NEWSLETTER
Jay Heale’s
No.217
October 2016
Email:
[email protected]
Postal:
Napier Retirement Village,
Private Bag X1, Napier,
7270 South Africa
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SELECTED HEADLINES
The Executive Committee of IBBY for 2016-2018 will be:
IBBY President: Wally De Doncker (Belgium)
President of the Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury: Patricia Aldana (Canada)
EC members: Anastasia Arkhipova (Russia), Carole Bloch (South Africa), Hasmig
Chahinian (France), Evelyn B Freeman (USA), Zohreh Ghaeni (Iran), Ferelith Hordon (UK),
Sunjidmaa Jamba (Mongolia), Sepil Ural (Turkey), Maria Cristina Vargas (Mexico),
Mingzhou Zhang (China).
Ex officio: Liz Page (Switzerland) as IBBY Executive Director.
 Congratulations to Carole Bloch (from PRAESA) on her election to the IBBY EC.
From the 35th IBBY World Congress:
IBBY is committed to helping children in crisis, whether they are refugees in Europe,
Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania, North America or Latin America. IBBY looks for
solutions. Today, we urge all professionals working in the field of children’s literature to
join us take action and find solutions to help the children and young people who are
caught up in this current turmoil.
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In the United States, the Carnegie medal has been awarded to a ‘verse novel’ by Sarah
Crossan entitled One. The Kate Greenaway award for illustration has been awarded to
Chris Riddell for The Sleeper and the Spindle.
Lesley Beake, director of CBN
The Sunday Times of August 14 contained a fine spread about Lesley Beake and the
growing activities of the Children’s Book Network, under the heading “Heroes of South
Africa”; a wealth of story-making pages created by Nal’ibali; and even a glimpse of author
Helen Brain dabbling in hypnotism.
IBBY SA (the South African national section of the International Board on Books for
Young People) reports yet another busy and productive year. Their quarterly “Book Bash”
meetings continue, as do their donations of books to needy schools, and their on-going
publicity for our local books and their authors and illustrators. If you are not yet a
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member, contact: www.ibbysa.org.za IBBY SA has an up-dated brochure describing their
many activities and how to become a member.
For those of you fond of second-hand books (as I am) make a note of
www.thebookcollector.co.za – especially if you’re searching for an out-of-print title.
The Famous Five adventure books by Enid Blyton still sell half a million copies a year.
And a recent attempt to “update” the language (e.g. changing “mother and father” to
“mum and dad”) did not prove acceptable.
“The Eagles are coming!” Remember that great cry during the Battle of Five Armies in
The Hobbit? Well, it’s going to happen in the Netherlands too, where the police will train
an army of eagles to hunt down unauthorised drones (around airports, for instance).
Editorial
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”
“… we’re living in a world of information overload. Children have access to incredible information,
such as social media and apps. It’s instant gratification and just another distraction from being
present. That can have a catastrophic effect on children. They are consumed by social media and
games, staying up later and becoming preoccupied. They are bored out of their skulls by real life.”
~ Mike Fisher, quoted in The Guardian.
There are well-endowed schools in South Africa where exercise-books are a thing of the
past. Every pupil has a laptop, every classroom has a screen instead of a blackboard.
Their minds and bodies are fed fully. And there are schools without electricity, without
water, and 10,419 schools whose pupils have to use pit latrines. This is the “real life”
faced by far too many.
In between these remote educational extremes is the book. It may be regarded as
an antique relic or an item for spare-time relaxation, or a well-thumbed textbook (one to
each pair of pupils) or an improvement on photocopied worksheets. Many new-built
schools have a room with “Library” on the door, but no books on any of the shelves. Or
else there are books, safely locked in a cupboard in case they should be read, enjoyed too
much and taken away.
As I understand it, the basic problem remains the same. Even if books – wellwritten, well-printed books – are available, far too many teachers don’t recognise their
value or know how to make use of them in the classroom. The idea that a book can be
enjoyed and also be educational is shared by a precious few.
Almost certainly, this Bookchat Newsletter is not reaching such teachers or such
parents. That doesn’t stop me from believing in what I have been doing for about forty
years – since the first Bookchat rolled off a Gestetner duplicator in Somerset West in
1976. I aim to share views and reviews, and enthusiasm about the best book discoveries I
make. Enlightened NGOs (such as the Children’s Book Network, Nal’ibali and others I do
not yet know about) run workshops in which books become objects of delight. Story,
word-spinning, music, song, dance, movement, reading aloud, listening, speaking,
imagining.
I know that this Newsletter goes directly to about 60 ‘subscribers’, and to many
more thanks to IBBY SA who share it with their members. So I ask this question. How
many of you have shared a book with a child this week? With a child overwhelmed by
technology who has forgotten the power of story? With a child trudging back from the pit
latrine whose life has hardly ever been lit up by story? There’s a huge gap there to be
filled.
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
THE CHILDREN’S LAUREATE
The idea for a Children’s Laureate (in the UK) came from a conversation between (the then) Poet Laureate
Ted Hughes and children’s writer Michael Morpurgo. Sponsored by Waterstones, honouring “individuals
who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the world of children’s books”, the Laureate is
managed by BookTrust.
Quentin Blake was the first Children’s Laureate (1999-2001), followed by Anne Fine (2001-2003),
Michael Morpurgo (2003-2005), Jacqueline Wilson (2005-2007), Michael Rosen (2007-2009), Anthony
Browne (2009-2011), Julia Donaldson (2011-2013), Malorie Blackman (2013-2015) and Chris Riddell
(2015-2017).
BOOK REVIEWS
The policy of Bookchat has always been to review all South African books, and the best of those submitted
from overseas publishers.
THE DETECTIVE DOG by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Sara Ogilvie (Macmillan Children’s Books 2016)
A brand new, bouncing picture book about Detective Dog Nell who has an unerring nose for lost items.
Nell shared her house with a person called Peter,
A very nice child, though he could have been neater.
Julia’s rippling verse with Sara’s whiffling pictures follow a delightful story which includes masses of missing books. An enticement
to read on top of a hugely enjoyable book and it ends up with an adoration of libraries! The 2011-2013 UK Children’s Laureate has
created yet another character worth following. And I love these huggable pictures. A read-aloud winner!
CHARLIE COOK’S FAVOURITE BOOK by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
(Macmillan Children’s Books 2005 / 2016) – new edition with a musical, storytelling CD
There has been an explosion of re-issues of books by the creators of The Gruffalo. That’s how I managed to catch up with this
gorgeous picture book about a boy reading a book … about another book … which leads into another book. Young listeners will
recognise characters from Treasure Island, Goldilocks, and a number of stories they won’t have heard, amongst which is my
favourite which is …
About Rowena Reddalot, a very well-read frog,
Who jumped upon a lily pad and jumped upon a log,
Then jumped into the library which stood beside the brook,
And went, “Reddit! Reddit! Reddit!” as she jumped upon a book …
Bright, exciting pictures – and some excellent spot lamination on the cover.
LYLE THE CROCODILE by Dianne Stewart, illustrated by Joan Rankin (Jacana 2016)
Based on the way that Egyptian plovers scavenge for food caught in the teeth of Nile crocodiles, folk-tale teller Dianne Stewart has
woven an enjoyable, lightly didactic story about a crocodile with toothache. Somehow, Joan Rankin’s illustrations, almost all with
blank white background, lack her usual impact.
Also available in Afrikaans, isiXhosa and isiZulu.
THE HOUSE ON HUMMINGBIRD ISLAND by Sam Angus (Macmillan Children’s Books 2016)
The year is 1912. Indie Grace, only 12-years-old, has inherited a grand house in the West Indies and with it a host of troubles.
“Hummingbird Island was shimmering and strange as a fairy tale.” Strange indeed, for there are family secrets to be revealed amid
the lush birds and flowers. The house fills with an exotic menagerie and the plot seems to run thin. Until 1915 arrives with war and
the forming of the British West Indies Regiment. The romantic, mysterious adventure turns into a quest for identity and the
indignities of ‘coloured’ men serving in the British army. (For a while, the West Indians are not even allowed to play in cricket
matches!) A little over-written in places (in descriptions and emotions), but intriguing nonetheless.
Just received: ELEVATION 1: THE THOUSAND STEPS by Helen Brain (Human & Rousseau 2016)
Will be reviewed in the next Newsletter. It looks good. Super cover, too.
ADULT BOOKS I HAVE ENJOYED
ELEPHANT DAWN by Sharon Pincott (Jacana 2016)
The problem with Africa is that it keeps going Over The Top. Think … desert sunsets, Serengeti herds, lakes of flamingos. Sharon
Pincott runs into much of the same problem as she tries to describe her personal knowledge and affection for elephants alongside
the rampant corruption (and lunatic inflation) within Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. Much of the book is about her friends urging her to leave
the place, and she so nearly does (several times) – only to feel an inner compulsion to return to love and care for ‘her’ elephants.
Until the book is more about ministerial inaction or corruption (or both) than about elephants – and more riveting reading as a
result. There’s a lot of “gush” conveying her love of African wildlife and elephants in particular: e.g. “It’s another glorious dawn in
the African bush”. Yet it is also touchingly genuine, with gut truth and sheer determination. As Don Pinnock said, “Sharon is to
elephants what Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall are to gorillas and chimps.”
“What’s so important about kids’ books – they can be windows to introduce them to the
world, but they also need to see a reflection. They should be a window and a mirror.”
~ Carla Hayden, US Librarian of Congress
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