Dolphinbooksellers – Page 9 – Bookmonitor

Counting Sheep by Kathryn Cave

A bedtime adventure!! by Kathyrn Cave.

When Tom can’t sleep, he tries counting sheep. But that’s just the start of his adventures, as he goes on to count pirates and pythons, goats and ghosts.

The illustrations by Chris Riddell and packed with figures and detail, and some of the pictures are pretty scary for a bedtime story. So this is for the brave and those who need more than just a few sheep, endless hillsides and clouds to get them to sleep.

Published by Frances Lincoln this is a great buy for the half term hols.

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.

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

It’s Not Fairy

You know the favourite children’s saying, “It’s not fair!”

Well Ros Asquith has changed it into a It’s Not Fairy. She flaps around all night, she’s a fairy on a mission and you don’t want to mess with this fairy.

A picture book for all the family and across the world, there are children everywhere declaring how unfair things are.But the fairy can get tired of complaints.

‘I’m sick of your squawking,

Now give me a break.

Or I’ll bake you all

In a Fairy cake.”

Published by Frances Lincoln this is a good book to buy for the half term hols. Buy through Dolphin Booksellers to get the best price from Amazon.

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

What are you playing at? Alanna Books

What are you playing at?

A great book challenging stereotypes and play activities.

It’s produced by Marie-Sabine Roger and Anne Sol,published by Alanna Books.The format of the pages is designed so there is a hidden extra page which shows the other side to the statement.

Check out an example on www.Alannabooks.com.

The photographs are brilliant, with real live examples of boys who really do dance, of girls who really do play football and other things too!

How great to have a book that is clear and non patronising. The images around ‘ Boys don’t cry’ are fantastic, the hidden page shows a famous footballer at the end of a match, crying with emotion so raw that you all know just how he feels.

A good book from a good independent publisher.

Sue Martin

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

Breaking the Spell

Stories of Magic and Mystery from Scotland.

I just love the cover of this book and illustrator Cate James has continued the magic through all the stories.

Lari Don, an acclaimed story teller, has spent most of her life in Scotland, and she has compiled these ten magical and funny stories into Breaking The Spell.

They are all stories from Scotland told to children north of the border.

And with all stories, they change ever so slightly in the telling….and Lari hopes that these stories will come alive with whoever reads them and passes them on.

Stories include; The Selkie’s Toes, The Witch of Lochlann and The King of the Black Art.

A great book from Frances Lincoln publishers, a magical present to share.

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers – the best

in children’s books, always on line.

Two New Titles from Jane Nissen Books

These two classics are brought back to life by Jane Nissen Books, beautifully presented and a joy to read or to re read.

Bringing classic children’s books back into print is the mission for Jane Nissen Books and as Jane says,’ To enable a new generation of readers to discover for themselves high quality timeless titles that should not be lost’.

The Lost Prince is the story of two boys brought together by fate and given an enormous task of adventure to find different people across Europe. They set out with little money but high determination and courage.

King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry is the story of the Godolphin Arabian, who travelled in around 1724 from Morocco to Cambridge.

It’s a great story and more than worthy to be read.

Click on the book covers and buy both as a treat for Christmas… I bet you will find yourself reading at least one of them before you can get it wrapped!

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers – the best in children’s books always on

Authors in Schools

William Tyndale Primary School
Art and Literacy Month October 2013

Through our Authors in Schools projects, Ifeoma Onyefulu and Cheryl Moskowitz gave some amazing presentations to children in eight classes in October. From writing hearing about Nigerian Traditional Tales to writing a Cinquain poem the children were given some real insights to writing in different genres.

Ifeoma read one of her stories from The Girl Who Married a Ghost and other stories a book of folk tales from Nigeria. The story was The Girl who Married a Ghost.

The children were soon enthralled and straight away saw the problem that the girl had and just why she married a ghost, ‘She was too choosy’ said one child.’ She shouldn’t have married at all!’

After lots of discussion the children
drew some pictures of the story
and the ghost appeared with the girl.

Cheryl has developed a great technique for the whole class to give something in writing a shared Cinquain.

From the first line being the subject and having 2 syllables,
to the second line being a description and having 4 syllables
to the third line being the purpose and having 6 syllables
to the fourth line being how it feels and having 8 syllables
And the fifth line reflecting the start and having 2 syllables.

All the children took part and voted on the words and lines to be used so it was truly collaborative and very effective.

An examples of the poems created…

Water
Blue sea, salty
Drinking the turquoise waves
Relaxing in the swimming pool
Swish, swash

You can discover Ifeoma’s work on Amazon.co.uk here…

You can discover Cheryl’s work on Amazzon.co.uk here…

Sue Martin

Books Go Walkabout and Dolphin Booksellers

School Librarian of the Year

This year two librarians have been awarded the School Librarian of the Year, a celebration at the Hotel Russell in London, on 7th October.

Ginette Doyle, Chair of the SLA School Librarian of the Year Selection committee said:

“They are not joint winners, but each deserves the accolade of School Librarian of the Year.”

Photo from Philip Cooper Photography

“It was an extremely strong, and international, Honour List. In the end we chose two librarians both working in different ways to bring their libraries into the heart of the school and learning.

Candy Gourlay, author of the award-wining Tall Story and recently published second novel, The Shine, presented the award to:

Hilary Cantwell, librarian at St Paul’s Community College Waterford, Republic of Ireland.

Hilary gained expertise in New York schools and public libraries before joining an Irish government programme to create school libraries.

St Paul’s has 430 students and is in a rural county with the highest unemployment in Ireland. It is affiliated to the Irish government’s inclusion programme, Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools.

John Iona, librarian at Oasis Academy Enfield, Middlesex.

John creates award-winning resources, delivers the school’s Extended Project Qualification programme and plays a significant role in curriculum planning and support. The school has 1,100 students of which up to 70% have English as a second language. John actively promotes reading for pleasure with a number of initiatives including Reading Games.

A great celebration and the awards a real reflection of the importance of reading and literacy in schools.

Dolphin Booksellers are pleased to celebrate this achievement of the School Library Association.

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers- the best in children’s books always on line

Jackie Morris and Help Musicians UK in Covent Garden

card Jackie Morris was in Covent Garden on 12th September, well actually, in the beautiful Swiss Church in Endell St, Covent Garden, to show her new Christmas card design and to talk about her life in writing and illustrating.

The talk was on behalf of Help Musicians UK and proceeds from sales of Jackie’s designed card will go to support musicians of all ages and Jackie also donated prints of her work to be auctioned.

Jackie talked about how she includes all of her life into her art and writing, her walks at St David’s and into the fields and with views across the sea and hares racing across the fields.

Engaging, creative and just beautiful,and sitting in the midst of the London hubbub, it is easy to drift away into that delight of the Pembrokeshire countryside and wish you were there.

JM hare Her latest book,The Song of the Golden Hare, published by Frances Lincoln is out in print in October. It’s a must!

Follow Jackie’s work through her blog and on facebook. You can buy the cards too from Help the Musicians and you can buy her books, details on her website.

We are pleased to work with Jackie on getting her stories and books to the children, who don’t have much chance to see them.

Sue Martin

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

Poetry for Children

Poetry will be back in the mainstay of children’s learning at school. Frances Lincoln have just published a brilliant array of books in a series called, Poetry for Children.

Titles and authors include; Kathy Henderson with The Dragon with a Big Nose, Cheryl Moskowitz with Can it be about Me?, Brian Moses with The Monster Sale along with Roger McGough, Grace Nichols and Wes Magee.

The new Primary National Curriculum, to be introduced from September 2014, will bring a focus on poetry. The Bookseller said,

“The move could help to boost children’s poetry publishing output, support poets in schools and encourage booksellers to revitalise their limited children’s poetry offer.”

Take a look at the Frances Lincoln poetry books, and from our Dolphin site go to Anytime Book Shop and shop via Amazon. When you buy books through Dolphin we will donate 20p per book to supporting children at school in Nepal(or at least getting to school as the recent monsoons have meant a long break!).

Sue Martin

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

Good Causes – Vote for Seven Stories

Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books has reached the finals of the National Lottery Award.

This is a fantastic centre with a wealth of exhibitions and information on children’s books in the UK.

It deserves your vote!!

“Children’s books are an essential part of our childhood, national heritage and culture. Everything we do at Seven Stories is aimed at inspiring children and adults to be curious, imaginative and creative. We strive to ensure people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities can take part and enjoy a lifetime of reading for pleasure. It is a tremendous honour to be nominated for a National Lottery Award and we hope we can harness the energy and support of everyone young and old to vote for us and make us a winner.” Kate Edwards, Chief Executive

The Awards are an annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery–funded projects, and they aim to recognise the difference that those projects have made to people, places and communities all across the UK.

With the mission to save, share and celebrate our rich heritage of children’s books to inspire a love of reading across generations, Seven Stories is competing against six other projects for the title of Best Education Project. The winner will accept the award on BBCTV and receive a £2,000 cash prize. Voting has opened and closes at midnight on 24 July.

Vote at National Lottery Good Causes or at Seven Stories.

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