Graham Marks: Happy Birthday Asterix!

Jasmine Fassl, our children’s events manager, and Graham Marks, children’s and young adult author, tell us all about their love, and experience with Asterix the Gaul on the occasion of his 50th birthday!

Jasmine:
I have always been an Asterix fan. My dad is a huge comic book geek, though the only ones we were allowed to read when we were little, were Lucky Luke and Asterix. Every Saturday morning, for about an hour or two after waking up my siblings and I would lie in bed, reading comic books. I had favourites at certain times, stories I’d read over and over again, before letting my siblings ‘borrow’ that particular book. I grew up in Vienna, so read the stories in German, but by now I have gotten used to reading the new books in English. At first it was odd – some characters have different names, with the exception of Asterix and Obelix of course, and I didn’t really like it. I am ok with it now, though it took me a while. For me it adds something to the experience – and I am rather (geekily) proud that know the little differences…I am very jealous of Graham Marks who went to Paris for the 50th birthday of Asterix, here is what he says:

Crayonné original de la couverture d’Astérix et Latraviata (détail) Albert Uderzo
2001
40 x 50 cm
Collection particulière © 2009 Les Éditions Albert René / Goscinny-Uderzo

Graham Marks:
As day trips go, this was pretty special: destination Paris, for the 50th birthday of Asterix the Gaul! The venue, the Musée de Cluny, near the Sorbonne, was completely appropriate and itself worth the trip, being a walled, gothic-fronted building attached to the remains of an actual Gallo-Roman thermal baths!
From the moment we walked in to the bath’s frigidarium (cold room), its vaulted roof some thirty feet above us, it was one marvel after another: here were the original notes Goscinny had made when the idea for the series was coming to life, right next to Uderzo’s preliminary sketches (Asterix started out much taller, Obelix a lot thinner); on a plinth inside a glass case, there’s Goscinny’s manual typewriter, on which he wrote the script you can see alongside the stunning black and white artwork Uderzo then produced from it, his delicate brushwork and his fine, detailed penmanship bursting with life. Long live Asterix, and many happy returns!

Jasmine:
The new Asterix book – The Golden Book – isn’t a traditional Asterix story. It’s more like a short story collection, with a scrap book feel. It’s a book for fans with lots of tributes and references to older Asterix adventure as well as classic works of art like the Mona Lisa and artists like Leonardo da Vinci, though my favourite is Asterix as a Marsupilami (after a comic by Andre Franquin) – it’s inspired! It was a huge joy to read and the artwork is exquisite.
Unfortunately I don’t own the complete collection, but I still lie in bed sometimes on a Saturday morning reading Asterix comic books…

Want to find out more? Here’s the official Asterix website: http://www.asterix.com/.

Other news:

Today is the voting deadline for the Royal Mail Awards 2009.

If you're registered to vote

make sure you do so by 5.30pm today!

Anthony Horowitz was in Edinburgh last night as part of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, to promote his latest novel Crocodile Tears.

The Gruffalo has been voted the Nation's Favourite Bedtime Story by listeners of the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2.

The winners of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize are Mr Pusskins Best in Show by Sam Lloyd and Grubtown Tales: Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky by Philip Ardagh, illustrated by Jim Paillot.

Amy from George Heriot's School: Judging the Royal Mail Awards

My name’s Amy, I’m from George Heriot's School and this year I was helping to pick the shortlist for the 12-16 and (with the help of my baby brother) the 0-7 categories of books in the Royal Mail Book Awards. I was very happy to do this, partly because I’ve always loved reading and given any opportunity will pick up a book …and partly because I had to write a 1000 word essay on Macbeth and was delighted to be offered a legitimate excuse to avoid starting it.

I’d taken part in the Award a couple of times and wondered how the shortlist of three books was chosen so I was really interested in what happened when a teacher at my school asked me if I’d like to help. I was given a box of twelve books and a couple of months to read them at the end of which I went to the judges' meeting. Everybody had already passed on their favourites and it was the five books that had received the most votes that we talked about. Everybody gave their views on each book and at the end there was loads of argument about which deserved to be on the shortlist! Finally the matter was decided by a vote (the last of about five) and the current shortlist was settled.

The overall quality of all the books I read for the award was excellent - there were one or two that I didn’t like quite so much but in general I was surprised by how good they were and I found choosing the ones I thought were best really hard! One of the first ones I decided on and which later at the judges meeting was passed by (I think) a unanimous vote was Keith Gray’s Ostrich Boys which I thought was fantastic. The first thing that struck me about it was how original it was; I’ve never read anything like it and I thought the central idea was brilliant. Despite dealing with serious issues; primarily death and also mourning, bullying, stress it always keeps a lovely tone; humorous and lighthearted- it’s definitely a feel-good book. It’s also quite unusual for two reasons; firstly in that all of the main characters (which are all brilliantly written; realistic and well-developed) are teenage boys, which for teen-fiction concentrating on emotions is unusual, and secondly in that, despite the main characters being boys, it still appeals to girls and girls can still - I thought - identify with them.

The second book decided on in this category was Crash. Again I found this very original - it’s definitely the first children’s book I’ve read that discusses mental illness in a way that combines it with humour, adrenaline and giant, Dundee-destroying tsunamis. The style of writing is simple yet dynamic with cliffhangers at the end of practically every chapter and the plot is satisfyingly complex without being confusing. It also has loads of twists and many separate plot-strands covering various genres that come together for a satisfying conclusion with no loose end left untied. All the characters are credible and, unusually for a teenage thriller or adventure story, it has important female characters meaning that it will appeal equally to boys and girls (despite the boyish front cover that will probably put some girls off).

The third book to be confirmed on the shortlist was The Reckoning. Out of all these books it probably had the best opening - an immediate hook grabbing the reader and setting the tone for the fast-paced thriller that follows. Like Crash it is exciting with lots of twists but also focuses on deeper social issues and questions – while I have to admit I preferred The Witness I think that these elements of The Reckoning are more credible and will strike a chord within many of its readers. Centrally though, The Reckoning is a mystery story with a gripping plot, an interesting and well-developed main character and a shocking ending.

I really enjoyed helping judge the Royal Mail Book Awards and would like to say a huge thank you to all those involved in setting it up and who invited me to take part – thank you very, very much!

(Pictures: top-right, Amy speaks at the Royal Mail Awards Shortlist press launch; above, Amy, centre, with shortlisted authors and Alana, also from George Heriot's, who helped judged the Younger Readers category)

Emma Turnbull: Reading Mountaineer

Emma Turnbull, Literacy Officer at Scottish Arts Council pops in to blog about the mountain of reading she is currently doing for us as a member of the shortlisting panel for the 2009 Royal Mail Awards.

My living room is full of piles of book and bits of paper covered with scruffy scribbly notes, I haven’t been out after work for the last three weeks and I’ve started having crazy dreams because I’m reading non stop about magical, mythical and mystical happenings, far off lands, days gone-by and playground sagas of bullying, unrequited love and hair-dye gone wrong. It can only mean one thing: it must be the Royal Mail Awards!

I love being on the panel for the awards, I love the feeling of collecting the giant box of books and then getting home and arranging them all in piles wondering which ones I’ll love and which ones I will throw across the room in despair. I love the panel meeting in March where we all argue over which books should make it to the shortlists. The bits of scribbly scruffy paper are essential tools I need for the panel battle. It should be a nice civilised meeting where everyone comes to the same conclusion but it isn’t! No! It is all out war, polite war of course, the panel is made up of adults (and 4 kids who are probably the most civilised of all of us).

Since collecting the box-of-books I’ve been tearing through them every night and every spare minute I get-I’ve even stopped cycling to work so I can read on the bus. Reading so many children’s books in a compressed space of time definitely does funny things to your mind, you find yourself thinking about all kinds of stuff you wouldn’t normally: this year there have been a couple of ‘knights of old’ type books in the teen category so I’ve found myself thinking about that sort of world a lot. Last year I remember looking out at the sea thinking ‘where are all the galleons?’ yes, being a judge definitely unsettles your mind!

The books for the youngest age group are usually my favourite, I normally test them out on tots I babysit but this year I just had to force my boyfriend to listen to them instead, (‘But I’m watching Match of the Day’ ‘no but listen, there’s this kitten right, look it’s going to have some adventures’ etc etc) with the picture books you really need to know what they are going to sound like out-loud, sometimes it is completely different to the way something looks on the page.

So far I’ve read the picture books and the mid age range books, I had one clear favourite in the mid range, it was the sort of book you couldn’t wait to get back to. It was so good I was dipping into it at work in between meetings and at one point in the middle of a (very boring) meeting. I always get a bit nervous when I like a book too much though in case the other members of the panel hate it.

I’m reading the teen books now. Most of the time with the books it’s easy to remember back to when you were a certain age and think ‘I would have loved / hated this’ with the teen books most of them are much the same as books written for adults so it is much easier to judge. There is still about a month to go before the panel meeting, I have been saving some of the authors I know until the end as treats but there has been a lot of really great stuff already, some very nice surprises. There have been no absolute stinkers so far, I haven’t thrown a single book across the room and I also haven’t gone cross eyed yet! 40 down 10 to go.

Thank you Emma.

How it feels to win a Royal Mail Award...

This week our special guest blogger is Royal Mail Award winner J.A. Henderson. So Jan, how was the winning experience for you?

"I have to say that I was astonished and delighted in equal measure at winning the Royal Mail Award for Bunker 10. I think the official term is ‘freaked out’. Bunker 10 had been shortlisted for another five prizes and managed to win exactly none (well, that’s not strictly true. I still have one to go). So I sat on my seat in the Award ceremony practising my brave face and reminding myself that being shortlisted was an honour in itself!

But I won! And I got a sheet of stamps with my face on it from the Royal Mail! Result! As soon as I got out I called my six year old son Charlie and told him. He was much calmer than me and suggested that I might like to split the prize money with him. That kid will end up Prime Minister some day. Or in jail.

I have to thank the Royal Mail (especially for the stamps, right) and the Scottish Book Trust for looking after me so well. But I REALLY want to thank the kids who voted for me. I’d written a whole bunch of books in the past as Jan-Andrew Henderson, but Bunker 10 was the first one where I decided to write exactly what I wanted. And there were plenty of adults who told me it was too complicated and too dark. And you proved that’s not true.

That’s better than having my face on a coin."

Thanks to Jan, and congrats again from all of us at Scottish Book Trust! If you haven't heard it yet, check out our interview with Jan talking all about writing Bunker 10 and loads of other cool stuff.

PS - if any of you out there are looking for Christmas present ideas, check out this list - only the finest selection of books, all of which make ideal Christmas gifts. Don't say we're not good to you...

The Royal Mail Awards: behind the scenes

As promised, we've gathered up the thoughts of the Scottish Book Trust staff to give you a little peek into everyone's experience of The Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books last week. And amongst them you'll see a smattering of candid snaps from behind the scenes...

"My favourite moments were when all the children started stamping their feet before the winner was announced!" Jasmine

"I loved the way all the shortlisted authors were welcomed in the hall like rock stars, with cheering, clapping and wolf whistles." Marion

"My favourite moment was the fireworks … I like explosions!" Michael

“I thought the props were particularly noteworthy. That hat! That Octopus! Seriously, it was fabulous to see so much hard work pay off. Kirsty Wark was brilliant and pitched it just right to appeal to the kids and the adults and I hope she does it again next year!” Celia

“Wow, what a day! It was a fantastic culmination to the project and I am so glad that we shared that experience with so many keen young readers and I am delighted that the fireworks didn’t maim any children (or authors)! My thanks go to everyone who attended and made loud slurping noises, to the authors for writing such great books and to the SBT staff who helped us not only at the ceremony but throughout the project.” Chris

"I loved Kirsty Wark’s Newsnight Review moment, running through the audience asking the kids where they liked to read!" (most said 'in bed') Marc

"I always look forward to the Royal Mail Awards ceremony – it’s really exciting to be with so many people who are passionate about books. This year more than lived up to my high expectations. The Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen is a fantastic place. I could imagine it being used as a set for an Agatha Christie adaptation (one of my own personal obsessions!). And what a packed ceremony – interviews, performances, the awards themselves – and fireworks! I may have to go and have a little lie down as I am getting far too excited all over again. Many congratulations to the winners, and a final thought about how good all of the shortlisted books were this year – it was a really close race and every book on the list is an absolute joy to read! Bye – I am off to a darkened room." Philippa

“What an experience, I now know what the Oscars must feel like! Despite knowing who had won already I was still overwhelmed by excitement as the children drummed their feet in anticipation of the announcements. A huge well done to everyone who took part and made it such a success.” Jo

"As a relatively new member of SBT staff, it was really exciting to be part of the day. I was amazed at how many kids were at the event and what a buzzy atmosphere there was during the ceremony. It was a rare treat to see authors get such recognition from their own readers!" Clare

"The celebrity reception which greeted the authors at the start of the show was amazing and, I would imagine, a new experience of stardom for them. But for me, the best part of the ceremony was the heel-drumming on the floor by the whole audience as the winning authors came on stage to receive their awards – it must have been planned, but how? It even beat the Mexican wave of books from last year." Jeanette

"I liked the bit when Caitrin phoned to say she had forgotten her keys to the office and might be a bit late." Caitrin (Returned from Australia and holding the fort back in Edinburgh - just)

and the winners are...

This was the week of the long-awaited Royal Mail Awards: webmaster Paul tells us how it all went down…

So after many months of planning, promoting, voting, stressing and preparing, The 2008 Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children’s Books took place in Aberdeen this week and, after all that build-up, they didn’t disappoint. The whole of the Scottish Book Trust staff decamped from Edinburgh to Aberdeen for the day, along with over 550 pupils from schools all around Scotland, the authors and illustrators of the nine nominated books, the day's host, BBC broadcaster Kirsty Wark, and a further assorted collection of publishers, parents and parliamentary persons (sorry, slightly shoehorning the alliteration in there).

It all made for an atmosphere that was genuinely buzzing in the packed Beach Ballroom; when the shortlisted authors were announced they walked out to the kind of adulation generally reserved for pop stars (“now I know how Kylie feels” was one of the nominee’s later comments). This year's awards saw over 9,500 votes cast from pupils across the UK, and you could tell that every child present really felt part of the proceedings; not just spectators but truly invested in the outcome of the Awards.

But there was fun to be had before the announcement of the winners, as first a brilliant group of pupils from Riverbank and Smithfield primary schools presented dramatised excerpts from the six books nominated in the 0-7 and 8-11 years categories. I particularly loved the Goat and Donkey in Strawberry Sunglasses section, as the kids delivered a hilarious ‘behind-the-sheet’ transformation of their main character. Everyone involved has earned themselves a high five from me, and I’ll have you know I don’t dish them out lightly.

Then it was the turn of Aidan Turner, one of our very cool pupil ambassadors, to take the limelight, as he hosted a Q&A with the three authors in the 12-16 years category. He did a great job (hey, anyone who can confidently carry off an interview under the watchful gaze of pro Kirsty Wark is doing well in my book), and asked very intelligent questions, bringing out the key differences and similarities in the nominees’ approaches and novels.

After Marie Macaulay presented the Gaelic prize, won by Rachel Kate McLeod, whose story was chosen from an incredible amount of entries, Kirsty Wark announced that we had reached the key moment, the announcement of the winners. As MSP Maureen Watt opened the envelope for the 0-7 category you could feel the tension rising in the crowd; feet were stomping, kids were shouting out their favourite titles – it was about as far from a library environment as you could imagine, and all the better for it! – and there were genuine woops of delight when Alan Durant and Ross Collins’ Billy Monster’s Daymare was announced as the winner.



D A Nelson’s Dark Isle and J A Henderson’s Bunker 10 were announced as the 8-11 and 12-16 category winners respectively, each eliciting similarly ecstatic reactions from the crowd (I’m certain I saw some kids actually jumping on their chairs…), and it was clear from each of the winning authors’ speeches that they felt truly humbled and honoured to have won, and all were full of praise for their fellow nominees.




So now it’s all over for another year, but my single description can’t really do justice to the day in all its fullness, so we’ll have more of the Scottish Book Trust staff members’ thoughts on the day up on the Blog shortly, as well as a special Royal Mail Awards interviews podcast on our site. But for the time being there are some pictures from the day up on the website, which can be found on our Awards Ceremony page.

But we need your contribution too! Were you at the Awards? What was your favourite bit? How was the whole experience? Tell us by adding a comment here or sending an email to info@scottishbooktrust.com and we’ll post it here.

BREAKING NEWS
We already knew that Keith Gray was a hugely talented author and that his novel Ostrich Boys was brilliant but he has now been nominated for the Costa Children's Award, one of the biggest in the UK! Congratulations Keith, good luck and everyone at Scottish Book Trust is rooting for you.

Let them eat cake...

Hey, Chris here again - so firstly I must apologise for the picture that the webmaster put up to accompany my last blog, I hate that picture: I look like a Dickensian fool! Oh that reminds me must get them to change my staff pic too!

In the office we love cake, and so for every birthday we take turns in baking. Last week we had three birthdays (Julia, Paul and Philippa) so we celebrated them all at once with three tastalicious cakes. I have never volunteered myself to make a cake; cooking I’m good at, baking... not so hot - but I decided to bite the bullet and make a cheesecake. As I’ve never made a cake I didn’t have the appropriate kitchen utensils, so it was off to the shops to buy ingredients - whisk, cake-tin and rolling pin. Came home without the rolling pin.

Turns out it’s really simple to make a cheesecake, even without a rolling pin. My blueberry cheesecake was brilliant - it's not the one in the pic, by the way, but not far off! - but don’t just take my word for it. Here's just a sample of my colleagues' reactions:

“Wow! I didn’t think you could cook” - un-named staff member who is yet to blog

“I’m impressed” - Jasmine (this means a lot as she is a cake-making Goddess)

“I think you should bake cakes more often, this is the bestest cheesecake in the world ever” - ok, so I made this one up but still I was happy with how happy people were to eat the thing.

I wasn’t so happy that someone (probably the cleaner) has thrown out the base of my cake-tin. It was NEW!

So our office is a happy, cake-filled office, it really is great to work with such a good bunch of people. I think that part of the reason that we get on so well is that everyone knows when to have a laugh or when to get their heads down and do the work. This week it's one of the latter times and I am doing lots of preparation for events in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Elgin and North Ayrshire, a tour of Moray, another tour of Argyle & Bute, the Royal Mail Awards (which is twice as big as last year) as well as a creative writing competition for teens. As I said it’s busy but fun.

Things that I am currently enjoying:

Crash by JA Henderson

The Trouble with Dragons (publishing November) by Debi Gliori

Lovefilm.com

QI

Electralene

Chris

Cakemaker Extraordinaire (and Children's Programme Assistant)

Chris says howdy

Howdy!

I’m Chris, I am one third of the Children’s Team here at Scottish Book Trust and I’ve been here for a year and a half (this is the longest I've ever held one job, apart from being a student which really isn’t work) and I absolutely love it here. I just thought that it was about time that we (Scottish Book Trust Children’s Team) let you know who we are, what we do, the things we like and the projects that we are running for you.

I wont be the only one writing this blog, Anna and Jasmine from the children’s team, our web guru Paul, and even some top authors will be dropping in to blog their hearts out about whatever is going on in Scottish Book Trust world.

The summer holidays are fantastic aren’t they? It’s your chance to do as you please, hang out with your buddies without having to worry about getting up for school and generally cause mischief. I too love the summer holidays, I used to spend my summers jumping off cliffs, swimming in the sea, camping with mates in the fields around my town and listening to music. I’ve come to realise that I can still do all these things it’s just that I now have to cram them all in at the weekend.

Now though, the summer holidays are a chance to catch my breath from what has been a feverishly busy 2008, so far we’ve taken Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen on a tour of Scotland’s major cities, launched an innovative Virtual Writer in Residence project with the brilliant Keith Gray (who has also promised us a blog entry at some point), announced the 2008 Royal Mail awards shortlist, completed 2 other tours, ran our first Children’s Festival and done about 20 one-off events and its only August! Phew!

The only problem about the summer holidays is the Scottish weather, so I thought that I would give you a few of my favourite books to read and some of my favourite Scottish bands for you to listen to. So if it’s raining, grey and miserable you can sit inside and read/listen or if it's gloriously warm you can sit out on the grass and lose yourself in a book or a song (but remember that although sunscreen is yucky and sticky it is good for your skin)!

Books
Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror – Chris Priestly
Ostrich Boys – Keith Gray
The Black Tattoo – Sam Enthoven
Creature of the Night – Kate Thompson

Bands

Twilight Sad
Idlewild
Sons and Daughters
Frightened Rabbit

Oh, and I nearly forgot about the fantastic new creative writing competition for you, so do look out for the flyer in all your favourite spots.

Peace out,
Chris

Children's Programme Assistant

Cool thing we've heard about this week:
Best-selling author Janey Louise Jones will take a trip to the Balearic Island this August where children will be treated to Princess Poppy party games and book readings from the author, as part of publisher Random House's new initiative with Thomas Cook holidays. Nice! Want to know more? Read about it here

Next week: Meet Jasmine, Children's Programmer extraordinaire...