CMIS Evaluation Fiction Focus

After ten years of Discworld, Terry Pratchett (Sir Terence Pratchett) has created a very different world in Nation (2008). Set in n a parallel universe rather like our 19th century South Pacific this is a multi-faceted disaster-survival / coming-of-age story that explores many themes.  There is no book trailer as such for this title, so here is Terry Pratchett talking about how Nation came to be  (the US cover is featured):

Dig deeper

The author

• Book website
• UK website
• Entry on Contemporary Writers site with bibliography and list of awards and prizes
• Biography (from L-Space web, an excellent Discworld resource)
• Wikipedia entry
• Terry Pratchett on twitter

The text

• Read an extract online (better for glimpsing the maps than reading the text, however)
• Read an extract – Chapter One
• Terry Pratchett reads from Nation (video)
• Terry Pratchett on the writing of Nation
• The US cover
• Nation book discussion wiki
• The Telegraph’s Book of the Month (October 2009) – summary and reading notes
• As part of a UK competition, readers are being asked to make a three-minute film for YouTube. Here, Terry Pratchett shares his favourite piece from the book as inspiration.
• Adaptation for the National Theatre
• Advice on adapations for the theatre from Michael Morpurgo and Philip Pullman
• Wikipedia entry – with an urgent plea from the editors to improve it!

Reviews

• Fiction Focus
• The Guardian
• Times Online
• The Independent
• The New York Times
• Washington Post
• Boing Boing
• SF Signal
• Read Plus

Articles and interviews

• Meeting Mr Pratchett – The Age (15 February 2007) in which he anticipates Nation
• Interview about Nation in School Library Journal (24/8/2009)
• Terry Pratchett and Mark Ravenhill on the stage adaptation Nation (video)
• Mark Ravenhill on why Nation is being adapted for the stage
• An interview with Terry Pratchett about Nation (video)
• Q & A with Terry Pratchett in Publishers Weekly (4/9/2008)
• Terry Pratchett speaks in The Times about living with Alzheimer’s Disease (25/1/2009)
• And in The Independent: Nation – the one that’s just come out – that’s a book for kids. And people will say: ‘Well it covers very adult subjects …’ Yeah, that’s why it’s a book for kids. Because you want kids to grow up to be adults, not just bigger kids.”

Awards

• Boston Globe Horn Book Award 2009 – Fiction and Poetry.
• Terry Pratchett’s acceptance speech for winning the Boston Globe Horn Book Award, Part One and Part Two, read by his US editor Anne Hoppe (videos).
• Shortlist Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2009
• Honor Book Michael L. Printz Award 2009 (video acceptance speech here)
• Los Angeles Times Book Award 2008 – Young Adult Fiction
• School Library Journal Best Books of 2008 list
• Kirkus Review Best YA  Books 2008 List
• Publishers Weekly Best Books 2008 (Children’s Fiction) List
• Horn Book Fanfare Best Books of  2008 (Fiction)
• Bulletin Blue Ribbon – Best Books of 2008 (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books)

Read more disaster fiction

• A list from the CMIS database
  

The Vulture column at online arts ezine New York Entertainment has collated a slideshow of clips from twelve children’s films that have caused, or could now cause, controversy. They include:

• The new kid on the block – Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
• The Black Cauldron (1985) adapted from Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain
• Little Buddha (1993)
• A Disney trio: Dumbo (1941), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Peter Pan (1953)
• North (1994)
• Song of the South (1946) adapted from Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus stories
• The 5000 Fingers of Dr T (1953)  – a Theodore Geisel affair, later disowned by him
• The Thief and the Cobbler (1964) – based on stories from the Arabian Nights
• Babe : Pig in the City (1998)
• The Brave Little Toaster (1987) adapted from a novel by Thomas M. Disch

More here about the brouhaha that Wild Things is generating, but for the rest, see the annotations on the slideshow.

The link to this fascinating piece of film history was first spotted on the educating alice blog.

With the arrival in cinemas this month of Li Cunxin’s story of peasant to international ballet star,  TrailerTuesday this week focuses on Mao’s Last Dancer – the books, the picture book and the film.

Dig deeper

The man

• Li Cunxin’s website
• Biography (from the website)
• Interview (ABC RN’s Life matters – podcast, 2007 )
• Interview (Radio New Zealand National – podcast 2007)
• Interview (Ballet Magazine UK, 2003)
• Interview with Peter Thompson, Part 1 (Talking Heads 2006, ABC TV) Transcript only
• Interview with Peter Thompson, Part 2 (Talking Heads 2006, ABC TV) Transcript only
• Article – Dance of the peasant prince (SMH 2003)

The texts

Adult edition (2003)

• Extract
• Fiction Focus review
• SMH review 2003

Awards

• Joint winner – Australian Booksellers Association – 2004
• Short list – National Biography Award – 2005
• Short list – Australian Book Industry Awards (International Success) – 2008
• Short list – Courier Mail Book of the Year – 2004

Young readers edition (2005)

• Extract
• Teaching Notes
• CMIS Review

Awards

• Winner – 2008 Young Australian Best Book Award (YABBA) - Fiction for Years 7-9
• Winner – 2008 Kids Own Australian Literature Award (KOALA)  - Fiction for Years 7-9
• Short-listed – 2008 COOL Award - Fiction for Years 7-9
• Short-listed – 2008 KROC Award - Fiction for Years 7-9

The Peasant Prince, with Anne Spudvilas (2007)

Published in US as Dancing to Freedom (2008)

• CMIS review
• PaperTigers blog post
• Adaptation – Adelaide Arts Festival 2009. Review
  

Awards

• Winner – Australian Book Industry Awards - Children’s Book  – 2008
• Winner – Queensland Premier’s Literary Award - Children’s Book  – 2008
• Winner – NSW Premier’s Literary Award – Patricia Wrightson Award – 2008
• Honour Book – CBCA Picture Book of the Year – 2008

The film

• Website
• Reviews

The history

• Webquest on the Cultural Revolution (from ThinkQuest)
• Film clips and teaching notes from Australian Screen

Musician-comedian Tim Minchin will be bringing Roald Dahl’s Matilda to the stage – a project he has aspired to for the past ten years.

In news today, it has been announced (Tim Minchin Goes Rock’n'Roald, according to The Guardian) that The Royal Shakespeare Company has commissioned an adaptation of the dark tale, with the blessing of the Dahl Estate:

Roald Dahl’s widow Felicity Dahl is thrilled to see the story become a reality on the stage.

“We are so proud that Roald’s stories continue to be met with such excitement and joy by children all over the world. And with this project, thousands more children will engage with his magical world yet again, but this time as a wonderful theatrical experience.”

Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Michael Boyd said Matilda was a magical and darkly funny book he had wanted to bring to life for years.

Buffy is way more interesting than Bella. Six clever remix minutes:

Sell it to your discerning readers.

It has been a while since John Marsden’s Tomorrow series was first published. Since 1993, when the first title shocked readers with a ‘what if Australia were to be invaded’ scenario, several generations of readers have enjoyed the exploits of Ellie and her friends in many volumes, many languages and even Ellie’s own series.  It is a storyline begging to be filmed.

Now it seems that the cameras will be rolling soon. And we wouldn’t have known if the Read Alert blog hadn’t told us. So thanks, Centre for Youth Literature.

Matt Ottley must be feeling very chuffed that his award-winning Requiem for a Beast is being adapted for the stage. Matt’s workshops at the Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre towards the end of 2007 highlighted the dramatic potential of this work. After all the subtitle is ‘a work for image, word and music’. The music adds yet another layer to the multi-layered text, so for the first time all three components will be brought together and the work experienced as a whole in this world premiere.

So: who, where, when?

Who: redfoot youth theatre

Where: Hale School, Wembley Downs, Perth, WA in the John Inverarity Music and Drama Auditorium

When: May 20-22, 7.30pm

The work has been adapted by Danny Parker and Warwick Doddrell

Here’s what the press release has to say:

Larger than life puppets stalk the stage- actors create the horses and cattle with the use of physical theatre and mask – the production uses a wide range of theatrical devices and a complex technical support to help communicate the intricacies of this story.

Using Matt Ottley’s original musical score and compelling performances from an exceptional ensemble cast, this premiere production of Requiem for a Beast vividly comes to life.

Visit the website to find out more.

Exciting stuff.

First there was Conan Doyle and the original sleuth. Then many screen adaptations, including Young Sherlock Holmes. Followed by the Baker Street Boys and Enola. Now Macmillan has announced a new series:

The estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has authorised a series of books detailing the life of the teenage Sherlock Holmes, which will see the budding detective falling in love for the first time, learning the deductive skills that serve him so well in his adult life, and making the acquaintance of a certain Dr Watson.

If it’s good enough for Young Bond …

Did you catch Lost in Austen on ABC television last night? What a lot of fun for readers of Pride and Prejudice. Although the ABC1 site has a synopsis, the UK ITV site has much more information such as interviews with the cast, a photo gallery of the locations and bonus videos. It’s not hard to see this particular ‘period drama’ being used in English classrooms. And many of us will be rushing to the bookshelves to re-read the original.

Austen to Zombies that is. Hmmm