Monday, 28 November 2011

HOLIDAY COOKIE TRADITIONS





The Story of Holly and Ivy
One of the earliest stories about Christmas that I remember reading is The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden, first published in 1958 – although it has been reprinted many times since and was adapted as an animated film called The Wish that Changed Christmas in 1991. It probably says quite a lot about me that my other childhood favourites include Heidi by Johanna Spyri and The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. As a children’s author, my current tastes are for stories altogether edgier but even today, The Story of Holly and Ivy still evokes the magic of Christmas with a charming and nostalgic story about a lonely orphan, a doll without an owner and a woman with a Christmas tree and no one to enjoy it.
And for me, nothing evokes the taste of Christmas more than Mince Pies... Crazy QuiltEdi Cookie Traditions 

Saturday, 19 November 2011

BOOKS FEATURING MIXED RACE CHARACTERS

This book list was updated in October 2012 and is a companion piece to this blog post.
UK publications are in bold and Letterbox Library is a great place to find them!

PICTURE BOOKS


Atinuke & Lauren Tobia - Lauren Hibiscus series
Adoff, Arnold – Hard to be Six
Alko, Selina – I’m Your Peanut Butter Big Brother
Benjamin, Floella & Chamberlain, Margaret – My Two Grandads; My Two Grannies
Binch, Caroline – Silver Shoes
Bradman, Tony & Browne, Eileen - Through My Window; In a Minute; Wait and See
Cottringer, Anne – When Titus Took the Train
Dale, Elizabeth – When Betsy Came to Babysit
Docherty, Thomas - Ruby Nettleship and the Ice Lolly Adventure 
Elliott, Odette & McIntyre, Georgina – Sammy Goes Flying      
Evans, Shane W – Olu’s Dream
Fuller, Rachel – Waiting for Baby
Garland, Sarah – Billy and Belle; Eddie’s Toolbox
Graham, Bob – Oscar’s Half Birthday
Hawkins, Elizabeth & Cemmick, Paul – Ben’s Birthdays
Hoffman, Mary & Northway, Jennifer – Nancy No-Size
Juster, Norton & Raschka, Chris – The Hello Goodbye Window
Nichols, Grace - No, Baby, No!
Northway, Jennifer – Lucy’s Day Trip
Quarmby, Katharine & Grobler, Piet - Fussy Freya
Stanley, Malaika Rose & Wilson-Max, Ken – Baby Ruby Bawled
Uff, Caroline – Lulu series
Umansky, Kaye & Sharratt, Nick – Yo Ho Ho! A-Pirating We’ll Go
Venus, Pamela – Let’s Feed the Ducks; Let’s Go to Playgroup
Willis Hudson, Cheryl, Ford, Bernette G & Ford, G – Bright Eyes, Brown Skin
Wilkins, Verna Allette & Venus, Pamela – Boots for a Bridesmaid

YOUNG FICTION

Aggs, John & Aggs, Patrice - The Boss
Baggott, Julianna - The Prince of Fenway Park
Caldecott, Elen – How Ali Ferguson Saved Houdini        
Chang, Margaret – Celia’s Robot
Cassidy, Cathy - Cherry CrushLucky Star; Indigo Blue
Corder, Zizou – Lion Boy trilogy
Danziger, Paula – The Divorce Express; It’s an Aardvark-Eat-Turtle World
Cottrell Boyce, Frank & Berger, Joe - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again    
Dhami, Narinder – Bindi Babes; Bhangra Babes; Bollywood Babes
Dougherty, John – Bansi O’Hara series
Hiranandani, Veera – The Whole Story of Half a Girl
Hartley, A J – Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact
Howard, Ken – The Young Chieftain 
Edwards, Nicholas – Dog Whisperer: The Rescue; Storm Warning
Frazier, Sundee T – Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It; The Other Half of My Heart
French, S Terrell – Operation Redwood
Gourlay, Candy – Tall Story
Johnson, Catherine – Hero; The Nightmare Card; Brave New Girl; Sawbones
Lovegrove, James – The 5 Lords of Pain series
Matthews, L S - Lexi
Meddour, Wendy – A Hen in the Wardrobe; The Black Cat Detectives               
Miller, David – Leopard’s Claw; Sea Wolf; Shark Island
Osborne, Mary Pope – Falling Star
Osman, Sam - Quicksilver; Serpent's Gold
Ould-Okojie, Jackie (ed) - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: The Music Man
Pielichaty, Helena – We’re the Dream Team, Right?
Rainger, Amanda - Me and My Family series
Rhys, David – Where’s Gran?
Riordan, Rick – The Kane Chronicles: Red Pyramid, Throne of Fire
Scotto, Michael – Latasha and the Little Red Tornado
Stanley, Malaika Rose – Spike and Ali Enson; Spike in SpaceSkin Deep

YOUNG ADULT



Adoff, Jaime – Jimi and Me                                                       
Anderson, R J - Arrow
Beam, Chris – I am J
Blackman, Malorie – Noughts and Crosses trilogy                     
Brahmachari, Sita – Artichoke Hearts, Jasmine Skies
Burchill, Julie – Sugar Rush; Sweet
Cann, Kate – Possessing Rayne; Fire and Rayne
Chadda, Sarwat – Devil’s Kiss; Dark Goddess
Kate Costelloe – The Breakfast Club
Crutcher, Christ – Whale Talk
Dalton, Annie – The Rules of Magic
Durrow, Heidi W – The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
Elliott, ZettaA Wish After Midnight; Ship of Souls
Evans, Diana – 26a
Freer, Echo – Magenta Orange series                                       
García, Cristina – I Wanna Be Your Shoebox
Green, Caroline - Cracks
Gurtler, Janet – If I Tell
Hautman, Pete – Blank Confession
Herne, Lily – Deadlands
Hijuelos, Oscar – Dark Dude
Hoffman, Mary – Stravaganza series
Hucklesby, Jill – If I Could Fly
Johnson, Catherine – Stella; Other Colours; Face Value
Jones, Carrie and Wedel, Steve – After Obsession
Kearns, Zannah - No Use Crying
Kent, Rose - Kimchi and Calamari
Larbalestier, Justine – Liar
Lee, Y S - The Agency trilogy
Lester, Joan Steinau – Black White Other: In Search of Nina Armstrong
Leitich Smith, Cynthia – Tantalize series
Magoon, Kekla – Camo Girl
Marriott, Zoë – Daughter of the Flames
Marshall, Clare C - Within
Newbery, Linda – The Sandfather
Ostow, Micol – Emily Goldberg Learns to Salsa                             
Perkins, Mitali – Monsoon Summer
Phillips, Ellie - Dads, Geeks and Blue-Haired Freaks
Pullman, Philip – The Broken Bridge
Rai, Bali - The Crew; The Whisper
Rees, CeliaPirates!
Rees Brennan, Sarah – The Demon’s Surrender
Reeves, Dia – Bleeding Violet
Resau, LauraThe Indigo Notebook 
Sarkar, Donna – How to Salsa in a Sari
Senna, Danzy – Caucasia; From Caucasia, With Love
Smith, Cynthia Leitich – Rain Is Not My Indian Name
Shusterman, NealDread Locks 
Stevenson, Sarah Jamila – The Latte Rebellion
Sturman, JenniferAnd Then Everything Unraveled; And Then I Found Out The Truth
Thompson, Holly – Orchards
Waterhouse, Lynda – Cut Off
Wenberg, Michael – Stringz
Elizabeth E Wein – The Sunbird; The Lion Hunter; The Empty Kingdom
Wolff, Virginia Euwer – The Mozart Season

ADULT

Wheatle, Alex - Brixton Rock; Brenton Brown 




Thursday, 17 November 2011

An Awfully Big Blog Adventure

BLACK, WHITE AND JUST RIGHT



Mixed-race people have existed ever since our ancestors first set out to explore and wage war - and today, the UK has one of the largest and fastest-growing mixed race populations in the western world. Partly this is because of the greater number of people who choose to define themselves as mixed-race on census forms and elsewhere and partly as the result of more mixed marriages and relationships and more blended, adoptive and step-families.

    

The BBC’s recent Mixed Britannia series told some of the stories behind the headlines and statistics and stirred up quite a few personal memories of my own. As a result, I decided to try and compile a list of children’s and YA books which feature mixed-race and mixed heritage main characters and I began... read more