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Deakin Newsletter December 2006Newsletter and reviews of children's literature written by Dr. Andrea Deakin.
Christmas Books
Jean Little brings together five animals in an empty stable- a donkey, a lamb, a camel, a cat, and a little dog. They are missing the baby and his parents who have left on a journey. The donkey suggests they each tell the story of what brought them to this place on the night the baby was born. Mary had rescued the donkey from a cruel master: the lamb had seen angels that said that the baby would be a saviour to all sheep and had come with its shepherd boy: the camel claims to have come with Melchior; the cat, a Persian, states that she was Melchior's cat; the dog had fled his bad-tempered mistress and hidden in the stable. Each animal has a clearly defined personality. The cat is worldly wise and perceptive, the camel is devious, the donkey mild and modest, the lamb an innocent in the world, the dog tremulous and terrified of being found. Yet it is he who finds the courage to face re-capture by turning away King Herod's soldiers when they come searching for the child. Like the notable storyteller she is, Jean Little gives us a Christmas story full of character and meaning, and so well-designed that it can be read at one sitting or spread out night after night, tale after tale. Werner Zimmerman presents animals full of character in his gentle, soft-toned illustrations.
A reminder that FrancesTyrrell's version of The Twelve Days of Christmas is available again in paperback. This re-telling, short-listed for three major illustration awards, uses Canadian animals to interpret the verses. The young lover is a bear, the calling birds are loons, otters swim in five gold rings, Canada geese are a-laying, and moose are the vigorously leaping lords. Bright colours, refined detail, and exuberant spirit make for a book to treasure at this time of year.
Christmas Eve Magic is a much simplified version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The Scrooge figure is Barton, an orphan pig who detests Christmas and spends his time cut off from those around him, counting his toys, and refusing all attempts by his servants to bring joy to the season. On Christmas Eve a mouse visits him and takes him on a journey to Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet To Come. Barton's outside world is a group of "homeless orphans" with whom he eventually learns to share; but the powerful expression of the love and suffering in the world that Scrooge shuts himself away from is missing here. Barton's story touches on sharing and connecting, but it has none of the power and magic of Dickens' story. The principle strength of the book lies in Stephane Poulin's dark, brooding pictures, a gloomy living room into whose blues and greys the feeble fire brings no light or warmth, or the orphans huddle around the feverish Lulu, trying to bring her warmth.
One book which draws on A Christmas Carol is very effective. The Christmas Mouse has been released in paperback. Tim is a poor mouse, rubbing his paws together in the cold to keep warm. Ben, in the midst of the scent of pine and the sound of crackling logs, rubs his paws in anticipation. When night time comes, however, he is wriggling restlessly in his bed where he is visited by a tiny white-faced mouse who admires a nice candied plum Ben has found and is guarding. The visitor, Jake, makes a bargain with Ben that he can find three people who don't think a candied plum is the best thing in the world. If Ben loses he hands over the plum; if he wins Jake helps him find a good night's rest. The mice take off on their search, and as Ben begins to find the spirit of Christmas, so does Scrooge, whose story is taking place in the human world. Ruth Brown's brilliant illustrations show that human world and Scrooge's journey happening above while the mice follow the same search below. An energetic, thoughtful text by Toby Forward and sensitive evocative illustrations, full of atmosphere and power, by Ruth Brown make this an engaging and notable picture book.
The "I Spy" series of books are attractive and useful books that combine the refining of a child's recognition of shapes with a deal of enjoyment. Scholastic has taken some of the images from I Spy Christmas (1992) and simplified the text to offer a board book for young children incorporating recognizable images of the season.
Also for little children is a small scale pop-up from Robert Sabuda. Simple forms pop-up from these pages - a candle, ribbon, an icicle, a snowflake, a manger, and an angel. Easy to understand, clear attractive forms, their apparent simplicity shows, on closer inspection, the sophistication of their design and engineering. The candle's glow turns behind it as the page opens, the ribbon pops up in a bow tied to the parcel of the book, the toy horse appears to rock, and the angels soar from the page. Here is fun which also gives a small child a simple lesson in design.
Daniel is the youngest in a fisherman's family. He longs to take his place in the boat along with his father and brother and he is irritated by his elder brother's affectionate teasing. Mouse, they call him, but he is sure that he is now adept and strong enough to work on the boat. Then a little magic intervenes. At first it is one little soup cracker. When Daniel stares at it, it lifts a little from the table before dropping. Daniel cannot believe what he has done, but he sets to and practices lifting in secret. He has an extraordinary talent, he discovers, one that is growing with practice. He can lift objects just by concentrating his mind on them. The only problem- he can only lift upwards. What use is that? What use indeed, until a whale beaches itself and everyone turns out to try and get it back into the water. Daniel looks into the whale's eye and concentrates. So slowly no one notices, the whale lifts up, just enough to get it into deep water. Congratulating each other the fisherfolk rejoice, but Daniel is quiet. Only he and the whale know. Meanwhile Daniel's father has recognized something else, Daniel is old enough to work with the family. This gentle story is illustrated with realistic pictures into which a soupcon of magic is added, Daniel in bed making a paper aeroplane lift , making his puppet jump , eventually lifting a small old fishing boat. His gift is becoming stronger. The joy of his accomplishment springs from the pages and makes his final discretion the more telling.
When Darcy O'Hara was born, the only girl amongst six lads, her father danced a jig. Her grandmother predicted that the child would hold the heart of the family in the palm of her hand. As she grew, she would stop to notice the small beauties around her - a spider web, a pebble, a butterfly's wing. But difficult times are coming. Rot has hit the potato crop. People are leaving the valley, and the family is hungry. Her father is finally forced into a decision when the cottage is set on fire, and he takes the family to America. When her grandmother's rosary beads break, Darcy keeps a bead. In the morning, after the fire, she finds a chip from their hearthstone, and keeps it. In the strangeness and new poverty of the city in their new country, the family wearily gathers together in the evening for support. Darcy loosens the hem of her dress to reveal small beauties she has saved to keep alive her family's dearest memories - a magpie's feather, buttercups and dog violets, heather and a rosary bead, and a bit of heart stone. This story could so easily have fallen into the trap of being overly sentimental, but Elvira Woodruff's disciplined yet sensitive writing and Adam Rex's realistic and compassionate illustrations make it something far more. This need to keep something of a beloved family and homeland alive will ring true for many immigrants, and help other youngsters better understand the emotion of this family, and others.
A new book from two-time Caldecott Medalist Wiesner is always a cause for celebration. Flotsam does not disappoint. The story begins with an inquisitive boy of scientific bent observing the crabs at the sea shore through his magnifying glass. Suddenly he is swept up by a wave that deposits him back on the beach, but now accompanied by a camera, a Melville Underwater Camera. In the camera is a film which he rushes to a one-hour-photo shop where a bored unobservant lass takes it and sells him another film. At last the pictures are ready, and what pictures. A mechanical fish swims in the midst of an unconcerned school, octopuses sit reading to their young, whales swim between star-fish islands. Eventually there is a photograph of a girl holding a photograph of a boy, holding a photograph..... As the boy examines them with a magnifying glass, and then a microscope, the photographs lead back to a turn of the Twentieth Century sepia photograph of a boy his own age. The lad takes a photograph of himself holding the photograph and throws the camera back into the sea, where it travels through strange underwater lands until a young girl picks it up on a palm sheltered beach. Once again Wiesner stimulates children to look again, to see what lies within the obvious, to look at the seemingly absurd and recognise the believable. Above all he shows them to be open to surprises, and the little jokes hidden in the pages, Hokusai's wave for one.
David McLimans is deeply concerned about the number of endangered species, and he has produced an alphabet illustrating twenty-six of them, complete with brief notes on each. This is an exceptional book where the design incorporates the creature into the letter with such drama and intensity that it is difficult to forget the images. Yet it is beautiful as well as striking, its power increased by the disciplined use of only black, white and red. From the alligator whose jaws form the letter A to the graceful G of the swan goose, the curling tail Q of the spotted-tail quoll, and the wide-spread Y horns of the wild yak, this is a book to engage the eye and the imagination. It is an exceptional visual experience that will appeal as much to adults as to children.
A reprint of Eve Titus' witty story of the cheese-tasting mouse, Anatole, is overdue, and this Fiftieth Anniversary edition is most welcome. When Anatole discovers with what disgust people regard mice, he is horrified, "Where is my self-respect, My Pride? MY HONOUR?" His dear wife, Doucette, gives him the answer- give people something in return. So Anatole types out a series of signs from "Extra-'Specially Good" to "No Good" and sets off for the Duval cheese factory where he leaves labels on the different cheeses-"Not so Good, needs more grated onion, Anatole" or " Good, but add some more orange peel". Ignorant that their cheese taster with the subtle tongue is a mouse, the cheese factory makes the suggested changes and the business takes off.... Anatole and his Doucette sneak their way into your heart in a story full of charm and wit. Re-reading the tale after many years I found Eve Titus' ability to produce such lovable characters in such a gently witty story, and Paul Galdone's sympathetic depiction of the little mouse and the town in which he lives, is as enjoyable an experience as the first time the story came my way in the 1984 version. Truly, Vive Anatole!
It does not seem twenty-five years ago since I first encountered Kathy Stinson's stubborn little girl with her preference for red, yet here is the anniversary edition, ready to charm another generation. I remember finding copies of the book in a children's book shop in Kensington, London, where the bookseller told me how popular the little book was, so much so they had a cheery display on a scarlet- draped table . It seemed English children enjoyed the stubborn little heroine who declared, "My mom doesn't understand about red." Robin Baird Lewis's clear line drawings, dominated by deep scarlet pyjamas, and mitts, and boots, and jackets, are a perfect balance to Kathy Stinson's text, easy to read, childlike, and packed with the logic of childhood. Welcome back.
Gilles Tibo's books about young Simon are delightful celebrations of childhood and the creativity a and imagination of little ones. The first, Simon and the Snowflakes was an insightful look at the young, using a sly sense of fun and a real appreciation of the subtlety little children can show. It stood out amongst many of the picture books then being published. Tundra Books have re-issued the four season books about Simon in this one collection. Most of the illustrations are here, but the text has been shortened, and has lost some of its poetry in the retelling. Comparing the original text with this shortened one, there is a sense of loss- of sensitivity and insight. Simon's conversation with the snowman, a childlike interlude, becomes a brief statement. Again, "If I count the flakes that fall on a bird and then count all the birds..." loses the impact of "If I count.....all the birds, I will know how much snow falls. I stand on a tree trunk with my broom. But the birds fly by too fast." In the original we have a picture of a small boy finding a solution, and then learning the lesson that life isn't quite that easy. However, rather than lose this delightful series altogether I will accept this, for there are still the charming gentle illustrations and the sense of the text.
There are some stories that every child should encounter. The Snow Queen, a story of love and courage, is one. This new edition is illustrated by Belarussian artist Pavel Tatarnikov. It is a notable addition to the many illustrated versions published over the years. The Snow Queen, as she first appears, is a towering figure overhanging Kay and Gerda's town, snow swirling from her cloak as she sweeps overhead. As she takes Kay away, the only touches of colour are his jacket and the bright costume of the small gnome leading her white horse - all else echoes the overwhelming loss of colour that a snowstorm brings. When the Snow Queen's barely discernable white guards battle the white angels, who descend from a small patch of deep blue sky to support a tiny Gerda, we see again white used effectively to depict not only the loss of individuality in a negative force, but also the powerful expansion of the angel force, lit by that touch of blue and suggestion of stars. It is white used positively and negatively, and very effective. The question to be asked of any illustrator, of contemporary or classic work, is does the artist have feeling not only for the work, but also for the children who read it and absorb the illustrations. Does he have the subtlety to interpret and expand on the text by his understanding of the images it suggests. Pavel Tatarnikov's deft work for this edition of The Snow Queen says that here is an artist who can, beautifully.
In 1929 Sir James Matthew Barrie bequeathed the copyright to Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London. To mark the work's centenary there was a worldwide search for someone to write a sequel. The author could be a children's or adult writer, and be of any nationality. Writers were to submit a sample chapter and synopsis. Nearly 200 entries arrived from around the world, and Geraldine McCaughrean was the author chosen. Geraldine McCaughrean was faced with a tight knot to unravel. Barrie had tied most of the ends of his tale very effectively. The Darling children and the Lost Boys had returned to London, grown up and had children of their own. Peter is still a boy in Neverland. Hook has met his crocodile. How to bring all together? It is 1926. Michael has died in the 1914-18 war. The others are grown with children of their own. Curly is now a physician, Tootles a judge. All of them are being troubled by dreams, "Neverland rubbing against the Here and Now, wearing holes in the fabric in between." They all decide they must return to Neverland and find out what is amiss: but how to return? Playing dress-up is a wonderful way to leave the everyday behind and relax behind the mask of someone else. We never outgrow it, look at the popularity of fancy dress balls. Here is a way that they can all return. They will put on their own children's clothes and grow young again. Geraldine McCaughrean has a little logical fun here. Judge Tootles has daughters, so he becomes Princess Tootles. Back they fly. But what has happened to Neverland? It is scarlet autumn, the countryside is dying, and the land is silent. Along comes a strange circus master, Ravello, with his animals, an odd fellow who sets off dissension. On one occasion he mentions that , traditionally, the captain takes half of the spoils and the crew divides the rest. This is contrary to their normal practice of even-stevens. The result is chaotic quarreling amongst the crew, while Ravello smirks. Who is this obsequious adviser to Peter Pan who tells the group, "You people have made childhood your profession"? Meanwhile Peter has donned an old red coat that belonged to Hook. This is dress-up. Remember? And yes, Starkey who was left in Barrie's book to mind the papooses, now has a pirate crew of the most beautifully-mannered redskins. McCaughrean's inventive way with words, her capacity for weaving descriptions that are tangible, shows in the names of the obstacles they must face - the Maze of Regrets, The Grief Reef, Neverpeak and the Maze of Witches, and also in brief vivid description, "The mast looked so tall you might climb up it with a candlesnuffer and put out all the stars". Geraldine McCaughrean's sequel is in such harmony with the flavour of Barrie's story, and yet so much her own in her wonderful way with language, her understanding of human nature , and her sympathetic yet witty style, that Peter Pan in Scarlet is not only highly enjoyable, but also an amazing achievement. See also:Great Ormond Street Hospital “Neverland is calling again…” and the Official website of Geraldine McCaughrean http://www.geraldine-mccaughrean.co.uk/main.html
Kip is off to spend a month on an island with his grandmother and five cousins, all girls. Gran's old house is about to be knocked down so, with her encouragement, they are all allowed to do as they wish with it, except for breaking down load-bearing walls. There is a field day of drawing and writing on walls. Kip cannot feel apart for long, for this is a lively, bright, and amusing group of girls, including young Emily, who thinks she is a dog and eats out of a dog bowl. Gran takes it all in her stride, encouraging creative mayhem and breaking it with picnics at the beach, campfires, and exploring tidal pools. Alone in his attic room, which once belonged to his father, Kip decides to break down the wall of a closet whose door is jammed. Pushing his way through the hole he has made, he discovers the inside of the closet is bare, except for a binder, a binder and a mystery. It is a mystery that first engages him, then absorbs him, and finally frightens him. Sarah Ellis has a gift for portraying fully-rounded interesting people. Gran is not a cypher, but an energetic, funny, engaging woman who will allow her nieces to do their worst on her with a makeover and announce, after a brief look in a mirror, that she " was looking forward to exploring her inner sea urchin". Her philosophy, stated in the midst of debate, sums up her wisdom, "The gracious relinquishing of power can be a great source of personal strength." While the lively intelligent girls are a vivid and real part of the family picture, adding some light relief as Kip faces his mystery, and Mom and her partner Orm add a quiet sustaining balance, it is Kip and his Gran who engage our sympathy and concern i n this beautifully balanced portrait of mystery and memory.
Sheila Burnford is best known for The Incredible Journey, so it is good to see this poignant and compelling story made available once more in the excellent New York Review Children's Collection series. We first meet the little dog as part of a caravan party joining the desperate cavalcade of trucks, wagons and people on foot who, clutching a few possessions, are desperately fleeing the Nazi advance in France. Corporal Sinclair is part of this group, and it is through his aegis that Bel Ria ends up on ship, in the care of the Royal Navy - one of its mascots. Fate then brings him to England in the midst of the blitz where he rescues an elderly invalid from the rubble of her home and becomes her jealously guarded and pampered dog. This is a very real little dog, behaving as a dog would, and realized vividly with that same understanding and sensitivity that the late Robert Westall brought to his feline heroes (Blitzcat). Through Bel Ria's experiences a searing light is brought to bear on human failings . Through the suffering of animals the human characters are brought to a critical view of the effect of these human failings - for it is not only they that suffer, but also these more innocent victims. There is powerful evocative writing here, and there is an appreciation of the value of love and trust, and of accommodation.
When we first meet Rosalind her class teacher is telling them that Fay Wirt, a classmate, has disappeared. The whispering starts, fuelled by Fay's father's drunkeness and the odd, accidental death of Fay's mother; but Rosalind is not concerned, and cannot feel concerned. She knows that Fay is still alive and well. She knows this like she knows so many other things. She has the foresight, although she very much hopes that that is not true. Her mother forcibly denies it, and tries to keep her from her great-aunts whose mother was a clairvoyant, famed for her ability to prophecy. She fears that Rosalind may have inherited the gift. After Rosalind eventually meets the aunts she also meets a strange young woman, who turns out to be her eldest sister, brought up by the aunts. If she is Rosalind's sister, then Rosalind is a seventh daughter. She becomes terrified by the possibility that she has the gift of prophecy. In her panic she does what she thinks she can. Refusing to accept that she is a girl, she cuts her hair, wears boys' clothing and does anything to avoid this inheritance. The time comes, however, when she has to face up to accepting her gift and learn to live with it, whatever it brings. This is as much a portrait of a family as it is of Rosalind, a moving sympathetic portrait of these lively loving girls and women, a family that is a community, dealing with the Second World War without and its unique problems within. Rosalind is a rich and endearing character, full of contrasts, intelligent, fearful yet brave. The whole is a moving, engaging, beautifully-told story.
Danny and his family live in Hogs Hollow, Toronto, in the mid 1960's. Space travel is in the air and the Vietnam War has broken out. His mother dreams of being a writer, his father pumps out septic tanks and dreams of keeping his family safe. He is building a fallout shelter in case the Vietnam War develops into something worse. Danny's elder brother, Beau, has dreams of being an astronaut, seeing Cape Canaveral and meeting his hero, Gus Grissom. Danny just wants a dog- badly. Danny's father spends evenings and weekends digging up the front yard, pouring concrete walls while iron re-enforcing bars stick up, naked, into the air. The spring rains come, precipitating a terrible accident, and the River family is shattered. Danny gets his dog, a puppy he does not want now. He is lost, for everything he knew and trusted about his life has gone. Rocket will not leave him alone, though, and Danny begins to believe that the spirit of his brother is somehow with the puppy. When Rocket is threatened, Danny takes to the road, heading for NASA and Cape Canaveral- something he can do for his brother. Lawrence's family is real, closely-bound. His two brothers are so much one that the loss of Beau all but paralyzes Danny, and we watch a skilled, competent writer build a moving portrait of a family, a bond, and a determination to fulfill a dream and so heal broken hearts.
Those who are familiar with the unique Strega-Borgia family will have some idea what to expect from this latest novel .For those who know the outrageous, funny, heroic, eccentric and loving Strega-Borgias and their assorted monsters, devoted servants, and ancient Scottish castle and loch, this is more off-the-wall, clever, and hilarious adventure. Their beloved Nanny, Mrs. McLachlan (a witch) has disappeared. Dad, now in prison, has been charged with her murder (due to his nefarious half-brother's scheming). When all looks blackest, however, there come gleams of hope- a mysterious silver thread, a magical camera that sends photographs from the past, and odd messages that keep appearing on the fridge. Is there hope out there? Fast-paced, witty, a combination of the Addams family and weird creatures from British legend, Debi Gliori's tales of the Strega-Borgias are pure, witty, escapism.
Ken Setterington retells a European folk tale in the story of Clever Katarina, the peasant's daughter, whose intelligence, wit and beauty wins a king's heart, not once, but twice. The phrasing and construction of the tale make it perfect for reading aloud, and its traditional flavour is captured in the charmingly designed and executed cut-paper art of Nelly and Ernst Hofer. The whole book has been beautifully designed and considered. It is as much a pleasure to hold as to read.
David Harrison's latest collection of poetry, Sounds of Rain, was inspired by a trip down the Amazon River. His scientific training and poet's eye brings the experience of the area from the quality of light and the cacophony of sound, to the busyness of the very small- termites building nests, bees humming around a cemetery. He pictures the different way of life. A shallow dugout takes a couple up the river, "he paddling, she scooping", a woman watches children at play, "her face mahogany/ finely carved, deeply grained", and in a cemetery, cut out from the forest, "this small hard-earned plot / between the water and the trees", the dead are respectfully laid to rest. The poetry is accessible, highly descriptive, often haunting. Sometimes it is hilarious as in his description of the monkey families watching his progress, or in his short poem "Lost In Translation". "Piranha no problem," natives say. "Swimming no problem," "No problem," I say,
Michael Harrison and Christopher Stuart-Clark have edited several excellent collections of poetry for children, and this one, now in paperback, is no exception. It contains a generous blend of those poems every child should meet, the poems we remember from childhood, treasure, and repeat in moments of stress (the dentist?) under our breath.
Here are De La Mare's “The Listeners”, Carroll's “Jabberwocky+, Sir Patrick Spens’”The Pied Piper of Hamelin”.... and here also the late Charles Causley, Gareth Owen, Brian Patten and Vachel Lindsay, all along with other contemporary poems set to become firm favourites in turn. The anthology is illustrated by several contemporary illustrators including, above all, the late Charles Keeping whose striking work for “The Lady of Shalott” and “The Highwayman” is included.
These two books are from a series by Richard Platt that discusses everyday life through time. Aimed at seven-twelves, they are a lively interesting introduction to topics, in this case food and medicine, filled with information and some surprising facts. The ancient Egyptians wore lots of eye make-up, the predominant blue and green colours coming from a rock that contained copper. Copper kills off germs that can infect the eye. There is an illustration of the Code of Hammurabi, a discussion of vaccination and inoculation - mentioning Jenner but ignoring Lady Mary Wortley Montague, information on the war on infection, a discussion on the dulling of pain, and some of the less successful remedies about. The book on food looks at culinary habits and tastes through time and in different cultures with the same lively and interesting text, split into small bites of information. Some of the information may put us off supper, but not, I expect, upset the youngsters who will find it "yucky" but interesting. The books are lively, well-illustrated, informative, and appealing to the child more interested in non-fiction.
This is a title from the adult list that should also appeal to teen astronomers. It is a collection of photographs and brief texts giving facts and background information about the objects , all generously illustrated with photographs and diagrams. The information is divided into three main areas: the Solar System, The Milky Way, and Galaxies and Beyond. The introduction gives a brief history of man's understanding of the universe with very brief references to several astronomers. The Solar System deals with our immediate neighbourhood, and discusses the ways we try to observe it- space technology, observatories and probes. The Milky Way describes our galaxy and the objects we see within it- nebulae, protostars and stars, globular clusters and supernova remnants. Galaxies and Beyond explores those galaxies we have plotted, active and interacting, and there is a discussion of cosmology and all-sky surveys. There is a glossary. There are teens who will find this compact survey fascinating, an introduction to an engrossing field, a book to spur the imagination of the young as well as the adult.
It was long needed, not just a history of British Columbia, but one written with clarity, accessible to nine-twelve year olds, interesting and very attractively presented. This Daniel Francis and Harbour Publishing have given to us. Beginning with the original peoples, Francis takes us through the development of the province with a highly readable account of the events and people that have formed the it, right up to the Winter Olympics to come. Both the social and political development of the province is explored and different coloured tags throughout the text give snippets of information on British Columbia places, British Columbia creatures, and information on and quotations by British Columbians. The book is very generously illustrated with photographs, maps, drawings, and paintings by Gordon Miller. It is an excellent introduction to the history of the province, bound to capture the interest of its young readers. BBC Blue Peter Awards 2006
Costa Children's Book Award (formerly Whitbread) Shortlist
Governor-General's Award for Children's Literature
2006 Information Book Award
2006 Norma Fleck Award
Featured Websites (This Month)
This is the website of Geraldine McCaughrean - the prize winning author who has been writing for children for over twenty years. See also: www.gosh.org/news/2006/New-PeterPanbook.html
Featured Websites (Cumulative) Achuka Children’s Books http://www.achuka.co.uk/ Barbara Reid Home http://www.barbarareid.ca/home.htm and http://www.barbarareid.ca/ BRAW Books, Reading and Writing http://www.braw.org.uk/Home/tabid/53/Default.aspx Christchurch Libraries http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Resources/Kids/StoriesBooksAuthors/ Colin Theile Webpage http://www.eudunda.net/colinthiele/index.shtml Dick Bruna’s The Official Dick Bruna Website. http://www.miffy.com/ IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People http://www.ibby-canada.org/ http://www.ibby-canada.org/ Index to Internet Sites: Children's and Young Adults' Authors & Illustrators Geraldine McCaughrean:Official website. KIdsWWwrite:The e-zine for young authors and readers. http://www.kalwriters.com/kidswwwrite/ "A Kind of Magic": James Campbell of The Guardian writes about the life and work of Walter de la Mare, on the 50th anniversary of his death. Lynn Truss http://www.lynnetruss.com/ Priscilla Galloway http://www.priscilla.galloway.net/Pages 2/Home.html Red Cedar Book Award http://www.redcedaraward.ca/ Sarah Ellishttp://www.sarahellis.ca/ Susan Cooper http://www.thelostland.com/welcome.htm
Born Petersfield, Hampshire April 19th 1911, died October 17th 2006 aged 95 Ursula Moray Williams was the author and illustrator of over seventy books for children. She was one of identical twins, her sister, Barbara Arnason, later became a wood engraver and sculptor of distinction. Both young women enrolled at Winchester College of Art where Barbara did well, later going to the Royal College of Art. Ursula left after a year in order to write. Encouraged by her uncle, Sir Stanley Unwin (of Allen and Unwin), she published her first book, Jean Pierre, when she was twenty. In 1935 she married Peter John (died 1974), great-grandson of the poet Robert Southey, and while she was expecting her first child she wrote The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse (1938). Her other much-loved story, Gobbolino the Witch's Cat, appeared in 1942. Throughout World War 11, when paper was at a premium, her books were kept in print. She illustrated many of her own books, notably the Good Little Christmas Tree (1943), and her sister, Barbara, illustrated Jockin the Jester (1951). Other titles were illustrated by various artists including Edward Ardizzone, Faith Jacques, and Shirley Hughes. She produced a book a year over a writing career that covered 70 years. Ursula Moray Williams is survived by three of her four sons. Top |
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