Category Archives: All The Other Stuff

I read a lovely article recently where Mariella Frostrup discussed her ten most life-changing books. Typically I can’t find this article to link to (my information warrior powers are sleeping on the job) so, as I was somewhat inspired by that article, here are five books which changed my life. Obviously a lot of themContinue reading “Five books which changed my life”

Two things made me go oooh today (apart from my envious leanings towards somebody else’s lunch). The first was this:  (from here) Is it not Amazing? I don’t know about you but I’m checking this out as soon as I can. A good front cover sells the book before you’ve even read a word –Continue reading “Something kinda ooooooooh”

Just a quick one today. I hope to be holding a twitter chat on this issue shortly once I’ve worked out the details. It’s an emotive subject and one which I feel can’t be “solved” nor deserves a “solution”. It just deserves careful and honest thought – from both the reader and the author. It’sContinue reading “Bereavement in children’s literature”

So I’ve taken the plunge and have joined Goodreads. I am under the name LH Johnson so if you’d like to connect with me there and share reads, feel free 🙂 I’m a not sure as to yet how much I’ll be using it as I’m still working it out. Are you on Goodreads? DoesContinue reading “Goodreads”

A confession: I would have never read the Silver Brumby series were it not for the AMAZING cartoon version which hit the BBC a fair few years ago. I wouldn’t have come anywhere near Alan Garner (Lord, smite me down now) were it not for the BBC adaptation of Elidor. I’ll admit a lot ofContinue reading “TV first, book second?”

Like many other girls, I went through the “horse” phase. In real life I saved up for years to buy a tank of a gelding called Robert (with hooves the size of dinnerplates) and I devoured every horse related book I could find. KM Peyton is one of the few writers who have stuck withContinue reading “KM Peyton : an appreciation”

A film adaptation of Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth is just hitting the cinema and I’ve noticed a few newsworthy items about the story. The BBC have a look at what could have happened to the lost ninth legion here; the original Eagle which inspired Sutcliff lives in Reading (seriously, nothing surprises meContinue reading “The Eagle of the Ninth : news round-up”

According to this, Jacqueline (ignore the typo in the Tweet, it’s from the Grauniad) Wilson will be “updating” Five Children and It – the fabulous classic from E Nesbit. As I posted on Twitter, this news leaves me with very mixed feelings. E Nesbit’s work sparks of a very particular vintage and is just lovely.Continue reading “Jacqueline Wilson to update Five Children and It?”

Here’s a round up of some of the best stories / articles / tweets I noticed … Jacqueline Wilson, Charlie Higson, Cathy Cassidy and Michelle Paver all get interviewed on the fab looking new Guardian children’s book website. I can’t say how much this site floats my boat right now – it’s mediated heavily byContinue reading “Happy World Book Day!”

Claire Armitstead in the Guardian this week writes about the importance of elder siblings reading aloud to their younger brother and sisters. It’s about behaviour modelling and it’s about competition. You see what the elder sister is doing and, particularly if you’re the youngest child (not that I’m over empathising at all here!), you wantContinue reading “The importance of reading aloud … to your younger sibling”

Seven of them are children’s authors and that’s something to be massively proud about. Children are reading. And they are reading some damn good stuff. That’s my official point of view. My unofficial point of view is as follows: STICK THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT MARTIN AMIS!!!! List of all ten authors availableContinue reading “The UK’s top ten most borrowed authors from public libraries”

This is amazing. Please take a look at the original source for this post which is  here I also really want a library book briefcase now.

Booktrust recently published a list of ten kids books about love. The full list is available here. I’ve not read all of them but I was instantly intrigued. What’s love? How do we define love? How does a child perceive, experience and learn what love is? How is it represented in literature? Is love a necessaryContinue reading “Ten children’s books about love”

Today would have been A A Milne’s birthday. A A Milne should be a name known to a lot of you out there because he’s the magic man who created one of the most iconic bears of all time – Winnie the Pooh. You could celebrate today in several ways. Perhaps with a game ofContinue reading “Happy Winnie the Pooh day!”

The Rainbow List is a collection of titles that explore issues around being GLBTQ and are suitable for readers from birth to age 18. It’s a joint initiative between the ALA and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table. It’s a really interesting, valid and useful list and deserves to get a lot of publicityContinue reading “2011 Rainbow Project books announced”

When I was growing up we lived very near to York in North Yorkshire. In the middle of York, just around the corner from the Jorvik, there was the most amazing bookshop. I still remember it with the sort of wide-eyed wonder I used to reserve just for witnessing ponies and christmas. The thing was,Continue reading “The Children’s Library : the cool Aunt of libraries”

I’ve just read an interesting article from Mary Kole on the role of an Agent with regards to digital publishing and app based media. Very much worth a read. Full article available here. 

One of the defining authors of Children’s Literature has died. Dick King-Smith was one of the authors that  is, for me, indelibly linked with a very English style. Simple. Deceptively simple. He wrote stories that everyone thought they could write. But they couldn’t. Nowhere near. I remember trying to pastiche the style – choosing aContinue reading “Dick King-Smith has died”

These figures come from The Book Trust. And I’m so proud of the British public for their awesome taste. The Gruffalo Julia Donaldson The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle Peppa Pig Ladybird books The Mr Men Series Roger Hargreaves We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Michael Rosen

This is just a quick note to say I’m putting my feet up back at the family ranch and won’t be blogging over the Christmas break. I’ve got a lot of books to read up on as part of my dissertation whilst I’m back home so will be busy notating and scanning and wondering justContinue reading “Christmas hiatus”

Awesome. Stuff like this where publishers play with the format and push the boundaries of what a book can do / be makes me very very happy.

On the 8th December the hashtag #whyiread swept Twitter. For the uninitiated a hashtag is kind of like a classification system for posts that people put on Twitter. It allows a disparate group of people to post together under one heading. And #whyiread blew my mind a little bit. The story of the hashtag isContinue reading “#whyiread”

Financially times are hard. We’re all having to make cuts. And one of the perennial public bodies which surfaces at such times are libraries. A library is an easy thing to cut. It drinks in money for very little obvious result. I’ve spoken before about the sad truth that the cliched old librarian still exists.Continue reading “Libraries : an easy, but not especially wise, cut”

This guy seems to sum it up quite substantially. Enjoy. It’s splendidly inspirational.

Eva Ibbotson, one of the best children’s writers ever, died last Wednesday. One of the things I didn’t know was that she attended Dartington Hall school (I attended Dartington College of Arts, same place, VERY similar ethos) and this was a lovely fact to find out about her. I love finding Dartington in stories (haveContinue reading “RIP Eva Ibbotson”