Blogging Sabbatical

Work and life are taking over so blogging plans are consequently on hiatus for the time being, shall see how long it lasts!

Replica

Title: Replica
Author: Jack Heath
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: August 2014

I finished Replica, placed the book on my desk and took a moment. Many bookish people will know the sensation when a world holds your imagination so rapt that you look up on completion, feeling vaguely astonished (and perhaps annoyed) that yes, the real world is still there. There are some books that lure you in like a drug and hold you like a vice. You are left reeling.

Teenager ‘Chloe’ awakens to a grim reality: she is a robot, a replica of herself. She has all real Chloe’s memories, Chloe’s emotions, Chloe’s ingrained knowledge and habits. She has a list of books Chloe has read pre-programmed into her system, even though she has read none of these, nor has she met Chloe’s parents or interacted with Chloe’s friends. When we meet her, she is waking up for the first time, humanness hardwired. (Does this make it fake?) One of the strengths of this story lies in posing ethical questions to the reader, and in the characterisation of rendering a robot absolutely human; I found myself desperately wanting a happy ending for Replica-Chloe as she tries to work what has happened, how she came into being – and, with her, we distrust the frightening (and often less humane) humans surrounding her. An LGBT romance is also deftly and sensitively written into the storyline, ultimately tied into the culmination of all the action: can there ever be a happy ending for her? Can there be a place – or ‘room’  – for her in this world?

Replica is disturbing, frightening and maybe not for everyone, but it is an addictive, thrilling and challenging read. The world we enter is dark and disturbing; cliffhangers and bombshells practically besiege the close of each chapter and just when you thought things could not get worse, that Jack Heath had to have run out of narrative this time, more of them crop up. The ground caves again and we plunge deeper into the Rabbit Hole.

If you enjoy your YA with thrills, you may love this. (I know I did.)

(*Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender.)

Some Thoughts on Packaging and Gender in Children's Publishing

In March 2014, ‘Let Books Be Books’ (#LetBooksBeBooks) decried ‘gender-specific’ children’s titles that were published specifically for boys or girls with marketing (over content) foremost in mind. ‘Let Books Be Books’ vilified reading material that seemed marketed purely to exploit gender preferences, rather than advance the quality of children’s literature; the argument (and it is a good one) was that the best children’s books and stories ought to transcend notions of gender (i.e. Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, etc.).

My sympathies were immediately aligned with ‘Let Books Be Books’, since I do think great literature for children indeed transcends gender. Yet I could see that books considered typically for girls (e.g. A Little Princess or Charlotte Sometimes) might still be excellent and yet not generally appeal to boys (and there would be nothing wrong with boys liking such books, either).

Though leaning more in favour of #LetBooksBeBooks, I decided to research a little and found out a few things. I did not know, for instance, that the practice of publishing fiction and magazines for separate readerships began during the Victorian era, and the idea of writing material for boys or for girls was even considered innovative. I also discovered, to my surprise, that Louisa M. Alcott’s classic stories were commissioned by her publisher, who wanted her to pen a book for girls; Alcott protested in a journal that ‘I don’t enjoy this sort of thing. Never liked girls or knew many’ (Wadsworth 2009, 42). Much as I love Little Women, this appealing to gender tastes seems so much more about the bottom line, as Michael O’Mara of Buster Books admitted to. It is understandable, and I know publishing is ultimately a business and that commissions must be able to sell if a publishing house is to survive and thrive. Yet it seems right to believe in the altruistic value of publishing good literature for young people, which brings fiscal profit, too. This is not only true of J.K. Rowling or J.R.R. Tolkien; authors like Diana Wynne Jones, Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman and Roald Dahl have written books featuring protagonists of both genders, loved regardless by avid boy and girl readerships (ditto for picture book writers like Allan Ahlberg or Dr Seuss). These sorts of reads are the ones that are reissued, reprinted, a revenue source for the long term as well as a continual stream of literary nurturing for the children growing up with them.

I interpreted #LetBooksBeBooks as a plea for this sort of creativity in publishing; it came to me as a welcome nod to the need for creativity over commerce when publishing books for children. Here’s hoping that continues.

Sources

Wadsworth, Sarah A. 2009. ‘Louisa May Alcott and the Rise of Gender-Specific Series Books’, Children’s Literature: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, edited by Montgomery, Heather, and Watson, Nicola. Houndmills, England: Palgrave Macmillan.

Links: Promoting Diversity in Children's Fiction

Some links to websites and people that challenge stereotypes and promote diversity in fiction for young people.

Let Books Be Books

This is a campaign to ‘take the stickers off’ books for boys and girls, arguing that certain books help compound gender stereotypes and alienate those children who have a preference for doing so not stereotypically ‘boyish’ or ‘girlish’. Many authors, including Philip Pullman, backed the campaign. Usborne chose to no longer publish gender-specific content in direct response. 

Katy Guest

Katy Guest is literary editor of The Independent, and chose to back the Let Books Be Books campaign by pledging to no longer review gender-specific books. There are links to her articles here. 

Inclusive Minds

Beth Cox and Alexandra Strick run the Inclusive Minds project and work as professional editorial consultants on diversity in publishing, offering training to public speaking to manuscript consultation. Having heard Beth speak, she can certainly deliver new and challenging ideas. 

Letterbox Library

Letterbox Library is a bookseller for parents, teachers and librarians promoting inclusion and diversity in fiction for children, with emphasis on multicultural content. 

Barefoot Books

Barefoot Books is an incredible children’s bookseller and publisher, with branches in Concord, MA, and in Oxford. Barefoot publishes books with a focus on promoting multiculturalism and environmental awareness. Their offices are above the shop premises, where storytelling becomes a fun, communal activity; story times are hosted at Barefoot and there is a cafe and storytelling chair that children and parents can use when formal sessions are not taking place. The story of their set-up, and breaking of established publishing patterns (namely refusing to sell books via Amazon), is available to read here.

Rooftoppers

Title: Rooftoppers

Author: Katherine Rundell

Publisher: Faber and Faber

Published: March 2013

Rooftoppers won the 2014 Waterstones’ Children’s Book Prize and Blue Peter Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and UKLA Children’s Book Award. It is a beautiful story, an odd and lyrical fairy tale about a rescued orphan and written in dreamy prose. 

Having been rescued from her cello case floating in the ocean, Sophie builds a wonderful kinship with her eccentric guardian Charles, but is still haunted by memories of her mother – and Sophie is sure she can remember her, despite being a baby. When circumstances threaten their happy life in England of writing notes for each other on the walls, dusting around cobwebs and reading Shakespeare on the roof, Sophie and Charles set out for Paris to look for Sophie’s mother, having discovered the address of a cellist maker engraved into the case. But Sophie also befriends another group of orphaned children in Paris – the rooftoppers, who live above the city on the rooftops and in the trees – and specifically Matteo, who teaches Sophie (among other things) how to cook a pigeon and walk across a tightrope.

More than anything, this book is an ode to the “almost impossible” (and, as Sophie would say, “Never ignore a possible”). Everything is surreal and far-fetched, but that is the point, and the final pages are at once satisfying and open-ended. The crux of the story is Sophie’s need to grow in herself, and to find her mother – so (for me) we don’t need to know what happens to certain characters afterwards, whether or not certain individuals ever receive justice for misdeeds. The nature of the narrative reassures us that everything will somehow be well once the book is closed, because the power of the individual and a little imagination is asserted in Rooftoppers so powerfully.

Taken as a magical, brief interlude of a life, Rooftoppers is a stunning and beautiful novel for anyone who believes in chasing dreams.

Some Thoughts on the Carnegie Medal and Children's Book Prizes

I have been fascinated to look over some of the recent writings on the Carnegie Medal choice this year, particularly looking at compelling articles from Lorna Bradbury. The idea that the Carnegie Medal has, for a long time, stopped honouring the sort of books that tick boxes, preferring anything that offers a dose of controversy or challenge (i.e. Stone Cold, Northern Lights or Junk in the nineties), seems increasingly confirmed by so many contemporary choices.

During MA studies this year, I found (slightly to my surprise) that there had not been much general thought or concern given to the quality of literature for children before the Carnegie Medal was created (in the 1930s), and one of the Carnegie’s aims was to raise competitiveness among authors through honouring the most outstanding fiction of the year. Inevitably, given the subjective nature of one ever judging a book, there were controversies from the start (i.e. when The Hobbit lost to The Family from One End Street). But the Medal certainly took care to award its fiction conscientiously, which (to me) is understandable; it was the first of its kind and the ‘right’ fiction needed to be recognised, taken seriously and applauded.

A glance at the list of early prize winners can see that some now classic books are included, i.e. the culminating books of The Chronicles of Narnia and Swallows and Amazon series from C.S. Lewis and Arthur Ransome, as well as The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (a favourite book of J.K. Rowling’s). Social factors seemed to be at work in eventually altering the Carnegie’s typical book choices, however, as children’s books began to deal with “parental discord, social misery and delinquent behaviour” (Barker 1998, 42), according to one theorist, with passing time. The Carnegie eventually adapted the nature of its choices, especially in the nineties.

The initial aim set forth by the Carnegie of awarding outstanding fiction was vague enough to be beneficial, though, and I think there is a lesson for any future book prize in it; choosing an “outstanding” novel for children is both a vague and subjective undertaking, but it allowed the Carnegie to adapt and move with the times. So it is not surprising that the Carnegie continues to flex its own prize-giving muscle and leverage by awarding darker stories like Stone Cold in 1993 and, with the awarding of The Bunker Diary, not much has changed. In another sense, though, this could also be symptomatic of Carnegie choices bracketed by the times, particularly in a time when darker, edgier YA fiction is in vogue.

Sources

Barker, Keith. 1998. “Prize Fighting”, Children’s Book Publishing in Britain since 1945, edited by Reynolds, Kimberley and Tucker, Nicholas. Aldershot, England: Scolar Press

Links: Children's Writing Prizes and Opportunities

Many people know about the well-established prizes for children’s books like the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, how books for these prizes are selected and granted a certain prestige in the book industry. I wanted to share just a few new prizes for writers (especially debut writers) that I have stumbled upon since starting my Publishing MA, and seem especially great for new writers looking to publish.

A Few Newer Prizes for New Writing

The Times and Chicken House Fiction Competition 
I love the premise of this prize and focus on finding new talent and voices. Chicken House invites writers to submit manuscripts every year for the chance to win a book deal and the honour of this accolade, and the website includes comprehensive advice and tips (recorded by Barry Cunningham himself) on a designated page. Click this link for more.

Hot Key Young Writers’ Prize 
The Hot Key Young Writers’ Prize is for writers aged eighteen to twenty-five who write YA fiction, and works by writers submitting their entries to Wattpad (in 2014).

The Big Idea Competition
As simple as coming up with the idea!

Unsolicited Manuscripts and Opportunities

At the time of writing, small and innovative publishers for children taking unsolicited manuscripts include Nosy Crow, David Fickling Books, Phoenix Yard and also Hot Key. Their focus is the story (and I can imagine being published with any of these names would be a dream come true for a debut writer)!

The River Singers

Title: The River Singers

Author: Tom Moorhouse

Publisher: Oxford University PRess

Published: July 2014 (PB)

The River Singers by Tom Moorhouse was published in paperback this month, and I thought a review was in order to celebrate since I really, really love this book.

The River Singers is not only a poignant, perfect summer read, but a novel to treasure and keep. I had heard a lot about the story prior to reading it, and reading so much positive press about something means that sometimes you wonder if a novel can really be as incredible as its hype, but The River Singers truly is. Written by Oxford ecologist Tom Moorhouse (who obviously knows his material very well), The River Singers is about a family of water voles who lose their mother and are struggling for survival. Sylvan and his siblings find themselves orphaned when a new, mysterious predator arrives in their home, and soon Sylvan, Fern, Aven and Orris are embarking on a journey to find a new and safe place to live.

This is a beautiful, bewitching story that had me gripped until the last page. Lauren St. John described it as “a hymn to nature, written with compassion and flair”, and the prose certainly has a lilting, lyrical quality at times, delicately painting vivid scenery and minute details of the riverbank world. Still, there are also hypnotic, urgent and gripping depictions of action and danger, and incredible moments of suspense in The River Singers. It is poignant, heartrending and hopeful, ranking with those classic animal tales like The Wind in the Willows, The Animals of Farthing Wood or anything from the likes of Michael Morpurgo, Gill Lewis or Lucy Daniels, books that line children’s bedroom bookcases and deservedly stay there. Something that sets apart The River Singers, though, is the level of immersion and insight we readers have into Sylvan’s world, and the danger that we as readers are forced to feel and live with him, Aven, Orris and Fern, after their home is destroyed by the arrival of a predator. The riverbank universe becomes ours, too, and the threat of the dark, elusive mink (comparatively huge compared to water voles) becomes as real and frightening for us as for the siblings who try desperately to evade it. As animal protagonists go, Sylvan is likeable, compelling, bold and fiercely loyal, and he and his siblings grow as they learn from one another, as well as how to help one another. For these reasons, The River Singers is also a very human story; it is about coping with grief and loss, reeling in the aftermath of trauma, and it reminds us of the importance of sibling loyalty and friendship, more than ever during times of pain, crisis and trouble.

All in all, I really cannot recommend The River Singers enough. As I have been blogging about libraries a little this week, it seemed another good reason to review The River Singers, since this – as an incredible Middle Grade read, ideal for children aged nine and older – definitely has a place in both primary and secondary school libraries. It is a perfect story to read aloud with older primary children, either one-to-one or as a class read. A sequel, The Rising, is due out in October this year (link here), and I will certainly be buying it. 

“One Child, One Teacher, One Book, One Pen.”

Happy library days!

The epilogue to Malala Yousafzai’s autobiography begins with the words of this post’s title; she expands upon them as she asks world leaders to offer children education across the world: “Let us pick up our books … our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.” Her words highlight something crucial for me – the role of reading in young people’s spiritual and educational development – and the subsequent spread and cultivation of ideas. Before I began my Publishing MA, I was a librarian in Abu Dhabi. I read as many children’s stories as I could, read a lot of picture books, and listened and watched a little. I came to a few conclusions in watching children read.

The key thing is that reading can and should be shared, if a child is going to learn to love books. It was one of the reasons we hosted book fairs and had an author come to visit us, one of the reasons we bought wall stickers (quotes from books) and added those to the library decorations. Some struggling readers may not necessarily ‘see’ a story beyond the problem of decoding and analysing it. While reading as a skill is crucial, stories and the immersive nature of them is what makes a book fun (losing yourself, living in another character’s world and thoughts). Children need to know that a book is a story, as much a world to be lived in as a movie could be. To me, this happens when adults take the necessary time to nurture a love of books, showing them that reading is about stories. There is something magical about reading picture books to very young children for this reason.

Another thing was the timeless value of printed books; I still love seeing young people digging with their hands into library bookcases, as opposed to swiping fingertips across screens. It was good likewise to see our pupils clutching signed print copies of books brought to our library by a visiting author. Academics from Stanford and Munich are arguing that the mere presence of books and bookcases in a house has a positive impact on a child’s achievements: “Books at home are the single most important predictor of student performance in most countries.” (See link here.) This is not to negate the incredible development of eBooks, the brilliance of story and spelling apps from publishers like Nosy Crow or Oxford University Press, or aimed to discourage those children who prefer reading on tablets – but for me (and hopefully for most), print and digital, old and new, can and should coexist. (On the subject of apps, Nosy Crow posted this via their blog some time ago, which is worth a read.)

If nothing else, I took away from my library work the vital place of libraries as relevant, powerful hubs for nurturing reading and learning. I really loved it whenever a picture book that proved a hit and several children the following week would come in asking to borrow it; I loved recommending books, having books recommended, reading one-to-one with people, deciphering the meanings of misunderstood words in English and Arabic, or dissecting the finer plot points of J.K. Rowling and steady building of canon over a certain series of seven stories. An adult’s input – librarian, teacher, parent, etc. – can, I think, help create the bedrock and foundation for a lifetime’s reading, and I haven’t stopped loving the books I loved when I was younger any less. This nurturing of great children’s literature is part of what makes children’s publishing such an exciting industry to be a part of.

Links: Library Love

I thought, for this link post, I would share some links I liked or found useful as a former librarian.

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Library Websites

Library Games
A great website with lots of activities and ideas for making libraries fun.

Chatterbooks
Information on setting up a Chatterbooks reading group.

Roald Dahl Day
Celebrating all things Roald Dahl with lots of activities for children.

World Book Day
A must for the calendar, so many options and ideas for schools and libraries to celebrate the day. Many authors get involved with World Book Day, too.

International Literacy Day
Another one for the calendar.

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Library Books and Lesson Resources

Booked In

Booked In by Louise Heyden is a fantastic book for any librarian (the above link goes through to the Book Depository site, where it can be ordered online).

TES Resources

The Times Education Supplement website has so many useful resources for teachers. Some are also great for librarians, particularly sheets and session ideas on book characters and activities when you need them.

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Story Centres

The Discover Centre
Based in London.

Seven Stories
Based in Newcastle.

The Story Museum
Based in Oxford.

Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre
Based in Buckinghamshire.

The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet

Title: The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet 

Author(s): Bernie Su and Kate Rorick 

Publisher: Simon and Schuster 

Published: July 2014 

Having tuned into the web series, I was looking forward to lead writer Bernie Su’s novelisation of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and it isn’t disappointing. The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet extends the YouTube videos and features Lizzie as a Communications student and video blogger from California, living at home with her parents and two sisters – Jane, a poorly paid fashion assistant – and Lydia, who skips college studies for parties, drinking and shopping. Though Jane has a paid job and Lizzie tutors when she isn’t studying, all three sisters are too poor to move away from home and live independently. So Lizzie’s diary charts the behind-the-scenes progress of her thesis project (the YouTube series, chronicling her life in five minute episodes), life at home and of course her evolving friendships with best friend Charlotte Lu (a fellow Mass Communications student), rich new neighbours Bing and Caroline Lee, and their richer, arrogant friend, William Darcy. (In this story, Bing is a trainee medical student, Caroline is a socialite and Darcy is a young CEO from an illustrious family.) 

As a modern YA version of Pride and Prejudice, set in the United States, the retelling works and the tone of the diary is sustained well, confessional and bantering and informal. Lizzie chats about her thesis, her occasional qualms about the videos, tutoring on Tolstoy, fun asides that never make it onto the camera – and we are able to see more of a buildup to her eventual showdown with Darcy and how things come to a head. Bernie Su and Kate Rorick keep the story light and fun, and don’t let the story become solely about the romance; cash-strapped Lizzie, Jane, Lydia and Charlotte all face the same troubles as their nineteenth century counterparts, needing to find careers (as opposed to marriages) that will pay enough to get them out of home and achieve economic independence. Opportunities are thin on the ground, however, resulting in Jane holding onto a career that pays meagre money, Lydia skipping classes and refusing to think beyond her next shopping trip, whilst Lizzie balances the need to find a job with the desire to finish her education.

For instance [cue spoilers], Lizzie sees the ruin of her ambitions when a modern Mr Collins “proposes” she become his start-up business partner. Lizzie is quick to turn him down, preferring to finish studies, but Charlotte pounces on the opportunity and quits her degree, becoming the first of the friends to leave home and get her own apartment. Something that a modern readership might judge Jane Austen’s impoverished Charlotte Lucas for – marrying a man she did not love in Pride and Prejudice – is updated suitably enough for us to understand the motives of a modern Charlotte Lu. The romance of the original is, of course, still there – and characters are updated faithfully – but The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet is never only about the end result of relations between Lizzie and Darcy, or Bing and Jane, though these romances are poignant and touching. The point of this retelling is not so much about finding romance as growing secure in your own skin, and Lydia’s parallel journey of maturation and reconciliation with Lizzie also makes for good reading. 

To sum up, I found The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet an easy, entertaining read (it took me a day to finish) and a book I would likely have enjoyed, anyway, but I liked it the more for having watched The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and more still for having loved and re-read Jane Austen’s original Pride and Prejudice so often since I was twelve. I am fairly positive that this retelling from Bernie Su and Kate Rorick can be enjoyed in its own right as a teen read, and perhaps as a suitable introduction to Jane Austen, though it should perhaps come with a warning label, too – if you do read this book, it will doubtless lure you quickly into the YouTube rabbit hole that is Lizzie Bennet’s video channel and social media world.

A Few Thoughts on Transmedia and Publishing

Something I’ve found fascinating these last few years is the rise of transmedia storytelling online, and its implications for publishers (especially those of YA stories). J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore is the obvious case in transmedia as an immersive, encyclopaedic story experience, enabling readers to create roles for themselves within the Hogwarts universe.

Not long ago, though, I stumbled across The Lizzie Bennet Diaries video channel. The videos (a hundred in total, each averaging five minutes) are part of a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice across social media (YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr), performed for the web by a team of actors and writers in the United States. The series with integrated transmedia (characters tweeted to one another between uploads) resulted in a book deal for its creators; a YA novelisation of the series by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick was published this week by Simon and Schuster, and I find this a pretty wonderful and staggering feat. Their story reimagines Elizabeth Bennet as a California video blogger pursuing a Master’s degree in Mass Communications, ignoring pressure from her mother to forgo her education and find either a suitable job or a rich, eligible boyfriend as soon as possible, in order to leave home and start living independently.

So much has already been written about the brilliant updates invented by Bernie Su and his team, of the plotting and characterisation that caught on with so many watching the series, enabling Su and co. to found Pemberley Digital and commit to retelling classic stories full-time via new media. But the genius of transmedia is, I think, as much in the execution as in the content. Henry Jenkins’ definition of transmedia is as follows: 

Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.

As another recently wrapped transmedia case study, The Autobiography of Jane Eyre is another independent adaptation from a small writing team that, for me, has the unique draw of modern Jane Eyre’s Tumblr. Jane is a live-in tutor at Mr Rochester’s large house in Canada, and her artistic talent in the original novel becomes photography for this adaptation. On Tumblr, she reblogs – in addition to her YouTube videos – her own photography (she is of course on Instagram) and others’ vintage images, fairy tale art and scenes, inspirational quotes and music. Jane’s blog is a mood board, art journal and scrapbook (all the postings reflect her feelings at various stages in the story), an insight into those feelings she cannot, due to her introverted nature, always expand on for viewers, especially regarding Rochester. Jane vlogs, on the whole, in a copycat style to Bernie Su’s Lizzie Bennet – facing a camera in her bedroom – but this adaptation is actually better when Jane breaks this habit, i.e. when recording an eerie confessional scene in broken tones on the floor of the infamous Red Room, or musing aloud and filming during a walk in the woods. The series as a transmedia effort is not perfect, and yet I might just find a diary from this Canadian Jane Eyre (who drinks fruit tea, reads widely and quotes Frank O’Hara) a compelling read. It struck me that this could work in reverse, too – publishers and authors creating an extension of character or world building online, marketing meeting content – and not necessarily on the grand scale of Pottermore, either.

Apart from looking out for transmedia series deserving novelisation, as happened to Bernie Su and Kate Rorick, it will be interesting to see how publishers begin to work with transmedia and consider world building beyond the book. The only case I can think of is Night Film by Marisha Pessl, a horror thriller (for adults) from Random House with scans of newspaper articles, police reports and images apparently pasted into the narrative, to back up Scott McGrath’s story with integrated pieces of realism (or a semblance of it). The story becomes darker, more morbid for these added details (I have, as yet, failed to finish it as it is fairly black). There is also an app that releases more content and information. But a sprawling world is created around a single book (not to exploit success established already), and I can think of nothing else in book publishing – yet – quite like it.

Many book trailers are created and posted via the YouTube channels of publishers, but I think transmedia fragments might render the content more interesting by enhancing it. The excitement is in the planning, as it is all still a relatively blank canvas.

Links: Transmedia Adaptations of Classic Literature

I thought I would share some links to transmedia adaptations of classic stories across social media; whether or not this is the start of a trend in storytelling, transmedia seems like a fantastic means of introducing literature to YA audiences in particular. 

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Elizabeth Bennet of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is now Lizzie Bennet, a graduate vlogger creating videos in her bedroom and tweeting them to the world. She reenacts scenes through costume theatre and mimicking other characters until the delicate structure of her vlogging style (confined to her room, interruptions coming from only her sisters and close friend, Charlotte Lu) breaks and other characters begin to come in and learn what she is doing. This is an incredible independent adaptation of Pride and Prejudice that has received a lot of acclaim (cue a review from The Guardian), as well as an Emmy Award for interactive media achievement and over a million views online.

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Emma Approved

Based on Emma by Jane Austen, this is the follow-up to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries from Bernie Su and the rest of his team. Emma Woodhouse is an ambitious entrepreneur and lifestyle excellence coach (not sure what that means, but she makes you believe it). Mr Knightley is her business partner and Harriet Smith is her personal assistant, while the ensemble cast of Mr and Mrs Weston, Mr Elton, Frank Churchill, Jane Fairfax et al. from the book makes up her group of friends, business associates, clientele and possible future employees. Emma has an integrated fashion and lifestyle blog (which is good reading) that makes up a key part of the adaptation, in addition to her dedicated Pinterest and Twitter accounts.

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The Autobiography of Jane Eyre

This story, a modern Jane Eyre set in Canada, is an adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s novel (one of my favourite stories) that suffers from the fact that their Mr Rochester left before production wrapped. Jane works a live-in tutor for Adele Rochester, and eventually develops a friendship with her father (whose wife is … somewhere) after he returns home. To me, it does not feel as polished as the Pemberley Digital videos, but parts of it are compelling, and as an independent effort, I have nothing but respect for the writers and actors who decided to put this together. Transmedia is still such a new field and it will be interesting to see how it develops, particularly in conjunction with traditional and digital publishing. 

Eleanor and Park

Title: Eleanor and Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publisher: Orion

Published: February 2013

This is a beautiful and unlikely love story, and I really enjoyed it. It is a beautiful, surprising read; the danger, I think, of stories like Eleanor and Park is their becoming hackneyed, ‘another YA romance’. But that’s not the case here. 

Eleanor and Park fall in love whilst dealing with family troubles and peer pressures at school; superficially, the plot may at first sound rather similar to other high school romances, but the prose, characters and poignancy of the tale sets it apart entirely. Eleanor is red-haired, intelligent and stands out in her odd, mismatched clothes; she also struggles with a secret abusive life at home. Park is half-Korean, absorbed in his comics and quietly maintaining his borderline ‘cool’ profile in school. But that changes when Park and Eleanor habitually sit near each other on the back of the bus. Gradually, Park realises she is reading his comics; an awkward lending of comics and sharing of mixed tapes (it’s set in the eighties) ensues, and a tentative friendship begins. The relationship that follows is imperfect, because Park doesn’t respond as he should to the reactions of his friends and family to Eleanor. His initial failure to help or stand up for her is painful to read but realistically immature for their ages and the typical pressures they face as teenagers. But his subsequent growth and change is rewarding for it.

Ultimately, this is a story about two frail people discovering that they are worth being loved, protected and valued (not just by each other, but by the adults in their lives). A really poignant read about first love, loss, finding inner strength and growing up.

Tips for Internships in Publishing

Internship Tips 

A few short, simple tips on what worked for me when managing tasks as a new intern: 

Positivity

Perhaps this is very obvious, but worth mentioning, regardless. Internships in publishing are often unpaid, though it’s my personal belief that as an intern you’re invariably repaid ‘in kind’. The experience you get is invaluable and so is the reference you’ll be supplied with. Bearing this in mind, it’s as well to take on every task with positivity. 

Note-taking on paper

Taking notes on everything (literally) helped me to learn and manage tasks, so keeping a notebook in the office is a good idea. Simple things like how to use a function on a computer, photocopier or printer – as well as instructions for more complicated jobs – can be immensely helpful to have to hand if you remember to write them down. 

Note-taking on screen

I kept a running list on MS Word of all the tasks I had done on each day of my internship. I added to the list each week to create a record of everything and anything I’d done, useful for me and for the people supplying my reference later. I saved this list for my reference at the end of my internship and it supplied me with a record of tasks I’d forgotten doing, very useful when updating my CV. 

Prioritise 

When workloads are heavy, look over everything and prioritise. Though it should generally be obvious, it’s as well to ask if you’re unsure! 

Everything brings insight 

Every job given is a job that needs doing by someone in the office. So all intern experience brings insight; all the challenging and fun tasks are best counterbalanced with the routine and necessary ones. Filing and copying, for instance, are integral to working life in a publishing office; I realised quickly that it’s as well to get to grips with everything and learn about publishing life from the bottom up. So it is good to get the right balance between the big and small tasks (all of equal importance!) during any internship experience.

Relax 

The friends and supervisors I’ve met so far in publishing have been exceptionally lovely and willing you on to succeed. So fret not, enjoy the time and ask for help if anything is uncertain. 

Who Framed Klaris Cliff

Title: Who Framed Klaris Cliff?

Author: Nikki Sheehan

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: February 2014

Joseph Reece lives next door to his best friend, Rocky, and Rocky’s siblings. He lives with his father, since Joseph’s mother left and has not been heard from in two years; in the interim, Joseph is visited by an imaginary friend who will not leave him alone. But imaginary friends are not considered the harmless stuff of play and games in this book. In Nikki Sheehan’s world, imaginary friends are regarded as a threat (something akin to poltergeists). Operations exist to remove these dangerous spirits from young minds and the centre of creativity in the brain is targeted, essentially ‘blipping’ children’s imagination with a laser beam. This is the threat that Joseph finds himself faced with when an imaginary friend of Rocky’s brother Flea turns ‘rogue’ and appears to him. Can Joseph evade this fate? Can he be rid of Klaris Cliff? (Or does he want to be?)

The premise of this story intrigued me from the start; it disturbed me that there was no great sign of an ideological shift in Joseph’s world but I take that as the point, that we are left faced with questions at the story’s conclusion. What is the result in this fictional world of young children continuing to be ‘operated’ on, what does the concept of a butchered imagination really mean? Joseph’s personal story and his need for closure is what matters, though, and he is a likeable hero, regarded by himself and others as ‘normal’ apart from his connection to an ‘imaginary’ Klaris. But I think my favourite character in this was Flea. I loved and pitied his meekness, his inability to be other than he is; his quiet acceptance of his bullying and sad belief that he deserved it all because, supposedly, the sins of introversion and imagination made him abnormal, according to his siblings, his peers and even his father. That in itself is a poignant message to be left with; in a world that deals with the matter-of-fact and everyday, imagination is something side-lined, a source of embarrassment that results in isolation and misunderstanding.

A very poignant and thought-provoking read.

Finding an Internship in Publishing

Since starting my MA, I have been lucky enough to intern with a couple of publishers and so decided to publish a post on finding an internship in publishing (not to offer an infallible guide but share tips on what has worked for me).

Social Media

Random House is particularly good at posting new work experience opportunities via Facebook. Hachette likewise posts a lot of internship opportunities and job openings on their official website, their Facebook page and via Twitter, as do smaller companies like Nosy Crow. A summer internship scheme is offered by Penguin; HarperCollins offers a graduate recruitment scheme. There are other Twitter accounts (i.e. Book Careers, Ideas Tap) that advertise internships in publishing and related fields, also worth following. But incredible opportunities have come up via social media that I otherwise would never have seen. 

Logistics Later

For me, the long-term value of getting my ‘foot in the door’ was worth so much more than the short-term costs of accommodation, food, etc., when I worked my first voluntary week at a publishing company some distance from home. My week at that company was fantastic, it confirmed what I wanted to do and it led to other opportunities (including another longer internship) later. 

Past Experience

Past experience and perspective brought from working in other fields can be incredibly helpful. Before I began my Publishing MA, I used to work as a children’s librarian and a teaching assistant; this gave me a lot of time to read to and with children and teenagers, to learn more about their books, to see what sorts of books they loved and what they responded to. As I ultimately want to work with children’s books, all of this I count as significant (along with my English degree, creative writing classes, etc.), and I reference my experiences in more detail whenever I write a covering letter.

Demonstrate Passion and Knowledge 

Keep yourself informed on what’s out there and what people think of the books you want to work with. You can follow publishers and agents, authors and bloggers on Twitter, and listen to their opinions and insights. Follow accounts like The Bookseller and Publishing Perspectives, anything to create a tailored newsfeed for yourself about publishing on Twitter. I have found research invaluable when applying to publishers, in order to show awareness and appreciation for their material. If you’ve read books on the publisher’s list, it will give you another advantage, particularly if you liked them and can discuss them. 

Covering Letter 

It’s as well to have a basic covering letter prepared that can be adapted easily whenever new opportunities arise and whatever you do, proofread everything several times.

The Bone Dragon

Title: The Bone Dragon 

Author: Alexia Casale 

Publisher: Faber and Faber 

Published: April 2013

The Bone Dragon begins with protagonist Evie coming round from surgery, and we realise quickly that she has been the victim of abuse; Evie’s ribcage is literally shattered, a fact she’s kept secret for years from her adoptive parents. 

Enigmatic and intelligent, Evie conveys the past to us in sideways glances; she keeps us guessing at what happened whilst living with her birth mother and her grandparents, revealing the truth only in snatches and fragments. The Dragon of the title, meanwhile, serves as object, character and metaphor. Carved out of one of Evie’s own ribs, the talisman takes on life in her mind, helping her process her grief and recover strength. Even as she finds happiness and stability with her new family and with friends in school, the cynicism, wit and wisdom of the Bone Dragon also serve as a genteel expression of (as well as façade to) Evie’s deep-seated bitterness and anger. The Dragon presses for revenge – and, ultimately, revenge is taken, making for an ending that is more than a little disquieting. 

It is hard to say more without revealing spoilers, but Evie and those she loves in the book are reeling from grief and damage caused by others. Ultimately, it is not enough for Evie to not act. There is no forgiveness for wrongs in The Bone Dragon, and in this story, anger is not crippling, but an agent of power. The moral implications of the ending are dubious, but nevertheless thought-provoking, and I found this a clever, resonant tale on the darker psychological effects of abuse. It’s another one to stay on the shelf.

(Incidentally, I know I am possibly not meant to feel very sorry for a certain thuggish boy named Sonny at Evie’s school, but knowing that the other name for ‘deadly nightshade’ is ‘belladonna’ … perhaps the point is made in that duel naming, and in his botched giving of that particular flower for Evie!)

Cuckoo Song

Title: Cuckoo Song
Author: Frances Hardinge
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: May 2014
Click to buy.

Triss wakes up one day to find that her hair is shedding leaves and she is ravenously hungry (so hungry she even raids the garden at night to eat rotting apples). Her sister Penelope (or Pen) is terrified of her, as though she is no longer Triss but someone else living in Triss’ skin. Triss also has odd nightmares that seem to end with a voice counting down her days. There’s no help to be had from her parents, who are grieving for her dead brother, Sebastian, lost to the war. Triss – or a new someone posing as Triss – has to solve the mystery of what happened both to her and the girl she replaced, if either is going to survive.

Cuckoo Song was a wonderful, sad and chilling book that I couldn’t put down. It is set in the aftermath of the First World War, though has the gothic overtones of a dark Victorian fairy tale, and Triss makes a compelling, fierce, strong and loyal protagonist. In this story, the war has literally shaken the core of what things we accept and choose to believe, resulting in the uncertain and impossible gaining new footholds. The magical and fantastical elements of this tale are not safe, beautiful or kind; the creatures of this book are frightening, harsh, cunning and macabre. Yet it is still an uplifting tale about sisterly trust, strength of character, broken dolls and diary souls. It is very hard to cover everything this tale encompasses and the extent of magic it contains without giving away vital spoilers, making it such a difficult book to review, yet all I can urge you to do is read it. There is nothing quite like it. 

However, I should read it in the daytime, and a warning to all the china doll lovers of the world: dolls will be harmed in the reading of this book.

Also, you may never look at scissors in the same way again.

We Were Liars

Title: We Were Liars

Author: E. Lockhart

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Published: May 2014

Click to buy.

I can’t lie. This is a stunning book and I tore through it quickly. Pain seeps from the pages. We Were Liars chronicles an adolescent girl’s breakdown and selective amnesia surrounding a traumatic accident (which we think could be about one thing, and then again, it might not be that at all).

Cadence Sinclair Eastman lives a decadent life among her elite, privileged Massachusetts relatives (the illustrious Sinclair family) on their privately owned Beechwood Island. We even get an island map and family tree in the opening pages. But we know at once the supposed idyll masks lies: ‘Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family,’ Cadence writes, ‘no one is a criminal. No one is an addict. No one is a failure.’ Her beloved friends are cousins Mirren and Johnny (part of the Sinclair clan) and Gat (not a part). Cadence falls for Gat, but (inevitably, we think), at the end of the summer, Gat leaves and Cadence is found injured on her family’s island beach, with no memory of how she got there. Over the following two years, Cadence retreats into herself, succumbing to intense migraines and depressive behaviour, still unable to recount events from that earlier summer. Mirren and Johnny fail to respond to her emails and when she finally sees them again with Gat, it becomes plain that, if they do know anything, they are not telling what happened. The story is Cadence’s apparent attempt to piece together the puzzle … or is it actually something else altogether?

Lockhart writes in clipped, emotive prose that tears at you, and I don’t think I have read a YA book in which the brokenness following a failed relationship is better conveyed (not in a way that makes you gag, either), or how excessive, consuming grief and guilt can distort and cripple your thinking. The twist of the story is what I did not see coming; I placed the book down and just sat feeling numb when I had finished. There is a deep mystery that Cadence skates around, and the revelation of it isn’t melodramatic or overdone, just horrifying realisation. We Were Liars is a heartrending experience for a protagonist whose naïveté and desire to rebel backfires drastically, and a haunting book that will linger with you after you place it back on the shelf.

(Hot Key did an incredible #LiarsLiveRead of this book and collected reader responses here on their blog.)

The Bone Season

Title: The Bone Season
Author: Samantha Shannon
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: August 2013
Click to buy.
Click to pre-order the sequel (October 2014).

Set in 2059, The Bone Season is a futuristic, steampunk dystopia (marketed for adults, though I feel sure it has more YA appeal) in which clairvoyance is outlawed, but Paige Mahoney is a dreamwalker and can invade the minds of others. She sticks with a clairvoyant criminal gang in the underworld of Scion London, until she is kidnapped and brought to the hidden city of Oxford, run by a supernatural race called the Rephaim. Her ‘keeper’ is Warden, and a Beauty and the Beast relationship ensues with obvious homage paid to Jane Eyre (Helen Burns’ early assertion to Jane about the spirits surrounding her is used as an epigraph to the novel opening).

I loved this book; I finished it in one sitting last August. The narrative is compelling and the world-building is accomplished, deft and brilliant. Irish girl Paige Mahoney paints a picture of London haunted by spirits of the aether, the auras of others’ dreamscapes (distinguishable by colour) and the oxygen bars where people go for their highs. Meanwhile, the city of Oxford where Paige is taken hostage has been renamed Sheol I (apparently translating to ‘abode of the dead’). Colleges are replaced with Residences (i.e. the Residence of Balliol and Residence of Magdalen, where Paige is kept captive). South of the centre is No Man’s Land, and the land beyond the city is haunted by supernatural monsters (Emim). This enables the totalitarian reign of the more powerful Rephaim and there being, apparently, no escape for Paige or the other humans brought there. Every ten years, the Rephaim take more humans from Scion; these are their reapings, which they term ‘Bone Seasons’.

The opening to The Bone Season is riveting and the narrative never loses its gripping, taut tone, which compels you to read on and on. Perhaps my one tiny gripe with The Bone Season is that, in Twilight fashion, Warden has to be flawlessly beautiful; I do not like the rise of the beautiful male in YA fiction, but this is a subjective preference and otherwise I just love this book. There has been an incredible hype surrounding this book, but deservedly so; having followed A Book from the Beginning for a long time prior to publication, I waited a long time for The Bone Season to finally emerge in Waterstones and was not disappointed. I bought my hardback on the publication date last year, but as you can see, had to go and buy a paperback in order to get it signed at a recent Oxford event by Samantha herself. The hardback, unfortunately, I had left behind in Devon; but then one can never have too many copies of a good thing. It was great to go and meet Samantha Shannon in person last month and have my copy of the book signed.

The Glass Bird Girl

Title: The Glass Bird Girl
Author: Esme Kerr
Publisher: Chicken House
Published: May 2014
Click to buy.

Welcome to the first book review! Thank you so much to Chicken House for letting me have a proof copy to read  and review!

Orphan Edie finds herself sent to an elite boarding school, Knight’s Haddon, recruited by her strange Uncle Charles to act as a friend and ‘spy’ for wealthy Russian girl, Anastasia, also boarding at the school. Anastasia is always losing her belongings (including a glass bird, making her the Glass Bird Girl of the title), but is convinced that her things are actually being stolen from her. As Anastasia’s possessions invariably turn up in other places, pupils begin to accuse Anastasia of being a liar and a drama queen, or dreamy and absent-minded, or maybe just mad. As events spiral out of control, Edie suspects that someone in the school is trying to set Anastasia up as a mad case. It is up to her to find out quickly if it is a malicious student acting out of spite, or if something much worse is going on.

The Glass Bird Girl is very compelling and readable, and the Knight’s Haddon boarding school setting has a classical, old-fashioned vibe that put me in mind of books like A Little Princess and Charlotte Sometimes. The dark ‘edge’ to the story is Anastasia’s growing sense of isolation, and the idea that others’ perceptions can negatively impact our own self-awareness; like a metaphorical glass bird, Anastasia becomes increasingly fragile, feeling more and more that ‘I have to agree with other people’s versions of what’s going on, in order to be left alone.’ As such, Anastasia begins to wonder if she really is going mad and that perhaps she is the only one who doesn’t realise it. Edie’s determination to help her carries the story forward, and Edie makes a perceptive, loyal and likeable lead character. The mystery itself is far-fetched but this suits the spirit of the book, the boarding school mystery, and you don’t guess the culprit too quickly, as there are quite a few red herring moments scattered through the plot. The book ends with the friendship between Edie and Anastasia cemented, and the potential for more stories to come, which I will definitely keep an eye out for. A lovely debut from Esme Kerr!

“Then how should I begin …?”

Welcome to another children’s book blog; whether you came here by bedknob or broomstick, flux dart or floo powder, time turner or tollbooth, thank you for stopping by. (Book reviews are coming up soon!)