I have been dying to tell you about The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The book has won nearly every award going in the United States and has just been released in Australia. It may be my favourite book of the year, and it’s August already…
The writer Sherman Alexie is a Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Indian and he grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. When Sherman was about fourteen he moved from the reservation school to another, 20 miles away at a town called Reardan. This novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, is about that time in his life. It has more fist-fights, basketball, jokes and heartbreak than anything else you will ever read. There’s some really cool comics and drawings, too.
Mac Slater, Cool Hunter is the story of a boy who is brimming with great ideas and inventions. Mac and his friend are working on a solar-powered flying bicycle, for instance. Mac has so many ideas and inspiration that a company wants to pay him to chart the trends and innovations of those around him. To get the gig Mac has to make a vlog, a video diary of his world and the cool things in it. So, what is cool?
To win a copy of Mac Slater, Cool Hunter, write to Boys, Blokes, Books and tell us one thing, anything, that is cool to you.
There is heaps more about Mac Slater, including videos, at author Tristan Bancks’ website. Click here to visit.
Back in 2003 AFL player Sam Mitchell came to the State Libray of Victoria to talk to about reading. Sam spoke about the difference reading made to him as a player and a person. Back then Sam was new on the Hawks list. He didn’t get selected in the draft: too small, too slow, couldn’t kick far enough. He did it the hard way.
Sam Mitchell, Hawthorn captain
Five years on, Sam Mitchell is Hawthorn captain and one of the AFL’s elite players. And reading? He’s still at it. You can find out more about Sam Mitchell in this profile published in the The Age today.
Did you know that the Ranger’s Apprentice series has now sold over 1 million copies worldwide? Erak’s Ransom, the seventh in the series has just been released in Australia.
Author John Flanagan, who lives in Sydney, recently toured in the United States (where they are only up to book 3, The Icebound Land). He appeared on Good Morning America. You can watch the interview by clicking in this link:
Erak’s Ransom was also announced as the winner of the Australian Bookseller’s Association Book of the Year for Older Readers. And there’s a movie in the works.
You can sign up for the Ranger’s Apprentice newsletter. Visit the website by clicking on this link.
News has reached the Boys, Blokes, Books blog of new weekly comic. Each issue has twelve stories, including one written by Philip Pullman of the His Dark Materials fame. The comic is DFC and is published in England. But you can’t buy DFC in newsagents or bookshops. Even if you live right in the middle of London, even if you live next door to Buckingham Palace, even if you live on Charing Cross Road which is famous for its bookshops, you still can’t walk in to a shop and buy DFC.
(image from John Blake) DFC is available by subscription only. So it doesn’t really matter that you don’t live next door to Buckingham Palace. (Anyway, the royal corgis might keep you awake at night.) The postage to Australia is about an extra $2.20 per issue. Check out the DFC website…you will find a free comic creator to download, plus tips from the pro’s and loads more.
Glad you asked! Lightning Strikes is the name of a new series of action-packed stories from some of Australia’s brightest and best. Just like lightning these books are short, sharp and sensational.
Favourites are Queasy Rider by James Roy and Meg McKinlay’s Going for Broke but there are six in the series now.
Queasy Rider is about two boys who find an old bike and hatch a plan to get rich. Going for Broke is a crack-up funny story about Nathan Foley* and his attempts to break a world record. Any world record! There’s more about Lightning Strikes here.
Can’t top that! Reece! Andy Griffiths’Treasure Fever and pencil case are on the way to you at Narellan Vale Public School. Look out for it in the post.
News has just filtered through from his publishers that Robert Muchamore, author of the massively popular Cherub books, is coming to Australia.
Cherub fanatics will have the chance to win one of 15 exclusive opportunities to interrogate Robert Muchamore with their best mate in top secret location, in Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane in August and September.
