Happy New Fallen Star Stories Year

-
Happy 2019 to you all!
And welcome back to Fallen Star Stories.
I want to thank you all for 'tuning in' and I do hope you have enjoyed the reviews and posts.
I started Fallen Star Stories in 2010. At the time, I was working for Dubray Books Galway as their childrens books specialist. I had a great team of young reviewers at the time. They would read books (yes, I always read them first) and give me their honest reviews. I believe if you want to know whether a childrens' book is good, ask the children. They know exactly what they like.
Recommending books, reading to school classes, bringing groups in for events and (especially) the World Book Day Extravaganza weeks were so exciting and really helped a lot of children become enthusiastic about books and reading that I really wanted to reach a larger audience. Also, reviewing books for Inis Magazine and other sites was important to me. So....someone said 'blog' to me and I thought, why not? And Fallen Star Stories was born. I have always focused on the books, making the posts and reviews as accessible as possible. The idea was (and is) that anyone can read them; children could access them, busy parents, teachers... While I have been trained as a theoretical writer, I really wanted to steer clear of that here. I am blogging for YOU.
Also, I've never wanted to 'monetise' my blog. It's all free to peruse and free of advertising. The only thing you will be inundated with are my opinions and recommendations.
Time has moved on and circumstances have changed. The 'young reviewers' are grown, but more have appeared to take up the task. You can still find my reviews in Inis Magazine and elsewhere. Fallen Star Stories remains strong.
This year is starting off with a bang...more blog tours (two at the end of this month!), more brand new book reviews...just more. I look forward to bringing you everything I can possibly pile on here. My first batches of books from a variety of publishers is on its' way to me. This is going to be great!
So welcome back! I hope you enjoy the trip through the land of childrens' books as much as I do.
p.s. Before I forget, there will be a few new features popping up...some editorials and an ongoing post about myself and my life in childrens' books. This is at the urging of a good friend of mine. I hope you'll find it interesting.
Happy New Year and Happy New Books!

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