Youth Libraries Group

Just to let everyone know that it's International Children's Book Day on Thursday 2nd April.  (Not much warning, I know...  Sorry.)  It's run by IBBY and more information on both can be found here.

Peter Pan may have been the boy who wouldn’t grow up but publishers won’t let us forget just how long in the tooth we are all getting when our nursery pals are clocking up the years…

Icon is an overused word at the moment so let’s say just say some of the children’s book world’s most popular and beloved characters are marking significant birthdays this year. The Gruffalo celebrated double figures (but significantly more sales) last month, whilst Elmer will reach a  youthful twenty in June.  I registered the biggest shock when I learnt that Spot was 25 (how did that happen?) and that Paddington only hit 50 last year…so timeless he seems to have been around as long as Alice and Pooh, though thankfully Bond is of course very much still with us.

The Daddy of them all is of course The Very Hungry Caterpillar who is Fabulous at Forty (pace Jennifer Aniston) this weekend. As a child of the seventies I can not imagine a time before the VHC, when books did not have holes in them…Happy 80th  birthday Eric Carle. (A very insightful and moving interview in Saturday’s guardian )

Now when does Clarice Bean turn thirty?

I was out talking to an (adult) reading club about the awards and the Kate Greenaway in particular - it's great to show off the excellent picture books around to grown-ups and see their enthusiasm sparked off, too.  (See, it's not just children's librarians being crazy, after all...).  In the process I think I might have found a nomination for next time - Leon and the Place Between, written by Angela McAllister and illustrated by Graham Baker-Smith. 

 This reminded me that the shortlist announcement on 24th April is now looking not as very far away now as it seemed in November.  There's only a limited amount of time left for anyone trying to work their way through the whole lot!

Plus, looking around the site, I found last week's press release which details some of the changes to the shadowing scheme - very exciting. See here for more details. 

I have just been to a most interesting event - welll not quite "just" - a couple of evenings ago (how time flies). Organised by Outside In, Inside Out with the Goethe Institute and hosted by Scholastic, it featured a conversation between two German illustrators, Jutta Bauer and Axel Scheffler (yes, the Gruffalo man) and Nicolette Jones. It was fascinating, raising a number of  questions. It is a sad fact, that in Britain only about 2% of children's literature is translated from other languages - originated outside the UK (the States excepred). This contrasts quite dramatically with the situation across Europe where the percentage is very much higher - 40%. Why? 

Reflecting on my early reading, I can remember loving Paul Berna's stories about a group (gang?) of children in a Paris banlieu - A hundred million francs and the sequel; then there were the animal tales by Rene Guillot but that is about all (Astrid Lindgren and Tove Janson excepted). Things are much the same today, despite the high profile of writers such as Cornelia Funke. I suppose that in the case of a novel, such insularity might have some explanation. But what about picture books? Surely, pictures can cross all boundaries? Apparently not - publishers only rarely take the risk,booksellers shy away from picture books brought in from across the Channel; librarians are equally nervous. Yet we all know how important it is to have  wide, varied and challenging experiences both in reading and visual literacy. Looking at the exciting examples of books by German illustrators on display, it was clear many were challenging.

Perhaps, this is where there is a barrier - different ideas about what the picture book is - or who the picture book is for. It seems to me, that in the UK, the picture book is all too often seen as only appropriate for the very youngest and must inevitably be cosy or very simple (I do realise this is a generalisation  - but I think it is the norm). Across Europe, however, the picture book (not the graphic novel), appears to be used to treat subjects aimed at a much wider age range. Grandpa's Angel by Jutta Bauer is a case in point - but where can we place it? All too often there are only the kinderboxes; it is a Picture book, after all....  How can we change this? Well I suppose a start would be to look out for them - not always easy, but it is very good news that Winged Chariot is going to be marketed by Walker Books.Then ... well, take the plunge. I'm going to try.