Woman's Hour

If you're near a radio tomorrow morning at 10, be sure to tune in to Woman's Hour on Radio 4. Leonie is going to be on with the wonderful Wendy Cooling (Wendy has been one of our consultants on the Ultimate First Book Guide), talking about books for 0-7s and hopefully giving the UFBG a nice little plug along the way. Should be interesting, so do listen in.

(Also because if Leonie's a bit nervous it'll help her to know that the among the audience of MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF PEOPLE LISTENING TO HER TALKING LIVE! there will be at least a few friends, so make sure you're there!)

D.

dinner with friends

I'm feeling distinctly delicate this morning - despite not having had that much to drink last night! The trouble with going out for dinner with good friends is that time goes by and then suddenly you've only time for five hours sleep - not something I cope with very well. But, the evening was lovely - and the 'good friends' were Danny (the one who hangs around here too) and our truly delightful agent. I wonder if all authors think such nice things about their agents? Hmm...

Anyway, conversation roamed over many subjects, from Conversation Cards to George Clooney (Danny sighed) but mainly centred on children's books - from the ones we love, to the ones we don't, on to the state of publishing and to the future of books. It was all very positive, and I came away very happy to be involved in something that's so vibrant - it really is a brilliant time to be involved in kids' publishing!

What next?

Busy working on an Ultimate Book Guide 'what next?' spread for the Publishers Association children's supplement, which is due to be distributed in the Guardian in March. All about what else to read if you're stuck reading nothing but a particular author. Fantastically complicated design (all book titles and arrows and different colours) and our designer may be about to have a nervous breakdown. Will be worth it in the end though, I think (the what next? spread I mean, not the nervous breakdown).

Tumtum and Nutmeg

I'm reading this today - it's the first children's book by Emily Bearn (who as it happens was at school with me a long time ago, tho' can't imagine she'd remember that), and illustrated by Nick Price.

It's an old-fashioned story about mice (who eat earwigs en croute) and humans (who have to make do with yucky tinned spaghetti), and I'm quite surprised to find that it's really exceptionally charming, a lovely & familiar-feeling piece of writing, which I'll be telling people about. I wasn't at first attracted to the cover, and flicking through it in the bookshop wasn't wild about the pictures, but have started warming to them too now. Will finish it off tonight as soon as I'm done with those tax returns...

D.

PS First reviews of The UFBG from Rebecca yesterday, and all very positive so far... According to this month's issue of Child Education, the The UFBG is the latest in a series "which has become a firm favourite in the children's books world". Nice. I wonder if any press have picked up the American UTBG (teen guide) which came out a few weeks ago - any sightings?

Teenagers' writing competition

Just launched the website for a writing competition I've been organising to support Human Rights Watch, an amazing organisation I've been working with for a few years. The competition, 'Right Words', is inviting young people in England (aged 14-16) to write something about or inspired by the situation in Darfur over the last few years - a story, a poem or an essay.

Press release is going out tonight. If anyone knows any teenagers who might be interested, or any secondary school teachers who could use it in the classroom (we have lesson-plans etc. to make it easy & useful for them) please let them know! The website is www.rightwords.org.uk - it's not 100% finished, but there's plenty there to get an idea. Tell people!

It's been supported, incidentally, by A&C Black (publishers of the UBGs) who very kindly did a big schools mailing for us a couple of weeks ago. Thanks!

D.

PS You can tell, presumably, that I've just worked out how to put links into my blog posts?

PPS Nice endorsements on the site from former UBG contributors Jacqueline Wilson and Anthony Horowitz!

One more for the collection

Amazon delivered my first Ultimate Teen Book Guide hardback from the US a moment ago. I think the idea behind having a hardback was for libraries, schools etc. (it's not a hardback sort of trade book, really, I think); but whatever the reason it looks very smart. I think there's something about a hardback that makes it feel like a Real Proper Book. Very pleasing.

D.

Caldecott for Hugo Cabret!

Absolutely delighted to hear that this year's Caldecott Medal has gone to The Invention of Hugo Cabret. (Announced about a week ago, but somehow I missed the news...) It's an extraordinary book, and the one I chose every time I was asked for my 'book of the year' for 2007; not surprised at all that I'm clearly not the only one to think it's just remarkable.

If you don't know it, it's the story of a boy who lives in a Paris train station, and about the early days of silent cinema; and it's told in a combination of words and pictures that work together like in no book I've ever seen before. Some of the story is taken by the words, some by the pictures (no page has both), and it works amazingly well, giving you an experience partway between reading a beautiful book and seeing an atmospheric silent film.

Since I was introduced to it I've bought countless copies for adults who've all felt the same way; so go buy it if you haven't already! My mother in London loved it, my friend Monique in Boston, my cousin Antonio in Rio, Susan too... - this one, I think is unanimous.

D.

PS Also delighted that Brian Selznick - the author/illustrator, who I met at Cheltenham for an event together and subsequently in New York, and who is as well as being a fantastically talented illustrator a lovely man - just before receiving the prize found time to write us a little piece about The Borrowers, a favourite of his, for the forthcoming updated 8-12 UBG. Hugo Cabret itself is going in too, of course, recommended by illustrator David Roberts. And the new US teen UBG has also included it, with an American librarian writing "I don't think I've ever read a book quite like this". I quite agree.