Understanding the significance of sofa ads? By Steve Way

 A few days ago, working with a student, the subject of ‘gap years’ came up. My student pointed out that he hadn’t heard of anyone having a gap year for quite a long time. I’ll explain why in a moment but that reminded me of a conversation I’d had several years ago when we discussed that fact that at the time ever second advert on the TV seemed to be for sofas. Dad suggested that that was because at the time, based on the state of the British economy, a new sofa was the most generally affordable aspirational commodity.

Mindful of the fact that in a recent blog I advanced the notion of The Last Teabag theory of human survival, I wish to bold enough to propose the Gap Year and Sofa Guage of Economic Health. Forget following the stock market or Bank of England interest rate hikes to monitor the nation’s economic condition… just watch the telly to see how often sofas are being hawked on the adverts and notice how often you hear of someone going off on a gap year! Perhaps I should have a word with the LSE!

Actually, I notice that at the moment most adverts are for new kitchens and specialist cruises. As well as indicating that I probably watch to much TV (guilty as charged) maybe it means that most Britons now enjoy the luxury of a comfortable sofa and got around sizing up their tired kitchens and beginning to feel the need for a break that’s a break from the ordinary.

On a completely different note, with some other students, we’ve been reading about the research that was done at the wonderfully named Dream and Nightmare Lab in Montreal, Canada, where they’ve finally proved that eating cheese does give us nightmares. I couldn’t help wondering if the work in the lab is divided and so some of the staff have a dream job and the others…

Also how might the staff react when a colleague dashes late into the building and declares, “It’s a nightmare out there!” Would they assume, as the rest of us would that the traffic has been really bad this morning, or wonder if they should dash out of the building tightly clasping a clipboard and a pen?

A similarly irrelevant conundrum that occurred to me recently was when a group of us were sorting out books for a charity and someone fished out a book about Feng Shui. I wondered if it contained information about where you should keep the book itself. Also tidying through my own books, aiming to downsize, I realised that I had several ‘How to get your book published’ type books that I’d accumulated at the beginning of my ‘career’ (career! ha!). How many ‘How to get your book published’ books have actually been rejected I thought? (Is that a writer’s form of gallows humour?)

Ghostlines, written by Katya Balen, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

    I have read and enjoyed Katya Balen's 'October, October', so was already keen to read the new middle grade novel by this Carnegie Medal-winning fresh-voiced author. But I admit that what confirmed my choice of this book rather than other attractive options on display was this lovely play with the page edges! -

    Told in the first person by Tilda who loves her home Scottish island of Ayrie, this is her story about her relationships with two boys, and their relationships to that island. 

    The immediate story involves the novelty of a new boy arriving on this small island. He's angry with having to be there, and Tilda is given the tricky job of trying to befriend him. That story builds slowly through many very short chapters, letting us, as well as Albie, get to know this wonderful place and community. Then comes drama involving dangers kyaking at sea, a secret island haunted by stories, a storm, an accident, an incoming tide ...

    The older boy Tilda is preoccupied with, again needing to mend and renew his relationship with the home island, is one hinted at for many chapters before the facts are revealed. Tilda's beloved big brother and soul mate has left, cutting off communication with his family, and Tilda thinks she is to blame for that.

    All resolves happily. Children of perhaps seven to eleven will love the adventure, the puffins, the wonderful dog, the ultimate safety of parents and community in this beautiful book. 

There's an owl under my seat (Anne Rooney)

This isn't about books, though it might feed into a book one day. I was going to write about AI, but it's a Sunday and I think we could do with something more cheering. So I give you owls.

My parents used to collect owl figurines. When my dad died, the second to go, my brother and I were left with about 80 owls of different sizes. It's hard to know what to do with 80 owls if you don't share the previous owner's passion regard for them. I don't have space in my house for a collection of owls, either. What to do with the owls was a tricky question. I took a couple (one is an outdoor owl and sits in my garden), and my brother took one or two. We gave most to charity shops. But some were smuggled. 

Whenever someone who had known my parents visited the house, my nephew or neice took a small owl from the stockpile and hid it somewhere in the visitor's. I found two owls unstolen into my car. One still lives in the glovebox, one in the door compartment. 

And yesterday I found a third, jammed under the seat. It's been there more than year, waiting quietly among the dropped sweet wrappers and baby socks. What a wonderful moment of discovery! A quick flash reminder, not only of my dad but of my nephew's funny, thoughtful kindness in those difficult days of sorting through two lives. 

Anne Rooney 

Out now, Weird and Wonderful Dinosaur Facts, illustrated by Ro Ledsema, Arcturus 2025

 

And for Today's 'Prompt Response'. Penny Dolan

 The heat has been weighing down on everything for too long, and I feel too lazy to write anything right now, and way to lacking in self conviction. So I was pleased when, shuffling around in my bookshelves, I rediscovered the original 'A Writer's Book of Days', published in America over two decades ago.

 

Judy Reeves, the author, labels her book with an rather enthusiastic strapline, 'A Spirited Companion & Lively Muse for the Writing Life'. A title definitely not of the 'Construct your own MegaBlockbuster' writing genre. 

Month by month, in her bracingly encouraging style, Reeves suggests methods of breaking through reluctance and doubts along with lists a mixed selection of gossipy 'famous writer' facts. The main drive of the book, however, is to encourage the reader to build a daily writing practice.

To push things along, Reeves gives a list of optional Daily Prompts, leaving the reader free as to how to respond to the idea, and whatever character, voice or style they choose. She is, simply , very keen for her students to do some writing, to not put it off, and to get some words on the page asap. Also, I felt myself responding to the style of  her suggestions.

So here are seven of her random prompts, which you could use for a bit of daily writing of your own right now.

1 Write about a time you got what you wanted.

 2 The last time I saw . . . 

 3 Open the box

 4 Write about a wound.

 5 These were the reasons to stay.

 6 Write about a voice.

 7  Night is falling. You're not at home.

 

 Do any interest you, I wonder?

 If so, have fun! 

Penny Dolan 

I'm delighted to say that Judy Reeves website is there for you to find out more about her work and teaching:  https://www.judyreeveswriter.com/  The book pictured is a revised version: I wonder what has been changed?

RED by Sharon Tregenza

RED 

When I first started writing children's books, many years ago now, I was interested in the idea of using colour to create certain emotions and responses. There's a whole psychology involved and it's fascinating.

RED is an interesting one. It attracts attention and is often used to depict danger, anger or excitement so should be used sparingly unless that's the emotion you want to evoke, but conversely, this colour can be used to convey love and warmth.

Here are some examples of authors using the colour red to add energy and emotion to children's books.

Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall is a funny colourful story about being true to yourself. Here red is used emotionally and symbolically.

The classic story of Little Red Riding Hood is well known. Why does her grandmother have such big teeth? Red is used to signal danger here. This version by Mandy Ross uses funny rhythm and rhyme to engage children in this ageless fairy tale.

Dr Seuss famously uses the red and white striped hat (and red bow tie) on the mischievous cat. This isn't just for show - the red signals chaos and energy. It deliberately disrupts the calm. 

A picture book to tell children that bad feelings won't last forever. A young child wakes to find black leaves falling from her bedroom ceiling. She negotiates a world where all seems lost but when she returns to her room she finds that a tiny red seed has grown to fill her room with warm light.

Here Shaun Tan uses the colour red in a different way - to depict love.

Colours in children's books are not only decorative and in picture books can influence how young children experience a story.

www.sharontregenza.com

sharontregenza@gmail.com

Members' News

 The sun is shining and life seems to have slowed down a little, but there are a few news items.

Moira Butterfield's newest book, the Secret Life of Clouds, will be published July 31st. It's the last book in the Secret Life series, published by Quarto, and the series has sold in many languages around the world.

Another of Moira's books, Look What I Found By the River, published by Nosey Crow, has been long-listed for the prestigious Wainwright Prize for children's nature writing. 

Check out Moira's website. https://moirabutterfield.co.uk/

Special congratulations to Teresa Heapy, whose first novel for children was published by David Fickling Books on July 3rd. It's illustrated by Adam Beer and is about the special bond Will has with his dog, Whisker - who turns into a wolf.

Check out Teresa's website for the full details. https://teresaheapy.co.uk/will-wolfheart/

And just look at this gorgeous cover!

Miriam Halahmy has been busy with events. During Empathy Week, June 9th-13th, she spoke to a massive 2,700 children in KS2 and KS3. 

On June 10th, as part of Hillingdon Libraries Empathy Festival, she presented her book, Saving Hanno, to 1800 KS2 pupils and Always Here For You to 600 KS3 students over Teams, with PP slides and a brief writing exercise, which they all loved. "We created a new slide in each session, to share the writing," she said. (This is a great idea for online sessions, which are often hard to manage.)

 On Thursday June 12th, she was guest author  at Hounslow Libraries Book Prize presentation. "I had my own slot to talk about The Emergency Zoo and Saving Hanno, to 300 KS2 pupils and then I announced the winners. It was a fab week."

Blowing my own trumpet, I've been chosen as one of four bookshop ambassadors for Bookshops week in October. My sci-fi fantasy Tapper Watson and the Quest for the Nemo Machine was the independent bookshops book of the month when it came out so I'm excited at the opportunity to pay back some of that support.

Send any August news to me, Claire Fayers for the next round-up.

Rights Reversion by Paul May

About six months ago I decided that it was time I did something about getting back the rights to the books I published back in the early years of this century. Most of them remained technically 'in print', though in practice they were 'print on demand' and available as ebooks, and as I hadn't received any cash for any of them for at least ten years there seemed little point in their presence on the colourful Penguin Books website.  

I asked the Society of Authors how to go about getting the rights back and they told me to write to the publishers. I thought I'd ask the agency which did the deals for those books who to contact, and they were happy to do the job themselves, so now I have the rights to my work back, and I'm wondering what to do with the books. Of course, they shouldn't really still be there on the Penguin website. Another job to do.

I'm not interested in making them into ebooks, so that simplifies things a little, and it looks to me as if, for a relatively small investment, I could produce paperback books for a reasonable price. I wouldn't need to sell very many books to make more from them than I have done in the last ten years from the traditionally published versions.

I'd got that far in my thinking when it occurred to me that I don't have any digital files of those books. Well, only of one of them, and that is the book I somehow managed not to put on the list for rights reversion. So if I want to publish them I'll have to type them all out again. That's not the end of the world. I could do that, and fix a few things at the same time. But then there's the question of the illustrations. Four of the books are heavily illustrated, if that's the right phrase, and I suspect it wouldn't be straightforward to use the illustrations. But I can look into that, contact the illustrators, and if necessary the books could be re-illustrated. I have a candidate in mind!

There's a lot to think about. Being me, I'd want to do as much of the design and layout as possible myself. I'd need the right software and I'd need to learn how to use it. A quick look around on the internet suggests that this is one of those situations where, even though you only want to do a relatively simple task, you need to have a vast and powerful piece of software like Indesign in order to output a print-ready document of a quality you're happy with. Let's hope I'm wrong about that. 

However, none of these things really matter if I don't think the books are worth re-publishing, and about two of them I have serious doubts. My first book, Troublemakers, went through a lot of changes that I've written about before and it certainly isn't the book I originally set out to write. It was meant to be a tough but funny story about racism and misogyny and contained some splendidly vile baddies, but in the editing process everything got toned down. I understood why, but although racism and misogyny have not yet been banished from football I don't think I'd want to republish this one.

I also think it's interesting that I've seen very little discussion lately of something that was central to my original conception of the book. Having seen that the fittest pupil in the school where I was working was a girl (AND she had Type1Diabetes, AND she was great at football) I wondered how good a female footballer would have to be before a top football club like, say, Barcelona or Liverpool, would want to challenge the structure of world football and sign her on. I still wonder that. And, by a strange piece of serendipity, I was looking through some old photos yesterday and noticed this picture which I must include, especially after Penny Dolan's post about notebooks the other day. This is the very moment I had the idea for what became that first book. The dream noted underneath has something to do with being a school governor at the time!

The other book I have doubts about is called Nice One, Smithy!, and the trouble with this book is that it has dated because of the contemporary football references. The class guinea pig called Ronaldo I might just about still get away with, but the references to the  Brazilian style of football are probably at least 40 years out of date, and as for Michael Owen . . . On the other hand, I can easily update those references, and if I'm publishing it myself I guess I can update them as often as necessary. So that one goes on the 'possible' list.

I wrote a second football novel, Defenders, which still seems fresh to me. Again, a few footballers' names need changing and I think some of the characters will need mobile phones. The landline phone in the hallway was on its way to being a thing of the past even back when I wrote the book. Luckily 'The Magic of the FA Cup,' is still a thing. And, as a small sidetrack, How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won The FA Cup by JL Carr is a hugely entertaining read.

Then I have two Norfolk novels which I definitely want to republish. Green Fingers has lovely illustrations by Sîan Bailey, but as three of them are on my wall, specially altered for me by Sîan I think it's unlikely I'll be able to use them. In any case, as the book contains a character based on my daughter, and is dedicated to her, it might be fun to get her to illustrate it. 

The other Norfolk book is Rain, and I'd love to have a new edition of this if only to change the cover, which I've always disliked (sorry, designers). Both Rain and Green Fingers may need a little adjustment to the phone/tech aspects, but luckily Rain's mother, Max, is a New Age Traveller who wants nothing to do with tech.

Then there are two more books, both of which, it seems to me, work as well today as they did when I wrote them. Cat Patrol is very short, about 2000 words, and was illustrated by Peter Bailey. Again, I have some of these illustrations on my wall, and I think it may well be too complicated to use them. The original cover by Guy Parker-Rees was, I think, the publishers' third attempt to find something they were happy with. I guess there will now be a fourth. 

Finally there's the book I wrote about a few months ago, Billy and the Seagulls. This had the same illustrator, Kate Sheppard, as Nice One, Smithy, and it would be fun to have new editions of these with the same pics, but who knows? 

In all this I take heart from the example of the above-mentioned JL Carr who made a habit of buying back the rights to his books, along with as many copies as remained in warehouses, and published his two final novels himself. The Quince Tree Press, which he founded, is still going, and publishes its own very fine editions of all Carr's novels.