Authors Live - Oliver Jeffers

The next Scottish Book Trust Authors Live webcast is at 11.00am on Thursday 14 June 2012 and features Oliver Jeffers, one of our favourite picture book authors!  Oliver is the author of a number of well-loved books for children including The Incredible Book-Eating Boy, Lost and Found and Up and Down.

The webcast is aimed at P1-P3 children but will be enjoyed by everyone.  Oliver Jeffers was the featured author in the picture book category for this year's Primary Seven Reading Challenge.  In the library, most classes have read Stuck or The Hueys in The New Jumper.

To watch the live webcast, or watch later on-line go to www.bbc.co.uk/authorslive 



The Scottish Book Trust has more information here www.scottishbooktrust.com  

Oliver's own website can be found at www.oliverjeffers.com/picture-books 

More Things to Look Out For

Some more authors we know and love have been busy this year!


Lari Don's new novel Maze Running and other Magical Missions is due to be published really soon - on June 7th.  Everyone who enjoyed the last one, Storm Singing and other Tangled Tasks, will be looking forward to this one too.

Lauren St John has the third Laura Marlin Mystery being published in August, called  Kentucky Thriller. The second in the series, Kidnap in the Caribbean is due out in paperback in July.

Fans of Hugless Douglas will know his latest adventure Hugless Douglas and the Big Sleep will be out in paperback in October. Here is a very early warning of the next Douglas story We Love You, Hugless Douglas, which will be available in January 2013. David Melling has been very busy indeed!

Joan Lennon has the third Slightly Jones Mystery called The Case of the Cambridge Mummy being published in July.  Slightly Jones has solved mysteries in London and Glasgow, now she has to investigate in the city of Cambridge, where a priceless mummy has gone missing.

The Mark of Athena, Rick Riordan's third Heroes of Olympus novel, is out in October. As the quest moves forward, who will be the seventh hero to join Percy, Jason and the other demi-gods?  There are lots of Percy Jackson fans who will be eagerly awaiting this book.


Lots of new books to look forward to, I shall definitely have to save up some book money!

The Pasta Detectives

The discovery of a piece of pasta on the pavement outside the block of flats where he lives, gets Rico involved in some very strange goings-on.  When he tries to find out where the pasta came from, he meets the new neighbour in the 4th floor flat, and discovers more about the other people who live in the block. The Pasta Detectives are born!

As he says himself, Rico thinks a lot, just not very quickly. He is sure that his new friend Oliver will be able to help work out the pasta puzzle, Oliver can always work things out.  Rico and Oliver are no nearer to solving the pasta problem, when Oliver disappears. Has he become the latest victim of a kidnapper who has been holding children for ransom all across the city?

The story is set in Berlin, in the present day, with many details of life in the city, which may be unfamiliar to some readers.  We see the city through Rico's eyes as he tries to solve the mystery of Oliver's disappearance. Rico has a form of ADHD which he describes as like having a head full of lottery balls which get scrambled on a regular basis, so he is not very good about remembering things, or working things out.  But when Oliver goes missing, Rico tries his best to find him, something even the police have failed to do.

Andreas Steinhofel has written great mystery story with an unusual twist at the end. Possibly a book for more thoughtful readers, but mystery addicts will enjoy it too.

Things to look out for

Here are some of the books which have caught our attention and will be published soon (or sometime this year!).


Jeremy Strong has The Ghost in the Bath in June, and the third Cartoon Kid book Emergency! in July.   There are lots of people in Primary 3 who will be interested in these stories.

Horrid Henry is back again in Horrid Henry's Monster Movie by Francesca Simon which is published at the end of May. Henry continues to torment his long suffering parents and friends in this one.

Vivian French has the fifth book in the Five Kingdoms series coming out in August.  It is called The Music of the Zombies, and has the usual brilliant cover by Ross Collins.

Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer arrives in July, for all those who have been following the saga of Artemis Fowl, teenage criminal mastermind, his bodyguard Butler, and Holly Short, late of the LepRecon unit.

Another hotly anticipated title is Kingdom of the Wicked (Skulduggery Pleasant 7) by Derek Landy, due out at the end of August.

Lots of people are waiting impatiently for Love is in the Air by Jeff Kinney, due to be published in November.  Yes, this is the 7th instalment of the diary of Greg Heffley, everyone's favourite Wimpy Kid.


Time to start saving up the pocket money!

My Haunted House

My Haunted House is the first in the series of five stories about Araminta Spook, a little girl who lives with her Aunt and Uncle in a huge old mansion, full of strange and unexpected things. Aunt Tabitha is fed up trying to keep the house going by herself - nothing really works properly any more and she can't get anyone from the local village to come and work at Spook House. She decides to sell the house, and move to a smaller house which is easier to manage. Uncle Drac spends most of his time hanging upside down in the tower, so it is up to Araminta to save her home.

Araminta enlists the help of the other occupants of the house, who are horrified to hear that it may be sold to another family, or even worse, knocked down completely. Aunt Tabitha has no idea that the ghosts are all on Araminta's side, helping her to scare away potential buyers.  Araminta's scheme is successful until the Wizzard family turns up, they are not scared of anything.  Araminta needs a new plan, and fast.

Angie Sage has written a very funny story for middle readers who like a spooky setting without being too scared! Araminta is a resourceful girl who comes up with a practical solution which keeps most people happy. I think Jimmy Pickering's illustrations are a perfect match for the story, full of vampires, spiderwebs and ghosts as well as Araminta and her family.

The other books in the series are The Sword in the Grotto, Frognapped!, Vampire Brat and Ghostsitters.  Angie is also the author of the Septimus Heap books for older children. Her website is at www.angiesage.com

Primary Seven Olympic Reading Challenge - the Last Lap

We are nearly there, only one more week to go before the end of the Reading Challenge!

Many of you (about one third of Primary Seven people) have already finished.  About the same number of people have only one more book to go. We are close to the finish line now, let's see if we can all make it over the line by Friday 11th May. This is a Bank Holiday weekend, we all have an extra day to read.  My reading pile is calling me - how is yours?

Please ask in the library if you are a bit stuck for ideas - we can find you a book to enjoy that will also meet the genre requirements.

Authors Live - David Walliams

The next Authors Live event organised by the Scottish Book Trust takes place on Thursday 10th May 2012 at 11 am. David Walliams is the featured author and it promises to be an excellent session.

David is the author of four best-selling books for children, The Boy in the Dress, Mr Stink, Billionaire Boy and Gangsta Granny. He is a popular author with children who enjoy reading his books very much, as can be seen by the fact that none of them ever seem to be on the library shelves!


The Authors Live event is a live webcast which can be viewed on the day, or watched at your leisure after 17th May 2012 via the Scottish Book Trust and BBC websites. If you would like to ask David Walliams a question, please ask In the library and we will forward your question to the Scottish Book Trust. We can't promise your question will be asked, but we can try!

For the live webcast, look at  www.bbc.co.uk/authorslive

For other information about Authors Live and the recorded version www.scottishbooktrust.com

HarperCollins publish David's books - more information here www.harpercollins.co.uk/Authors/6843/david-walliams