9 to 10 years – Page 3 – Bookmonitor – news from around the world

KidGlovz by Julie Hunt, illustrated by Dale Newman

This is a book with a difference, it’s a graphic novel in hardback, with an incredible number of drawings, vividly brought to life in black and white to tell this amazing story of Kid, his music his kidnap and all the characters who appear on the way.

Kid Glovz is a musical genius. His gift is so precious that he’s kept under lock and key. But when a young thief helps him escape, Kid must embark on a perilous journey through which he will discover the terrifying nature of his talent. A spellbinding graphic fable about friendship and freedom.

The story is full of mystery, an adventure with real danger and otherworldliness, a gripping tug-of-war between the forces of good and evil. It is a beautifully produced graphic novel for children, and on Julie’s website you can read the background to the story.

The author, award-winning Julie Hunt has written some amazing titles, including Little Else and a Song for Scarlet Runner. She lives on a farm in Southern Tasmania, she has a love of dramatic landscapes and has used these to build stories full of imagination and intrigue.

Dale Newman’s stunning artwork is reminiscent of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival and has the same air of foreboding in many of the pictures. Kid Glovz is her first epic graphic novel and a stunning start to a career in children’s books. She lives in New South Wales, Australia and is also used to some amazing landscapes.

Allen and Unwin, Australian publishers have a star packed book list and KidGlovz is bound to be a great success. In Australia it has already won 2016 QLD Premier’s Literary Awards, Children’s Books and short-listed for 2016 CBCA Book of the Year, Crichton Award for New Illustrators

Books Go Walkabout recommend KidGlovz for children aged about 9+ and for adults too.

Sue Martin

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Peter Pan and Wendy by JM Barrie and illustrated by Robert Ingpen

Peter Pan and Wendy - Palazzo Editions - cover image — Get your copy here…

All children except one grow up! Maybe there are a few more, for those who read this book will inevitably not want to grow up”

In a most beautiful new edition of Peter Pan and Wendy, from Palazzo, the story is enhanced with deeply imaginative illustrations from Robert Ingpen.

Peter Pan flies into Wendy’s bedroom window in a house in London and with John and Michael, they fly away to Never Land.

Peter is the leader of the Lost Boys and meets his nemesis Captain Hook. From there along with Fairy Tinkerbell, the story and adventure begin.

J.M. Barrie left his royalties in perpetuity to Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and this magnificent edition was published to commemorate the centenary of first publication and to continue as a fundraiser.

Robert Ingpen, is from Australia and first attempted illustrating Peter Pan at 7 years old. In 1986 he was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his contribution to children’s literature and he has been honoured with membership of the Order of Australia.

A world-renowned artist and author, Ingpen has designed, illustrated and written more than one hundred books, including his highly acclaimed series of illustrated Children’s Classics, which have now been published in many editions around the world.

This book is part of a wonderful series of Classic Children’s Literature from Palazzo and will provide hours of pleasure.

Sue Martin

Arthur, High King of Britain

Arthur, High King of Britain by Michael Morpurgo, illustrated by Michael Foreman is in a new hardback edition recently published by Palazzo.

With the best of Morpurgo’s adventure style and with the captivating illustrations from Michael Foreman, bound together in this beautiful hardback book, it is a joy to read and provides a real sense of the man in the story.

Palazzo, are a young and independent, UK publishers creating beautifully designed and illustrated books for the UK and international markets. Their books are amazing and stylish, bringing back a huge amount of joy to reading, especially for children.

The adventure starts with a young boy setting out for the day, walking between tides, from Bryher to Samson, in the Scilly Isles. He knew he could do it, but when the fog circled round he was lost and not in time to make the return journey before the high tide would trap him. There he met Arthur Pendragon, High King of Britain.

They talked as the boy recovers by the fire and Arthur tells him that he also was once a wanderer and a dreamer and as he retells the stories he talks about his first meeting with Merlin.

The chapters include Excalibur, Lancelot and Guinevere and then to the Last Days of Camelot. The whole story of Arthur unfolds with heroes, knights, chivalry, magic, evil and betrayal.

A great read and a book for keeps, text full of intrigue and description, illustrations in water-colour washes and fine detail. Good for a present, for sharing in a classroom on history and PSHE topics, and for libraries and homes.

Dip in to a chapter at a time or start at the beginning, you will feel the magic of the book drawing you in.

Sue Martin

Books Go Walkabout

Into The White, Scott’s Antarctic Odyssey by Joanna Grochowicz and illustrated by Sarah Lippett

A first children’s book for Joanna Grochowicz and an amazing start to a career in writing.

The book is full of adventure from beginning to end. This is a journey into the unknown, into a world full of extremes and hardship. It is an amazing story of a team bound together with courage and endeavour.

If you’re into happy endings, best look some place else. This story does not end well. This is a story where men die and their dreams of greatness with them. But it is a fine story and one that is worth telling, from heroic beginning to tragic end.

This is the story of Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova expedition and the memorable characters, who with a band of shaggy ponies and savage dogs, followed a man they trusted into the unknown. Battling storms at sea, impenetrable pack ice, man-eating whales, crevasses, blizzards, bad food, extreme temperatures, and equal measures of hunger, agony and snow blindness, the team pushes on against all odds.

A thrilling story about leadership, resilience and facing adversity with courage, Into the White will leave you on the edge of your seat, hoping against hope that Scott and his men just might survive their Antarctic ordeal and live to tell the tale.

Joanna Grochowicz was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1972. Following a career as a business writer, Joanna decided to take the plunge and did a Masters in Creative Writing. Into the White is her first book.

“People fascinate me. I love oddballs and misfits, saints and creeps, the selfish, the needy, the dreary, the nerdy and the enormous tangle of real life characters you come across in life. History offers a boundless source of fascinating characters to reanimate. It can be a wonderful thing to rehabilitate a great story – like restoring a dilapidated castle and making it magnificent again.”

Sarah Lippett, the illustrator has created some classic drawings of the characters and the teams of ponies and dogs on the journey. For a book for 9-14 year olds, the sketches add hugely to the feel of the time period and of the difference in equipment between 1912 and 2017. The maps are wonderful and are a great help to plot the journey as you read through the book.

Into the White, is published by Allen and Unwin, Australia, who have created a wonderful paperback book of this epic journey.

It has just been released in the UK, on November 2^nd 2017 and is available to purchase in most good stores and on-line. (Link below…).

At Books Go Walkabout, we are delighted to be working with Joanna on her first visit to the UK from November 3rd 2017.

Sue Martin

The Family with Two Doors by Anna Ciddor

The Rabinovitch family lived in Lublin, Poland. There were so many of them in the family that they had two apartments with two front doors. There were nine children and they grew up in the 1920’s as a devout Jewish family, with their father as the Rabbi.

The book is an engaging read about life in the 1920’s, written by Anna Ciddor and published by Allen and Unwin.

The Rabinovitches include: mischievous Yakov, bubbly Nomi, rebellious Miriam, solemn Shlomo, and seven more! Papa is a rabbi and their days are full of intriguing rituals and adventures. But the biggest adventure of all is when big sister Adina is told she is to be married at the age of fifteen – to someone she has never met.

Although I expected the book to be about problems and issues, it wasn’t! It dealt very easily with a proposed and arranged marriage and was empathetic to a good family life. It is written carefully and with lots of fondness around the authors experience and makes an excellent read.

It is based on the author’s real family. The Rabinovitches dance, laugh and cook their way through an extraordinary life in the 1920’s. The biggest adventure is the preparation for the wedding of Adina to Mordechai, which was arranged, but nevertheless a happy affair.

At Books Go Walkabout, we are now selling books directly on-line, so just click on the link, and buy through our secure portal and we will send you a copy of The Family with Two Doors.

Sue Martin

Chris Riddell The Age of the Beautiful Book

The Philippa Pearce Memorial Lecture 2017 was presented by Chris Riddell, award winning author, illustrator, political cartoonist and Children’s Laureate 2015-2017.

Not many lectures start with a cartoon of the anticipating audience and the back of the presenter’s head on the large screen! An intriguing way of getting the messages across, and amazing to see book characters come to life before your very eyes! Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse, the first in the Goth Girl series, evolved in the screen in front of the audience at Homerton College, Cambridge

Discover Chris’s work on his web site here.

An exploration into the development of the book itself was a joy to listen to, so often we hear of the ideas behind the book but Chris was keen to portray the business of getting the book into print. A meeting with the book development side of the publishers meant that Goth Girl books have plenty of book bling, deep blue, silver foil, varnish effect and above all sprayed edges. At the back of the books is a tiny book in an envelope attached to the back cover; further information about Ishmael the mouse. Brilliant idea!

The book then travels to the ends of the earth (that may mean China, I suspect!) and back to our country for sale.

The Age of the Beautiful Book was much more than a lecture about illustration in children’s books, but about how that precious book does become beautiful, something to keep and treasure.

Chris talked a little about his own childhood, as the son of a vicar, and how important books are in exploring new worlds; he talked about finding worlds in wardrobes or indeed down rabbit holes. He has a warm and reassuring tone and when he mentioned that he had, ‘ a vague and reassuring feeling that God doesn’t mind that he doesn’t believe in him’, there were many quiet nods and mmm’s.

This empathy with people is shown throughout his illustrations and he has some ingenious ways of bringing books to life. Now, as he is thoroughly into social media, he has a good way of illustrating characters in all sorts of books and then sending photos to gain many, ‘ little blue thumb likes’! ‘Pictures turbo post words’ he said.

Chris is also an advocate for the real book, the attraction to the senses, tactile, the smell, the sound of turning the pages and being a feast for the eyes. Reading is a pleasurable thing to do and should not be turned into a grammatical exercise only. He wants children to draw for fun and for expression and we had some amazing cartoons on what would happen if education ever created assessments for drawing; ‘analyse the makeup of the graphite, the ergonomics of pencil sharpening… it would suck the life joy out of it!’

An enthralling lecture, this Philippa Pearce Memorial Lecture on Friday evening September 8^th with Chris Riddell will be remembered for its engagement, fun and how to bring the best in children’s books alive through beautiful books.

Sue Martin

Adelaide’s Secret World by Elise Hurst

Adelaide's Secret World - cover image and purchase link — Buy this book from BgW here…

A very special book, a tale of love, loneliness, longing and dreaming. Adelaide’s Secret World is inspirational. It is a beautifully illustrated book about how the world changes around you and how sometimes it’s hard to change yourself.

Each page has a wonderful illustration of a world beyond Adelaide’s little shop, and into finding herself back in the city. The hustle and bustle which she was used to may have gone but there is still life out there.

From her favourite place on the roof of the little old shop with the red curtains she watches the sun rise and fall, she tries to write stories, but there is always something missing.

One day she finds a book left near a puddle, and in the rain and growing storm she finds its owner and a surprising companion, well surprising for a rabbit!

Adelaide’s Secret World has been short listed for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards in Australia. Published by Allen and Unwin on 9th March 2017, it would be a lovely book to share across the world, the illustrations are so evocative that the words could be made up in any language.

Elise Hurst is an illustrator and author of childrens’ books as well as a traditional artist. She lives in Melbourne, Australia and has illustrated over 50 books.

Allen and Unwin are publishers based in Australia with some brilliant titles and an ethos and committment to their authors and readers, which is inspirational.

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‘Highly recommended book’

Sue Martin

Revolutions – Moments in History, from The British Library

Moments cover image and web purchase link — Buy this book from BgW here…

A brand new series of books from The British Library, which bring collections of materials to children. Moments in History is the first book in the series and is newly published on 9^th March 2017.

It is a brilliant book to pick up and read from cover to cover or to just delve into and have an adventure of learning. I spent ages on The Battle of Little Bighorn and became totally engrossed! The nuggets of information and beautiful images make it a very compelling read as well as a starting point for further exploration and research. It will be a ‘must have’ book for teachers to embark on a history project.

Moments in History spans the dawn of civilisation to the Second World War,and is aimed at children from 8-11 years who are interested in the past, and want to find out more about people who made history – artists and architect, soldiers and explorers, politicians and religious leaders.

The author is Clare Hibbet who has written and edited over 200 books. She specialises in natural history, art and culture and is published with DK, QED Heinemann and others.

The British Library is one of the worlds greatest research libraries. It publishes a large number of books and publications and children’s books are a recent addition to the list of publications.

Their collections of materials is huge, 150 million items with 10 million people accessing online material each year.

Gathering evidence for research will be enhanced enormously by this book and future books in the series; using secondary evidence sources such as images and materials from The British Library will help young learners become historians of the future.

Revolutions, A Moment in History, very much enjoyed and recommended.

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Sue Martin Books Go Walkabout

Little People, Big Dreams

The Little People, Big Dreams series is published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books.

Agatha Christie - cover image and web purchase link — Purchase this book from BgW here…

The books tell the lives of outstanding people who went on to achieve incredible things,yet all of their ideas began life as a dream.

The two newest books in the series follow Marie Curie and Agatha Christie. Marie Curie who loved learning in science, when women were not usually scientists, and Agatha Christie, who taught herself to read at the age of 5, and went on to be one of the most well known crime writers

The books are written by Isabel Sanchez Vegara, from Barcelona, Spain and she brings a fresh approach to learning for life.

The books are superbly illustrated in syles which fit the era of the characters. Frau Isa is from Vienna and has a dreamy nostalgic style which fits well with the Marie Curie book.

Marie Curie cover image and web purchase link — Purchase this book from BgW here…

Elisa Munso is from the University of Barcelona and illustrated the Agatha Christie book in amazing black, white and red sketches.

Each of these inspiring and informative little biographies comes with extra facts about Marie and Agatha’s lives as an addition to the story and creates a timeline of the period to base the story.

It would be ideal for linking to International Women’s Day on March 8th and also 2017 is the 150th anniversary of Marie Curie’s birth, so some brilliant timing.

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Recommended for ages 7 plus.

Sue Martin

Books Go Walkabout

Maralinga’s Long Shadow

Yvonne's Story — Yvonne’s Story – review or purchase this book from Amazon.co.uk here…

Maralinga’s Long Shadow is an incredible book, an amazing and daunting story. Written by Christobel Mattingley and published by Allen and Unwin, Australia.

In the vast outback of South Australia lived Yvonne, she was part of the Anangu people who had lived on that land for generation after generation.

‘They passed on this precious knowledge , sleeping under the stars through all cycles of the seasons.’

They knew this land and needed no maps, shops or anything other than that which the land would provide. And they were happy.

‘Then the walypala, (whitefellas) came, who did not know the land and they called it desert.

They brought sheep and other animals and started to build a railway.

They brought the need for other things that this land could not provide and they were greedy’.

In 1950, the United Aborigines Mission, had many women who now wore clothes and learnt the walypala’s ways. But one day they took one of their women away from the missions as she was to give birth to her new baby.

Yvonne was born, slightly paler skin than normal, but then her father was a walypala.

She went on to live through enormous change, tragedy and family sadness, with courage and, hope, giving strength to her people, leading them and giving grace.

In 1953, town atomic bombs were exploded at Emu Field, 320 kilometres from Maralinga. In 1956, when Yvonne was 6 years old, they exploded the first bomb of 15,000 tons, part of Operation Buffalo at Maralinga, followed by three further bombs.

And there was still more testing of atomic bombs.

But, strangely, life continued at the camps at Maralinga. The Anangu people were involved in working in the area, usually barefoot with no protective clothing for many years. The effect of this work directly on radio-active lands, and in the breathing of toxic air, meant that there were many deaths, many birth defects in babies and unbelievable suffering.

The book is a story of Yvonne, her life, her family and her ability to challenge and receive some support for her family and her peoples. It is a remarkable story and an insight into the life of an Australian indigenous people in the 1950’s.

The book is beautifully presented in a glossy finish. It is packed with wonderful photographs and artwork by Yvonne Edwards, of the families and the land of Maralinga.

It is a book to keep and treasure, and you can purchase on line too. We recommend for ages 10 and above, and it’s definitely a book for adults too.

Sue Martin

Books Go Walkabout