tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-323540022009-09-20T12:20:25.308-07:00Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-22505403266126443122009-09-05T13:11:00.000-07:002009-09-05T13:18:50.472-07:00

Please go and read Zetta Elliott's blog post: "Something like an open letter to the children's publishing industry." It is an impassioned and powerful plea to those who work in publishing to open the doors to author of color (in England, somewhat equivalent terms are black and minority ethnic - BME - or non-white). Zetta pulls from a recent article to make the point that this is potentially a

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-46076057764151383792009-09-02T05:50:00.000-07:002009-09-02T06:15:49.964-07:00

I've been meaning for ages to respond to the many comments left on the last blog entry which links to my essay on white privilege in children's publishing. And thanks to the many people who have addressed each others' comments, I think much has already been said for me. So here are a few more general musings from me on the subject.My friend Ben from high school was the first to comment (thanks

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-2807226449622673002009-08-14T13:33:00.000-07:002009-08-14T13:36:20.744-07:00

I've been trying to find a way to post my paper from the conference in some form where people can add comments within the text, giving their perspectives and additions. I also tried posting the paper as a blog entry, but it's too long and looks clunky. So, instead I've got it as a Google website here: http://sites.google.com/site/tockla/I would be thrilled if people read the paper, and then gave

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-49138226665405610572009-08-06T13:57:00.001-07:002009-08-06T14:13:56.961-07:00

Following from my previous post about the cover of the book Liar, Publishers Weekly has just covered this - Bloomsbury has decided to change the cover. This is a 100,000 copy hardcover printing, and they are creating a new jacket for all of them (at an estimated cost of around $7,000).Now this is a case of power to the people, one of the quickest and most effective I've seen in the children's

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-17045621448710945572009-07-30T09:13:00.000-07:002009-08-03T13:31:56.316-07:00

So I’ve been thinking about white privilege, thanks mostly to a friend of mine who is mixed-race, a children’s book author, an academic, and someone who is never afraid to speak her mind. This is partially in light of the recent arrest of Louis Gates, the distinguished academic from Harvard who was arrested after being suspected of breaking into his own home. The media in the US came alive,

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-67550207485115017392009-05-11T05:52:00.000-07:002009-05-11T06:07:50.647-07:00

The weekend is over, and my Brighton Festival events complete. All went well, thankfully, and I really enjoyed both of them.On Friday evening I chaired a panel on the theme of "Creating Books for Very Young Children." The very talented Polly Dunbar, Chris Fisher and Axel Scheffler were speaking. Each gave a short presentation, followed by a group discussion and then questions from the audience.

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-5168022756748033972009-05-07T12:02:00.000-07:002009-05-07T12:11:24.853-07:00

So it's taken me a few days to blog about my last and final Little Green Pig session. Ella wrote on the LGP blog, so you can see some of the books that the Saddlebacks (7-11 year olds) listed as their favorites.I focused this session on inspirational books, and how they can shape our own writing. I did more or less the same thing with both groups, and it seemed to work well. I started by doing

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-5672115000184457932009-05-03T14:33:00.000-07:002009-05-03T14:44:41.401-07:00

An unusual article was published in today's Independent which describes Michael Rosen's path with children's literature academic study. I say unusual because I realize how rarely the non-academic children's literature world mentions that there is, in fact, an academic children's literature world. I can't remember if I have ever seen a newspaper article about it.Michael Rosen successfully

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-86733031628329011582009-04-28T14:25:00.000-07:002009-04-28T14:54:13.592-07:00

I ran my first session today at Little Green Pig, a weekly afternoon writing group for young people. The "Piglets" are 7-11 years old, and the "Saddlebacks" are 12+. I haven't done a lot of work lately with young people, so was a bit nervous going into it. I'm particularly out of touch with the younger ones, as it's been almost twenty years since I was camp counselor at a bilingual Spanish/

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-14107273857663410232009-04-24T05:27:00.000-07:002009-04-24T05:33:22.905-07:00

They've just announced the shortlist for the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals. I was pleased to see that Patrick Ness' The Knife of Never Letting Go was included. I read this because I'm going to be interviewing Patrick on May 10th as part of the Brighton Festival (tickets are still available here).This book, and the sequel which is just being released (The Ask and the Answer) were both phenomenal.

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-42287024310842110622009-04-19T04:28:00.001-07:002009-04-19T04:30:29.251-07:00

Mitali Perkins has posted a "call for entries" on her blog. You have to be a teen living in the United States or Canada, and have at least one parents who was born outside of the United States. Please help to spread the word to any teen writers you know!

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-26152558250287874452009-04-18T08:11:00.000-07:002009-04-18T09:44:52.737-07:00

I've been preoccupied of late as we are hoping to be able to move to a new house. We've been squeezed into our very sweet one-bedroom flat, but with Cassy almost two years old, it's feeling tighter and tighter. So I was thrilled to find out that a three-bedroom flintstone cottage built in 1902, practically next door, is going up for rent. We'll have to rent out our flat, and go through the

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-32127620966515860522009-04-13T13:32:00.001-07:002009-04-13T13:46:30.225-07:00

I watched Skellig tonight on TV (luckily for me, they showed it on Sunday and Monday, as I was gutted after missing the first one). The book, written by David Almond, is one of my favorites from the last, I don't know, century? I'm drawn the fantastic, and this book leaves you with many gaps, spaces for you to create your own meaning. The writing is poetic, minimal, and creates such strong and

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-52299620200562027322009-04-11T15:14:00.000-07:002009-04-11T15:15:46.458-07:00

Just found this blog that is inviting people to pledge to try to save the DFC (David Fickling Comics). I haven't been a subscriber, but have just added my pledge. It's a shame to see such a creative and worthwhile endeavor die a death.So go on a pledge!

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-45215037351794406422009-04-11T04:01:00.001-07:002009-04-11T04:19:05.474-07:00

So I got an email from Zetta (I blogged about her yesterday - hope you don't mind me sharing this, Zetta), and she asked how many writers connect to what teens actually want to read? And I think I'd add to that - does it matter?She was partially asking based on the really fascinating interview from Finding Wonderland with Sherri L. Smith about her book Flygirl. An historical novel set during WWII

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-72164548580671946732009-04-10T11:45:00.000-07:002009-04-11T02:57:03.094-07:00

Without putting too much pressure on myself, I'm going to try to blog a bit more often. I've found it difficult juggling parenthood (Cassy is almost two), part-time work at Roehampton University, and freelance work. What with my husband also starting his own business during this same period, time is at an absolute premium.One of the reasons I now feel somewhat bad about blogging is that I'm not

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-56164984559417253432009-04-06T12:57:00.001-07:002009-04-06T13:02:53.813-07:00

I've been a bad blogger! But just sent out a newsletter, and thought I'd add it here too...6th April 2009Dear colleague,It has been a while since I've sent out a newsletter. Please feel free to forward this to anyone who you think might be interested. Happy spring!News:I have recently been appointed as a part-time lecturer at the National Centre for Research in Children's Literature (NCRCL) at

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-37892674974861958422008-12-04T04:42:00.000-08:002008-12-04T04:54:18.053-08:00

Our daughter Cassy loves the picture book Shoe Baby, written by Joyce Dunbar and illustrated by Polly Dunbar. It's probably the first book where I realized that very little babies can enjoy a narrative and the sound of language , since that has been a favorite since she was tiny.So we've decided to take the risk and bought tickets to see the puppet theatre version in Brighton in a couple of weeks

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-14936529575126826822008-11-13T04:26:00.000-08:002008-11-13T04:37:18.984-08:00

I offer a manuscript critiquing service for people who have written children's books and want to get feedback. And it's fascinating to see the variety of work that people are creating, and interesting to see where the manuscripts come from. I'd say the majority, but a slim margin, come from the United States, but I've had several from the UK, and a few from the Brighton area.As this is something

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-50121353795825232902008-07-22T02:59:00.000-07:002008-07-22T03:21:33.728-07:00

Sorry - another long break between posts. But I'm interested in the ideas of bringing technology and the children's book together. Had a conversation last week with Mick from Vivid Interactive. They are developing digital content - sometimes with publishers (such as Scholastic), but also creating some original work. This is aimed at the education market, where technology is a key area for kids.

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-7936470948526464212008-04-29T13:01:00.000-07:002008-04-29T13:12:47.397-07:00

The fantastic Candy Gourlay of Notes from the Slush Pile has blogged many excellent photos from the festival. Read all about it here.Candy gave a very entertaining talk about using the internet to promote yourself as an author/illustrator. It was abbreviated, and I would definitely think about bringing her back for the whole session. If this is something you are thinking about, she's got a really

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-8788813576048555342008-04-25T06:19:00.000-07:002008-04-25T06:23:20.780-07:00

We've had some great coverage for the festival, and I wanted to give people links if they were interested.ITV Local TV had a great feature, with interviews and clips from the festival. If you missed it and want to get a flavor of what happened, take a look here. Daniel Hahn, co-editor of The Ultimate Book Guides books, wrote a nice, in-depth blog entry on the festival. Like me, he's a big fan of

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-72224059853664421772008-04-24T02:57:00.000-07:002008-04-24T03:38:40.543-07:00

Well, this'll be my first crack at giving a report. But we took lots of photos and video which should be posted on the website at some point, so I'll be sure to post when that happens.Where do I start? There was so much going on, and it was my dream programme. We got to hear from Kitty Taylor and David Mackintosh about how things work behind the scenes in the Charlie and Lola TV show. They showed

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-69996573747955404182008-04-02T05:13:00.001-07:002008-04-02T05:15:52.647-07:00

I know I haven't been posting much, but...I've been asked by Oxford Brookes University to be on a panel discussion at the upcoming London Book Fair (I'm speaking on Tuesday, 15th April). They asked me to talk about recent children's publishing trends in the US. Since I'm now living in the UK, I don't feel that my knowledge is as up-to-date as it could be. So....I was wondering if people could

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354002.post-30350780423141413482008-03-03T14:50:00.000-08:002008-03-03T15:14:12.229-08:00

I'm very pleased to give people information about the 2008 Brighton Children's Book Festival.Want to hear David Almond, Dakota Blue Richards (young star of The Golden Compass film), Michelle Magorian, Valerie Bloom and many others - all at one exciting event? Aimed at young people and adults, this year’s Brighton Children’s Book Festival celebrates the way children’s books ‘leap from the page’

Tocklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04738561919010280761noreply@blogger.com0