Mad About Books 2: the Dubray Books Guide to Children's Books!

-




After months of waiting, it's out now! Mad About Books (the second edition) is being launched this Thursday evening, with every Dubray Books Shop holding a special Launch Day on Saturday, 24th August! There will be activities of all sorts... and in Galway, we are also celebrating our Super Summer Readathon Readers on the day as well. Beginning at 12 noon, we will be giving the Super-Readers their certificates and prizes, with activities, goodies, storytelling...all because kids love reading, and we are absolutely sure you will love our new guide to children's books, Mad About Books!
I am so proud of this publication. Inside it's covers you'll find over 400 reviews of books suitable for children and young adults of all ages and interests, written by our children's booksellers, along with author interviews and special advice for children's book clubs . We've all worked very hard to bring you the best of the best and for €2, it's a steal!
I also need to express my personal appreciation to all of those involved. First, there's ex-Dubray children's bookseller and children's book enthusiast extraordinaire, Kim Harte, who started the wheels turning on this project over a year ago. On the back of her diligent work, an amazing publication dream became real. Then there's all of my wonderful colleagues; those brilliant children's booksellers whose opinions and advice are always spot on! Our editor, and of course contributor, the amazing Sarah Webb applied her trademark energy, enthusiasm and expertise. Sarah is, without a doubt, the hardest working author I have ever personally known. You ask her for something... she gives it without hesitation. Thank you so much for everything, Sarah. And a big thank you to the ever-patient, ever-organised Adrian White.And thank you to the owners/management of Dubray in general, for continuing to believe and support your children's booksellers.The thank yous could go on for pages on this blog... this is just the tip of the iceberg!
And, as I mentioned, on Saturday, we'll also be celebrating our Super-Summer Readathon Readers... so if you're out and about in Galway (or your local Dubray Books wherever you are) stop in and join the celebration!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rights of the Reader

-
Image
The Rights of the Reader; Daniel Pennac, illustrated by Quentin Blake Summer is here and we do encourage summer reading with numerous incentives and programmes. It is important for children (of all ages) to 'keep their reading up' outside of school time. This is the time when kids develop their own taste in books and can be free to read books of their own choosing. And this is the single most important factor in young people developing a lifelong reading habit. But how do we, as the 'gatekeepers' of kids reading, encourage them properly without running the risk of thrusting pressure and our own ideas on them? Do that and you'll run the risk of pushing them away from reading, and there are already so many distractions for the young reader to contend with that can tempt them elsewhere. Published by Walker Books; 9781406300918 In 1992, French writer Daniel Pennac originally published this little gem of a book; The Rights of the Reader. I highly recommend
Read more

The Summer of Lily and Esme by John Quinn....25 years

-
Image
This year marks the anniversary of the publication of an extraordinary book. In 1991, Poolbeg published The Summer of Lily & Esme by John Quinn and in the 25 years since, it has never been out of print. The Summer of Lily & Esme tells a quiet story, filled with compassion, friendship, memory and heart. It is the story of Alan, an 11-year-old boy who has moved from the city into a house in the countryside; in the middle of nowhere.The house is old and extremely large and immaculate; and there is a locked, boarded over attic room that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young boy who died tragically. Alan is not too pleased with this move and becomes even less thrilled when he discovers his closest neighbours, in fact his only neighbours, are a pair of elderly sisters, Esme and Lily, who seem to be suffering from dementia.  When Alan falls down a hill of brambles and weeds, the sisters, who believe they themselves to be children, mistake Alan for their
Read more

Launch of Genesis by Eilis Barrett

-
Image
A week ago, I played a small part of the launch of Genesis , the much-anticipated sequel to Oasis by Eilis Barrett; this time at Charlie Byrnes Bookshop in Galway. Vinny Brown introduces Eilis Eilis is a remarkable young woman, as you might imagine since she is 18 years old and this is her second book. ( Oasis was published when she was 16.) Articulate and accomplished, it is a real privilege to know her, to hear her speak and to read her writing. Genesis author: Eilis Barrett publisher: Gill Books (8 September 2017 ISBN: 9780717174355 Genesis picks up the story of Quincy Emerson. She now finds herself a captive once again, in the maximum-security prison, the Colosseum as a security risk. Held in deplorable and brutal conditions in the prison, where anarchy rules and rival gangs wage a 'street war' of sorts, Quincy takes care to not make an enemy of either gang boss, while holding allegiance to no one but herself and her comrades on the outside. Food is scarce an
Read more