This post was added by Rebecca Newman. Rebecca is a children's writer and poet, and the editor of the Australian children's literary blog, Alphabet Soup.
For more about Rebecca visit: rebeccanewman.net.au.
Many people collect things. I collect book titles. When I come across a book title that shines, I write it in a notebook I keep just for my list of shiny book titles. Sometimes I request one of these books from the library, hoping the book will live up to its title – but often it doesn’t. Which is disappointing.
Glancing over my list, two from the list that do live up to their titles are Owl Moon and The Naming Of Tishkin Silk. I love how the first makes you say the title slowly and already sounds like the story within. The Naming of Tishkin Silk just sounds like poetry to me. All those sshh and ck sounds. Lovely.
Do you have any titles that make you sigh over their perfection? Have you ever picked up a book because the title called to you? Did it live up to its title?
We have had emails about Alphabet Soup and about Soup Blog, but nobody was interested in actually entering the competition for this particular giveaway!
We will donate our copy of War’s End to the local primary school. So perhaps there is a winner after all. 🙂
Join Sydney Writers’ Festival for School Days 2009!
School Days 2009 cover
If you love books, reading and creative writing then Sydney Writers’ Festival’s School Days is an event just for you. This is your very own festival of children’s literature, featuring a handpicked line-up of writers for both primary- and secondary-school-aged children.
This is a wonderful opportunity to be inspired by, and learn from, your favourite writers in a fun, educational and interactive day. The writers will talk about their craft, read from their work and answer your questions. You also have the chance to meet the writers and have your books signed.
The Primary School Days line-up features some of Australia’s best-loved authors for children, Morris Gleitzman, Tristan Bancks, Danny Katz, Mitch Vane and Catherine Bateson, as well as the UK’s ‘Queen of Tween’, Cathy Cassidy.
They will be appearing at Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay on Monday 18 May, Riverside Theatres in Parramatta on Tuesday 19 May and the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre in Penrith on Wednesday 20 May.
The Secondary School Days program features award-winning UK writer Mal Peet, as well as bestselling Australian authors Isobelle Carmody, Randa Abdel-Fattah, James Roy and Garth Nix.
You can catch them at Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay on Tuesday 19 May, and Riverside Theatres in Parramatta on Wednesday 20 May.
Families and school groups are welcome. Make sure you book early to avoid disappointment.
Well, maybe not just yet … but you’re someone who likes to get organised early, right? So, what will you buy your favourite young bookworm for Christmas? Have you considered a subscription to Alphabet Soup magazine? If you didn’t feel like forking out $25 all in one hit, a single copy would make a great stocking filler at only $7! It’s light to post too!
We now have postage and handling prices for postage to addresses outside Australia. (Free postage and handling for delivery to Australian delivery addresses for orders placed by 31 December 2008.) Visit the Alphabet Soup website for details.
2008 is the 90th anniversary of the end of The Great War. We have one copy of War’s Endby Victoria Bowen to give away to a Soup Blog reader.
From the blurb: ‘Dad is finally on his way home from The Great War. Twelve-year-old Nell barely remembers him but when the Spanish Influenza enters their lives, threatening Dad’s return, she begins to understand the gap in the family his absence has created. This is one family’s experience of the end of the war, a time of hope that turned into a time of trial.’
Email us at editor @ alphabetsoup.net.au (remove the space after editor) with War’s End in the subject line. In the body of your email, include the statement ‘I agree to the terms and conditions of this giveaway.’ Then, in 25 words or less, tell us why you’d like to receive a copy of War’s End.
If your entry is the winner, we’ll contact you by email.
Terms and conditions:
1. Immediate family members of Alphabet Soup staff are not eligible to enter. 2. The prize is only open to Australian citizens or residents and can only be sent to an Australian delivery address. 3. Email entries must be received by midnight (in Western Australia) on Friday 14 November 2008. 4. Chance plays no part in this giveaway. 5. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. 6. The prize is one copy of War’s End by Victoria Bowen. 7. Entry is free 8. All entries become the property of Alphabet Soup Publishing and will be destroyed after the winner has been announced. 9. The winner’s initial of their first name, surname and Australian state of residence will appear on Soup Blog and remain for as long as Alphabet Soup Publishing desires. 10. You must abide by these conditions to be eligible to enter the giveaway.
Greg Mitchell is our talented illustrator! (The header for this blog is taken from one of his drawings.)
Greg and his wife Kate are Education Consultants and somehow Greg finds time to draw all the illustrations for the magazine as well! We send Greg pages from the magazine with just the text. He draws all his pictures on white paper and posts them to us. We can then scan his drawings and place them exactly where we want them on each page of the magazine (and enlarge or reduce them if we need to).
The latest book on our ‘to read’ pile is Roland Harvey’s big book of Christmas. (Roland Harvey’s pictures are always fun and full of detail and we admit that’s possibly what shifted BBOC to the top of the reading pile.)
This is a new and updated edition of an old Australian favourite. It’s an entertaining book, with explanations about Christmas traditions around the world, recipes, activities and crafts, instructions for making your own gifts, games, even pages of sheet music for Christmas carols, and gift tag stickers.
We highly recommend it!
And now we’re off to find a billycan to try out Billycan Pudding. Mmmmm.
As part of our promotion and marketing, we are sending a free copy of the magazine to most public libraries in Western Australia. So this week the printer is working overtime churning out address labels and we’re buying up big at Officeworks on envelopes … and labels.
The whole label printing-and-sticking exercise has also exposed the shocking ignorance of the Alphabet Soup office when it comes to the names of towns in Western Australia. For example – there was general consensus that none of us had heard of Grass Patch. (Apologies if you live in Grass Patch. If it’s any consolation we all thought it was a fabulous name for a town and just like something out of a book.)
So if you live in Grass Patch and would like to preview a copy of the magazine, next week you can ask your librarian about Alphabet Soup. 🙂
I interviewed Duncan Ball for the ‘meet the author’ section in issue 2 of Alphabet Soup (due out in February 2009). When issue 1 was published I sent him a copy, so he could see what he was in for (naturally we hoped we wouldn’t get an email saying ‘I hereby remove previous consent to have interview appear in your publication. D. Ball’.)
As it happened, he must have thought AS came up to scratch – he sent a handwritten note of support and goodwill.
Entries for the first children’s writing competition are keeping the post office staff busy filling up the PO Box! The competition closes on 21 November, so if your budding writer hasn’t sent something in yet, tell them to get to it! There are three age categories: ages 6 & 7, ages 8 & 9 and age 10.
Book voucher prizes! Kudos! And the possibility of having their winning entry published in Issue 2! They don’t have to subscribe to the magazine to enter, but there are some rules to read before posting in an entry. Go to www.alphabetsoup.net.au and click on ‘competitions’ for more info.
