Your Say

Who reads non-fiction? Biography? Why? Why not?

Any hot tips?

The Inkys Results are IN!

What do you reckon? Happy? Surprised? Annoyed?

We’ll be back early next week with more details on the Creative Reading Prize, including the four runners-up!

Whether you’re biting your nails to find out the winners of the Inkys, the Creative Reading Prize, or… hangon, isn’t there something else happening this week that involves voting?

Anyway. Here’s a bunch of video clips set in libraries to entertain you while you watch the minutes tick by…

Cascada’s “Every Time We Touch”:

Tears For Fears’ “Head Over Heels” (LITERAL VERSION: original is here)

Matthew Broderick and Kristen Chenoweth singing “Marian the Librarian” from The Music Man.

Inkys Voting has closed.

Please join us on Thursday 6 November for the Awards Ceremony.

Experimedia, State Library of Victoria

6:30pm

RSVP here or to 03 8664 7555

Well, two.

Thing number one: THERE ARE ONLY FIVE DAYS LEFT OF INKYS VOTING AND CREATIVE READING PRIZE SUBMISSIONS. HURRY! HURRY!

Thing number two: How awesome is Brigid Lowry?

Sorry this took so long, but all your suggestions were so good I didn’t want them to stop!

I was totally unable to narrow it down to five winners, so there are eight. Guys, expect email and books from me soon.

And now that your brains are full of ideas, howsabout you actually MAKE some of them!?

Joanna:
Get my friends to lie in relevant shapes in a meadow, and I would come along with a helicopter and digital camera and take an arial shot of it. I so would have done it if I had had the resources, it was just a little impractical.

Naughty Budgie:
I’m still going to make a game for one of them. I thought of Genesis because it’s in the future, but then I thought about doing a space shooter for a game that could have nothing to do with Space, or shooting.

Em:?
What about a shadow puppet show? I mean; not with hands as such- but by cutting out cardboard figures of a book’s charries and making them do stuff? (Stuff= Such an inaccurate word) Also: What about a stamp collection of homemade stamps about the book? A dream sequel? A jumbo pencil with a book related design. A super imposed photo album. A wood carving. A jack o lantern! A fruit sculpture. An ICE sculpture? Topiary bush  Animation? A staple picture. Book thememed jewelery! A door decorated with the characters. Barbies dressed up as book characters. A book collage. A bookish bumper sticker. A pair of socks relating to the book. Or a shirt. Or pants, even. A book themed clock. A picture made of toast (related to the book). A picture made of numbers (also related to the book). A book themed tissue box. A ” shoe box. Book related Shoes. Origami Charries. A model airplane decorated with characters or scenes from a book. A book themed tumbler. Book related STAINED GLASS WINDOW. Book related flip book. Book related comic. Book related wall paper. Book charries made from twigs. Or rocks.

J-nee:
I actually wanted to write down all the things Tess did in ‘B4 I Die’ and do them all whilst filming them (so i had proof) however some of the things on the list would be not so good to film (if you know what i mean hint hint nudge nudge number 1 on the list) however i did say yes for an entire day it was hard. Has anyone else tried to say yes to everything for 1 whole day?

Grace:?
It would be awesome to reenact scenes from the books, but backwards, or upside down, or underwater…or you could make a character out of jelly beans or those packing peanut things…

Kyrielle:?
Broadway musical
Jingle to advertise book on TV
Creative dance choreography sequence
A ballet, jazz or tap

Annie-Rose:
Build a huge model of a water buffalo, fill it with answers, suggestions and genral good advice on scraps of paper, (incorporating the giant ball of paper story), and put the whole thing on a convenient empty block.

Aidan:?
What if we hollow out our dog and stick stuff inside it? No, but seriously, what if we build a paper mache dog, and somehow stick stuff inside? Or hollow out an old plush dog? Or make a dog pinata?

Here are some of my favourite book trailers - I hope someone’ll make some for the Inkys Creative Reading Prize!

If there’s one thing that YA authors don’t talk much about, it’s politics. Even when sex, drugs and rock n roll are okay, politics is still considered a no-no. Irresponsible, somehow.

This year it’s different. Here’s Scott Westerfeld:

Since we’ve started YA for Obama, a few folks have asked, “How dare we?” As in, how dare we muddy our special duties as tribunes of youth with something as icky as politics.

We answer: “But our books are all about sexuality, racism, the future, who’s got money and who hasn’t, and figuring out your place in the world. What could be more political than that?”

They say: “Yeah, but those are all pleasantly fuzzy moral issues, which teens should be thinking about. But YA for Obama is about real politics—like, it contains the names of actual politicians. And that’s just too . . . specific!”

YA for Obama is a social network for authors of Young Adult literature, and their readers. It provides information about the candidates, strategies for helping out, and opinion essays from authors such as Judy Blume, Scott Westerfeld, Meg Cabot, John Green, Lauren Myracle, Cecil Castellucci, Sara Zarr, Gossip Girl’s Cecily von Zeigasar and Maureen Johnson, the mastermind behind the site.

The idea behind the site is - just because you’re under 18, doesn’t mean you can’t make a difference. And it seems to be working. The site has nearly 1300 members, all contributing tips and strategies, from transporting seniors and people without cars to polling booths on election day, to letter-writing campaigns, to (shock horror) talking to your family about how they will use their vote.

(for those who are curious: yes, there is a YA for McCain. It has five members.)

What do you reckon? Should authors talk about politics? Should teenagers care?

Happy Banned Books Week!

Everyone, grab your copies of Where’s Wally, James and the Giant Peach and the Dictionary, and celebrate your freedom to read.

Philip Pullman on why book banning is bad for the banners, but quite good for the authors!

Maureen Johnson on book banning at YA for Obama.

Learn more about book banning from the American Library Association.

And check out our booklist of banned books.

Have you ever known a book to be banned or challenged at your school?

So this appeared on my desk last week. It’s a response to Before I Die, and it’s just AMAZING.

This entry is from Jessica, who is 14, and Jessica, if you’re reading this, I’m sending you a parcel of books today, because WE LOVE YOU.

The rest of you: this is the bar. See if you can clear it.