Eoin Colfer celebrates 10 years of Artemis Fowl

Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Artemis Fowl series with the hysterically funny and utterly brilliant number one bestselling author Eoin Colfer in this interactive live webcast. You may even get to meet Artemis Fowl himself! Organisations or individuals can register.
The webcast will take place live at: 11.30am - 12.10pm on Wednesday 6th April 2011 and will be available as an on-demand replay shortly after.

Viewers can submit questions live for Eoin Colfer to answer during the webcast

To register go to: http://www.eoincolfervirtuallylive.co.uk/

"Angel" by L. A. Weatherly: guest post by Ellen (12)

Before Christmas, Usborne sent us some sample chapters of Angel which inspired Ellen, of Knightswood Secondary School, to read the whole book and send me this review:

"The only good angel is a dead angel"

Angel is a wonderful, enchanting story about a girl called Willow and a boy called Alex. Willow’s life is turned upside down when she is accused of being against the angels. Then she meets Alex, an angel killer, and they run away around the USA to stop the angels.
I didn’t want to go to school it was so exciting. I just wanted to curl up and carry on reading. Luckily though, near the end of term, I got some spare time to read.
It is officially one of my favourite books and I’d suggest it to anyone who loves adventure.
So what are you waiting for? Find and grab your own copy and join Willow and Alex on an adventure to destroy the angels...

Because I heard Ellen was enjoying it so much, I also read it myself and, I have to say, I agree with her assessment, I couldn't put it down either. There is apparently going to be a trilogy - according to Amazon, Angel fire is out in October, so I think Ellen and I will both be looking forward to that. Here's the catalogue record for Angel if you want to borrow it from us.




Many thanks to Ellen for her review.

Seven Stories' Enid Blyton collection online

Seven Stories, the fabulous centre for children's books in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, announced on Twitter this afternoon (@7stories) that the catalogue of its Enid Blyton collection is now available to view online. Go to this link and type EB into the box marked Reference - many of the entries have thumbnails of the manuscripts to look at. Follow progress on their Enid Blyton blog.

Julia Donaldson exhibition

An exhibition of contemporary children's book illustration curated by Julia Donaldson opens at the Park Gallery in Falkirk on 12th March. The Illustrators is an exhibition of work by artists who have illustrated Julia's books, such as Axel Scheffler. There is also a programme of events. Get ready for a visit by borrowing some of Julia's books from us.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library comes to Scotland

Dolly Parton might seem an unlikely subject for this blog, but she has a strong interest in literacy and, in the past, has said her desire to promote childhood reading arose out of seeing how illiteracy disadvantaged her own family. Her Imagination Library originated in her hometown, Sevier County, Tennessee, in 1995 and has since spread around the world, resulting in around 30 million books being mailed to children. It arrived in the UK in Rotherham in 2007 and spread to Wigtown the following year. Now, a new partnership between Parton’s Dollywood Foundation, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Book Trust will result in over 3000 looked after children benefiting from a free book every month until their fifth birthday, and parents and carers will be encouraged to read with them.

Read the Scottish government's press release, information from Scottish Book Trust and reports from the BBC and the Herald for more information.

Storywriting competition for 5-11s

Another World Book Day launch, this time from National Literacy Trust which has teamed up with Katherine Holabird, author of the Angelina Ballerina books, and Build-a-Bear Workshop to announce a storywriting competition. Katherine has written the beginning of a story and children aged between 5 and 11 are being challenged to write the rest of it.

Guardian's new site launched on World Book Day

On Saturday, the Guardian published an article about its new online children's book club which launched today, World Book Day. The site has been designed and curated with the help of a dedicated editorial panel of 100 children and teens from around the world, and that's how it will continue to work: by children, for children. The front page is bright and welcoming, with links to news, quizzes, audio and video. Also, running across it is a colourful row of numbers from 1-16 - clicking on one takes you into the section for that age group. Featured today are interviews with several authors, including Philip Pullman and Jacqueline Wilson, and you can also watch a video in which some of the young people who have helped to design and curate the site explain why they love reading and what the site offers young readers. Definitely worth checking out.