Bookshops and Bookchoice

Spent a lovely morning selecting books for Temple Street Children’s Hospital and their Reach out and Read Programme. Budget was tight so we were trawling though bargain bins and special offers to make sure our average price per book was on track. It was hugely enjoyable.

Usually bookshop visits for me are about getting the 2-3 books on the list and trying not to fall for any others when I’m in there. Instead this morning was a bit like a treasure hunt- going through shelves and shelves and under tables and in display bins looking for the hidden gems.

It got me thinking about the daunting choice that is out there when parents and adults are faced with choosing a book for children and teens. It can be completely overwhelming. I wonder is there space in Irish bookshops for ‘book clinics’?-  Folks on hand to help select a book based on age, interests, budget and other factors. I know plenty of booksellers who do it brilliantly every day but perhaps a special day or event would help get more adults and parents asking for advice and not just slinking back out the door empty handed and confused……

ps I know I’ve mentioned it before but if you want a great insight into children’s bookselling and booksellers – head over to Shelftalkers Blog

just because

more here

Booky bloggers – Wed 18th February

Please note Change of Venue to Teacher’s Club – 36 Parnell Square, D 1

It is Blog Awards Week next week. Am really chuffed that I have been longlisted for the Best Arts & Culture Blog.

To coincide with the awards there is a special Blogging and Books Event next Wednesday February 18th at 7pm.

Venue: The Teacher’s Club, 36 Parnell Sq

Guests: Sarah Rees Brennan, Twenty Major, Ivan O’Brien and yours truly alongside some other special guests.

According to Mulley -

It will be a panel discussion on all things books and blogging, mixed with wine, water and the odd chocolate bar and finishing with an open-floor Q&A.

Oliver Jeffers interview

The Guardian has a really good piece/interview with Oliver Jeffers now online. It’s great to see a picture book article talking in very specific terms about style and technique instead of resorting to  cliches about bed time reading and fluffiness.

There are also some podcasts featuring Oliver Jeffers and his work over on Just One More Book - The site is huge so I am just gradually getting to grips with it but it seems like it could end up being a good resource.

Direct from the screening – guest post

First official guest post from Tom Donegan – CBI’s intrepid Programme Officer

I’ve Just been to see a preview of the new ‘Secret of Kells’ animated movie, written and directed by the Cartoon Saloon’s Tomm Moore. A small but select crowd was in attendance, including members of the band Kila (who provide much of the music in the film), representatives of Trinity College (who can expect a tourist boom when it hits the screens next March) and Disney who are handling the promotion/ distribution side of things.

Not going into full critical mode here but the in summary the film is absolutely breathtaking – really stretches the boundaries of what might be considered ‘conventional’ 2D animation techniques. The narrative is simple yet powerful and features some great moments of humour, whilst the exhilarating score completes the experience perfectly. This beautiful and affecting film is the combination of over 12 years hard graft across three countries (Belgian and Brazilian animation teams were also heavily involved) and deserves to be shouted about from the top of every round tower in the country – another Irish Oscar anybody?

NB. The O’Brien Press are due to publish two complimentary titles in the coming months – a picture book  and illustrated novelisation. Tomm is currently looking for a publisher for a Graphic Novel version as well – any takers?

Barack Obama, Philip Pullman and Alan Gibbons

Many of you might have spotted an article in Guardian/Observer featuring Philip Pullman’s appeal to a comprehensive in Chesterfield to keep its library open. Meadows Community School is ditching their library (and librarian) in favour of a ‘virtual learning environment’ and a reading room (without librarian).

Author Alan Gibbons has been motivating a campaign about similar issues – you can follow progress over on his blog. He’s even managed to weave in Obamania with these quotes

Guardians of truth and knowledge, librarians must be thanked for their role as champions of privacy, literacy, independent thinking, and most of all reading.

The critical importance of language, of writing, of reading, of communication, of books as a means of transmitting culture and binding us together as a people.

The library represents a window to a larger world, the place where we’ve always come to discover big ideas and profound concepts.

In an Irish context the evidence overwhelmingly points to the success of school libraries. The snappily titled Junior Certificate Support Programme Demonstration Library Project continues to show what can be achieved when a properly resourced and dedicated space is contributed to the school environment. The Room for Reading Report on the project is long but a terrific source of evidence of the importance of school libraries in Ireland. As one young reader said

It’s brilliant, you can learn more and learn about things you know nothing about and it helps with project work. It’s easier to learn and its very relaxing.”

new blog on the block – kind of

Irish Times journalist Fiona McCann has renamed her fringe blog and it’s set to continue as a general arts blog on the IT site. Good move all round, I think, and certainly a good companion to Jim Carrol’s blog. McCann has been busy in the print editions too with recent interviews with Joe Woods to mark all Ireland Poetry Day and  more recently McColgan about the Gate among other things.

Is the next step an IT book blog?