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

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Packham pens children’s book

Wildlife expert and TV presenter Chris Packham is bringing his love of animals to the children’s book world with Amazing Animal Journeys, which will published by Egmont. The non-fiction picture book is illustrated by Jason Cockroft and is about the way different animals, from blue whales and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple iBooks Category Bestsellers, March 29, 2015

The bestselling iBooks in mystery, romance, sci-fi, biography, fiction, children & teens, and more for the week ended March 29, 2015. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Italian children’s sector defies market fall

The children’s sector outperformed the overall market in Italy in 2014, and has been “the saviour of the Italian book market”, according to Associazione Italiana Editori (AIE), the Italian publishers association.  While the Italian book market declined in 2014 (–3.8% in value terms, to €2.56bn)... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Danielle Steel joins Pan Mac in 10-book deal

Danielle Steel has signed a 10-book contract with Pan Macmillan, moving to the publisher from Transworld, where she has been for the last 26 years. Jeremy Trevathan, publisher of Macmillan adult books, signed UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, in a deal negotiated with Cullen Stanley... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Epic Queer Web Comic 'TJ and Amal' Coming to Print

Chicago indie publisher Iron Circus raised $65k on Kickstarter to fund the mammoth 520-page omnibus edition, coming in 2015. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BAMB to release Charlie and Lola children's bag

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bologna Prize for the Best Children's Publisher of the Year

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bologna 2015: The ABCs of Children’s Apps

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Friendly Takeover: Carlsen and Lappan Join Forces

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Little Black Classics carry Penguin to new heights

The success of Penguin’s highly portable commute-sized gobbets says much about what modern readers wantReleased to mark Penguin Books’ 80th birthday, the pocket-sized, 80p-a-pop Little Black Classics have been a hit, selling 70,545 copies in the first week of publication.The commercial success... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HC Children’s signs Welford and Fisher

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW Picks: Books of the Week, March 30, 2015

This week, Jon Ronson's fascinating exploration of shaming, Pulitzer-winner Tracy K. Smith's wonderful memoir, and how to clone a mammoth. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookselling Roundup, Week Ending March 27, 2015

The potential fragility of new bookstore ventures was driven home when two-year-old Granada Books in Santa Barbara announced that it needs $50,000 to stay open. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Poisoned Pen to Bring Back Golden Age Mysteries

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors on the Air March 27, 2015: Annie Cohen-Solal

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Olympian Chris Hoy pens children’s series

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Biddulph wins Waterstones Children’s Book Prize

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rob Biddulph wins Waterstones ​children’s book prize 2015 with debut book Blown Away

The tale of a misplaced penguin scoops the overall prize for new and emerging authors, with Sally Green taking the teen category and Robin Stevens winning the younger fiction awardSee Rob Biddulph’s step-by-step guide to How to draw… a windy dayAn adventure story about Penguin Blue and his... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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