The week that was… Books
As mentioned – there are only 4 sleeps until Christmas… and only 4 sleeps until the Gruffalo hits the small-screen! That very same monster makes the headlines in the Irish Independent, The Times (UK), Irish Daily Mail, The Times (UK) again and in The Guardian (with an interview with Susanna Rustin)
Any house with a small child will have a copy of The Gruffalo and if they don’t they should. It’s one of the most famous picture books in the past 10 years and the most popular in the past 20 or 30. “I’d challenge anybody to say another children’s picture book has sold more. – Dave O’Callaghan (on The Gruffalo)
Robert Dunbar and Geraldine McKenna join Pat Kenny on RTE to choose some of the best books for young readers this Christmas. Click to listen.
In sticking with things on-screen – Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials won’t be making it onto the silver screen. In good news – Lorenzo di Bonaventura has snapped up rights to produce Michael Scott’s six-part fantasy series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.
And Steven Spielberg has nabbed the rights to produce Michael Morpurgo’s The War Horse!
Anna Carey reviews some favourite classics for the straightened times we find ourselves in – and Jan Ruffino has a look at the new RTE series – On the Block – with four different kids talking into their webcams.
John Mullan searches for the ten best child story narrators – including Tracy Beaker | Meg Rosoff reviews Wolf Erlbruch’s Duck, Death and the Tulip.
Outstanding books for young people have often proved difficult to categorise and market, and there seems little likelihood of this one taking over where sales of Guess How Much I Love You leave off. Erlbruch’s simple eloquence in the face of life’s most monstrous inevitability, however, suggests that Duck, Death and the Tulip will continue to occupy an important place in the literature of childhood long after today’s bestsellers have been forgotten. – Meg Rosoff
Jean Hannah Edelstein wants to put people right on Enid Blyton while Jenny Uglow looks at the best of old and new picture books.
Jeanette Winterson talks about why she became a children’s writer in the Guardian Author, Author series.
Nicolette Jones covers the year in Children’s Lit over at Book Brunch, Publishers Weekly covers some new picture books and Sam Jordison celebrates Terry Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals.
Are these the best films of 2009?
Where the Wild Things Are – the video game… a little jerky but sounds like a playable adaptation of the film
Publishers across Asia search for local talent to create picture books. Beverley Naidoo visits Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre.
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