CMIS Evaluation Primary Focus

Catching up on my professional reading, I came across a gem I think is worth sharing.  In the May 2009 (No.176) edition of Books for Keeps, Joanna Carey interviews 80-year-old Eric Carle.  On being asked how his years as a poster designer and then a graphic designer influenced his work with children’s books, he responds:

Enormously!  The rules that govern graphic design can easily apply to children’s books.  Each page in a child’s book is, in effect, a mini poster.  Advertising teaches you to convey complex ideas economically, but with maximum impact and children need pictures that they can read and understand immediately.  It’s all to do with composition.  It’s just a matter of moving things around until they are in the right place. (p.5)

These words, along with Carle’s May 19 blog post Some thoughts on LOOKING and SEEING, (not to be confused with a current TV advertisement!) may well stimulate students to produce some interesting art pieces or picture books.  Eric Carle and the United Kingdom’s new Children’s Laureate, Anthony Browne, are on the same page when it comes to the importance of “looking”.  Browne has made the encouragement of this a priority for his term as laureate:  What I believe we all need to do is to stop and really look at pictures and at the world.  By looking we learn so much. He has some interesting things to say about Creativity in Schools.

The sixth UK Children’s Laureate has been named and it’s none other than Anthony Browne. The man who has brought us Willy the Wimp, unforgettable gorillas, Piggybook and surreal takes on fairytales will be an outstanding ambassador for books and reading. Lucky UK children. Here is some of the new Laureate’s work.

Despite the superb job he has done, previous Laureate Michael Rosen knows there is a long way to go. He reflects on the past two years – there are still plenty of brick walls to dismantle:

I am sitting in a room in the House of Commons with Ed Balls and Jim Knight. To my left are several people who haven’t been introduced, who are probably from “the department”. We are talking about books. I say to the ministers that they’ve put in place a compulsory programme to teach children how to read, but there is no policy on reading books. They look at me blankly… I say that what’s going on is discriminatory. Children who come from homes where books are being read get access to the kinds of abstract and complex ideas that you can only get hold of easily through exposure to extended prose. The rest are being fed worksheets.

Ed doesn’t believe me. He tells me that he visited a school where they had a library in the playground. I tell them that I’ve been making a film for BBC4 about a school that wanted me to help them become what I call a book-loving school. Their school library is a couple of alcoves of old books. They have no contact with the public library down the road. Only a handful of children in the school are reading books. Jim seems interested. “What do you want from us?” he says. “A directive asking every local authority and every school to devise its own policy on the reading of books. I’ve got a 20-point outline that you could send out as a guideline for people to adapt.” “Send it to me,” says Jim. “I have already,” I say. “Send it to me again,” he says, “and let’s meet up after the programme goes out.”

Our blogs are always happy to let readers know about anything to do with Neil Gaiman. Those who saw him at the 2008 CBCA Conference in Melbourne just over a year ago will be hoping that it’s not too long before he makes a return visit, although since his Newbery win he is in much demand in the northern hemisphere and has hardly stopped for breath.

Until we can see him again in person, here’s the next best thing. Neil reading his latest picture book, Blueberry Girl. One for all ages, with delightful illustrations. Thanks to the Things Mean A Lot blog that alerted us to this one.

And you do know about his video tour and reading of The Graveyard Book, don’t you?

The 2009 Shortlist for the Book of the Year Awards and the Notable Australian Children’s Books have been announced by the Children’s Book Council of Australia.

The winners and honour books will be announced on Friday 21 August 2009 at the beginning of Book Week.

Book Week runs from 22 August to 28 August.

The theme for Book Week 2009 is Book Safari.

For your start on this exciting safari, the CMIS Resource Bank has reviews of most of the Shortlisted and Notable Books. 

More information about the reviews organised by category can be found on the CMIS Evaluation Book Week webpage. 

Find out in this interview with him from The Guardian.

The path from Carle’s upbringing in Nazi Germany to the most beloved of children’s authors and illustrators is one that, when he cares to indulge in self-analysis, he admits makes a certain sense. The link between the deprivations of his early years and the slant of his artwork, so bursting with light and joy and exuberant colour, is such that, he says, if he had grown up in greater comfort he would probably be “pumping gas” these days.

Recently available in Australia is the new edition of Quentin Blake’s delightful book, Ten Frogs: Dix Grenouilles, whose simple text is written in both English and French.  This will see another generation of Junior Primary children delighting in Blake’s distinctive illustrations and experimenting with the French language in simple counting and naming animals. To do the text justice, it is recommended that non-French speaking teachers go the extra yard and find out how to pronounce the French words correctly.  Attempting the French “r” is fun and will have the little ones sparkling and feeling so “clever”!

The Book Show from ABC Radio National is starting a new series about writers and where they work. And first up is Mem Fox.  You can download or listen here (and view two images of a delightful room).

Look inside Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by following the link from the book cover.

The podcast won’t be available for very long.

Suddenly, reality television makes sense. Michael Rosen, the UK Children’s Laureate, is doing a Jamie Oliver:

with a new BBC show in which he attempts to get a Cardiff primary school to fall in love with literature in just 10 weeks.

From The Guardian.

It might appear here on pay TV, if we are lucky.

More here and here.

What a wonderful idea! A new prize has been created in Roald Dahl’s name to honor the best funny books for children.

Founded by the Children’s Laureate, Michael Rosen, the Roald Dahl Funny prize honours the funniest children’s authors. Two prizes will be awarded — one for the funniest book for children six and under, and one for the funniest book for children seven to fourteen.

The Roald Dahl Funny Prize aims to boost the profile of humorous books as part of Rosen’s campaign to put the fun back into children’s reading. It hopes to promote laughter and humour in children’s books and encourage families to read together and discover the pleasure of humorous books. This in turn will reinforce the message that reading together promotes family togetherness..

The Roald Dahl Funny Prize also aims to reward those authors and artists who use humour in their stories, poetry and fiction.

A shortlist of six books in each category was announced on 8 September to tie in with the third Roald Dahl Day on 13 September. The winners will be announced in November 2008.

Find out more about the shortlisted books and the award from the official Roald Dahl Funny Prize website or about Roald Dahl from his website.