bookaburrablog

My Day

2008-07-20T13:59:00.005+08:00

This is the cover of a book I published with the help of a grant from the Media Development Authority under their First Time Writer's and Illustrator's Publishing Initiative. It's a picture book about a day in the life of a child living in Singapore. The illustrator, Vincent Twardzik-Ching, did a great job depicting the various scenes in various locations - the playground, the streets, the parks, the people. It's just how I hoped it would turn out.

"My Day" was launched recently at Bookaburra and copies should be in most shops by now. If not, just head down to Bookaburra and get your copy there!

Well, "My Day" also marks the end of my days with Bookaburra as I am packing up and heading home to Australia after 26 years here. I first arrived in 1981, got a job teaching English at the British Council, then left to raise my two children and did voluntary work and freelance writing and editing for many years before starting Bookaburra with my good friend Cheryle Hum ten years ago. I think we have helped contribute to the growing book-reading culture among children in Singapore and I am happy that Cheryle is continuing with the business so that there will still be an independent children's bookstore in Singapore!

Please continue to support us as it is really a labour of love. Without you, our loyal customers, we wouldn't have survived this long. Help us make it to 20 years with your continued patronage!

I hope you will enjoy the book, too! I wrote it at a time when there were few, if any, books featuring a familiar landscape for children growing up here. Then of course, Shamini Flint helped redress the balance with her Sasha books, Adeline Foo is writing books about children and nature and now about her Peranakan heritage, and Ho Lee-Ling has written short contemporary novels featuring Singapore's folk heritage. There are many now venturing into publishing locally books with a local flavour - and it's about time!

As I contemplate leaving Singapore, and look back at all the changes, I can't help but think it is a place that has so much more to offer in the way of children's education, development and enrichment activities. One thing will never change, however, and that is that children need us to spend time with them - and sharing good books will always provide an incredibly rich means of fostering that bond we have with them.

Good reading!

50 Favourite Books

2008-03-02T05:53:00.002+08:00

So many books, so little time!

But here's a list of some favourite children's books voted by British readers. Most are still in print and many are still up there on the best sellers lists. All worth a read.

I don't remember having very many picture books when I was growing up but I gladly entered the worlds beyond the wardrobe, down the rabbit hole and inside secret gardens when I started reading. Even thinking about them now, I can recreate the feelings of wonder and delight. It's no wonder books still manage to whisk us away into other realms when we are given a first taste of it when our imaginations are young and fertile!

Once Morris Gleitzman came to Singapore

2007-09-23T15:16:00.000+08:00

It's always interesting to meet an author because they never seem to match the image you have made of them! Morris Gleitzman writes laugh-out-loud kind of books, so I expected an outwardly funny joke-a-minute person to turn up. Never trust your imagination! Not that I was disappointed. Not at all. Mr Gleitzman is a calm presence, extremely obliging and I suspect as wonderful a person as you could expect to meet. I say that not from a cursory chat, of course, but you surely can tell something about a person's character from their writing. Some of the themes he writes about are very sensitive - moving home, people with terminal illness, displaced refugees, victims of tragedies - and his protagonists are full of an inner resilience and hope that carries them through the tough times. So you might end up shedding a quiet tear or having your heartstrings pulled as well. That makes his books worth more than the few $$ it will cost you to fork out. And yes, I do suggest you read them along with your kids.

Check out his website for more information about the man and his work. And, if you are reading this, Mr Gleitzman, I will make sure your books have equal shelf space to that given to books about boy wizards!

Maisy Mascot at Bookaburra!

2007-08-10T12:10:00.001+08:00

Look out for our August Maisy giveaway! Every purchase of a featured Maisy book will entitle you to a cute 6” plush Maisy toy!

Come down to our special Meet Maisy session from 2.30 to 3.30 p.m. on Saturday 18^th August 2007. Stories, activites and a photo opportunity with everyone’s favourite mouse!

Diving into Ingo

2006-08-09T16:45:00.000+08:00

From the moment I picked up the book 'Ingo' by Helen Dunmore, it pulled me in, just like Sapphire and Connor are pulled like a magnet to the undersea world of Ingo where time flows as quickly as the currents that surround them.

There is something irresistible about old legends and the way they still resonate in our contemporary world. The legend of the merrymaid (or mermaid) of Zennor is a compelling one. Dunmore uses the legend to highlight the complex relationship between 11 year old Sapphire and her older brother, between her and her mother, and her feelings for her father whose mysterious disappearance holds so many similarities to that of the Matthew Trewhella of the legend and this provides depth to what might otherwise be a simple tale of adventure and fantasy.

Read it for yourself and then pass it to your children!

And, if the pull of the ocean is really strong, you might also like other stories about Cornwall - the beautifully illustrated 'The Mousehole Cat', the equally beautiful 'Can You Catch a Mermaid?' by the talented Jane Ray and 'The Merrymaid of Zennor' written by the late Charles Causley and illustrated in inimitable style by Michael Foreman or another recent mermaid tale 'The Tail of Emily Windsnap' by Liz Kessler.

On into the briny deep we go!

Bad = good

2006-05-28T19:27:00.000+08:00

Why is it that books that are hugely popular with children seldom get the nod from parents or teachers or other arbiters of "good writing" for the younger generations? Books like those written by the bad boy of Australian children's literature - Andy Griffiths - are a good example.

Quite often, school libraries play safe and have them on restricted loan even before parents have lodged a complaint. But what exactly are they complaining about? Bad writing? Poorly put-together sentences? Incorrectly punctated prose?

If that were the case, much more would be relegated to the bin than books containing mildly offensive language like bum, fart and gas.

The fact is that Andy Griffiths' books are liberally peppered with such words, but at the same time they are very cleverly written and children love them. It is probably because of such books that many children get interested in reading in the first place. The titles and content are shamelessly designed to get children to pick up the book: "The Day My Bum Went Psycho" inevitably causes a smile to appear on a child's face.

Even his "Just ..." books invite closer inspection once the reader has completed the quiz on the back cover. When I first picked up a copy of "Just Annoying" in a bookshop, I embarrassed myself by laughing so much that tears ran down my face.

So it is with great delight that we are able to welcome Andy Griffiths into our shop at Forum on Tuesday 30th May at 6 p.m. If you have children aged 9-12, particularly reluctant readers, bring 'em down and get a book signed by this stupendously talented writer!!

And, here's a good article from a recent edition of an Australian newspaper.

Mourning the loss of an extrordinary writer

2006-01-26T14:44:00.001+08:00

It is always a cause of sadness to hear of an untimely death, and somewhat poignant too when it involves someone of talent. So when I heard that Jan Mark had died at only 62, I did a little research on her life and her life’s work. I read what I considered an extraordinary and somewhat unsettling book a couple of years ago, Eclipse of the Century, but it intrigued me that this was an author of quite considerable imagination to have been able to write it.

Now I have discovered an article she wrote that encapsulates so exactly what I feel about books and the discovery of certain books and the way bibliophiles love to clasp certain books to their chests with that look that says, “Mine!”, or how there’s that spark of excitement when you find someone else who shares your enthusiasm for a certain author, or how you don’t want some books to end because the experience of being immersed in it is just so precious and delicious. And it is all so different from the run-of-the-mill kind of book that somehow, even though it is immensely popular, just doesn’t enthrall or captivate in quite the same way (or maybe it does that for some people but its appeal just doesn’t work for others).

So I identify with the sentiment when she says, “Certainly everyone ought to be able to read but most people are not going to become voracious bookworms who need regular fixes of print and who so enjoy the experience of reading that they actively seek novelty and challenge rather that safety and swift satisfaction. For that minority casual observance will never be enough especially if we, the adults, are the observers. I sometimes feel like hanging out a sign: I read books so you don’t have to, but nothing, even now, compares to the excitement of discovering that gramme of radium in tonnes of pitchblende, the same excitement I felt as a child on finding a book that was surely meant for me, not 50,000 others.”

(see the full article here

Read obituaries at The Times or this one from the Guardian

halloween is here again

2005-10-07T14:09:00.000+08:00

It’s that time of the year again!

This year Bookaburra has a pumpkin patch of Halloween accessories for you to decorate your kids, yourself and your house!

Pumpkin pails for Trick Or Treats
Make up kits
Costumes, masks (we rejected the really gruesome ones, though) and accessories
Spider webs
Banners, candles and other decorations
And lots more ….

Discover Magic - Read!

2005-09-20T20:30:00.000+08:00

Finally! Our big wall visuals have gone up and they look awesome! For the front window, we chose a fantastically atmospheric poster from the American Library Association with Gandalf and a huge tome of some ancient book of wisdom in front of him. On the poster are the words: Discover Magic - Read. That sums up our philosophy completely - reading and the written word really do have the power to work magic in our lives. As Walt Disney once said, "There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island." Yo, ho, ho to that!

Our storytelling corner features a picture of a dragon wending his way up to a castle perched on top of a mountain. It is taken from a richly illustrated book called "The Kiss That Missed" by David Melling. We think it provides the kind of atmosphere children tend to lose themselves in when they read stories of brave knights and gutsy heroines, dragons and unicorns and flying horses. We all need to escape once in a while into the place of our imaginations and try out roles where we can be the epitomes of courage as we set out on quests and defeat whatever is threatening our world and all that is good.

Behind our counter is a picture by one of my favourite illustrators - Jane Ray. It is a picture of the tree of life - an important symbol in many cultures. For me, it symbolises the unity and beauty of creation and is in fact taken from a book called "The Story of Creation", one of her many books that have won awards for illustration. In a way it is even symbolic of what sustains us spiritually and keeps us connected with the true meaning and purpose of our lives.

Books can help us understand what that purpose is and how we might live our lives. On our journey through life there is always a time and a place for the written and spoken word: lullabies soothe babies to sleep, verses and rhymes satisfy our need for rhythm and cadence and word play, stories draw us into new and imagined worlds away from and yet reflective of our daily dramas, great literary works inspire and uplift us, and so the list goes on.

Come and discover some of the magic for yourself and for your children - there be plenty of treasure for everyone in Bookaburra, me hearties!

Parents as reading role models

2005-09-17T20:47:00.000+08:00

I read this article quite a while ago on the website of a great Sydney bookstore called Gleebooks. I hope they don't mind me reprinting it here. I do recommend people use their online services if they want to save money sending heavy parcels of books back to Australia on birthdays and other occasions so look them up at www.gleebooks.com.au soon. Now, here's the article:

"Over the last few years of teaching at universities I have conducted a poll amongst my students. I ask how many of them were read to as children. I then ask them if they can describe for me the first image they can recall from a book. I tell them of my image.

My past and present students are creative writers; budding poets, novelists and/or literary critics. The results are stacked I guess. But roughly eight out of ten students were read to by both or one of their parents. I do not question the others any further. Literacy is not a sign of goodness or worthiness and many literate people find reading aloud uncomfortable. I do however recommend to the 'read to's' that they pick up some whiskey on the way home for Dad and flowers for Mum, or the other way around depending on what tempos, what structures govern their domestic lives.

The subjective response to a work of art is not commonly regarded as a 'true' form of criticism, but for a creative writer and a creative reader it may provide clues to the sources of your own mind. (Try it at home, with or without adult supervision. What is your earliest memory of a book?). The gut response is informed certainly by genetics, environment, amount of alcohol consumed prior to the act of engagement etc... Consider, though, that Nabokov said we read with our spines, awaiting the telltale tingle between the shoulder blades. Consider Marianne Moore's definition of poetry as … imaginary gardens with real toads.

My students are incredibly responsive to the question, it is almost possible to observe the connections, synapse to synapse, being retraced in their own minds, to see memory at work. Some remember red tugboats, others popguns, goblins and witches. The memory is translated into speech, often breathlessly.

I ask them then to tell me why every culture tells stories and why stories of monsters and gods and the foolish and the greedy are repeated in all cultures? We are all children of storytelling cultures, our lives are moored to stories, whether they be written or oral, epic or anecdotal, sung or sermonised. We are all, of course, 'read to' as children.

How long has it been since you read a book to a child? How long has it been since you were read to, how long since you re-read your favourite book from childhood, how long since you read as a child? Can you remember that tingle of childhood when the story scared or lulled you into dream, when the resonances could be seen in a cobweb of your home, in the alley behind your house, or behind the cupboard door, real beds with imaginary trolls beneath.

When, as a student, I was first asked to recall my earliest remembered image from a book, I remembered a golliwog with a lollipop. My lecturer at the time then asked me to consider why I might have retained that image for twenty-odd years. I thought about it over days, over weeks, over the seas and back again, and then, in one moment I slipped through the looking-glass into my own head. I remembered - though I cannot tell you the title of the book, whether it is famous or popular or obscure and out of print - I remembered that the golliwog was given the lollipop to exclude him from a game, to quieten him in a corner, whilst the real fun was had elsewhere. The lollipop was not a reward but a punishment for difference, a pay-off. And though I could not see him in my mind's eye, I knew that my migrant father had read that book to me and I knew, I remembered, finding comfort in the sorrow of that story and in the voice of the reader."

Poetry and Hums aren't things which you get, they're things which get you. And all you can do is go where they can find you.
Winnie the Pooh

Christopher Cyrill is a novelist and fiction editor
of Heat magazine.

August news

2005-08-30T23:49:00.000+08:00

Off the Shelf August 2005: Bookaburra’s monthly update

Capture some fairy magic!

Gwyneth Rees titles are all in stock now at a special price of $12.95 (us. $15.70). They are just as popular as the Rainbow Magic and Felicity Wishes series and will delight readers growing in confidence, between 7 and 9 years.

You’ll jump for joy at these Clarice Bean give-aways!

Clarice Bean has jumped right out of Lauren Child’s best selling picture books into her very own novels that will have her old fans renewing their interest in her quirky ways!
Grab any Clarice Bean and get a FREE Clarice Bean Special Edition eraser, pencil or postcard!! Only while stocks last so hurry down!

SPECIAL DEAL ON ALL BABAR PRODUCTS!!

It’s so hard to get hold of some of our old favourites, but we are delighted to have Babar and friends and we are offering them at 20% off the retail price!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie-tie in books

Children who have not yet encountered the gloriumptious world of Dahl will be entranced by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Now it is brought to life again on the big screen and a whole range of new books have been released to complement the actual novel – sticker and activity books, a whipple-scrumptious joke book and a fantastic 96 page, six-ring binder complete with stickers, bookmarks and doorhangers. Check them all out and get your FREE chocolate treats while stocks last!

Back to School Specials

Vanishing Cultures: Buy these award-winning photographic essays in hardback at the amazing low price of $7!

CD Roms: We continue to offer a range of educational cd roms for the unbeatable “Buy 2, get a third for free” offer.

State of Our Planet: Learn more about the state of the earth in this excellent guide for just $11.95.

Dorling Kindersley adult titles: Clearing at an amazing 30% off retail prices – some of these are great for secondary levels also and include the Keep It Simple Stupid Guides (KISS), travel guides and Essential Facts.

SATURDAY MORNINGS AT BOOKABURRA
Saturday mornings are set to become a whole lot more fun as we kick off our activities for older children (min. age 7 yrs) in September.
Saturday, 17th September 10.30 to 11.30 am. Learn some wild and wonderful games by Gamewright  - like Rat-a-tat-cat and Slamwich! Only $5 per participant.
Saturday, 24th September 10.30 to 11.30 a.m. Get hooked on Scoubidou, the new craft craze that is sweeping Europe! Learn how to make some really wicked keychains, animal keepsakes or cool jewelry. $10 includes tuition and materials.

Storytelling for 3-5s
Bring your little ones along for 45 minutes of stories, songs, and a craft activity for only $5.
Our popular story sessions continue at the following times:

Wednesdays @ 4 p.m. with guest storytellers from Julia Gabriel Speech and Drama Centre

Fridays @ 11 a.m. with Kerry

Hans Christian Andersen

2005-04-01T00:46:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow is the birth date of one of childen's literature's most beloved storytellers - Mr Hans Christian Andersen. Who cannot remember the well-known, slightly melancholy stories of Thumbelina, The Little Match Girl and The Little Mermaid or the wonderfully satifying end to The Ugly Duckling? My favourite is The Nightingale and I still treasure the ancient picture book collection that features it on its front cover.

This year is the 200th anniversary of Andersen's birth and the whole world is celebrating it in some way or another. I was amazed to discover there is actually a website dedicated to various events being organised here in Singapore. There are storytelling sessions, plays, a stamp exhibition at the Philatelic Museum, art competitions, and much much more! Go check it out and get your children hooked on the classics!

Bookaburra's storytellers will be choosing simple retellings for the young ones who come to the storytelling sessions throughout the year and we'll be getting in as many of Andersen's stories as we can. We are planning a big front window display, now that we actually have windows to display things in! What a luxury! They are a bit blank at the moment as we seek permission to have book illustrations featured - but they will look brilliant when they do go up!

We've had lots of lovely complements on our new look and we hope you like what we have done to make the shop better organised and easier to select what you are looking for. If you have any suggestions at all for us to improve our service, please write in to me at lynette.bookaburra at gmail dot com (forgive the way that's written but we get so much spam on our other email that I want to be sure not to get any on this one!).

Not all stories end with a "happily ever after" but at least we can make sure there are plenty of opportunities for you to come and open up a new book and read those magical words, "Once upon a time ..." or words to that effect.

New shop - bigger and better!

2005-03-02T15:43:00.000+08:00

It has been a long time coming, and we are finally able to expand our shop! This means more space to do better displays and better layout so that customers can find what they are looking for.

There is always such a great response to books that have won awards or books that are on the gifted reading programme in various primary and secondary schools, that we'll have shelves specially dedicated to those titles. But we hope that all the other great books that have been shortlisted or are just a great read rather than a literary masterpiece will also find a way into a child's library.

It reminds me that some of Australia's best-loved children's authors (Paul Jennings, Morris Gleitzman, Duncan Ball) have not won literary awards, but are consistently voted top by children who just can't get enough of their books.

Our signature floor cushions and storytelling area will stay and we'll be getting in some new storytellers over the months too. The "new" part of the shop will feature mostly younger children's books and related products while the "original" area will be dedicated to older children who can browse the novel and non-fiction shelves undisturbed!

We're planning lots of special promotions and the publishers are keeping us up to date with whatever is new in children's publishing, so you will always find a reason to stop by and see what's new.

Yes, of course, we'll probably cave in to customer pressure and have a storewide sale when we open! Watch this space ...

The Soul Bird

2004-11-16T17:19:00.000+08:00

From time to time customers come in to the shop and request certain titles, and we do our best to get them. Often it is not because the customer wants them but because they just want to recommend something they have enjoyed reading. I think that says something about our customers - something good of course! - and maybe about Bookaburra, because they feel we are open to suggestions and we are still small and personal enough to be able to take action on what they suggest.

One of these books is The Soul Bird, a little gem of a book that has become an international best-seller. Written by an Israeli, Michal Snunit, as an antidote to the loneliness she felt when growing up, the book is one of those timeless classics which strikes a chord with anyone who reads it, irrespective of their religious background. As the review in the catalogue says, "It is a book to keep forever, and to give to those you love."

Grab a bargain!

2004-09-04T17:43:00.000+08:00

When is a bargain not a bargain? When the price has been artificially inflated so the retailer can offer a whopping discount and the customer feels the satisfaction of getting something way below retail price.

Well, we don't believe in that sort of bargain. When we state something is discounted, we discount from the price we have previously sold the item for. So you know that you are getting a genuine bargain. That's important to us because we believe that having impeccable business ethics is essential to building customer loyalty and trust. Our emphasis as a small indie bookstore is on good customer service and a great selection of titles - that's our edge if you like, rather than a constant cheap bargain-basement attitude.

Having said that, though, we are happy to pass on cheaper prices when we are able to get heavily discounted offers and remaindered titles from our suppliers, or when we need to reduce our over-stocked items to make way for newer titles. That way, we can strike a balance between the latest and the cheapest!

Since I'm having a bit of a grouse, there's another misconception I'd like to correct. There's a common, though unstated, assumption that booksellers are knee deep in profits, laughing all the way to the proverbial bank. Unfortunately, that really isn't true. It's tough making ends meet with narrow profit margins, retail rentals being as high as they are here and all the other overheads to pay. It means that even a 10% customer discount, although it doesn't seem that much to the customer, makes it tough for the bookseller to make a decent profit.

Independent booksellers are well aware of the professional inadvisability of waging a price war, but are often at the mercy of larger concerns which routinely offer "lost leaders" to attract customers into their store, where other items are generally at regular prices.

Will we go the way of the wonderful bookshop in "You've Got Mail" and be swallowed up by the equivalent of Fox, the big international chain? Not while we have loyal customers who appreciate the more personal service, those who bring their children in for storytelling and others who just enjoy being able to get things unavailable elsewhere.

I mean it when I say, "We look forward to being of service!" It is seriously so gratifying to receive so many compliments and we want to make sure we deserve the many accolades our customers have given us. Best of all is to see young children so enthusiastic about books, and older children coming in to ask for the latest book by today's many, wonderfully talented, writers. So do send us feedback and help us improve.

Bargain or no bargain, we want to make your experience shopping with us a satisfying one!

A Jolt out of Complacency

2004-08-19T12:11:00.000+08:00

I love reading about authors - how they started, what inspires them to write, what they are like really ... and many of them are really very modest even though they have won awards for their writing. Elizabeth Laird is one of those writers as you can read in this interview.

Not content to sit on her laurels in the comfort of her home in Richmond, she returned to Ethiopia (where she once spent 2 years as a teacher) with the idea of collecting stories from the rich tradition of oral storytelling that exists in all parts of Africa. These would then be rendered into simple English readers to help produce culturally appropriate and affordable reading materials for Ethiopian schools. Her accountis as inspiring as it is eye-opening.

Her latest book is "The Garbage King", the story of two unlikely friends who share the same fate - living on the streets. Dani is fleeing a tyrannical father, Mamo has no home at all and is escaping a life of slavery. The realism is stark and unremitting and far from the fantasy world that is the stock in trade of many writers today. The story of their survival as streetkids is believable (Laird really met such kids in Addis) and ultimately hopeful though, and gives the reader a bit of a necessary jolt out of complacency.

Available at our shop soon at $15.70 - reserve your copy now. Suitable for 11+.

Children as victims of war

2004-08-11T17:00:00.000+08:00

There are 40 million refugees currently in the world, about half of whom receive help from the UN refugee agency. Among them, of course, are children. Whether they are fleeing from wars in Africa, Afghanistan or Iraq, they face the same harrowing problems of displacement, fear, mistrust and a sense of hopelessness when they are unable to find refuge and settle in a permanent home. They travel for months at a time, experiencing the worst physical deprivations and often losing or having lost family members. It is a global crisis and one that will not go away overnight.

What has this to do with children's literature? Since books have been written - and even before, in the oral tradition - they have told stories of people facing challenges - sometimes real, sometimes imagined. The reader or the listener steps into the shoes of the protagonist and learns how it is to be that person, to feel his emotions, to see the world through his eyes, and to understand his situation. That can only be for the better. Perhaps it will inspire him to act more compassionately or to take time to understand others and to lift the veil of prejudice.

"I Am David" is one such book. It was originally published in 1963, in Danish, and soon after translated into English. It has never been out of print. It is set in an indeterminate place and time, and it follows 12-year-old David on his travels across Europe after he escapes from a concentration camp with little more than a compass, a sealed letter, a loaf of bread, and instructions to carry the letter to Copenhagen, Denmark. After years in camp he has lost his ability to relate to people and so his journey is also a spiritual one in which he must learn how to trust others again. It is an ultimately hopeful story that celebrates the human spirit of resilience and the power of love.

It is now set to be released as a film and should be on the screen in the US at least by October 8th this year. Let's hope it comes to Singapore too!

Other books that depict the lives of young people in times of war include: "Parvana" and "Parvana's Journey" by Deborah Ellis about a young girl in Afghanistan who is forced to live by her wits to ensure she and her younger siblings survive the war; "Thura's Diary" by Thura Al-Windawi which is a first hand account of an Iraqi teenager who lives through the bombings and the lawlessness of wartorn Baghdad ; "Boy Overboard" and its sequel "Girl Underground" by Morris Gleitzman which recount life for refugee children in Australian camps and for older children and teens the very popular series by John Marsden which begins with "Tomorrow When the War Began".

Award Winners All

2004-07-15T12:09:00.000+08:00

There are some books that really break the mould - and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is one of them. It's the kind of book that makes you laugh and fills you with feelings of the deepest sadness at the same time. A wonderful book for young adults, and older of course. It has won The Whitbread Book of the Year 2003, the Guardian Children's Fiction Award 2003 and the Booktrust Teenage Prize 2003.

When I first encountered the writing of David Almond (with Skellig), there was that same sense that here is a writer with a unique way of telling a story. I have enjoyed each of his subsequent books and particularly enjoyed Kit's Wilderness and his latest, The Fire Eaters. Both are set in the north-east of England and evoke for me the warmth of the people that I lived among for a decade. But you don't have to have lived there to realise that Almond is particularly gifted at bringing out the subtleties of emotional life of his characters. The Fire Eaters has won the Smarties Prize 2003 in the 9-11 year old category and is also the Whitbread Children's Book award winner for 2003.

I have checked and updated the links on our website to ensure you can access the latest awards lists, and do please call or email us if you would like to reserve or order any of the titles you see there.

Olympics

2004-07-14T15:54:00.000+08:00

As usual, Nooraini's creative flair has resulted in another wonderful display area at the front of the shop. This month concentrates on the Olympics, sport and Ancient Greece.

There's a wonderful website put up by the Pennsylvania Museum which gives the whole story of the Olympics in Ancient Greece. There are some eye-opening facts here - for example, that women had their own, separate Games. Read about the history and the politics of the Games (yes, even then, they were fraught with problems)- great stuff to help the kids with school projects, but good just for a general read.

A great website

2004-07-13T21:01:00.000+08:00

This is a great website from the uk and their own blog, achockablog is literally chock-full of the latest news reports from every available source for children's literature.

Among the entries are news that The Sleeping Beauty is children's favourite fairy tale, followed by Cinderella; also the sad news of the passing of well-known American author Paula Danziger; and the fact that 2004 is the 75th birthday of Eric Carle and the 35th anniversary of his classic tale of overeating and metamorphosis - The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

While we don't currently have a version of The Sleeping Beauty in our store (though there must surely be one hidden in one of our many anthologies), we have a beautifully illustrated version of Cinderella, published by North South Publications. I remember skipping to a rhyme when I was young that went "Cinderella, dressed in yella ..." and this particular Cinderella looks particularly fetching in her gorgeous yellow gown ...

Paula Danziger was an immensely popular children's author, whose death at the age of 59 must surely sadden her many fans. She published more than 30 novels, with millions of copies in print, among which are the Amber Brown series and "The Cat Ate My Gymsuit" - now in its 30th year of publication. This and others are currently in stock in the shop now.

Eric Carle is another extraordinarily prolific author whose popularity seems unrelenting. Look out for a special offer only available at Bookaburra later this month ... oh, ok I'll tell you what you can look forward to! It's a big board version of the book with a plush caterpillar to go with it, and we are going to be offering it at a very special price. More details when I have them! New stock of Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Polar Bear, Polar Bear has also just come in in board book and we'll soon have copies of his latest book (still only available in hardback though) Mister Seahorse.

We have also just received our new shipment of Eric Carle letters from Crocodile Creek which are really bright and will look great on any door or wall spelling out your child's name.

Welcome!

2004-07-09T17:18:00.000+08:00

Welcome to Bookaburrablog!

We are hoping this blog will keep you informed in a more up-to-date way with things happening as we hear about them. There will be more in the way of interesting links to other sites to do with good books, information about authors and their websites and general background to some of the issues they deal about in their books as well.

That way, Bookaburra will be your portal to a myriad doorways to children's literature.