Brace yourself – it's Book Month
It's time to celebrate all things reading!
While CBCA Book Week officially takes place this year from 19-25 August, the truth is that August is Book Month and, let’s face it, term three is Book Term.
(If you’re looking for Book Week costumes, you’ll find 21 ideas from Australian authors here.)
With four books out between us, Team YKNR is on the move for the next few weeks, visiting schools, speaking at festivals and generally running on caffeine and sugar.
One very special thing we’re doing though is, wait for it, CELEBRATING and we’re hoping you’ll join us!
It’s unlike us, but we’re gathering on Zoom on Wednesday 9 August at 7.30pm to talk about our new books, with special guests, giveaways and a Q&A.
Find all the details here to register for the free event and receive the link on the day!
UPDATES FROM TEAM YKNR
HELLO FROM ALLISON TAIT
Writing as A. L. Tait, Allison is the internationally published, bestselling author of eight novels for middle-grade readers across three series: The Mapmaker Chronicles, The Ateban Cipher and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries. She is an in-demand speaker for author visits and literary festivals, a writing teacher for kids and adults, co-host of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast and author of the brand-new middle-grade novel THE FIRST SUMMER OF CALLIE McGEE. More about Allison here.
I’m getting in first this month to share the news that THE FIRST SUMMER OF CALLIE McGEE is officially OUT NOW – and I’ve got one signed copy to give away to a newsletter subscriber!
If you’d like to WIN THE SIGNED COPY, leave a comment with your answer to this question before 11.59pm (AEST) on Thursday 10 August 2023*:
What’s your strongest memory of childhood summer holidays?
In other news, I’ve got some events and workshops in August – click the links for full details. Would love to see you!
24 August: So You Want To Be A Children’s Author?, workshop for adults, Nowra Library, Nowra, NSW
26 August: Book Launch, The First Summer of Callie McGee, Gerringong Library, NSW
And, of course, I’ll be visiting a host of schools!
HELLO FROM MEGAN DALEY
Megan is an award-winning teacher-librarian working in Brisbane, the author of Raising Readers: How to nurture a child’s love of books, and co-host of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast. She is also a sought after public speaker, literary judge, creator of the popular website Children's Books Daily and editor of the brand-new anthology ‘Teacher, Teacher’ from Affirm Press. More about Megan here.
Megan Land, much like Barbie Land, has been full of pink sparkle and drama of late.
The pink sparkle has come in the form of tickets to the Taylor Swift concert, courtesy of the FABULOUS Mrs Richards and her daughter, who conjured up two to sell to my bereft Swifties (who missed out on tickets after DAYS online). The Tween and The Teen are beside themselves, and pink sparkly body glitter has been purchased for the event...in February 2024 (nothing like being prepared).
The drama comes courtesy of #liferightnow, which involves much interstate travel for both me and The Beekeeper, media for 'Teacher, Teacher' (pic below is post-appearance on Today Extra), Book Week Term, an avalanche of family birthdays and four children + their various gastro, tonsillitis and other ailments!
I’ve created a four-page schedule of events to get us through just the next ten days. But, as I hit print, The Beekeeper made changes, ruining my page setup. As I stare in horror at more tweaks to his work week, all he says is 'welcome to agriculture'.
MEGAN’S BOOKMARK REVIEWS
Each month, I share full reviews of two outstanding books that have crossed my desk. Bookmark these for your young readers.
We’re Moving Away by Niña Nill
Working in a school with a high population of overseas students from Prep to Year Twelve, I was instantly drawn to this picture book for an early childhood audience.
Our family is moving to a new country.
We can’t take all our things, so we need to make a list …
In this warm-hearted and lovingly detailed picture book, Niña Nill weaves a story about the pieces of ourselves we bring along when we move, the things we have to leave behind, and how we rebuild a sense of home.
We're Moving Away is the perfect book for any family facing change – no matter how big or how small. The fabulous visual lists offer so many art opportunities in the classroom and the exceptional endpapers must also be explored in detail.
When You’re A Boy by Blake Nuto
A powerful and moving exploration of what it means to be a boy from an exciting new author-illustrator talent.
When you're a boy you are told how to be
like the white-roaring oceans.
But I've learned
the fierceness of flowers
the glory of colour
and the beauty of dreaming.
Wander through forests, cross rivers and climb mountains in this powerful and moving exploration of what it means to be a boy.
Blake was mentored by the talented Jess Racklyeft and this is so evident in his work, which captures the magic of nature in images, something Jess also does so well. The book is a powerful and moving exploration of what it means to be a boy through the lens of nature, while unpicking the expectations around gender.
HELLO FROM ALLISON RUSHBY
The award-winning, bestselling author of many, many books for children and adults, Allison Rushby’s novels are firm favourites in the Your Kid’s Next Read community. Her latest illustrated junior fiction series, The Wish Sisters, is fast gaining fans. More about Allison R here.
With some spectacular bad timing, my brain has decided to start contemplating a new standalone Middle Grade novel. Right in the middle of a whole lot of speaking gigs, Reader’s Cup events (see below) and a looming CBCA Book Week, as well as a whole lot of fun going on at YKNR itself, with heaps of lovely giveaways to wrangle and the super-exciting fact that we’ve hit 30K members! Eek!
Anyway, the starting of a new story is always a bit of a scary prospect – figuring out how a story works can truly be all-encompassing and there is the propensity to think about, well, nothing else. So wish me luck on that!
THREAD OF THE MONTH
Speaking of giveaways, sometimes your answers just honestly make me laugh out loud. I really love reading everyone’s answers to our giveaway questions. Our question for our Hamlet is Not OK giveaway was: Which fictional world would you want to avoid dropping into and why?
The following answer had me in stitches thinking about a terrible alternate reality WHERE THE PIGEON ACTUALLY ENDED UP DRIVING THE BUS 😂
PODCAST
With Megan’s anthology ‘Teacher, Teacher’ receiving so much media love at the moment, we thought it was a good time to recap some of our podcast episodes* aimed at making the lives of educators easier!
107: Books That Spark Design Thinking
96: Classroom Read-aloud Novels
88: Kickstart Your Library Year
72: Collection Development for Libraries
66: Secrets Of A School Librarian
Of course, ALL of our episodes contain tips and info useful to educators in some way, but these are some that might prove particularly invaluable.
Educators might also note that a paid subscription to this newsletter offers the benefit of permission to use paid newsletter content for school purposes.
Recent paid posts include:
75 books that 11 year olds are loving right now
Weeding your library collection
Subscribe now, or sign up for the seven-day free trial to see what’s on offer.
*Click the title to listen to the episode on our website or read the show notes – or listen wherever you get your pods!
AUGUST BOOKMAIL WINNER
Each month, we’re giving away a prize pack consisting of some of the brilliant bookmail sent to us for the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast. One winner* is chosen from our full subscriber list by random draw and announced here!
There are SEVEN books in the AUGUST prize pack.
The AUGUST bookmail giveaway winner is …
Kathrin Davidson, SA
Congrats! We’ll be in touch by email.
*Australian mailing addresses only. Prize consists of one copy of each book pictured, sent as a pack to the winner by Australia Post. Winner will be contacted by email and prize must be claimed within 14 days or a redraw will take place. You must be subscribed to the YKNR newsletter by midnight (AEDST) the night before publication each month to be eligible to win. No correspondence will be entered into.
So, tell us about that childhood summer!
Don’t forget, there’s a signed copy of THE FIRST SUMMER OF CALLIE McGEE (more about the book here) on offer* for Allison T’s favourite memory.
Allison T, Allison R and Megan
*Entries open until midnight Thursday 10 August 2023. Winner will be chosen by Allison T, notified by email and announced in the comments on this newsletter. Australian mailing addresses only.
My memories of childhood summer are days of reading whilst everyone else watches the cricket and then my brother playing Test Match, the game, and dragging me into it. We also had a pool so there were days we were in and out of the pool with the dog chasing us as we swam - he would run around the pool trying to catch the splashes of water.
It’s probably of my mother saying “put that book down!”. I was (still am) such a bookworm, and regarded summer holidays as an endless series of days to read uninterrupted. My mother always wanted me to do “something else” – inevitably, something less interesting.