Vale Douglas Keen:

 

Businessman whose Ladybird Books revolutionised children's publishing
"Douglas Keen, the driving spirit behind Ladybird Books, was a publishing visionary and an inspired businessman. In the years following the Second World War, under his editorial direction, the series of children's books became a household name. The Ladybird Key Words Reading Scheme alone sold 85 million copies, making Keen an important figure in promoting children's literacy.... One title, The Computer, was used by the Ministry of Defence to introduce its employees to higher technology (although the books' cover was plain, so staff would not realise they were learning from a Ladybird book). The same organisation later bought multiple copies of Understanding Maps to provide help with orienteering for the British Army during the Falklands War.... "
 
To see the full article by Nicholas Tucker: http://tinyurl.com/7n3dxz

Michael Dirda on Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson's eternally fresh comic adventures

There comes a time in the life of any young reader when nothing but adventure will do. It is the time when the old classics -- The Count of Monte Cristo, Journey to the Center of the Earth, King Solomon's Mines -- are suddenly the best stories in all the world. Which, of course, they are -- with the possible exception of those that begin this way:

http://adjix.com/vp7t

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Review: The Dangerous Days of Daniel X

Armed with nothing more than his unique powers, three not so imaginary friends, and his charming wit, Daniel sets off on whirlwind journey to kick some major alien butt.
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plus how to get the book for free

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Book review – The Tale of Despereaux

A charming story of unlikely heroes whose destinies entwine to bring about a joyful resolution.

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plus lesson plans and classroom resources

plus how to get the book for free

Penguin, UN Build Afghan School in Honor of Khaled Hosseini

Some very needy primary-school students in Afghanistan now have a brand-new school, thanks to a partnership between the Penguin Group (USA) and the United Nations’ refugee agency, UNHCR. The school, located in Arababshirali, roughly 150 miles from Kabul, in Kunduz Province, recently opened its doors to 270 children in grades one to six as a “tribute to American booksellers, librarians, and educators” who supported author Khaled Hosseini’s novels, The Kite Runner (2003) and A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007, both Riverhead), says Penguin. Riverhead is an imprint of Penguin. more » » » 

Boy, 9, Dispenses Advice

Alex Greven discussing his book on
The Ellen Degeneres Show earlier
this year. Alec Greven makes it look like child’s play. In the span of a year, the nine-year-old author has gone from self-published book fair bestseller to national media darling, and has three books arriving between now and next May. This month HarperCollins’s Collins imprint will release the first, How to Talk to Girls, based on a book Greven wrote at the age of eight, for a school assignment. 

In the picture book, which features interior art by Kei Acedera (her first children’s book as well), Greven, a fourth-grader from Castle Rock, Colo., offers suggestions about dealing with girls and crushes (“It is good to give a girl compliments. Don’t go crazy with them though. Then you look like you are trying too hard”), as well as observational “statistics” based on his experiences at school (“About 73 percent of regular girls ditch boys; 98 percent of pretty girls ditch boys”).  
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Review – Diary of a wimpy kid

Diary of a wimpy kidGreg is a conflicted soul: he wants to do the right thing, but the constant quest for status and girls seems to undermine his every effort. His attempts to prove his worthiness in the popularity race (he estimates he's currently ranked 52nd or 53rd) are constantly foiled by well-meaning parents, a younger and older brother, and nerdy friends.

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The Big Splash

The Big Splashby Jack Ferraiolo

Snappy, pulp-inspired noir set in the mean hallways of middle school, from an exciting debut author.

Click here to read more ... plus an interview with the author and how to get a free water gun.

 

Remembering James Marshall

em>Panelists Anita Silvey and David Wiesner.
Earlier this week more than 100 booksellers, librarians, and other children’s book devotees attended a panel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., to mark the publication of James Marshall’s George and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends Stories (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Sept.). Billed as both a celebration of Marshall (1942–1992) and a look at humor in children’s books, the panel was moderated by Roger Sutton, editor of the Horn Book,
which cosponsored the event with the
Cambridge Public Library and HMH. 

Although, as Anita Silvey noted during the panel, Marshall was one of the few children's writers and illustrators to get a book contract after seeing one editor (Walter Lorraine) with one portfolio—and one of the first to get on The Today Show—he never was awarded a Caldecott. Neither panelist David Wiesner, who has received three, nor Martha Speaks author/illustrator Susan Meddaugh or school librarian Susan Moynihan could explain why, except to point to the humor in his work.   

Farewell Ivan Southall

Ivan Southall, one of Australia's best loved and most prolific children's book authors, has died. He was 87.

Southall won four Children's Book of the Year Awards during the 1960s and 1970s.  He received national and international acclaim for his books — including the British Library Association's Carnegie Medal for Josh (1971).  Hills End was included in The New York Times list of books of the year in 1963.

Maurice Saxby, children's literature expert and a close friend of Southall, said the author had had "an inestimable influence on the way his readers view themselves as individuals and as Australians".