Preliminary rounds to select OLA's two Kids' Lit Quiz teams have been taking place for all pupils in Year 7 and Year 8. Higher scorers will be invited to a second round taking place in their own time, and they will need to confirm their availability to take part.
This year the Oxfordshire and Berkshire Heat will be taking place at the Newman Rooms on Monday 23 November, 2.30 - 5.30 p.m. It’s a great spectator event and super entertainment: put the date in your diary now! The winning team from this heat will go through to the UK Final taking place later the same week, on Friday 27 November this year also in Oxford, in the Town Hall, 1.30 - 4 p.m.
23 October 2009
22 October 2009
New books
Recently published books include:
Mal Peet's novel, Exposure which has won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize;
Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson, historical fiction for younger readers;
David Benedictus' Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, an authorised Sequel to Winnie the Pooh;
Eoin Colfer's And Another Thing, the sequel to Douglas Adams's Hitchhikers Guide;
Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals, his 37th Discworld novel, a fantasy series which can be read in any order;
1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up edited by Julia Eccleshare.
Mal Peet's novel, Exposure which has won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize;
Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson, historical fiction for younger readers;
David Benedictus' Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, an authorised Sequel to Winnie the Pooh;
Eoin Colfer's And Another Thing, the sequel to Douglas Adams's Hitchhikers Guide;
Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals, his 37th Discworld novel, a fantasy series which can be read in any order;
1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up edited by Julia Eccleshare.
13 October 2009
Julia Golding visit
Oxfordshire author Julia Golding visited Our Lady's Abingdon to talk to pupils in Years 7 and 8 about why and how she writes, answer questions and autograph copies of her books. This was followed by two writing workshops for Year 10 students.
Julia Golding’s writing career followed work as a diplomat for the Foreign Office in Poland and working for Oxfam as a lobbyist. Her first novel, The Diamond of Drury Lane, won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2006 and the Nestle Children's Book Prize 2006. In 2007 Waterstone's nominated her as one of their 'Twenty-five authors for the future'.
The Diamond of Drury Lane is set against the backdrop of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane in 1790 and is full of local colour and authentic detail. Cat Royal is an orphan who lives at the back of the theatre, who mingles with the actors on stage to the lords and ladies in the stalls to the barrow boys in the grimy marketplace, as a gripping diamond mystery unfolds.
Many of her books are available for loan from the school library.
Julia Golding’s writing career followed work as a diplomat for the Foreign Office in Poland and working for Oxfam as a lobbyist. Her first novel, The Diamond of Drury Lane, won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2006 and the Nestle Children's Book Prize 2006. In 2007 Waterstone's nominated her as one of their 'Twenty-five authors for the future'.
The Diamond of Drury Lane is set against the backdrop of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane in 1790 and is full of local colour and authentic detail. Cat Royal is an orphan who lives at the back of the theatre, who mingles with the actors on stage to the lords and ladies in the stalls to the barrow boys in the grimy marketplace, as a gripping diamond mystery unfolds.
Many of her books are available for loan from the school library.
12 October 2009
Oxfordshire Book Awards
The Oxfordshire Book Award (formerly the West Oxfordshire Book Awards) is an award in which children in the Oxfordshire area - almost 1000 of them - were involved in selecting, shortlisting and voting. There are three categories: Best Picture Book, Best Junior Novel, and Best Teen Novel which were announced at the awards ceremony in Abingdon.
Charlie Higson’s fifth Young Bond novel By Royal Command won Best Junior Novel; Stephanie Meyer's Breaking Dawn won the Best Teen Novel; and Michael Rosen and Nick Sharrat collected their awards for Best Picture Book for Dear Mother Goose, a delightfully witty lift the flap book where Agony Aunt Mother Goose helps Humpty Dumpty conquer his fear of falling and Little Miss Muffet deal with an over-friendly spider as well as helping a whole host of other much-loved nursery characters.
Charlie Higson’s fifth Young Bond novel By Royal Command won Best Junior Novel; Stephanie Meyer's Breaking Dawn won the Best Teen Novel; and Michael Rosen and Nick Sharrat collected their awards for Best Picture Book for Dear Mother Goose, a delightfully witty lift the flap book where Agony Aunt Mother Goose helps Humpty Dumpty conquer his fear of falling and Little Miss Muffet deal with an over-friendly spider as well as helping a whole host of other much-loved nursery characters.
09 October 2009
Anthony Horowitz and Charlie Higson
A conversation between Anthony Horowitz and Charlie Higson was published in The Times last Saturday - a fascinating read at http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article6856941.ece
07 October 2009
National Poetry Day - 8 October
National Poetry Day falls on Thursday 8 October, and the theme is Heroes and Heroines. Poetry celebrates heroes of all kinds from sporting heroes to mums and dads. Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy has written a poem for National Poetry Day which you can be sent as an e-card from the National Poetry Day website. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for poetry on the radio, TV and in school.
The Library's National Poetry Day Competition was won by Isabel and Georgina in Year 9 - well done for identifying all the poems.
The Library's National Poetry Day Competition was won by Isabel and Georgina in Year 9 - well done for identifying all the poems.
03 October 2009
Man Booker prize
The winning writer of the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be handed the £50,000 prize during a ceremony at London's Guildhall on 6 October. This year's shortlist has been considered a vintage year, the six nominees including JM Coetzee and AS Byatt, both of whom are past winners of the literary award.
South African Coetzee is hoping to become the first three-time winner with his fictional memoir, Summertime. Byatt is nominated for The Children's Book, a saga that follows a series of Arts and Crafts families at the turn of the 20th century. Adam Foulds' The Quickening Maze is based set in and around an asylum in 1840, whilst Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall is an account of the life and times of Thomas Cromwell, Chief Adviser to Henry VII. With the exception of Sarah Walters’ The Little Stranger, the novels are based on real figures – or, in the case of Simon Mawer’s The Glass Room, on a modernist house, Der Glasraum. [more detail].
Interviews with each of the authors and audio extracts of each of their titles can be found on the Man Booker website as well as a teaser section of each of the titles to download to mobile phones in both audio and text versions.
Winner: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.
South African Coetzee is hoping to become the first three-time winner with his fictional memoir, Summertime. Byatt is nominated for The Children's Book, a saga that follows a series of Arts and Crafts families at the turn of the 20th century. Adam Foulds' The Quickening Maze is based set in and around an asylum in 1840, whilst Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall is an account of the life and times of Thomas Cromwell, Chief Adviser to Henry VII. With the exception of Sarah Walters’ The Little Stranger, the novels are based on real figures – or, in the case of Simon Mawer’s The Glass Room, on a modernist house, Der Glasraum. [more detail].
Interviews with each of the authors and audio extracts of each of their titles can be found on the Man Booker website as well as a teaser section of each of the titles to download to mobile phones in both audio and text versions.
Winner: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.
Booktrust Teenage Prize 2009 shortlist
Launched in 2003 to recognise and celebrate contemporary fiction written for teenager, the Booktrust Teenage Prize is judged by a mixed panel of adults and teenagers. The shortlist for the 2009 prize has been announced.
Auslander by Paul Dowswell (Bloomsbury)
It’s 1942 and Peter is seized from an orphanage in Warsaw by Nazi soldiers, only to be classified as an Aryan and adopted by the prominent Nazi Professor Kaltenbach. Peter is expected to perfectly embody the values of the regime, but he has his own ideas on how to undermine its horrific pursuit of perfection.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury)
This chillingly fantastical tale is Gaiman’s first full-length novel since his internationally bestselling and highly acclaimed Coraline. Bod is alive…but his friends are not. Raised by ghosts, werewolves and other ethereal graveyard inhabitants, how will Bod reconcile the world of the living and the dead?
Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray (Definitions)
Left despondent after the funeral of their friend Ross, three friends – Kenny, Sim and Blake – steal Ross’ ashes and embark on an epic journey in search of a more fitting memorial. Described as a 'modern classic' (Jake Hope, The Bookseller), this tale explores deep friendship and devastating loss.
The Ant Colony by Jenny Valentine (HarperCollins)
33 Georgiana Street is home to an eclectic and chaotic assortment of runaways and misfits. Their disparate lives only briefly cross paths as they each purse their isolated existence; no questions asked. Yet below the surface everyone has a secret to hide.
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant (Puffin)
Intrigue and eerie mystery lie at the heart of Grant’s captivating debut novel, which entwines ancient German folklore with contemporary life-changing tragedy. The disappearance of ten-year-old Katharina reduces the small German town of Bad Munstereifel to panic. Only young Pia is determined to discover the truth.
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (Walker)
The second sci-fi fantasy novel in the ‘Chaos Walking’ trilogy and sequel to the Booktrust Teenage Prize-winning The Knife of Never Letting Go, this fast-paced thriller continues the adventures of Todd and Viola. Fuelled by tension and mistrust, the pair find themselves on opposites sides of a civil war in this work of dystopian fiction.
Information from Booktrust website.
Auslander by Paul Dowswell (Bloomsbury)
It’s 1942 and Peter is seized from an orphanage in Warsaw by Nazi soldiers, only to be classified as an Aryan and adopted by the prominent Nazi Professor Kaltenbach. Peter is expected to perfectly embody the values of the regime, but he has his own ideas on how to undermine its horrific pursuit of perfection.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury)
This chillingly fantastical tale is Gaiman’s first full-length novel since his internationally bestselling and highly acclaimed Coraline. Bod is alive…but his friends are not. Raised by ghosts, werewolves and other ethereal graveyard inhabitants, how will Bod reconcile the world of the living and the dead?
Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray (Definitions)
Left despondent after the funeral of their friend Ross, three friends – Kenny, Sim and Blake – steal Ross’ ashes and embark on an epic journey in search of a more fitting memorial. Described as a 'modern classic' (Jake Hope, The Bookseller), this tale explores deep friendship and devastating loss.
The Ant Colony by Jenny Valentine (HarperCollins)
33 Georgiana Street is home to an eclectic and chaotic assortment of runaways and misfits. Their disparate lives only briefly cross paths as they each purse their isolated existence; no questions asked. Yet below the surface everyone has a secret to hide.
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant (Puffin)
Intrigue and eerie mystery lie at the heart of Grant’s captivating debut novel, which entwines ancient German folklore with contemporary life-changing tragedy. The disappearance of ten-year-old Katharina reduces the small German town of Bad Munstereifel to panic. Only young Pia is determined to discover the truth.
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (Walker)
The second sci-fi fantasy novel in the ‘Chaos Walking’ trilogy and sequel to the Booktrust Teenage Prize-winning The Knife of Never Letting Go, this fast-paced thriller continues the adventures of Todd and Viola. Fuelled by tension and mistrust, the pair find themselves on opposites sides of a civil war in this work of dystopian fiction.
Information from Booktrust website.
The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world's largest prize for children's and young adult literature, and the nominees for the 2010 prize has been abnnounced. The award, which amounts to SEK 5 million, is awarded annually to either a single or to several recipients. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and those active in reading promotion may be rewarded. The award is designed to promote interest in children's and young adult literature, and in children's rights, globally. An expert jury selects the winners from candidates nominated by institutions and organisations worldwide. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is administered by the Swedish Arts Council. This makes the list of nominees a good starting place if you want an overview of what's going on in children's literature today. The list is long and includes several names familiar to a British school readership:
Almond, David: Author, Great Britain
Blake, Quentin: Illustrator, Great Britain
Chambers, Aidan (nominated singly and with Chambers, Nancy): Author/Promoters of reading, Great Britain
Gleitzman, Morris: Author, Australia
Hoban, Russel: Author, USA
Hughes, Shirley: Author/Illustrator, Great Britain
IBBY International: Reading promotion organisation, International
Innocenti, Roberto: Illustrator, Italy
Lowry, Lois: Author, USA
Mahy, Margret: Author, New Zealand
Morpurgo, Michael: Author, Great Britain
Scheffler, Axel: Illustrator, Germany
Sempé, Jean Jacques:Illustrator, France
Sis, Peter: Illustrator, USA
Thompson, Kate: Author, Ireland
Wilson, Jacqueline: Author, Great Britain
Wynne Jones, Diana: Author, Great Britain
Almond, David: Author, Great Britain
Blake, Quentin: Illustrator, Great Britain
Chambers, Aidan (nominated singly and with Chambers, Nancy): Author/Promoters of reading, Great Britain
Gleitzman, Morris: Author, Australia
Hoban, Russel: Author, USA
Hughes, Shirley: Author/Illustrator, Great Britain
IBBY International: Reading promotion organisation, International
Innocenti, Roberto: Illustrator, Italy
Lowry, Lois: Author, USA
Mahy, Margret: Author, New Zealand
Morpurgo, Michael: Author, Great Britain
Scheffler, Axel: Illustrator, Germany
Sempé, Jean Jacques:Illustrator, France
Sis, Peter: Illustrator, USA
Thompson, Kate: Author, Ireland
Wilson, Jacqueline: Author, Great Britain
Wynne Jones, Diana: Author, Great Britain
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