Helen Cresswell Obituaries

British author, Helen Cresswell, died this week aged 71. There have bee a number of tributes in the British Press.
http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article315482.ece
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4286364.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1580373,00.html

Animalia bound for the small screen

http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=101&article=26619
The series, for Ten Network in Australia, is based on the alphabet picture book by Graeme Base.

Happy 10th Birthday Internet Public Library

The timeline of its development is online at http://www.ipl.org/div/anniversary/timeline.html

Nancy Drew is popular with granddaughters of her original readers

Seventy-five years since they were first published the adventures of Nancy Drew are being read by a new generation. In honor of the 75th Anniversary of Nancy Drew, the University of Maryland Libraries, Special Collections presents the exhibition Nancy Drew and Friends: Girls' Series Books Rediscovered. Rad about it in The Washington Post at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092102252.html

GOT YOU! The Bottersnikes and Gumbles Fan Site

Worth a look is this fan site for S.A. Wakefield's classic series
http://www.bottersnikes.ubiquedesign.com.au/index.html

Victorian Premier's Literary Awards: Shortlist 2005

The 2005 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards shortlist has been recently announced. The winners will be annonuced on October 17. See the list with judges' comments at http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/literary/pla/index.html

Colin Thompson Desktop Background Images

At his website http://www.colinthompson.com/ author and illustrator Colin Thompson has made some of his images available for download. The bookshelf image is available in full colour or sepia.

Fully booked teacher's pet in a class of his own

Article about Ursula Dubosarsky from the Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/fully-booked-teachers-pet-in-a-class-of-his-own/2005/09/18/1126981947767.html

E-Portfolios for Learning

Helen Barrett's blog with links to her site on professional portfolios is a must for the teacher librarian who wishes to keep up with current practice.

MusicAustralia

"MusicAustralia is an online service developed by the National Library of Australia and the National Film and Sound Archive (a division of the Australian Film Commission). MusicAustralia helps you to find, access and navigate a rich store of information on Australian music, musicians, organisations and services from a single access point." Search this database at http://www.musicaustralia.org/

The follow a theme feature is similar to that found at PictureAustralia.

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize Shortlist Announced

See the titles at: http://books.guardian.co.uk/childrensfictionprize2005/story/0,16065,1571857,00.html
The winner will be announced on October 1st.

Australian Author hits headlines in Bangkok Post

'The first book I wrote was a children's book," said Andrew Matthews, Australian author of Being a Happy Teen, " Read the full article in the Bangkok Post at http://www.bangkokpost.com/en/Outlook/17Sep2005_out01.php

Books for Boys

Over dinner last night a colleague reminded me of Newington College's visually appealing reading lists for boys in years 7-10. "The books that remain are here because people like you have said they are good, not because teachers think they are good for you." Take a look at http://www.newingtoncollege.nsw.edu.au/widereading/index.html

New UK Report on Young People and the Internet

The nature and meaning of children's internet use and emerging patterns of attitudes and practices across diverse contexts and social groups in the UK are discussed in the report from The London School of Economics. The report is available at :
http://www.children-go-online.net/

National Simultaneous Storytime

Wombat Stew was a great hit for National Simultaneous Storytime. At our school 1,000 people gathered for a reading of the story by the Principal and students from Kinder to Year 12. Parkes Christian School also joined the fun. See the newspaper report.

Misrule Blog

One of my favourite blogs is Misrule, http://www.misrule.com.au/serendipity/. The blogger, Australian Judith Ridge, says "Mostly, it concerns itself with news about children's literature." It is a good place to catch up on news with an Australian flavour.

Australian author passes on

Donald Horne, author of The Lucky country died this week aged 83. For further info see 'The Lucky Country' author dies, aged 83

Australian Authors and Illustrators for Young People

I have spent quite a bit of time recently updating the links on this page at http://www4.tpgi.com.au/welwel/ausauthors/ recently. The site has hundreds of links to biograpical information, interviews and teaching materials.

The First Post - TLNewsau reborn


It is two years since I posted anything to TLNewsau first edition (now deleted).

Spurred on by Pat Pledger's session at the IASL Conference in Hong Kong in July I decided to give blogging another go. Hopefully the bits I post here will be of some use to TLs - particularly those in isolated areas.

New Mitchell Library Site

I alerted the staff at school to this a few weeks ago and some were suitably impressed. My mate Kate wrote this week "It’s a Wow! – make sure you go to “our libraries” and go to the door at Mitchell Library and make sure you’ve got your sound on too…"

Take a look at http://www.atmitchell.com/