Catherine Jinks in the SMH

Last Saturday's Herald featured an article about Australian author, Catherine Jinks.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/books/dont-fence-her-in/2006/11/23/1163871531232.html

Rights of the Reader Poster

From Walker Books is this poster by by Daniel Pennac illustrated by Quentin Blake that would be a great addition to any library or classroom's display. I'm printing it off in A3 size in colour.
http://www.walkerbooks.co.uk/assets_walker/dynamic/1158585957437/Rights-of-the-Reader-poster.pdf

New shortlist

From ACHUKA today

The shortlist for the Costa Children's Book Award (formerly Whitbread) is as follows:

David Almond - Clay (Hodder Children's Books)
Julia Golding - The Diamond of Drury Lane (Egmont Press)
Meg Rosoff - Just In Case (Puffin)
Linda Newbery - Set in Stone (David Fickling Books)

Christmas Suggestions

From The Guardian " Julia Eccleshare picks some festive treats for youngsters ". See the selection at
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1956139,00.html

Best Books of 2006 - Amazon's Top 10 Editors' Picks: Teens

See the list at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/1000021671/ref=amb_link_3908612_15/104-3322456-0303967

It is great to see an Australian book "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak at number 1 on the list. This is certainly the best I have read this year.

2006 National Book Award Winner - Young People's Literature

Details at: http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2006_ypl_anderson.html

Just stumbled upon this gem - Author Podcasts

Video and audio podcasts with children's book authors and illustrators are available from the Reading Rockets website. The podcast page is at: http://www.readingrockets.org/podcasts/authors
I am downloading Katherine Paterson and Jon Scieszka right now with the Juice podcast receiver.

Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians

I conducted another workshop on the ALIA/ASLA Standards in Western Sydney this afternoon. The 30 plus participants from DET schools in the Penrith, Mount Druitt and Blue Mountains areas worked enthusiastically to record ways in which they could demonstrate their achievement of the standards.

Seven Commandments for teacher Librarians

From the ISLMA Conference
http://islmaconference.blogspot.com/2006/11/seven-commandments-for-teacher.html

SearchMash

I notice that Google has a new test search engine SearchMash http://www.searchmash.com/. It was very slow when I tried it.

ASLA XX -Adelaide October 2007

I'm heading for Adelaide in October for the ASLA Conference. ASLA, the peak body for Teacher Librarians is holding their biennial confernece in the City of Churches. for further information go to http://www.asla.org.au/pd/conference/

Writers' Workshops

We were lucky to have author John Larkin conduct workshops for our Years 7-10 students over three days last week. John was an excellent facilitator. Our students enjoyed the workshops and the English staff were impressed. I can highly recommend John as a Writer in Residence.

Ursula Moray Williams

Ursula Moray Williams died on October 17, aged 95.

Obituaries
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2006/11/01/db0102.xml

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.obituaries/browse_thread/thread/90c73a2de1163a68/50544a8e86a45ad9

“Get the picture? The Effects of Iconicity on Toddlers’ Reenactment from Picture Books”

Queensland psychologist, Gabrielle Simcock, reports on a study that shows that "Parents who engage in the age-old tradition of picture-book reading are not only encouraging early reading development in their children but are also teaching their toddlers about the world around them."
The full report is available at the APA site: http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/dev4261352.pdf

New Roald Dahl Biography

Publishing News reports that Donald Sturrock has been chosen by the Dahl family to write a biography of Dahl. HarperCollins will publish the work in 2009

Animalia

The classic children's book Animalia is being turned into a television series and will be screened in Australia in just over a year. See the announcement