… for the School Library Association’s 2016 non-fiction prize. They are Anna Claybourne’s I Love This Tree (7– 12 category), illustrated by Andy Elkerton (Franklin Watts)
and Nicola Davies’s I (Don’t) Like Snakes (under-7s category), illustrated by Luciano Lozano (Walker Books). This is Nicola’s third nomination since the prize was launched six years ago.
This year’s London Book Fair had a special attraction for writers and publishers of children’s non-fiction. On the Wednesday (13 April) a seminar on the ‘Renaissance of children’s non-fiction’ brought Debbie Foy of Wayland (on the left in the picture), Elizabeth Jenner of Laurence King (on the right) and illustrator William Grill (centre) together to discuss what they believed was the revival of non-fiction as an important genre in children’s publishing. William Grill’s book, Shackleton’s Journey has created a sensation – will there be more ground-breaking non-fiction to follow? Most of the talk was about high-end books that might be bought as gifts, but the two publishers were optimistic about non-fiction in general – once something British publishers used to lead – finding its way back into bookshops and possibly reviews, too. Debbie Foy mentioned plans to start a new imprint which could include narrative non-fiction. Rennaissance? Possibly … Obviously, Nibweb members hope this will happen. Though some pointed out that it had never really gone away …
Dinosaur Survival Guide was published by Arcturus on 15 March. It’s written by Nibwebber Clare Hibbert and designed by her Hollow Pond partner Amy McSimpson. It’s a mash-up of dinosaurs and Bear Grylls-style survival skills – basically 128 pages of what you should do in the unlikely and anachronistic event of being stranded in dinosaur times!
P.S. It’s a good month for nibweb writers: Julia Eccleshare, writing in the Guardian on 14 March, praises Nicola Davies’s A First Book of Nature (Walker Books, 2014) as one of the books chosen for Science Week to ‘inspire the scientists of the future’ with a text that ‘includes the science lightly, concentrating instead on celebrating nature and its wonderfulness.’ (http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/mar/14/best-childrens-books-on-science)
The ALCS/Society of Authors prize for children’s non-fiction was awarded at a reception in the House of Commons on 1 December. The winner – from a strong field that included Nibweb-member Anne Rooney’s ‘Space Record Breakers’
– was ‘Atlas of Adventures’ by Rachel Williams, illustrated by Lucy Letherland.
There’s a lot of great non-fiction out there – Nibweb members are keen that bookshops and reviewers start to realise this!
For more about the award, see: Books to broaden Young Minds
and for ALCS’s own report of the event, including pictures, see: Educational-Writers-Award-A-Whole-of-Wonders.
Nicola Morgan’s ‘The Teenage Guide to Stress’ has won both the children’s choice and the judges’ choice awards for its age category in the School Library Association Awards for information books.
Children’s non-fiction author (and Nibweb member) Cath Senker is one of the three judges for this year’s ALCS Educational Writers’ Award. A prize of £2,000 will be awarded to the author who has produced an outstanding example of traditionally published non-fiction for 5 to 11 year olds.
Cath says, ‘It’s been a great opportunity to read through recently published books and survey the landscape of children’s educational titles. Some are going for mass-market appeal with bright illustrations and humour, while others stick to the classic children’s non-fiction format but add in some interactive elements such as puzzles.’
The prizewinner will be announced on 1 December at an award ceremony at the House of Commons.
STOP PRESS: Nibweb member Anne Rooney is on the shortlist, with ‘Space Record Breakers’ (Carlton Kids).
The full shortlist can be seen at: http://www.alcs.co.uk
This time received by Phil Wilkinson, for his English Buildings, http://englishbuildings.blogspot.co.uk/ . This has been given an Amara Award for ‘Best Architecture Blog’ – anyone reading it knows it’s well-deserved.
Another accolade for a Nibweb member: on 15 October, Anne Rooney was elected chair of the SoA’s Educational Writers’ Group (EWG). Anne writes: ‘I am now officially chair of the Education Writers Group at SoA. So bring me your suggestions, grumbles, problems and desires and I will see how EWG can help to address them with the help of the wonderful staff at SoA. As long as said issues relate to writing. I can’t sort out your marriage, make you more attractive or pay off your mortgage.’
Anne attended the CWIG attended the CWIG meeting on 3 November (see opposite), and you can read what she has to say about children’s nonfiction at: http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.co.uk/2015
/11/you-couldnt-or-shouldnt-make-it-up.html?m=1
and also at: http://www.societyofauthors.org/soa-interviews/nonfiction-anne-rooney
Raising the profile of children’s non-fiction – that was the challenge discussed at the Society of Authors on 3 November.
Its Childrens’s Writers and Illustrators Group (CWIG) held a meeting entitled ‘Nonfiction: A World of Opportunities’. It was addressed by Caroline Royds and Dan Pattinson (Walker Books – http://www.walker.co.uk/) and Debbie Foy (Wayland: https://www.hachettechildrens.co.uk/), and chaired by Nibweb member Nicola Morgan. The blurb from the meeting said: ‘All four are loud advocates for well-written non-fiction and hope to inspire you with possibilities, while also facing the real challenges of today’s markets.’
This proved true, and among a great many interesting points made were that:
This difference between the US and UK markets has been raised before by Lionel Bender (see this page) who runs a regular non-fiction conference in the US. The big challenge must be to make non-fiction something that works in the UK, too.
How can this be done – when reviews of children’s non-fiction are as rare as the proverbial hens’ teeth, bookshops rarely stock it and – it appears – children in schools are not encouraged to read non-fiction? There’s a long way to go.
But Walker do seem to be able to publish successfully in this area, and Wayland are taking the plunge. Let’s wish them luck.
PS The difference between the US and UK’s attitudes to non-fiction is emphasised by Stewart Ross, who draws our attention to the US ‘common core’ curriculum. Especially, he says, ‘point 3.’ See: http://www.corestandards.org/other-resources/key-shifts-in-english-language-arts/
After writing and co-writing more than 260 children’s non-fiction books, two graphic novels and a couple of adult non-fiction books over the past 34 years, Nibwebber Ian Graham has just produced his first fiction. It’s a book of five murder whodunit short stories called ‘Death Duties’.
Without any track record in fiction, Ian didn’t relish the prospect of his manuscript languishing on a publisher’s slush pile for a year or more, so he published the book himself. It’s available from Amazon as a paperback and an ebook. First reactions from readers have been very positive.
Ian said, ‘This is the first time I have published one of my own books. The learning curve was quite steep and I made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I really enjoyed being in control of everything – from writing and editing to design, layout, typography and pricing. The big plus was that the process was entirely stress-free. I will certainly do this again.’
