Uncle the elephant joins brave march of children's classics back into print

JP Martin's much-loved but unavailable stories have been recovered for the rest of us by one courageous readerLet joy be unconfined! Almost seven years ago, I bewailed the loss of Uncle, the wealthy, purple-clad elephant with the BA whose surreal adventures, superbly illustrated by Quentin Blake, delighted many lucky child readers of the 60s and 70s. Despite the anarchic hilarity of Uncle's long-running feud with the Badfort crowd, and the ferocious loyalty of his fans, the series inexplicably dropped out of print. And while copies of the first two books remained relatively easy to come by, the never-reprinted later volumes, including Treacle Trouble and Claudius the Camel, changed hands only for sums worthy of the plutocratic pachyderm himself. But last year Marcus Gipps, Gollancz editor and hardcore Uncle geek, stepped up with a Kickstarter to bolster the wobbliest faith in human endeavour. Raising nearly £30,000 – over four times the original target – and using the day job's skills and reach, Gipps brought us an Uncle omnibus containing all six books, every scrap of original illustration and new introductory material by such high-profile fans as Garth Nix and Neil Gaiman. This beauty doesn't come cheap – even Amazon aren't offering it at much under £40 – but considering a full set of Uncle books would formerly set you back about £800, I consider it a ridiculous bargain.Now diehard fans can introduce a new generation of readers to the gently pompous patriarch and his... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #long haul #pippi longstocking

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Uncle the elephant joins brave march of children's classics back into print'

Ex-BBC executive behind Little Britain joins Penguin Random House UK

Caroline Raphael takes up role as head of audio operations at world’s biggest book publisherFormer BBC radio executive Caroline Raphael, who was responsible for Little Britain, The League of Gentlemen and Cabin Pressure, is to join the world’s biggest book publisher as head of audio operations... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #cabin pressure #bbc radio

PRH Children’s appoints commercial director

Penguin Random House Children’s has appointed Julie Jefferies, currently commercial director at Cornerstone, as finance and commercial director. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #prh children #commercial director

Gender gap widens for children reading for pleasure

The number of children who enjoy reading for pleasure has increased but the gender gap between girls and boys has widened, according to a new report from the National Literacy Trust (NLT). For this year’s ‘Children’s and Young People’s Reading’, an annual report into children’s reading habits,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #children reading #annual report #enjoy reading #reading habits #gender gap

Independent Press Last Weekly Print Edition Newspaper Issue to Publish May 27

NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ - The Independent Press newspaper, a local news staple since the 1960s, will publish its last weekly hard copy edition on May 27, according to multiple TAPinto.net sources. Paul Provost, vice president of loca ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #independent press #vice president

USA Today Could End Daily Print Edition in 'Five or Six Years,' Editor-in-Chief Says

USA Today could stop publishing a daily print newspaper as soon as in the next "five or six years," the paper's editor-in-chief, David Callaway, said in response to a question during an Internet Week New York panel Wednesday.To be sure, a print product of some kind will likely continue for "the... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2015-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #usa today #stop publishing #internet week #print product #top editor #business insider #trade desk

Girls like digital media while boys prefer print, finds study on reading habits

National Literacy Trust report also says girls continue to outpace boys in their enthusiasm for reading for pleasureGirls have more firmly embraced digital literacy and formats such as Facebook, email and text message, while boys are more comfortable with traditional printed media such as... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #black girls #finds study #text message #study published

Bookseller McKenna Jordan Joins Minotaur as Consultant

St. Martin's imprint Minotaur Books has hired McKenna Jordan, owner of Murder By the Book in Houston, Tex., as a dedicated outside publishing consultant. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishing consultant

Kik joins Facebook in hunt for more publisher, brand deals

In the latest land grab for consumers’ time on platforms, Kik is stepping up efforts to court brands and media companies. The messaging app popular with millennials hired ad vet Josh Jacobs to head a new division, Kik Services, with an eye to adding games and commerce services and expand... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2015-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #kik services #media companies

This Week in Children's Apps: May 14, 2015

This week in children's apps, an interactive travel guide that instructs in language and cooking. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

Children's Picture Book Awards winners revealed

Books published by Templar, Bloomsbury Children’s, Andersen Press and Flying Eye Books are the winners of the 2015 English 4-11 Picture Book Awards, organised by the English Association. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bloomsbury children #andersen press

March Bookstore Sales Rose 5.1%

After a sluggish first two months of 2015, bookstore sales rose a healthy 5.1% this past March over March 2014, according to preliminary estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #census bureau

Headteacher wins New Children’s Author Prize

Emma Cox, a headteacher from Devon, has won this year’s New Children’s Author Prize, organised by the National Literacy Trust and Bloomsbury. Malkin Moonlight, chosen from a shortlist of six books, is about a cat who is looking for his friend Roux. He comes across a group of cats at a recycling... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #author prize #rebecca mcnally #strong sense

‘It was a classic case of naive creatives, not protecting what they’d got’

Shindig!’s Jon Mills and Andy Morten on the perils of striking a magazine publishing deal without the proper paperworkJust before Easter, Jon Mills and Andy Morten signed off the 47th issue of Shindig!, the music magazine the two of them have been producing for around 20 years. Although... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #independent publisher

Thomas moves to Orion Children’s

Helen Thomas will this July join Orion Children’s Books as editorial director. Thomas, who is currently fiction editorial director at Scholastic, will acquire titles across the Orion Children’s and Indigo YA lists, and will report to m.d. and publisher Fiona Kennedy. “We’re delighted to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #helen thomas #orion children #keen eye

Print drop hits S&S first quarter

A fall in physical book sales led to a decrease in revenue in the first quarter of 2015 for Simon & Schuster. Results released by the publisher’s parent company CBS Corporation were not broken down geographically, but gave publishing revenues for the first three months of this year at... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #simon schuster #results released #total revenues

Combined Print, Digital Sales Down for UK Pubs in 2014

The combined print and ebook sales of U.K. publishers fell by 2% in 2014, to £3.3 billion, according to the new edition of the Publishers Association Statistics Yearbook. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #combined print #digital sales #ebook sales

Amazon Publishing Marches On

Amazon Publishing may have scaled back its plans to have a major New York City trade publishing presence since the departure of Larry Kirshbaum in early 2014, but the company still continues to expand its overall operation. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #amazon publishing #scaled back #larry kirshbaum

PRH creates one Children's editorial team

Penguin Random House UK Children’s today (6th May) announced it is creating one editorial team in what it described as "the next chapter in the evolution of the PRH UK Children’s division". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #editorial team #today 6th

Trade wary of children's market boom

Editors, agents and booksellers have told The Bookseller they worry that authors are failing to reap the benefits of growth in the children’s book market. With 2014 being a record year for children’s books—sales of which grew 9.1% year on year to a value of £336.5m, according to Nielsen... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literary agencies #record year #1% year #book market #large number