The Legend of Spud Murphy

Eoin Colfer is wonderful, an Irish writer, with a particularly strong case of that amazing Irish sense of humour. His sense of humour is on full display in The Legend of Spud Murphy. I saw him speak at a conference a few years ago, it was more a comedy performance than an author talk. I have been in his thrall ever since. 

Spud Murphy is one of his earlier books, published in 2004. It is a chapter book for younger readers. It is particularly funny. Will and Marty Woodman are the oldest of five boys. One summer holidays they are forced against their will to join the local library. A terrifying thought because they are very frightened of the local librarian, Mrs Murphy. Mrs Murphy runs a tight ship and is said to have a spud gun behind her desk. She is a fearsome, Trunchbull-like character. 

You're probably wonder what we were so scared about. I bet you're thinking that we were a pair of gutless chickens who would have been better off at home sewing our names on to handkerchiefs. But that's because you think libraries are happy colourful places, where the librarians actually like children. That may be what most of them are like, but this one was different. It was a place where serious men read serious books and nobody was allowed to show even a glimmer of a smile. A smile could get you thrown out, a titter could get you spudded. And if you laughed aloud, you were never seen again. 

Naturally the boys are not keen to spend their summer afternoons in the library. 

We had no choice but to go inside. It was just as I feared. There was nothing in there but books. Books waiting to jump off the shelves and bore me silly. 

Mrs Muprhy has some fabulous tricks to keep boys in line in the library, and it is all very funny.

We couldn't fight, we couldn't shout, we couldn't make loud bodily noises. All the things young boys live for. Oh the boredom! My head felt like it would fall off and spin across the wooden floor. I tried everything to entertain myself. Watching movies in my head, following the pattern in my carpet prison, eating strips of paper from the books. But most of all, I just dreamed of freedom. 

"Then one day something strange happened."

Fabulous.

Refugee Asylum Seeker Book List

I really enjoyed this list of stories for children about refugees and asylum seekers from Book Trust.

It's the humanitarian issue of our time really and I think deserves it's own list that can continue to be expanded as I've done with Brona's War Book List. I've added a few already, and will add more over time -as I remember them, and new books as they come up. 

A Dangerous Crossing - Jane Mitchell
A Long Walk to Water - Linda Sue Park
Alpha: Abidjan to Gare du Nord - Barroux, Sarah Ardizzone (translator)

A Story Like The Wind - Gill Lewis, Jo Weaver (illustrator)
Azzi in Between - Sarah Garland

Boy Overboard - Morris Gleitzman

Girl Underground - Morris Gleitzman
Give Me Shelter - Tony Bradman (editor)

Home and Away - John Marsden, Matt Ottley (illustrator)
Hope in a Ballet Shoe - Michaela & Elaine De Prince

Illegal - Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin
In The Sea There are Crocodiles - Fabio Geda, Howard Curtis (translator)
Inside Out & Back Again - Thanhha Lai (see my review)
Jackdaw Summer - David Almond

My Name is Not Refugee - Kate Milner
My Two Blankets - Irena Kobald, Freya Blackwood (illustrator) (see my review)

Now is the Time for Running - Michael Williams

Oranges in No Man's Land - Elizabeth Laird

Refuge - Anne Booth, Sam Usher (illustrator)
Refuge - Jackie French
Refugee - Alan Gratz
Refugee Boy - Benjamin Zephaniah
Refugees - David Miller

Shadow - Michael Morpurgo
Soraya The Story Teller - Rosanne Hawke
Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family's Journey - Margaret Ruurs, Nizar Ali Badr (artist)
Suri's Wall - Lucy Estela, Matt Ottley (illustrator) 

The Arrival - Shaun Tan (see my review)
The Bone Sparrow - Zana Fraillon
The Island - Armin Greder
The Journey - Francesca Sanna
The Lines We Cross - Randa Abdel-Fattah
The Little Refugee - Anh Do, Suzanne Do, Bruce Whatley (illustrator) (see my review)
The Milk of Birds - Sylvia Whitman
The Other Side of Truth - Beverley Naidoo

The Red Pencil - Andrea Davis Pinkney
The Silence Seeker - Ben Morley, Carl Pearce (illustrator)
The Silver Sword - Ian Serraillier
The Treasure Box - Margaret Wild, Freya Blackwood (illustrator) (see my review)

Welcome to Nowhere - Elizabeth Laird
When Michael Met Mina - Randa Abdel-Fattah

Ziba Came on a Boat - Liz Lofthouse, Robert Ingpen (illustrator)

Top 100 Books To Read Before Leaving Primary School

I'm very excited about this recent list from the UK, the results of a survey of teachers by TES magazine and the National Association for the Teaching of English.

It's a rather teacherly list. But these are great books that kids love and adults can appreciate. Note that some are equally placed, e.g. 12=. You've got to admire precision like that in list making.


1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (see my review)

2. Goodnight Mister Tom - Michelle Magorian

3. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

4. Matilda - Roald Dahl

5. The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson

6. The Chronicles of Narnia- C.S. Lewis (well 2 1/2 of the 7, that's a decent crack)

7. The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle

8. We're Going on a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen

9. Dogger - Shirley Hughes

10. Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

11. Sting of the Dump - Clive King

12= Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

12= The Iron Man - Ted Hughes

14. Flat Stanley - Jeff Brown

15. Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

16. Funnybones - Allan and Janet Ahlberg

17= Owl Babies - Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson

17= The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien  (see my review)

19. Green Eggs and Ham - Dr Seuss

20. War Horse - Michael Morpuro (see my review)

21= Grimm's Fairy Tales - Brothers Grimm 

21= The Tiger Who Came to Tea - Judith Kerr

23. Peace at Last - Jill Murphy

24. Artemis Fowl series - Eoin Colfer (see my review)

25. Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy - Lynley Dodd

26. Not Now Bernard - David McKee

27.  Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney

28. The Twits - Roald Dahl

29. I Am David - Ann Holm

30. The Highwayman - Alfred Noyes

31. The Paddington Series - Michael Bond (see my review)

32. Amazing Grace - Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch

33. Esio Trot - Roald Dahl

34. Five Children and It - E. Nesbit

35. Clockwork - Philip Pullman

36. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (see my review)

37. The Magic Far Away Tree - Enid Blyton

38. Farmer Duck - Martin Waddell and Helen Oxenbury

39. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome (see my review)

40. The Silver Sword - Ian Serraillier 

41. The Worst Witch Series - Jill Murphy

42. The Alfie and Annie Rose Series - Shirley Hughes

43. Shakespeare Stories - Leon Garfield

44. Journey to the River Sea - Eva Ibbotson

45. Six Dinner Sid - Inga Moore

46. Sad Book - Michael Rosen

47. The Borrowers - Mary Norton (see my review)

48= A Dark, Dark Tale - Ruth Brown

48= The Jolly Postman - Allan Ahlberg

50. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan

51. Coraline - Neil Gaiman

52. Zoo - Anthony Browne

53. Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

54. Voices in the Park - Anthony Browne

55. Cinderella - Charles Perrault, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti 

56. Pig Heart Boy - Malorie Blackman

57. The Railway Children - E. Nesbit

58. Cloud Busting - Malorie Blackman

59= Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson (see my review)

59= The Sheep-Pig - Dick King-Smith

61= Beegu - Alexis Deacon

61= The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (see my review)

63= Eragon - Christopher Paolini

63= The Mr Men and Little Miss Series - Roger Hargreaves

65= Gentle Giant - Michael Morpurgo

65= Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling

67 The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams

68. Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti (see my review)

69. Eagle of the Ninth - Rosemary Sutcliff

70. Theseus and the Minotaur - David Orme and Wendy Body

71= The Just William Series - Richmal Crompton

71= On the Way Home - Jill Murphy

71= Pumpkin Soup - Helen Cooper

71= Street Child - Berlie Doherty

71= The Happy Prince and other stories - Oscar Wilde

76= Angelo - Quentin Blake

76= The Day the Crayons Quit - Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

76= The Snowman - Raymond Briggs

79. My Mum - Anthony Browne

80= The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

80= The Tunnel - Anthony Browne

82= Face - Benjamin Zephaniah

82= The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler - Gene Kemp

84. The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein

85= Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type - Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin

85= The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster

85= The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter

88= I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato - Lauren Child 

88= The Skullduggery Pleasant Series - Derek Landy

88= The Early Years at Malory Towers - Enid Blyton

88= Wolf Brother - Michelle Paver

92= Birds Beasts and Relatives - Gerard Durrell

92= The Weirdstone of Brisingamen - Alan Garner

94. The Mrs Pepperpot Series - Alf Proysen

95= The Asterix Series - Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo

95= The Fib and Other Stories - George Layton

97. The Giant's Necklace - Michael Morpurgo

98. The Kipper Series - Mick Inkpen

99= The Milly-Molly-Mandy Series - Joyce Lankester Brisley

99= The Suitcase Kid - Jacqueline Wilson

52/100

Not a bad showing, although I've read the vast majority as an adult. Of course most of these titles weren't yet written when I finished primary school.

It's such an interesting list. No surprises in the top 10 for me- although I have a clear hole in my top 10 reading. As ever there are some expected books, some I've been meaning to read and some authors and books I've never heard of.

Not surprising that Roald Dahl is a major player, although I'd forgo Esio Trot and include my favourite Dahl -The BFG - instead, actually I'd put that number one I think, I like the movies of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory more than the book! Shhhh. I was surprised that Jacqueline Wilson only just snuck in at the tail end. The Telegraph points out that David Walliams and J.K. Rowling failed to make the grade.

Nov 2016 53/100

June 2018 54/100

2012 A Year in Books

I really enjoyed creating my end of year post last year, so I thought I'd do it again this year. Is nice to look back over the year of reading, and remember the favourites. It's been quite some time since I got coordinated enough to participate in Top Ten Tuesday, happily this week in a rare moment of synchronicity I can.

Once again, here are the books that I gave 5 stars to on Goodreads. Slightly (5) more than 10 though. I've tried to work out how to cut them down, and I can't.

Nick Bland and Freya Blackwood The Runaway Hug

Eoin Colfer Artemis Fowl

Craig Silvey The Amber Amulet

Neil Gaiman The Graveyard Book

Edmund White The Flaneur

Theodore Taylor The Cay

Janine Burke Nest

Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden

Hugues de Montalembert Invisible

Scott O'Dell Island of the Blue Dolphins

Boni Ashburn I Had a Favourite Dress

Helen Frost Monarch and Milkweed

Carole Armstrong Lives and Legends of the Saints

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Charlotte Mondlic The Scar

3 Aussie titles

4 picture books

5 nonfiction/memoir titles

7 female authors

8 male authors


I think The Amber Amulet may well be my favourite of the year.

Artemis Fowl

I was thrilled to start this book recently. I'd seen Eoin Colfer speak in Adelaide in May. He was astonishing. Such a funny, funny man, it was more reminiscent of seeing Billy Connolly in action than a writerly talk. With a lovely Irish brogue. You can see him in action on youtube (toned down for the kiddies).

Artemis Fowl is the first in what was to become a series of 8 books. It tells the story of 12 year old Artemis, our classic "oprhan" hero, his father has been missing for the past year and his mother is bedridden with her despair. Artemis vows to restore the family fortune back to the billionaire status at the expense of the fairies, who of course have lots of gold, and really quite sensational technology for their underground lives. As the back cover says, these are not the fairies of bedtime stories- they're armed and dangerous.

I was a bit surprised that this most Irish of tales actually starts in Vietnam, before moving on to Italy and finally to Ireland. I loved the espionage tinged with fairies, rogue trolls, and swear toads. Wonderfully grounded in the mythology of Ireland, and Ireland itself. Colfer is certainly not afraid to have a go at either.

And it was also here, unfortunately, that the Mud People were most in tune with magic, which resulted in a far higher People-sighting rate than you got anywhere else on the planet. Thankfully the rest of the world assumed that the Irish were crazy, a theory that the Irish themselves did nothing to debunk. 

I also liked the occasional eco-political view scattered throughout, here Commander Root approaches the whaling vessel off the coast of Ireland:

The commander swooped low to the gunwales. It was an ugly craft, this one. The smell of death and pain lingered in the blood-swabbed decks. Many noble creatures had died here, died and been dissected for a few bars of soap and some heating oil. Root shook his head. Humans were such barbarians. 

An espionage thriller complete with an evil boy genius, fairies and kleptomaniac dwarves! Sensational. A cracking pace, and lots of foreshadowing along the way. Exciting til the end. I look forward to more exciting adventures with Artemis.

Airman

I've been aching to read some Eoin Colfer since I saw him speak in Adelaide in May. He was funny, so very, very funny. And clever, that I knew his writing would have to be funny and clever too. Well I hoped it would be. I will have to wait until later in the year to read his most famous creation Artemis Fowl, but recently I was searching the library shelves for an audiobook to share with my son on a car trip, and much to my delight he picked up this Colfer title. Neither of us knew anything about it. My 11 year old merely judged the audiobook by the cover. After all, isn't that what covers are for?

We'd never used an audiobook for a car trip before, filled as they are with endless rounds of judging Eurovision, so it was a bit of a novelty for both of us.  I listen to some nonfiction audiobooks in the car travelling to and from work, but haven't had a great track record listening to fiction, my thoughts tend to drift off, and I lose track of the story. 

Airman is an unusual story, set in 19th century Ireland it tells the story of a young boy Conor Broekhart who was born in a hot air balloon, and so born with a love of flying. Conor's family live on the Saltee Islands off the coast of County Wexford in Ireland. A real setting for an imagined story. Actually the Saltee Islands look amazing, and have definitely gone straight onto my must see list. Puffins. They have puffins there.

Conor's father Declan Broekhart works for the King, and is the captain of the Saltee Sharpshooters. There is a baddie with the wonderful moniker of Hugo Bonvilain, who of course wants power and glory for himself. Bonvilain sets a trap for Conor, and a train of rather violent events ensue.

I liked the first disc most of the 3 discs of the story. It was the gentle, lilting story that I was hoping for. The second and third discs was more of a boys own adventure, and a little much for me at times, really quite dark. I even dozed off during these latter discs, which is a risk whenever I sit in the passengers seat it must be said. Master Wicker thoroughly enjoyed the story, and the listening experience, and I hope we will share more audiobooks on  car journeys.

CBCA 2012

I was very privileged to attend the Children's Book Council of Australia 2012 Conference in Adelaide this week. It was such an amazing experience. I hadn't been to Adelaide since the 80s, and I can't say I remember all that much, so it was nice to get back.

I really wasn't sure what to expect of the conference, or who would attend. Most of the 400 attendees were librarians or teachers, booksellers, authors and illustrators. Quite a female crowd, although there were a respectable number of men too. I didn't get to meet any other interested parties like me but I hope they were there too.

For me it was very much like a two day intensive writers festival. Normally at writers festivals, I have brunch, go to a session or two, lounge around a bit, then need to go out for a drink before dinner. Here we had two full on days, the second of which started at a 7.30 breakfast function. It was a cracking pace. Half way through the second day my brain was becoming quite full, but like a trooper I stuck it out to the end. Every session was enjoyable in it's own way, and I got many unexpected insights, and learned so many things.

I got to see authors who were familiar, some very big names, and authors who I had never heard of before, but probably should have and am now desperate to read. Yes, the TBR just got even bigger.

Some highlights:

Oliver Jeffers, the Johnny Depp of picture books. He mumbled a bit but all the ladies swooned at his Irish brogue anyway.

His tour blog

Eoin Colfer.  Such a funny, funny man. Yes he's kissed the blarney stone, but we all loved his delightful Irish brogue too. It was more a comedy performance than an authorly talk. Fabulous. I'm glad he had to finish when he did as I was about to slide under the chair in front due to overwhelming, fulminant mirth.

Davide Cali. An intriguing, clever, talented Swiss picture book writer, newly translated into English. 

Isobelle Carmody. Articulate, intellectual, amazing.

The glorious black swans of the Torrens

The lovely ladies from Tasmania.

There will be more about all of them.