Teachers, parents and poets alike know how children thirst for poetry. Now it's up to booksellers and publishers to save it from extinctionChildren dive into poetry with the same natural ease as swimmers into water, climbers into trees and sleepers into dreams. I've seen this alchemy at work on countless visits to schools, visits which have convinced me that poetry's narrative, rhythm and vibrant imagery is the real language of childhood. But poetry written for children is in danger of dying out, of sliding into fossilised irrelevance, cut off from modern verse. A classic such as Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses may be lovely, but it can't sustain the vital connection between children and poetry. Children also need poets who are still breathing.The delicate machine which brings poetry books into the hands of children is in desperate need of repair. I used to help choose the poems for the Children's Poetry Bookshelf, the Poetry Book Society's book club for ages seven to 11, and I watched with horror as the submissions from publishers gradually dried up. Starved of funding and support, the club had to stop taking on new members in 2011. As PBS director Chris Holifield said, it seemed that "children's poetry in book form was close to extinction, with just a small number of new titles being published and not much backlist being kept in print." Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble has said the Department of Justice's proposed settlement with... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jean Craighead George was a leading writer of novels about nature for young readers. One of her best-known works was the Newbery Medal-winning 'Julie of the Wolves.' After children's author Jean Craighead George revealed that she wanted to write a book about a girl who talks with wolves,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen Colbert's latest release – a picture book aimed at young adults and up – follows a pole as it searches for the perfect job. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The UK's biggest bookstore chain has announced that it will start selling Kindles alongside other digital services from Amazon. Waterstones stores will let Kindle owners digitally browse books in-store and link up with special offers, tying into the chain's plans for substantial renovations that... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-05-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The chance discovery of diaries depicting the horrors of war through the eyes of a boy soldier inspired the book that has won this year's highest honour for children's literature. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2012-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins claimed this year’s prestigious Publisher of the Year accolade at the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Campaigning body the Children's Media Foundation has launched an initiative to attract a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For all his contributions to children's literature, Maurice Sendak, who died Tuesday at 83, struck a chord with 'Where the Wild Things Are,' a dark and vivid adventure in a daunting world beyond a child's bedroom.When my son Noah was little — no more than 2 years old — his favorite book... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Corsair publisher James Gurbutt and editor Sarah Castleton are launching a "bijou imprint... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Schools and libraries specialist Raintree is launching into India with locally produced books... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Ruby Roth's new book 'Vegan Is Love' discusses how food gets from the farm to the kitchen table. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Vintage Classics has launched a new children’s list featuring such out-of-copyright... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Macmillan Children’s Books is launching a £10,000 literary prize to be judged by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette UK has topped the shortlist league table for the 2012 Bookseller Industry Awards, the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Helen Marriage has been appointed as head of marketing at Hodder Children’s Books.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jonny Duddle, a concept artist for the new Aardman Animation film "The Pirates! In An... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jonny Duddle, the concept artist for Aardman film The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists, is named overall winner of the prestigious Waterstones Children's Book Prize. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette Group company Octopus Publishing has acquired children's non-fiction publisher... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A surprising success occurred in Italy last month, where the collected poems of Wislawa Szymborska landed at #2. Szymborska, who died February 1 at the age of 88, has a similar collection seeing “steady sales” in the U.S. from Mariner Books titled Poems New and Collected, originally published in... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The same problem persists—ebooks and poetry just don’t get along as well as ebooks and prose. It’s those line breaks, poetry’s defining feature. The problem is a simple sounding one, but really tough to solve. Because the same ebook has to work on many different screens and devices on which... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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