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bgwBooks go Walkabout

Stories the world over...

Children and authors using exciting technology to talk across the globe.

Next trip underway between Australia and the UK. Meetings planned with schools and classes of children. Great letters came back from 4D in Balgowlah Heights to Ifeoma Onyefulu,and letters to Lindy Batchelor in Sydney from Babraham Primary School. See them now on Books Go Walkabout.

We are meeting with authors in Australia and the UK in the next few weeks,to build those bridges and bring more books and stories to children from all over.

In Nigeria, children anxious to get hold of books, we can just make that happen and in an inexpensive way too.

Keep in touch with the project Books Go Walkabout, maybe there are some links you would like to make.

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers - The Best in children's books always on line.


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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Don't tell me, we really should be thinking about books for Christmas.

Grace at Christmas by Mary Hoffman, is a good way to start. Published by Frances Lincoln it's a story of Grace and her plans before Christmas, including the cat playing the part of all the animals in the Nativity.

 

 

So the introduction of Savannah and her aunt who couldn't make the trip back to Jamaica in time had a few problems that made Grace think.

But she shared her home, her bedroom and even all her plans too.

A beautiful book with wonderful illustrations by Cornelius van Wright.

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers - the best in children's books always on line


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


ifA workshop with travels from Westacre to West Africa with Ifeoma Onyefulu, Saturday October 29th.

We are working with the Westacre Theatre Company in West Norfolk on an afternoon of fun, learning and adventure. We will be exploring how to write children books and play African instruments.

Ifeoma travels across Africa and you can follow her stories on her website, Ifeomaonyefulu.co.uk . This is a great opportunity for children in a rural village to look beyond and find out about a different world.

See Ifeoma's catalogue on Amazon here. Great books anytime.

Dolphin Booksellers- the best in children's books - always on line


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


bzWe met at Keat's House with Benjamin Zephaniah and Prodeepta Das for the launch of their new book, 'When I Grow Up'.

It's a book about breaking down stereotypes and about opening up the world of opportunity.

Benjamin Zephaniah  talked about his childhood and the stereotypes which meant he could either have been a gangster or a painter and decorator. But he wanted to be a poet. It was not expected that black people should go to university. After some time in different jobs he decided to follow his dream and has indeed become a famous and brilliant poet.

bz groupThe book shows all kinds of different jobs, from the Sikh lollipop man to the black woman space scientist,the mathematical clown and the forest keeper. The photos are great and the poems fantastic. A real joy to read and a book to keep looking at.

On the journey back from the launch on the tube, other passengers were leaning over to read the poems.

Published by Frances Lincoln  it is part of their programme of books valuing diversity and difference. See more books by Benjamin Zephaniah here.

Dolphin Booksellers - the best in children's books always on line


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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Libraries go beyond the possible, heading into the realms of the imagination in developing places for children and young people.

This is what we heard at Dolphin Booksellers from the 10 Coolest Libraries for Kids programme.
Watch a video, listen to a CD, play with a puppet, look at stuff under a microscope, or check out a discovery box!

At The Children's Library Lab at The Journey Museum at Rapid City, South Dakota, U.S.A.

Instilling a love of reading at a young age can be an invaluable asset in the life of anyone. It helps them in the success at school and I'm sure there is some research somewhere that shows children who read early have a greater understanding of the world.

The Onlinecollege courses in the US is the place to find the information and we hope to work with them to bring information across the Big Pond.

In Princeton, New Jersey , Jennifer Greenstein Altmann writes about transforming Cotsen Children's Library into a literary wonderland.

"Princeton New Jersey -- Walk through the doors, and you enter a replica of a garden with five-foot animal topiaries made of fiberglass. There are stools shaped like daisies and a table with sunflowers growing out of it, with benches that look like hedges. Beyond the garden is a miniature house with a bookshelf that doubles as a staircase, which children can climb to reach a reading loft."

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It's a really interesting article and we were very excited about this as a development. What a place to sit and read? Just think what can happen?

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers the best in children's books always on line.

 

 

"Laura Bohn '03, a volunteer at Cotsen Children's Library, finds a cosy reading nook in the trunk of a 17-foot bonsai tree that soars over the new installation at the Cotsen gallery".

(Images featured from the Coolest Libraries original article)


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


rgHow can a dusty old picture draw the past and the present together?

In The Rabbit Girl by Mary Arrigan the mystery unfolds. In one time period two evacuees are brought together on the far side of Lake Windermere. They are living with country people and finding life very different from life in the city of London during the war.

They find a friend turns out to be a very famous artist. She has time for them and they get together whenever they can. But time is not on their side and Tony has to return to London as his father is killed in a bombing raid.

Two generations later in a pet shop the story is brought back to life and the grumpy old man is not all he seems. Mallie is intrigued by an old picture of a rabbit and a girl which she gives to her Mum as a present. But it has something very special hidden within it that will reveal a very special secret.

maA great read from Mary Arrigan and published by Frances Lincoln in April this year. It follows on from Nesty's Gold and let's hope there are more stories to come from Mary.

 

 

Dolphin Booksellers - the best in children's books always on line.


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


lbfMore books than you could ever imagine under one roof! We went along on our annual trip to the bookfair at Earl's Court in London.

From ebooks to publishers,and with representations from countries across the world we had to start with a coffee before we could even plan a route through the stands of the London Book Fair Lots of information and ways to make books and reading accessible for everyone. We met with Frances Lincoln publishers, who produce some excellent children's books and are renowned for their leading work in diversity and culturalism.

The producers of ebooks were especially interesting and the team from California were great as they were prepared to help, " We can do anything". a great perspective on working life and definitely a way forward.

The stand for Australia was next to Abu Dhabi, quite a contrast, but two countries with diverse ethnic groups and attitudes, side by side. Interesting conversations on the Children's Book Council in Australia and on the Abu Dhabi Bookfair 2011.What a joy to work with children's books and to see just how far stories and information can spread. What better way to bring cultures and people together.

Sue Martin, Dolphin Booksellers - Bringing the best in children's books always on line.


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


Once upon a time..... there were children who went back to school in their pyjamas just as it was getting dark, for bedtime stories...

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We are working with a children's centre in the London Borough of Wandsworth. As part of the work in engaging with literacy and families Stories at Bedtime was born!

The thought of cosy stories, hot chocolate and with the Big Bookmark guiding the way the first event was a huge success. Over 30 children brought their parents and snuggled down for the stories, then went into other parts of the nursery for more stories before bedtime.

James, aged 2 just had to give in to and was fast asleep in his pushchair before the stories finished. But I'm hoping he will come to the next event in the spring.

Try our Big Bookmarks from Dolphin Bookbox to develop and promote your ideas, you may not send everyone to sleep but it will make an impact.

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Sue Martin
Dolphin Booksellers - bringing the best in children's books always on line


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


ttJackie Morris, children's book illustrator and author has some wonderful illustrations of tigers. These fill many of her books with colour and splendour, and capture that engaging image of the tiger in the wild. Yet, within the picture lies a sense of majesty,strength and compassion.

The original watercolour from the book, Lord of the Forest, illustrated by Jackie and written by Caroline Pitcher is being donated by Jackie and auctioned on eBay in aid of the 21st Century Tiger.

From the 21st March for 10 days you can bid in the auction for the painting.

21st Century Tiger is a unique fund raising partnership between the Zoological Society of London and Global Tiger Patrol.They raise money to support conservation products throughout Asia.

Jackie says." Even though in my lifetime I may never see a tiger in the wild, my world is a richer place for knowing that these wonderful creatures are there.... It is my hope that when I have grandchildren tigers will still walk through their dreams and through the forests of the world as living creatures and not something from history, creatures of myth."

Information can be found at 21st Century Tiger

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Dolphin Booksellers - bringing you the best in children's books always on line.


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


A great story" Yipes!" blinked the itzy bitzy rabbit. " What are you going to do?"

" Have my lunch, growled the bear. " And my lunch is...YOU!"

Poor old Grizzly Bear, there was nothing left to eat in the woods. Because he had eaten it all!

From tasty toes to biting in half, this bear means business when he comes across the rabbit. But unlike other animals Rabbit is not scared.

He has intriguing reasons why the bear should not eat him for his lunch and it works!

A great story in a picture book retold in a very appealing way. The drama, the pictures, the way it is presented and the rhyming text make it a joy to read and to share.

It comes from Sean Taylor and illustrated by Hannah Shaw,the team who put together Crocodiles are the best Animals of All- short listed for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2009.Newly published by Frances Lincoln, this book is a great one to read and to buy.

Dolphin Booksellers - the best in children's books always


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.