Thank you Maurice

“I would like to do away with the division into age categories of children over here and adults over there, which is confusing to me and I think probably confusing to children. It’s very confusing to many people who don’t even know how to buy a children’s book. I think if I have any particular hope it’s this: that we all should simply be artists and just write books and stop pretending that there is such a thing as being able to sit down and write a book for a child: it is quite impossible. One simply writes books.”

– From Questions to an Artist Who Is Also an Author: A Conversation between Maurice Sendak and Virginia Haviland (a public interview at the Library of Congress held in 1971) Died on Tuesday in Danbury, Conn. He was 83.

Thank you Maurice - an inspiration.

Random thought

“Love is like a muddy puddle – you’ll never know how deep you'll get until you step into it.”

Dear Mr Sommerset

Got a stack of letters from the kids of Owairaka School after my visit last month with Tamati and the TVNZ breakie crew. Often the kids are a little shy and don't say too much in person but their letters are cracking good fun. Here's a sample letter of sentences compiled from all the lovely messages I received...

"Dear Mr Sommerset, thank you for wasting your time to visit us today. You are a stupendous author. When I saw you you looked pretty young because you didn't look like you had any wrinkles or pimples. Listening to you read your books made me feel young again. One of my favourite stories is Baa Baa Smart Sheep. It was awesome because it's a story about an animal eating poo without knowing. It's an interesting and happy story to read if you are sad because it fills me with happiness and laughter. I laughed so hard my eyeballs nearly popped out! It's sad you didn't get to live your dream as a rugby player but hey - I'm short! People think I am 6 but I'm 10! Can you write a story about me, I’m handsome AND cool. Thank you for donating some books to our school. I can see some joyful faces. I liked it when you said dreams can come true. And thank you for making our school famous. I really hope you have an excellent life."

Yours Sincerely, the kids of room 20 Owairaka School.

Two Little Bugs, one White Raven

Two Little Bugs has been selected as a 2012 'White Raven' - one of 250 outstanding children’s books published around the world last year!

“White Ravens” are selected by the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany as "examples of extraordinary and innovative books for children and adolescents." White Ravens "inspire and provoke, set new trends, and are of the highest quality in terms of language, content, and artistry. They indicate children's books that deserve worldwide attention on account of their universal themes and their unique and innovative style."

Of the thousands of titles submitted, Two Little Bugs was also awarded a “special mention” by the International Youth Library committee – an honour reserved for only a handful of titles. As a result of its selection Two Little Bugs will be showcased at this year’s Bologna and Frankfurt book fairs alongside two other NZ novels for Young Adults, The Traveling Restaurant by Barbara Else and The Scent of Apples by Jacquie McRae. Yay! To see what the IYL had to say about Two Little Bugs, The Travelling Restaurant, and The Scent of Apples, click here.

The International Youth Library is the coolest kids book library in the world. They have a unique archival collection of almost 600,000 children’s books in over 130 languages! All titles held at the library can be accessed by researchers and visitors from all over the world. What a place to visit for booklovers! - Definitely on our ‘must do’ list... and look! It's in a castle!

To find out a little more about the International Youth Library click here 

Out for a little sunshine

Some ideas and characters seem to get shelved away for such a long time. Here are two friends that haven't had a book built for them yet, they have been very patient. They are also very understanding that their own books may not even come to pass. But I still love to look at their faces, so I thought I would take them out for a trip to the blog so they might see a little sunshine......