse) talked about their work, showing exquisite examples, and then treated an enthusiastic audience to an amazing drawing duel.

A wonderful evening watching and listening to two people who are good friends but also expert in their fields. They so much enjoyed their work and seemed unruffled by their fame. But then an audience of children are always good at asking the questions that you hadn’t thought about and didn’t really want to share on a wide scale. But Quentin and Francois just answered away.

Seeing a book in pictures first, meant that for Francois, he “ …wondered where the words would go?” and Quentin liked to tell the story in pictures and leave the words to children’s minds.

The artists took it in turns to transform each other’s drawings, keeping the audience guessing what would happen next. Much laughter later a splendid wordless story had been created on one sheet of paper. At the end of the show there was a round of applause when one young person asked the artists to do another drawing. The artists took up the challenge and picked up their pins, giving the audience another chance to see two masters of their craft at work.

A finale to a national programme that has seen children across the country involved with authors and illustrators, a great way to explore children’s books and we look forward to 2011 in even more places.

Sue Martin, Dolphin Booksellers – the best in children’s books always on line

Bookmonitor is our news source for reviews and project information.

Books go Walkabout is our international books and literacy project - connecting authors and illustrators with children and young people around the globe.

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Working with young people and digital technology

slaThe London branch of the School Library Association met at Highgate School on the evening of November 9th. The meeting was held in the oak panelled hall and was a contrast to the new age title of the talk , ‘ Engaging with children in a digital way’, which was presented by Ruth Harrison from The Reading Agency.

readLots of different projects that the Reading Agency are involved in show that this is a really exciting time for the development of communication and access to written texts. Young people have a myriad of ways that they are already accessing written material digitally. For libraries and schools there are lots of benefits and also some concerns, especially around the uploading of material written onto a school website, for example, by young people.

This would seem to be a very valid point but maybe there are other ways that we can encourage young people to write and express their thoughts.

As part of our work with children and literacy we are always interested in new ways of engaging with children and young people. Very keen to be part of the developing ‘apps’ movement.  Just the start of a new way of working and so much scope for broadening horizons.

Sue Martin at DolphinBooksellers – always the best in children’s books on line

Bookmonitor is our news source for reviews and project information.

Books go Walkabout is our international books and literacy project - connecting authors and illustrators with children and young people around the globe.

We use Stripe to handle your e-purchase. Buy with confidence from BgW. Customer FAQ's here.