One of the highlights of the long weekend was going to our first Little Big Shots Film Festival. For his first time in a cinema – in the dark! – Ned loved it. And so did his mum and dad. I hope all the ticket winners from our competition also had a wonderful time?
In Justine Larbalestier’s book How to Ditch Your Fairy almost everyone who lives in the fictional city of New Avalon has their own personal fairy. Charlie the main character has a parking fairy that she is trying to ditch, hence the title. Meanwhile Charlie’s best friend Rochelle has a clothes shopping fairy who miraculously makes Rochelle always find clothes that fit, look great on her and are marked down – of course.
Justine’s fantastic young adult novel rings true to me. I have an aunt who most certainly has a parking fairy because wherever the destination she can always find a spot to park right outside or pretty close. She has had that knack for as long as I can remember. I also know friends who I know must have shopping fairies and more accurately thrifting fairies. Some of my friends can go to an op shop and find the most amazing things – designer clothes, jewellery and the cutest and coolest of things. I don’t generally have that fairy, actually really rarely do I have that fairy, except for one lucky day recently at an op shop in Newport….
I found, in pristine condition, four gorgeous little Tell-a-Tale books. Here are some photos of Little Red Hen, Jim Jump, Chicken Little and Little Bear and the Beautiful Kite…
The colours in the illustrations are not done justice by these photos.
Jim Jump is my favourite as it’s about a silly foal who jumps over all the animals in the farmyard, annoying them no end. One day the other animals dare him to jump a stream and he falls in. Not deterred he just decides to try it again.
I can’t tell you much about Tell-a Tale books. I did a google search and there are lots of secondhand copies especially in the US. It seems that the series was published by Whitman at the same time that Golden Books were born. The Tell-a-Tale books look to be a better produced and more durable series than the Golden Books with their hard covers and dust jackets.
Have a look at this site for more pictures of this beautiful series.
Whoever owned these four little books must have looked after them meticulously for they are perfect and I guarantee that I will look after them that way too.
My mum and dad have been travelling in Germany and captured these great photos of the stands for ‘Pixi books’ (Pixi-Bücher). Pixi books have been published in German since 1954, and have a similar status to the English-language Golden Books. The format for these books are 10 centimetre square paperbacks, and these days they sell for 99 eurocents. The books are produced in series of eight and are numbered – the series now numbers over 1,700!
There is (of course) a ‘Friends of Pixi-books’ website which chronicles the mammoth undertaking of cataloguing all the books – with images! More lovely images of vintage Pixi books on Daddytypes and Munichblues.
Most of all I love these stands… what an inviting bowl for a little person to dip into and a great way to signpost a bookshop…
||Reviews of some of Lou and my favourite Golden Books can be found here, here and here.||
Illustrator and designer Helen Dardik has posted this beautiful book plate on her blog - free to copy and use. Isn’t it gorgeous? It makes me happy!
Our favourite pig is making a long awaited comeback to bookshelves later this year. It has been three years long years since Ian Falconer gave us the last Olivia book.
The new book is Olivia Goes to Venice…
Olivia said to her mother with an edge of hysteria in her voice, “Oh please – OH, PLEASE MOTHER – can’t we live in a palazzo on the Grand Canal?”
You can see these illustrations better here
Ian Falconer has also illustrated an adult David Sedaris book that is also due later in 2010. The book is called Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary and this is from the books description – In “The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck,” three strangers commiserate about animal bureaucracy while waiting in a complaint line. In “Hello Kitty,” a cynical feline struggles to sit through his prison-mandated AA meetings. In “The Squirrel and the Chipmunk,” a pair of star-crossed lovers is separated by prejudiced family members.
Thanks to Sara O’Leary for the prompt to write this post.
See more here
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