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hhhWhat makes you so angry that you could scream!!

For Lilah May it's about whatever is happening to her very best friend Bindi, why is she behaving so madly? The love of her life, Adam Carter is apparently having nothing to do with her!! Is the whole world coming to an end?

Author Vanessa Curtis has another winning book following from The Taming of Lilah May in this latest book, Lilah May's Manic Days,  a new title published by Frances Lincoln.

Edgy, sparky and just the book to read when you are convinced that anyone older is absolutely out of the ark.

 

Great cover too...I'm now on to read her other books, Zelah Green and Queen of Clean.

You can buy the book through Dolphin Booksellers- the best in children's books always on line.


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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war horse

 

War Horse, that amazing book written by Michael Morpurgo, and dramatised in the West End at the New London Theatre will shortly be available at the movies.

 

Steven Spielberg's latest film production, War Horse, is opening at cinemas on January 13th. It has already been acclaimed for its powerful and thought provoking message.

With a great line up of actors, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Emily Watson and Peter Mullen, and over 200 horses, trained by Bobby Lovgren the film shows the story of the relationship between a boy and a horse.

But yet, there is so much more.... more than a million horses were sent to the front during the first World War,only 62,000 returned. The horse, Joey,is taken through so many different places and into such horrendous situations. It is a tale of endurance, courage and the pitiful way that war treats humans and animals alike.

There are many newspaper editorials, but try The Observer or The Guardian for some extra information.

A remarkable film, an outstanding theatre production and an even better story, written and developed by Michael Morpurgo.

See you at the movies

Sue Martin

You can buy the book through Dolphin Booksellers- the best in children's books always on line


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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bgwBooks go Walkabout

Stories the world over...

Children and authors using exciting technology to talk across the globe.

Next trip underway between Australia and the UK. Meetings planned with schools and classes of children. Great letters came back from 4D in Balgowlah Heights to Ifeoma Onyefulu,and letters to Lindy Batchelor in Sydney from Babraham Primary School. See them now on Books Go Walkabout.

We are meeting with authors in Australia and the UK in the next few weeks,to build those bridges and bring more books and stories to children from all over.

In Nigeria, children anxious to get hold of books, we can just make that happen and in an inexpensive way too.

Keep in touch with the project Books Go Walkabout, maybe there are some links you would like to make.

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers - The Best in children's books always on line.


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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gr

 

Don't tell me, we really should be thinking about books for Christmas.

Grace at Christmas by Mary Hoffman, is a good way to start. Published by Frances Lincoln it's a story of Grace and her plans before Christmas, including the cat playing the part of all the animals in the Nativity.

 

 

So the introduction of Savannah and her aunt who couldn't make the trip back to Jamaica in time had a few problems that made Grace think.

But she shared her home, her bedroom and even all her plans too.

A beautiful book with wonderful illustrations by Cornelius van Wright.

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers - the best in children's books always on line


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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ifA workshop with travels from Westacre to West Africa with Ifeoma Onyefulu, Saturday October 29th.

We are working with the Westacre Theatre Company in West Norfolk on an afternoon of fun, learning and adventure. We will be exploring how to write children books and play African instruments.

Ifeoma travels across Africa and you can follow her stories on her website, Ifeomaonyefulu.co.uk . This is a great opportunity for children in a rural village to look beyond and find out about a different world.

See Ifeoma's catalogue on Amazon here. Great books anytime.

Dolphin Booksellers- the best in children's books - always on line


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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bzWe met at Keat's House with Benjamin Zephaniah and Prodeepta Das for the launch of their new book, 'When I Grow Up'.

It's a book about breaking down stereotypes and about opening up the world of opportunity.

Benjamin Zephaniah  talked about his childhood and the stereotypes which meant he could either have been a gangster or a painter and decorator. But he wanted to be a poet. It was not expected that black people should go to university. After some time in different jobs he decided to follow his dream and has indeed become a famous and brilliant poet.

bz groupThe book shows all kinds of different jobs, from the Sikh lollipop man to the black woman space scientist,the mathematical clown and the forest keeper. The photos are great and the poems fantastic. A real joy to read and a book to keep looking at.

On the journey back from the launch on the tube, other passengers were leaning over to read the poems.

Published by Frances Lincoln  it is part of their programme of books valuing diversity and difference. See more books by Benjamin Zephaniah here.

Dolphin Booksellers - the best in children's books always on line


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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mm

 

Grendel the monster stalks the land

After struggling to make any sense of the awful and indescribable events in Oslo and Utoya I happened to listen to a radio programme with Michael Morpurgo.

Legends and folktales, he said, “ are warning tales, to alarm and terrify us, and to remind us of our own frailty.
The tales of Beowulf and Grendel in Norwegian folklore are bold and scary, Grendel preys on people, bringing death and destruction. Beowulf confronts Grendel and kills him but this is not the end of it. Evil is not so easily vanquished.

'Whatever the evil one is called, - witch,devil, troll or dragon, we have to be watchful and wary."

The last in the Harry Potter series, The Deathly Hallows part 2 shows the horrors that confronting evil can bring.

Books for children have a way of dealing with this through story, adventure, spine chilling experiences. Not all children's books are there for the happy ending, it is the way that children can understand the emotions that are most difficult. We put those emotions in the cupboard at our own expense.

As Michael Morpurgo says, “ The monsters are out there, and they are not like Shrek, they are like Grendel.”

ut

 

 

 

 

Sue Martin
Dolphin Booksellers the best in children's books always on line


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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Helen Limon has won the 2011 Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Award to Helen Limon for Om Shanti, Babe, a story about growing up, family and friendships that the judges described as '...fabulous . . . laugh-out-loud funny'.

dv 2011
The tale of teenage Cassia, who is forced to drop her preconceived ideas when she joins her mother on a business trip to south India, takes in fair trade and environmental issues alongside Cassia's struggles to accept her mother's new Indian partner, her spiky tussles with fashion-mad friend-to-be Priyanka and her crushes on pop star Jonny Gold and Dev, a boy she meets on a train.

Pictured: Helen Limon (2011 winner) Tom Avery (2010 winner – Too Much Trouble is published today) and Karon Alderman (2011 runner up)

The Award, was founded jointly by Frances Lincoln Limited and Seven Stories, the national centre for children's books, in memory of Frances Lincoln (1945-2001) to encourage and promote diversity in children's fiction.

The prize of £1,500 plus the option for Janetta Otter-Barry at Frances Lincoln Children's Books to publish the novel is awarded to the best manuscript for eight to 12-year-olds that celebrates diversity in the widest possible sense.

Australian author Michelle Richardson received a Special Mention for Tek, a book about a young girl from the Aboriginal Australian Murrinh-Patha community who can communicate with the
ngepan, the spirits of the dead.

Tom Avery, was the winner of the award in 2010 also celebrated the publication on June 23rd of Too Much Trouble.

Sue Martin: Dolphin Booksellers the best in children's books always on line.


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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berNiki Daly has won lots of awards for his brilliantly crafted books. This is latest release with Frances Lincoln (5th May) and follows Not so Fast Songolo, Once upon a Time and the very well loved Jamela's Dress.

Bernard loves his aunts, but he hates being kissed by them. It's time to take a stand. "No more kissing!" said Bernard, and he means it.

Look out for Spiderman and the medieval helmet, which is the best protection against the amorous embraces, until he opens the visor...

Eventually, led by Aunt Tallulah, his aunts find ways to send their kisses without leaving lipstick all over Bernard's cheeks.

A great story, delightful illustrations and an ending that's just right for Bernard.

dolphinBuy on line at Dolphin Booksellers, just click on the Amazon link and you will get a really good price for the book, still in hardback as a new release.

Dolphin Booksellers - the best in children's books, always on line.


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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DSCF0342Travelling to Sydney means more than just a visit down under.

On our second visit this year to develop a literacy project for children and families we met with some great people; yr 4 children, school teams, parents, authors,publishers and many more.

The project, Books go Walkabout, brings authors and illustrators to children from both sides of the world! Ambitious, yes but really exciting. Some of that eternal Aussie optimism catching hold.

We are finding ways of working through the systems and enabling a dialogue to take place from one country to the other. It will share stories and bring new dimensions to children as authors from across the world can bring their perspective.

Our first venture is with a school in Sydney and an English author, Ifeoma Onyefulu. Ifeoma travels to a different part of Africa most years taking the most amazing photos and building stories.

This is followed by an Australian author, Lindy Batchelor sharing her work with a school near Cambridge.

Much work to do in pioneering a new fledging venture and our work in business structures is a key part in making it a success.

DSCF0466

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sue Martin - SmithMartin Partnership - broadening horizons in communities


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.