Children's Book Week

Yes, it’s Children’s Book Week this week! We love a good children’s book at UWTSD Swansea libraries, with lots of quality books for youngsters from early years to teens available in the Teaching Practice collection at Townhill, and a good selection of beautiful picture books available on the shelves at Griffith Library in Dynevor. We all have our favourite reads from childhood, and many so-called 'children’s' books make good reading whatever your age, so do feel free to have a browse next time you’re in.

Children’s Book Week has been going for over 80 years now and aims to support reading for pleasure. You can find out more on the Booktrust web  pages, where you’ll also find links to resources such as Booktrust’s 100 Best Books (how many have you read?) and a toolkit to help parents encourage a love of reading in their children. You can also take a look at the Booktrust Best Book Guide 2014, which has been published to coincide with this week's celebrations. Perfect if you’re looking for some new books for the special little someone in your life!

Festivities officially end tomorrow (4^th July), but we think every day is a good day to enjoy reading a good book. Let’s see how many of the 100 Best Books we can read over the summer!

T. Llew Jones Day

Tying in nicely with Children’s Book Week, it’s T. Llew Jones Day! The prolific Welsh writer and poet, who wrote for both children and adults, is celebrated every year on his birthday, 11^th October. He was born in 1915 and died in 2009, but his English and Welsh language books remain as popular as ever. He was committed to addressing the shortage of Welsh language books for children in post-war Wales and became involved in conferences and competitions to generate new works as well as helping the shortfall by writing his own books! You can find out more about T. Llew Jones from the National Library of Wales’ Welsh Biography Online and see what the Welsh Books Council has to say about T. Llew Jones Day on their website. If you’ve yet to discover T. Llew Jones yourself, we have a number of his books in Townhill Library.

Children's Book Week

Yes, it’s Children’s Book Week from today until Friday! You can find out all about it on the Booktrust’s web page. To celebrate this year’s book week, the Booktrust has selected 100 books to read before you’re 14 (and well worth a read if 14 is but a distant memory too!), handily broken down into different age categories. You can even vote for your favourite children’s book in each of the four age ranges – 0-5 years, 6-8 years, 9-11 years and 12-14 years – so if you want to cast your vote for Matilda over Harry Potter, or Princess Smartypants over the Jolly Postman, now’s your chance!

You’ll find many of those top 100 children’s books, as well as a whole lot more, in the Teaching Practice collection on the first floor of Townhill Library. Come in and have a look, or use our Catalogue to find the book you want and ask for it to be sent to your home campus library!

What we are reading - A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness

This Children’s Book Week you might be wondering about the cream of the crop in the world of children’s literature. Everyone has different tastes, of course, but Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls must be considered among the best of the bunch this year. This book made history in the summer when it became the first book to win both the CILIP Carnegie Medal for best children’s book and the CILIP Greenaway Medal for best illustrations (find out more about these prizes from our previous blog posts).



Hannah, who works in Townhill Library, was quick to snap the book up when it arrived in the library this summer. She shares her thoughts below:-



A Monster Calls – A Novel by Patrick Ness, from an original idea by Siobhan Dowd

This book is interesting for two reasons:

1.       It is the first book to win both The Carnegie Medal and The Greenaway Medal.

Hannah

2.       The author adapted a story originally thought up by another author; Siobhan Dowd.

Siobhan Dowd wrote in the young adult/teenage category of children’s literature.   Her books ‘A Pure Swift Cry’ shortlisted for The Carnegie Medal in 2007, and ‘Bog Child’ which won the award in 2009 both deal with controversial, and social realist issues.  ‘A Monster Calls’ is aimed a little younger than a typical Dowd book – which is fine: – Ness was not trying to be Dowd; he was writing her story in his own style.

A few pages into ‘A Monster Calls’ I thought I probably wouldn’t finish it.  Even though the illustrations were very creepy, I thought the book was just too young for an adult to give it a fair go.  But something kept me going.  It was deep, dark and intriguing and before long I forgot I was reading a children’s book at all.

Ness worked in his own style, on a story he adapted in his own way, and let it go in its own direction. Yet it still managed to capture the heart wrenching drama and tragedy of a Dowd book. Her books can touch teenagers and adults alike and this story is no different. Yes, the book is about a monster-tree.  But this book about a monster-tree DOES deal with serious issues. This book about a monster-tree CAN be taken seriously by adults.Like any Dowd book, it deals with subjects that are hard to deal with:

Illness and death: “I can’t stand it anymore!.. I can’t stand knowing that she’ll go!”

Bullying: “Harry had tripped Conor coming into the school grounds… And so it had begun…and so it had continued.”

Feeling guilt: the need to be punished: “Why didn’t it kill me?..  I deserve the worst.”

Anger: “TEAR THE WHOLE THING DOWN!” 

The book also contains three tales told by the monster-tree, which are actually very philosophical. Each of the three tales has a surprising moral to it.  The conclusions about ethics, intentions, justice and punishment are debatable, and will really make children stop and think.  

The story is not only told with Ness’s words, but also with Jim Kay’s pictures.  Each picture, scattered with minute detail is not only a superb piece in its own right, but also compliments and enhances the feel of the story.  The illustrations are thicker and darker when Conor is feeling gloomy; light and minimalist when there is hope in his life.  When Conor is feeling under pressure, the drawings engulf the pages and surround the words creating an almost claustrophobic atmosphere.

This is a thrilling yet moving read, full of twists and irony.  The way the story is told is excellent.  Children will be enthralled within its world of magic and fantasy,   while adults will accept it as realistic and allegorical. The illustrations are dark and detailed; harsh yet elegant. 

Well. That definitely sounds like it’s worth a read! Thanks Hannah. A Monster Calls is available in the Teaching Practice section of Townhill Library, as are the two Siobhan Dowd books mentioned. Hankies at the ready!

Children’s Book Week – Let’s celebrate reading for pleasure

Children’s Book Week is an annual event in support of children reading for pleasure.  This year’s event takes place 1^st – 7^th October with the theme of Heroes and Heroines. It’s aimed at children of primary school age and anyone who is involved with the support of children’s reading (teachers and trainee teachers, we're thinking of you, as well as any parents out there), but might also be of interest to some of our illustration students. You can find out more from Booktrust.

The Booktrust website is an excellent resource in itself (see our blog post from April). It has all sorts of information about books, authors and illustrators, including interviews and reviews. It’s also a great place to go if you’re looking for a book to read and need some recommendations!

If you’re particularly interested in children’s reading, you might also like to take a look at Books for Keeps. This is a freely available online magazine which focuses on books for children from babies to teenagers. This is a fantastic place to go to keep up to date with the children’s book world. There are lots of articles, interviews with children’s authors and illustrators, and reviews of the latest publications for different age ranges. Books for Keeps was also published as a paper magazine up until 2010. You’ll find lots of back copies in the journal stack on the ground floor of Townhill Library (where the photocopier is). Definitely worth a browse!

It is generally accepted that the practice of reading for pleasure benefits a child (see the report from the Department of Education) so it’s definitely worth trying to instil a love of books in our children. If you’re in need of inspiration, give the resources above a try, and also call into Townhill Library to have a look at our Teaching Practice collection where you’ll find lots of lovely books for children of all ages.