Fallen Star Stories

In just about a week, the festivities for World Book Day 2014 will begin! This is my favourite time of year in the book shop, and I have a great line-up for the school children of Galway. Five days, five authors and brilliant fun! Briefly: On Monday the 3rd of March, Maria Burke will visit us. Maria is the author of The Ark of Dun Ruan series. Her second book in this fabulous fantasy series was released late last year. On Tuesday the 4th, Sadie Cramer will bring her talents. She'll be talking about a story and there will be another wonderful activity in store. Wednesday the 5th brings us the wonderful Patricia Forde, author of brilliant books both in English and in Irish! Thursday the 6th of March is World Book Day itself. Paula Leyden will be visiting the bookshop to discuss all things 'The Butterfly Heart'; 'The Sleeping Baobab Tree' and Zambia! Finally, on Friday the 7th of March, Nicola Pierce will arrive in Galway to present her new book, City of Fate.

Here I am playing a bit of catch-up again! The Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlist is out. The award for the 10th annual Waterstones Children's Book Prize will be announced on April 3rd when the winners in all three categories will receive an award of £2,000 and the overall winner will receive £3,000. The categories are; Best Picture Book, Best Fiction for 5-12s and Best Teen Book. The purpose of this award is to "uncover hidden talent in children's writing". To qualify, an author can have published no more than three books. The past winners have gone on to very dynamic careers and have given us some outstanding children's books. Some of the past winners include: Jonny Duddle (The Pirates Next Door), Sally Nichols (Ways to Live Forever), RJ Palacio (Wonder )... there's a huge list of writers in the last 10 years who have gone on to make a difference. The Waterstones Children's Book Prize has definitely become one to watch! Enough of this;

Just a quick reminder Ireland! There are just a few days left to get your nominations in for our next Laureate na n'Óg (Childrens' Laureate). Nominations must be in by February 15th, so if you haven't done so already....GET NOMINATING!!!!  Also remember, Childrens' Books Ireland doesn't just want to hear from us grown-ups (or is that groan-ups? I can never remember...) For the first time, there is a special nomination form for children and schools. From our current Laureate, Niamh Sharkey: ‘This is the first year that we’re asking children to get involved as nominators so I hope that parents, teachers and librarians all around the country will encourage young people to get nominating,’ So, who do you think should be our next Laureate? Follow the link below to find both forms, and send them off right away! (Everything you need to know is on the page.) http://www.childrensbooksireland.ie/blog/you-can-nominate-our-next-laureate/

The 2014 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal longlists are out now. Very impressive lists they are, as well. My personal congratulations go out to Ireland's own Malachy Doyle for his nomination for Too Noisy! and to P.J. Lynch for his illustrations for Mal Peet and Elsbeth Grahams' Mysterious Traveller. Actually, congratulations to them all! The lists are below: Kate Greenaway Medal longlist 2014: One Gorilla: A Counting Book by Anthony Browne (Walker Books) Open Very Carefully by Nicola O'Byrne (illustrator) and Nick Bromley (author) (Nosy Crow) The Paper Dolls by Rebecca Cobb (illustrator) and Julia Donaldson (author)(Macmillan Children's Books) Weasels by Elys Dolan (Nosy Crow) Puss Jekyll Cat Hyde by Jill Barton (illustrator) and Joyce Dunbar (author) (Frances Lincoln Children's Books) Time for Bed, Fred! by Yasmeen Ismail (Bloomsbury Children's Books) The Day the Crayons Quit by Oliver Jeffers (illustrator) and Drew Daywalt (author) (Harp