News & Reviews

HarperCollins to publish manuscript discovered on teen writing site

HarperCollins Publishers recently announced the first acquisition from inkpop (www.inkpop.com), its interactive website for teen writing. Slated for Fall 2011, The Carrier of The Mark, by debut author Leigh Fallon, is a fresh and thrilling paranormal romance linking two teens to a supernatural destiny.

Fallon, a native of Cork, Ireland, tried to get her manuscript published through conventional channels. She started by contacting agents and eventually took a less traditional route. She heard about inkpop through a writing group and decided to upload her manuscript. Within weeks her manuscript was voted into the coveted “Top Five” by the inkpop community and was reviewed by an editor at HarperCollins. A few emails later, she signed her first book deal with HarperCollins for World English rights.

Inkpop combines community publishing, user-generated content, and social networking to connect rising stars in teen literature with talent-spotting readers and publishing professionals. In just over a year, inkpop traffic has grown by nearly 500 percent. With over 60,000 projects uploaded, the highly engaged members spend an average of over 20 minutes per visit on the site.

Asian Children’s Writers & Illustrators Conference

Once upon a cyberspace, children explored the world through libraries, bedtime tales and story books. Books are still around, but they are looking different. As technology puts media access into children’s pockets and bedrooms, how do content makers stay connected with connected kids? Get the answers at The Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) in Singapore from May 26-28, 2011. Organised by the National Book Development Council of Singapore and The Arts House, this festival is back – bigger, better and bolder. The conference director is R Ramachandran, Singapore while conference consultant is Pooja Makhijani.

There would be an interesting sessionon ‘What is the Future of Children’s Publishing?’ Then, there would be a symposium on Asian Children’s Publishers Other highlights include Asian Children’s Media Summit, Asian Primary and Preschool Teachers Congress, Asian Media Mart.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (translated in Hindi)

Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: Kalyani Navyug Media
(Pp 68, ISBN 978-93-800280-2-6)

The stories of Mark Twain will always remain one of the most read classics, the popular one amongst children being ‘The adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and ‘The adventures of Huckleberry Finn’. Campfire (Kalyani Navyug Media) has brought out a graphic novel on Huckleberry Finn in Hindi. The language is simple and the visuals are beautiful. The book is full of adventurous life of a ragamuffin – Huckleberry Finn, a close friend of Tom Sawyer. Children will love his carefree attitude and his careless ventures.

The Wind in the Willows

Author: Kenneth Grahame
Publisher: Kalyani Navyug Media Pvt Ltd
(Pp 88, ISBN 978-93-80028-81-1)

This is a new initiative of Kalyani Navyug Media, where they have developed a workbook for CBSE. Utilizing the powerful visual capabilities of the graphic novel, Campfire workbook aims to educate children in the classics of yesterday, while simultaneously promoting visual literacy and developing essential communication skills. This will foster a love for reading, while helping children develop vital comprehension capabilities.

Wind in the Willows is a workbook for classes V and VI, where the classic story has been retold in the form of a graphic novel. Each page has a glossary of new words for children and each chapter is followed by a set of questions and activities to help children understand it better. All efforts have been made to make the book attractive to young readers – the visuals are breath-taking.

3D Coloring Book for Kids for iPhone users

ComboApp, a leading educational publishing and marketing agency, is currently offering their ‘3D Coloring Book for Kids: Pets’ digital art utility. This engaging coloring app for the iPhone and iPod touch is developed specifically for children’s use. True to its namesake, 3D Coloring Book for Kids: Pets offers users the ability to draw in three dimensions rather than two, allowing them to rotate and move original content around within the app.

Interactive discussion on books for the early readers

National Centre for Children’s Literature, a wing of National Book Trust organized an interactive discussion on the topic ‘Books for the early readers: Concepts and visuals’ on December 15, 2010 at their premises in New Delhi. Satish Kumar, director, NBT welcomed the speakers and the guests present on the occasion. He emphasized the relevance of the topic with the present day scenario as children have access to various kinds of media like television, computers, video games etc. The books, therefore, should also be appealing.

Dr Varsha Das, eminent author and editor, and Jagdish Joshi, renowned illustrator presented their views on the pre-school books in the 21st century. Dr Das drew attention to the millions of children deprived of any kind of interaction with books. She also stressed “early readers should read books in their mother tongue.” She also suggested that the stories should relate to real life characters so that they may relate themselves with the characters. The stories should contain subjects which children of a particular age group which children can identify. Joshi was also of the view that children like realistic illustrations and coordination between the writer and illustrator is the key to a good illustrated story book.