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Pushkin Press Children's Books

Pushkin Press has launched its children's list at last and the JBW can't wait to get its eyes on them. Pushkin Press, for those not familiar with it, specialises in translations. The children's books are no different. The Little Prince, Pippi Longstocking and Grimm's Fairy Tales are amongst the (less than) 3% of books in translation sold to English readers each year. Can you name others? Most of our favourite children's books are English or American but it doesn't seem to be a conscious choice on our parts. The availability is sparse until now. Hand picked by Adam Freudenheim and his elves, we are about to be in for a treat. Books that are referred to as "The French Harry Potter" are simply unknown here. The Dutch classic The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt has never been in print in English. 

Whenever I plan a trip abroad, looking on the Pushkin list will be my first stop for family holiday reading.

Memories of a Bedtime Book Club by Dwight Garner

Eden Ross Lipson had strong feeling about children's books. If you click on her name it will take you to a New York Times article which is a kind of obituary. It is heaped with picture book recommendations from one of our all time favourites at JBW, Bread and Jam for Francis by Russel Hoban and one of our not so favourites Wolves in the Walls but that is only because Neil Gaiman wrote another book which is in our top ten, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish which is a must. It has a brilliant picture of a rabbit by the name of Gavelston and an illustration of the Queen of Melanesia. Priceless.

Yoko Ono Collector of Skies

A couple of years ago I was sitting in the temporary structure that different architects design each year beside the Sepentine Gallery in London. I looked up and saw a Japanese woman whom I recognized immediately. She was wearing black and had a white hat cocked on an angle. I stood up as she passed and spontaneously said, "It is so nice to see you. May I shake your hand?" She nodded, we shook and she passed on her way. I don't know why I had that response but it was visceral. I knew so little about Yoko Ono. But until I read her latest biography Yoko Ono Collector of Skies, I really didn't know how much I didn't know about her.

 Collector of Skies is a young adult biography that is perfect for any teenager who wants to read a story that starts in the privileged environment she was born into in Japan, to the hardships of World War II, to her loneliness when she moved to the United States, to her struggle as an artist to be accepted, to her relationships with men including her husband John Lennon and with her children. The story takes you from her birth all the way through to her seventies, today, where she is still working hard and continuing to create. Her son Sean is quoted as saying, "If we're driving to a movie theatre in a taxi, she'll be like, 'Get me a piece of paper!' And she'll...write something down, and a couple of days later it will either be, like, some art piece or a painting or a song or something."

Most people associate Yoko with the break up of The Beatles and those difficult to listen to songs on Double Fantasy. Although I have not done it yet, this book has made me want to go back and listen to those songs and I can't help but be sure that I will appreciate them. She is a fascinating woman. Nell Beram and Carolyn Boriss-Krimsky interviewed her and many others to create a full picture of struggle, anguish, abandonment, pain, light, love and peace.

I recommend one buys this inspirational book for their teen and then immediately steals it. My only criticism is the small coffee table book format which is a bit cumbersome to read in bed at night. I hope they change the format for the paperback. 

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

I have been waiting for Sally Gardner to write back to me before reviewing her latest novel Maggot Moon.  But as she is so openly dyslexic, the poster girl for dyslexia in fact, I know it may take forever for her to respond. My question, which doesn't seem to have been addressed on the internet is, why did Sally change publishers? Hot Key Books is a brand new publisher. Was Sally giving these new kids on the block a boost by publishing with them? Or was it that she wanted to use the F-word in a children's book or a brief homoerotic scene and that just wouldn't fly with likes of Orion? It is not that important. I'd just like to know.

Most children's authors have one breathtaking book. After The Red Necklace I wasn't expecting anything as moving and engaging again but I was wrong. Maggot Moon is a dark tale of friendship under a totalitarian regime. This is 1984 for twelve year olds. This book ought to be a year 8 or 9 introduction to the distructive power of corrupt governments on human relations.

The story stars two fifteen year old boys Hector and Standish. They have a brief and intense friendship until the system separates them. They have a wonderful fantasy life together that spares them a bit from the horrors of hunger and violence in their daily lives. Standish also has a brilliant relationship with his grandfather. Ultimately, he needs to abandon him to find Hector and save his world.

This is not a happy story. The illustration that develops its own little story, almost like a flipbook, is grim. But if I wanted to have someone lead me through such a scenario, it would be Sally Gardner with her inventive language, vision and wit. I'll say no more. Just read it (9-99)