Let's celebrate with The Nowhere Box and a Perfect Prig!

This week, as we welcome in the Chinese Year of the Horse, we take a pause in our feasting to toast two debut picture book author-illustrators, Sam Zuppardi and Julie-Anne Graham. 

First, a huge hip hooray! to Sam Zuppardi, whose debut picture book The Nowhere Box was published in the US and UK on 12th November, by Candlewick Press and Walker. 

The Nowhere Box: George's little brothers wreck his toys and his games and trail after him wherever he goes. Try as he might, there's just no hiding from them. George has had enough! So he commandeers an empty washing-machine box and goes to the one place his brothers can't follow: Nowhere. Nowhere is amazing! It's magnificent! It's also, however, free of pirates and dragons and ... well, anyone at all. 

Sam Zuppardi used to draw pictures at school when he was supposed to be doing work. Since then he’s worked in a book warehouse, as a student, as a nursery worker, a bookshop assistant, a toyshop assistant and a care worker. At the moment he works with children. He still draws pictures. He is the illustrator of the middle grade series The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe. His debut picture book The Nowhere Box was inspired by an enduring childhood love for hide-and-seek. And cardboard boxes. He lives in York, England. Visit his website at www.samzuppardi.com. 

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@Ja_illustrator

Congratulations also go to Julie-Anne Graham, who has just scored a publishing deal with The Perfect Percival Priggs. Lisa Cheng at Running Press Kids has bought author-illustrator Julie-Anne's debut picture book. It's about a boy who is perfect in every possible way – but when his aunt comes to town, she uncovers what is hidden behind his perfect smile. It's pitched as a young Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory meets Tim Burton and publication is set for spring 2015. Kathleen Ortiz at New Leaf Literary & Media brokered the deal.

Julie-Anne is currently studying an MA in Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. She has a background in fashion and her love of fabrics comes across in her illustrations. In 2013 she was Highly Commended for The Perfect Percival Priggs in the Macmillan Prize for Children's Book Illustration. Her work will be on display at the CSA graduation exhibition, Candid Gallery, 5 Torrens Street, London, from 11th-15th February.

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Tania Tay is an ex-advertising copywriter and has been published in Sable LitMag. She is currently writing a YA romantic thriller, has just joined The Golden Egg Academy and is on the editorial team at Words & Pictures.

Featured Illustrator: Sally Kindberg

February's Featured Illustrator is London based Sally Kindberg. With a long association with comics and journalism, Sally has been a familiar name in the press for many readers. She also focuses her talents on books for children. See the full range of her prolific output in the Featured Illustrator Gallery.

HOW IT ALL STARTED 

Space Portrait (Comic Strip History of Space/Bloomsbury)

My mother swam every day in the south Devon sea and apparently I was almost born in it. She was the black sheep grand-daughter of a Midlands beer baron, disinherited for her wild behaviour - she danced a lot, married an unsuitable and elusive Finn, and it didn’t go down well at the time. We moved back to the Midlands and that’s where I grew up, sometimes in my grandmother’s house, but mostly in a decaying Victorian Gothic apartment, both of them near Nottingham Castle. 

 

I was a very late reader and loved looking at pictures in books and comics. Desperate Dan and Dan Dare were my favourite characters. I decided to be an astronaut, but first I wanted to write, and make pictures. When I was about nine I drew and stuck cut-out bits of odd information in notebooks and sold them (for sixpence I think) to children down the road, so I’m more or less doing a similar thing years later. 

Galaxyspace (Comic Strip History of Space/Bloomsbury) 

After a Graphic Design degree, I got married to a man with a twirly mustache and came to London to make my fortune. I have a daughter called Emerald, my husband died young, and I’ve always worked as an illustrator, with occasional brief stints early on in my career as an artist’s model, and the world’s worst waitress (I’m partially deaf). 

Creepy Kokey/Kindberg/Heinemann

My first children’s book was called Tricky Tricks (Lutterworth Press). I approached Patrick Hardy, who’d just left Penguin/Kestrel Books and set up on his own. He asked me to demonstrate one of the tricks, called Tangle Torture, in his Soho office. It went slightly wrong, but Patrick loved my ideas and the drawings I showed him, and decided to publish me. Tangle Torture was left out in the end, for Health and Safety reasons. 

I’ve written and illustrated about thirty children’s books as well as illustrating many more, and worked for all sorts of magazines and broadsheets. For a while I wrote and illustrated a column for the Independent on Saturday called What’s On This Weekend, and this led to my becoming a travel writer for a few years, with some unusual commissions, like going to Elf School in Iceland (it took two years for me to set this up with the grumpy Elf Headmaster), sailing to Lisbon on a Tall Ship, and taking part in a Haggis Hurling competition. Didn’t win, and my rogue haggis nearly knocked out the photographer. For many years I drew for the Guardian, illustrating Pyrgic Puzzles written by ‘The Puzzlemaster of the World’ – a somewhat tricky genius. I worked one day a week for the New Statesman for a year, illustrating copy as it came in, and had several commissions for my handwriting, once earning more handwriting two sentences about cider for a TV ad than the advance for a children’s book I’d just completed. 

Units of Astonishment (Guardian editorial)

A few years ago I met up with author Tracey Turner and we decided to work together on a series of non-fiction comic strip books for children, including the Comic Strip History of Space (Bloomsbury). Great fun and a delight to work with Tracey – we’re hoping to collaborate again soon. 

Currently I’m writing and illustrating my own series of children’s activity books called Draw It! for Bloomsbury, and have just finished the fourth one about one hundred wonders in London. There are several mini-interviews with people who have specialist jobs in London – including the Tower of London’s Ravenmaster, a female firefighter and a zookeeper who swims with penguins - as well as info about lady gladiators, tunnelling machines, mammoths roaming the Strand and the secrets of mummified cats. I’m also working on a kind of autobiographical graphic novel called Blink, and the next four Draw It! titles. 

I love encouraging children and adults to come up with ideas and draw them, so run workshops all over the place, including China, Shetland, Cornwall, the Guardian’s Big Draw, Pentonville Prison, the National Space Centre and a Masterclass for SCBWI. 

Herschel Space (Comic Strip History of Space/Bloomsbury

TIPS 

Be curious about everything, keep notebooks, be determined about what you want to do, go to lots of events and classes. Learning never stops. 

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See the Illustrators Showcase Gallery for more examples of Sally's work. 
She can be contacted through her website and through her blog
 

Ask an Agent - with Gemma Cooper and Molly Ker Hawn, from the Bent Agency

 

Are you looking for a query critique from those in the know? Or do you have a question you've always wanted to ask an agent? This month, agents Gemma Cooper and Molly Ker Hawn from The Bent Agency are offering just that.

Gemma has tackled the queries this month: 

Query One 

Dear Molly and Gemma,  

I am seeking representation for my YA science fiction manuscript, Shift, complete at 86,000 words.  

What would the future look like if biotechnology took astronomical leaps forward? [It’s best not to start your query off with a question. It distracts us and leaves us thinking about the question, while also trying to read on. Just open with the pitch.]

It's the year 4017 and the human race has a new skill set - Shift. [We don’t know what ‘Shift’ is, so this sentence is confusing without an explanation.] From soaring with the eagles to swimming with the sharks, animal mind control has become second nature. [So ‘Shift’ is animal control? Connecting these two previous sentences better would help here.]

But it's not all fun and games - with control comes manipulation. It's amazing what damage an elephant can do in a war zone, or what an excellent troupe of line dancers you can make from fifty cats. Is it ethical? No one seems to know and no one's asking the question. [This is all back story and setting up your world, but not telling us about your plot. Try to condense into two more punchy lines.]

But for 19-year-old Anna, life isn't about any of that. She's stuck in a tiny Northern village with a sister who outshines her at every turn, a brother who's drifting further away the more he grows, and a boyfriend she's never quite sure wants to be there. [Do we need to know all about these characters in the pitch?]

But that's okay. What isn't okay, is Shift. Anna can't. [Finally, we are getting to the meat of the story and how your world impacts your main character.] Dubbed as 'mind-deaf' and stagnating in society's pity [It took a few reads for this to make sense, don’t overcrowd your query with lines like this.], she meets Grigg - tall, dark and nondescript [Does it matter what he looks like?] - and fascinated by Anna's flaw. 

Over the course of a winter the two strike up a friendship and with Grigg's help, Anna starts to push the boundaries of society (whoever heard of a human learning to swim?) [Because we don’t know everything about your world, this doesn’t seem weird. Is it needed here?] and find her own worth. 

It's all going fine until Grigg drops a bombshell. The ethics of Shifting into animal minds may be blurry, but human minds? Now, that's an entirely different matter. [You can hint at a bombshell, but here you have half explained it, but just left us more confused.] And as Grigg's brother Ebbe comes of age and manifests his Shift talent, Anna begins to realise that being stuck inside your own head is not necessarily the worst thing in the world. [Adding another character so late in the query is confusing, and this doesn’t really tie into the last line.] 

Gemma says: Okay, so at the heart of this, you have an interesting story. Humans controlling animals and a girl who can’t. But you are not telling us the stakes for Anna. Why does it matter that she can’t Shift? You have introduced your concept, but not really what impact it has on your main character’s life. 

To simplify this try to write one or two lines on the following: 

Introduce your main character – here you could also pitch the concept of the world. For example, ‘In a world where human beings have learned to manipulate animals through mind control, 19 year old Anna....etc. 

What does she want? What is the goal that is driving her throughout the book? Does she want to learn to Shift or to stop it happening in the world because of ethical reasons? Does she want to fit in with her family? It’s not clear at the moment. 

What is preventing her from achieving these goals? Once you are clear on the goals, you can explain the roadblocks. 

What are the stakes if she doesn’t achieve them? Every plot needs stakes – a reason for the reader to turn the page. 

Query Two 

Dear Gemma and Molly, 

Niri used to be a good girl, only occasionally told off for drawing spaceships on her maths homework. [While this first line does work, it could be a little more exciting and perhaps tell us a bit more about the main character in a voice driven funny way. Drawing on homework is just a bit flat. For example, ‘Niri used to be a good girl, well apart from that one time she dyed her brother bright pink, but that was an accident.’] Then a pirate attack separated her from her family and she ended up alone and stranded on a space station.  There, totally by accident, Niri breaks one of the most important laws in the galaxy. All she does is make friends with a small alien. Unfortunately, he turns out to be a member of an undiscovered species – even talking to him is against the law.   

Niri’s best hope is to make sure that the Guardians – self-appointed parents of the galaxy – never find out what she has done. But a mysterious businessman has been watching her, and he won’t keep her secret for free. His price: Niri must become one of his minions.  If she wants to stay out of prison and have a chance at finding her family, she will have to commit a lot more crimes. [Again, this is a good enough paragraph, telling us the plot and the stakes. But I can’t help but worry if it’s missing a bit of voice and spunk. It’s just a bit flat and with a title like MINIONS, I’m assuming this story is a little bit fun?]             

MINIONS is a middle grade science fiction story, and is complete at 57,000 words. It might be described as STAR TREK meets THE GODFATHER for kids, and I think it will appeal to fans of Dan Krokos’s THE PLANET THEIVES and Frank Cottrell Boyce’s COSMIC.   

I have been a science fiction fan since the age of 7, when I first read A WRINKLE IN TIME, and I even managed to sneak aliens into my philosophy PhD thesis. I’m now working as a project editor at (company name redacted) This is my first novel. 

Thank you for your consideration.   

Best wishes, 

P.S. Thanks so much for offering feedback on query letters here!

Gemma says: As a query, this isn’t bad at all, and would certainly make me read the sample pages with interest. However, if you can just insert some of Niri’s voice and up the excitement, then you will have a more enticing letter.   

Molly has answered the questions this month:

Question One
 

Dear agents 

My query might seem a little silly and naive but I have had three rejections so far. Each time I examine the rejection email in detail searching for clues. They were very different with some more encouraging than others. I just wondered if they are likely to be standard. For example would an agent say 'strongly encourage you to contact as many other agencies as possible' and 'we have read (your submission) with great interest' if they thought the book was rubbish and did not have a chance of being published. 

I would love to offer my query letter for critique but haven't quite got the nerve. 

When an agent declines a submission, it’s usually with a form letter. Some agents are gentler than others, and most at least try to be polite. My guess is that the lines you’ve mentioned are from the agents’ form letters. If the agent had comments specific to your manuscript that she wanted to pass on to you, she would have referred to your book, or at least an aspect of it, directly. 

But I think you’re making assumptions about why your book was declined. Just because the agent isn’t interested in it, that doesn’t mean it’s rubbish or impossible to publish. You can’t know what the agent is thinking – she could be already representing a project that sounds just enough like yours that they might compete with each other; or she might not even represent projects for the age group you’re targeting. (A shocking number of aspiring authors don’t fully research the agents they approach.) 

Most importantly, taste is entirely personal. You may have a premise that appeals to an agent, but she might not ‘connect’ with your voice. I mean, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and has sold a bazillion copies since it was published in 1980. It’s considered a significant modern classic, and everyone I know loves it, but I’m sorry, I can’t stand that book. I suppose that’s not fair; I’ve never been able to finish it. And Lord knows I’ve tried.  But I simply can’t connect with either the characters or the author’s voice. It’s not for me. 

I can’t represent something unless it inspires a spark of connection, an emotional response of some kind that makes me want to make other people read it. Most agents feel the same way, I think. I’ve turned down projects that have gone on to find agents and sell to publishers. And I’ve taken on clients who’d been turned down by other agents and I’ve found just the right editors for their projects. This is such a subjective business. ‘No’ means ‘this isn’t right for me.’  

Take heart -- your journey to finding an agent has barely begun!

Next month, agent Sallyanne Sweeney from Mulcahy Associates will be here for another Agent Confidential and will also be answering your questions. If you have a question for Sallyanne, either post them in the comments, or send them in to writers@britishscbwi.org 

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@gemma_cooper 

@mollykh.

Gemma Cooper and Molly Ker Hawn represent authors of books for children and young adults. For more information about Gemma and Molly see The Bent Agency website and blog. 


Ten-Minute Blog Break - 28th January

Oh, the agony of choice!

I had far too many good blog posts to choose from this week, so do excuse me if I missed you out - your time will come, I'm sure.



There's nothing I like better than a bit of call and response, where one post sparks off another writer to blog on the same issue. Nicky Schmidt's post on her voice-related epiphany was the catalyst this week, generating many comments and inspiring Maureen Lynas to relate The Boil on the Bum Incident in response. And how can you go wrong with a title like that?

Candy Gourlay continues her mission to take over the Blog Break, posting twice on different sites this week. But I'm wise to your tricks, Gourlay! Out of the two posts, the most useful is a nifty guide on Notes from the Slushpile, where Candy brings her journalistic background to bear on the world of social media.

Fans of wormholes, whirlpools and other things that swirl will love Nick Cook's cover reveal for his forthcoming Cloud Riders. It's bold and beautiful!

Movie adaptations of books often get a bad press for dumbing down their source material, but Sally Poyton has a different point of view. As a child growing up with dyslexia, she found that book adaptations were a fantastic way to unlock the material and help her enjoy the printed work. Read all about it in her blog post.

Finally, I was very excited to get a sneak peak at the artwork from Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve's new book. Sarah blogged here and here about their follow-up to Oliver and the Seawigs which is set (oh still my beating heart) in space!

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead and currently writes short fiction for Stew Magazine, an event that was recently celebrated on this site.

New Year/ New Words

“The circle of the English language,” observed an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, “has a well-defined centre but no discernible circumference.” Let’s wander out of that well-defined circle. 

Catriona Tippin aka @ProofReadingTip gives us some food for thought about new words.


Ironically, it’s difficult to think of anything original to say about new words. There’s usually a burst of publicity surrounding the annual announcement of the Oxford Dictionary Online’s latest additions. Selfie was the last ‘new word of the year’, previous examples include omnishambles, and cyberbullying. Writers, take care – a new word needs more than publicity. Expand your vocabulary when a word is really well-established. Nothing will date your writing more than an ill-chosen word that’s out of fashion.

Here are a few thoughts on how the English language acquires new words, accompanied by a few random examples. Some food for thought, and perhaps some inspiration.

 Words develop new meanings 

Our technological age rushes new meanings into existing words. We’re all happy moving a mouse around now, and it’s a long time since a menu applied only to a choice of food. Words can start life as acronyms, like scuba and laser. 

Words evolve. Spate used to mean a torrent and now means a flurry. Hopefully used to mean ‘in a hopeful manner’ but now means ‘it is hoped’ and anticipates a good outcome. I see a couple of words undergoing change now: protagonist and savant. Protagonist is losing its exclusive use to describe the solitary hero/actor/character/cast member. We now hear of a number of protagonists. Savant is often used to describe someone on the autistic spectrum with a special skill, rather than a learned or wise person. 

There are two words undergoing changes I’m resisting so far: legendary and literally. Legendary once applied only to fictional characters but now seems to describe anyone famous. We’ll have to use mythical instead. Literally has begun to mean metaphorically. This semantic drift is to be resisted – it’s a useful word with its original meaning. 

Retronyms are interesting. Some words now need an adjective to restore their original meaning: acoustic guitar, real tennis and dairy ice cream. I’ve also encountered what I suspect are a couple of spelling changes heading towards acceptance. Pronunciation is being replaced by pronounciation, because of the spelling of pronounce, I guess. Sanserif is replacing sans serif or sans-serif. 

Verbs are wrestled from nouns when needed, for example, access and impact. The 2012 Olympics increased use of to medal and to podium. You can be headquartered somewhere now, and you might decide to message everyone because you want to party. Our current fascination with social media has given us interesting new uses of verbs. We friend and unfriend, follow and unfollow, like and unlike in new ways. 

Over the centuries, writers have enriched our language

Chaucer and Shakespeare coined and/or first recorded hundreds of words. An assortment of writers have given us utopia, gargantuan and yahoo. Science fiction provided robot and cyberspace. And from children’s authors? We have Lewis Carroll’s conflation of chuckle and snort to create chortle. And (allegedly) nerd from Dr Seuss. Sometimes writing demands a new word. Go for it. 

So how about a whole vocabulary? Anthony Burgess in A Clockwork Orange, and Russell Hoban in Ridley Walker, immerse the reader in an extraordinary, and rewarding, experience. Perhaps the literary world is overdue another foray into an imaginary world complete with an imagined language.

Finally, enjoy experimenting with your character’s names. ‘Nominative determinism’ doesn’t need to be as obvious as the ‘Happy Families’ card game’s Mr Brick the Builder. There’s a subtle suitability to invented names like Bilbo and Katniss, which add to the reader’s perception of their respective characters. Embiggen your writing with cromulent words (advice from Bart Simpson, not me). 

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Catriona Tippin has been a member of SCBWI since 2006 and helps organise venues for SCBWI North East. Details of her writing and illustrating here. She proofreads study guides, house magazines and publicity material for two national educational charities, in addition to working on a variety of proofreads and copyedits for the growing self-published world. Her monthly column is intended to give you food for thought, remembering “Any correction of the speech or writing of others will contain at least one grammatical, spelling or typographical error” (McKean’s Law, named after its inventor Erin McKean, editor of the Oxford American Dictionary). 

Happy Australia Day!

It's the morning after the night before enforced haggis eating, poetry and Scotland's national drink. Burns Night with a great dollop of poetry is a great way to manage the January blues, as is looking forward to all the other exciting events and reasons for celebration this year. Indeed, today is Australia Day - a very good reason to watch Strictly Ballroom, again.


SCBWI British Isles has some great events lined up for 2014 here.

This week it was great to have Social Sheila Averbuch's soothing voice back on Words & Pictures talking about Hootsuite. I always learn something new from Sheila. Philippa gave us a good reason to make the trip to Chichester for the Grimm Girls exhibition also on Monday. Nick's blog selection this week included some great posts, quickie and not so quickie - I was going to pick one here but I can't, so go and have a look! On Wednesday we welcomed Celia's new year 5 class to Words & Pictures - thank you to Libby, Aston, Bella, Savhanna, Jess, Cameron and Eleanor who shared their reading resolutions.

We love finding out what's been happening for SCBWI members in other parts of the world, especially in our own networks in the British Isles - it's really inspiring. If you have anything to share, please do let Gill know or respond to the survey with Thursday's post. It's easy to think that unless it's a big event it won't be interesting. It will. We all love to know what other people are doing - it's that lit-window-curtains-open-can't-help-looking phenomenon. So if you have everyone's permission, do let us know what's been happening when you've got together with other SCBWIs. A paragraph is perfect; pictures too, even perfecter. (Yes, 'perfecter' is as impossible as 110% but you get the point!)

On Friday, Philippa encouraged the artists among us to create a travel talisman for our progress through 2014 - I love the idea of taking time out to create something just for yourself, so really not only for the artists. An object, 2D or 3D, that symbolises and reminds us of our resolve for the year doesn't have to be technically perfect. You never know, it might just give us that touch of luck that we all need in this business.

And Saturday - isn't it great that a self-published book is now in schools as a result of being chosen by the National Literacy Trust. Catherine Cooper certainly shows us how it's done. Self Publishing by people like Catherine and of course, traditionally and self published, Nicola Morgan is the model we should follow if we're thinking of going it alone, (you're never alone with SCBWI). Congratulations Catherine!

Words & Pictures' mission statement is that we are representative inclusive and diverse, so I'm really pleased to point you in the direction of Inclusive Minds event on Friday February 21st at The South Bank Centre in London, part of the Imagine Children's festival. The programme for the day looks wonderful and it's free - definitely worth the train fare.

Next week our goodies include Catriona Tippin aka @proofreadingtip with some new words for the New Year - right up my street. Gemma Cooper and Molly Ker Hawn from The Bent Agency are here with some query surgery - fabulous! And it's time for a new featured illustrator!

Happy Australia Day!
A bit of a spoiler but it won't lessen your enjoyment of this brilliant film, just make you want to watch it all!

(It's exclamation mark city here.)
Have a great week!

Jan Carr

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Jan Carr is the editor of Words & Pictures. Her fiction is older middle grade, she blogs occasionally and loves to write in magenta. You can contact her at editor@britishscbwi.org.

'The Golden Acorn' hits primary schools across the country!

Catherine Cooper always said she’d write when she retired from teaching. Little did she know that retirement would come early, leading to her bestselling series for children and the chance to be back in the school environment she loves.

Yes, today we celebrate as ‘The Golden Acorn,’ the first in the Jack Brenin Series, is recommended by The National Literacy Trust as a shared and guided reading resource for children aged 7-11 years old.

So what makes Catherine’s books so popular in schools? They're set in the depths of Shropshire and bursting with cross curricular links. Catherine goes on to explain,

‘All the historical facts are searchable… in book one, Viroconium is used. This was once the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, now called Wroxeter… The Raven’s Bowl is an ancient hill fort, part of a local legend on the summit of The Wrekin [known to Jack Brenin fans as Glasruhen Hill, meaning ancient green hill], and Falconrock is a real place called Hawkstone Park. Brion Ridge is an anagram of Ironbridge, and Newton Gill is an anagram of Wellington… I enjoy playing with words.’

Catherine, who describes the books as “for anyone who’s young at heart, enjoys a bit of magic in their life, and has a sense of humour,” could not be more delighted with the news.

So we asked her, where did it all begin?

Catherine was unfortunately forced to end a happy 29 year teaching career in 2006, when she found out the devastating news that she was suffering from a degenerative bone disease and six months later, aggressive breast cancer. Unable to return to the profession she loved, and unable to do much at all, Catherine occupied herself planning the Jack Brenin series.

Armed with a five year plan, Catherine self-published the first and second books in the series; ‘The Golden Acorn - The Adventures of Jack Brenin,’ (2009) and ‘Glasruhen Gate’ (2010) under her own publishing house Pengridion Books, selling an impressive 1000 copies of ‘The Golden Acorn’ in the first six months.

Self-publishing, sometimes referred to as ‘the kiss-of-death’ for authors, was a highly successful move for Catherine and in 2010 she won the Brit Writers Best Story for Children and the overall award of Brit Writer of the Year, which brought with it a £10,000 prize and a publishing contract. Books one and two were redesigned and re-published by Infinite Ideas, and books three, four and five in the series followed swiftly.

Catherine is also excited to confirm that she has signed a Hollywood contract for the movie rights to 'The Golden Acorn'. “I have been told, 'A film isn't a film until you're sat at the premiere,' but I'm keeping everything crossed in the hope that one day I'll get to see my book as a film on the big screen,” she says.

Catherine adds,

“Now I go back into schools as an author visitor. I'm in the environment I love and feel at home in. I'm in a position to encourage young people to read and hopefully inspire some of them to want to write books of their own. Writing the Jack Brenin books was a life saver for me, in more ways than one. My husband is now retired and co-illustrated some of my books. Our home is no longer our own as we share it with numerous characters, a mountain of props, costumes for school visits, and brown cardboard boxes in every room full of books to be sold at schools and other events. It's been quite a journey!”

The series as a whole, between the US and UK, has had over a thousand ratings on Amazon, with the Golden Acorn receiving more than 500 5* reviews. Reason to celebrate? Absolutely! So please raise a glass of your favourite tipple to celebrate recommended texts for schools, film rights to Hollywood and a best selling, life saving series for children! *terrific round of applause please*

To read more about Catherine, her books and her inspirational story you can visit her website. One of Catherine’s main characters (Camelin) has his own facebook page too. You can't miss him, he's the only raven on Facebook!

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Clare Welsh joined SCBWI in Feburary 2013 after her marriage to her lovely husband James was under threat from constant chunterings, questions and reading aloud over the football. She is thoroughly enjoying all that SCBWI has to offer, including helping Tania celebrating SCBWI successes, and is pleased that her marriage is still firmly intact.

Resolution

Iranian talisman

This week, writer Philippa Francis suggests some ideas for talismans that might help illustrators steer a course through the year and achieve their creative Resolutions.




This is the time of year when we have all been encouraged to take up at least one New Year’s Resolution. There will be screeds of articles on what this might mean (including one by me for SCBWI-BI writers).

 But I decided to take a different tack (if you’ll pardon the pun) for my illustrator colleagues. Among other ideas, for me the word ‘Resolution’ conjures up one of Captain James Cook’s ships. 

HMS Resolution

When entrusted with the mission of sailing down to the bottom of the known world to the Antarctic, Capt. Cook didn’t select anything grand or fancy. He chose a collier brig – a sturdy little Whitby-built craft. He wanted something that could keep going through mountainous seas, cope with blustering winds or powerful currents, and weather great changes in temperature. 

And he was certainly in for the long haul as we are. 

As you probably know, seafarers tend to hold a great respect for luck. In almost every culture, they use rituals and items to bring good fortune. When I went to the Magical Books Exhibition at the Bodleian Library this summer, I marvelled at an Islamic talisman: a beautiful ship, with sails and clouds and gilding all made up of calligraphy spells. Such beauty had to sustain the holder throughout their journey. 

I think we could all do with some good fortune to keep us going – whatever our beliefs. After all, Thomas Jefferson said:

 "I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." 

Calligraphic galleon talisman

So I am asking readers, especially the illustrators and visual artists, to step back from their current projects, and consider the forthcoming annual ‘voyage’ as a whole. What likely projects are on the horizon, where would you like to be by the end of the year in your career? What goals or destinations are there along the way? What skills might you need?

You might like to create an appropriate 'talisman' to keep you on track. I’ve suggested a travel talisman as this fits with the notion of journeying through the year. 

 A talisman is usually in a shape that has a relevant meaning - like a ship for a voyage. Inside, it generally has images or words that mean something to the owner. For example, if one of your goals is to spend more time sketching, then something that reminds you of that could fill the sails of your ship. 

The purpose is to focus your mind on the year ahead: to centre your mind on what is essential. 

A suggestion for you: 

Create a travel talisman of your own; a boat, a plane, a pair of roller skates like Quentin Blake’s Mrs Armitage... whatever works for you.

It could be drawn or three-dimensional – something you can hold would be great. 

You could be humorous in the manner of The Interesting Thoughts of Edward Monkton, or as detailed as Grayson Perry. 

This could remain a private reflection tucked in your desk - or be displayed in your workspace as a reminder of your commitment to your journey (I should love to see someone’s).

I do hope you enjoy the process – and I don’t think it’s limited to artists. 

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K. M. Lockwood is a writing name of Philippa R. Francis. As well as being a regular contributor, Philippa (@lockwoodwriter) is also part of the Words & Pictures team as the @Words8Pictures Tweetmaster, growing our following and maintaining our 'Industry news' feed.

Network News: Some points to ponder

Gill James
I’m really interested in finding out the impact that belonging to a network has on SCBWI members and I’d really like to feature one or two network members who have benefitted from their membership.
You might like to look at the feature we published on George Kirk from the north-west.

By volunteering to be featured you may help your network grow and you will also boost your own platform.
If you’d like to be a featured member, contact me at networknews@britishscbwi.org Or, if you’d rather just answer one or two of these questions, that would be fine too.

Have you enjoyed some of your local network’s activities?
Perhaps you’ve joined a critique group.
Or maybe you’ve joined in a scrawl crawl.
Have you attended one of the social groups?
Do you feel your network offers anything unique?
What about where you meet?
What is special about that place?
Which is the network activity you’ve enjoyed the most?
Has your network run any special events?
How has belonging to a network helped your writing?
What else would you like your network to do?
What’s your funniest networking moment?
What would you say is the most important point about a local network?

And a few more questions. 

If I get enough responses to this survey I’ll be able to put together a really interesting article. It will only take a few minutes.

Take the survey

Reading Resolutions

By Celia J Anderson

It’s probably past the time for announcing New Year's resolutions but just for the record, 2014 is going to be my year of reading a whole heap more books aimed at younger readers. 

OK, I guess this isn’t too much of a hardship for a teacher and a self-confessed children’s book addict, but I’ve been reading a lot of ... well ... grown up stuff in the last couple of years. A lot of you will sympathise here; it’s hard to keep up to date with literature when you write both for children and adults – whichever genre you’ve got your nose stuck in, you somehow feel you should be reading the other.

With my resolution already in mind, at the end of last term I asked my Year Five class which books they were determined to read either over the holidays or in the next few months. My promise to myself was to download The Hunger Games – just the first part. Having never seen the films or even read the blurb, the hype seemed enormous. They surely can’t be that good, I muttered, as I wrenched myself away from a particularly absorbing list of new crime and/or romantic reads. 

A week later, I’d galloped through all three books in the set and was completely mind-boggled by the depth of the characters, the pace of the plot and the emotion packed into every chapter. I’d lived and breathed Katniss, Peeta and Gale to such an extent that real life seemed shadowy while I was reading – one of the true signs of an excellent book. 

So how did Year Five get on with their own resolutions? Were they absorbed? Delighted? Disappointed? Read these short extracts from their reviews to find out: 

Libby – Gangsta Granny by David Walliams 

I chose this book because it sounded funny – you don’t get many Gangsta Grannies, do you? I wouldn’t change anything about it – I’ve also read Mr Stink and Billionaire Boy by the same author. 

Aston – Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney 

The best bit is when Greg thinks he’s allowed to torment his little brother. I read it because so many other people thought it was good. 

Bella - Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney 

This was really funny but on the other hand it was quite serious. It’s a story about Greg at school but it also tells you about when Greg is walking home from school and then it’s talking about when he’s home! I liked the part where Greg walks across the boys’ den with his suitcase. I felt I was actually in the book. 

Savhanna – Percy Jackson, Last Olympian by Rick Riordan 

I chose this because I love Ancient Greece so it was awesome for me. I think the best bit is when Juniper sees Grover and takes a nose dive for him.To be honest, Juniper and Grover are my favourite characters and I have read all the other books before this one! 

Jess – George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl 

I thought this looked interesting but I would have liked the grandmother to be more of a pest and maybe for there to be more characters. The best bit was when George gave his grandma the medicine. 

Cameron - Billionaire Boy by David Walliams 

My favourite bit was the part where he gets on the Raj Mobile which is a little girl’s bike. 

Eleanor Critchlow – The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson-Burnett 

The front cover was just plain green but it just caught my eye and I picked it up straight away. I haven’t read it all yet but I liked the part where Mary first went into the secret garden. 

So, over to you – what are you promising yourself that you’ll read this year?

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@CeliaAnderson1

When she’s not marking children’s work, or writing stories involving pants, Celia spends far too much time on Facebook and does a lot of walking to counteract the cooking, eating and drinking which form another of her hobbies. She's a Romaniac  and you can also find her on her own website. Usually sea-starved in the depths of the Midlands, she can often be found wandering happily around Brighton visiting her two daughters pretending to collect ideas for her next book.