The Incredible Gang of Excellent Readers by Savita Kalhan

The Incredible Gang of Excellent Readers - aka TIGERS of Finchley Church End Library

                             Earlier this year I volunteered to start a teen reading group at my local library to meet once month on a Monday. Our first meet was in April and I wasn't sure whether anyone would actually turn up, but to my surprise four teens did and we had lots of fun talking about books, sharing our favourite reads, and discussing which books we'd like to read in the group. I blogged about it on An Awfully Big Blog in May and you can read it here.

             

 I promised an update on the group, so here it is. I'm happy to report that a few months on and the group is going strong! We're up to ten teens in the group, we've read lots of books, and we've even given ourselves a name! The kids came up with TIGERs, which they decided stands for The Incredible Gang of Excellent Readers. All we need is a logo for the group.

              Initially the teens were a little shy about talking about books, and about writing review cards of the books they've read, but a few months on and they're all much more confident about talking about books and very keen to write reviews for our board in the library, sharing their favourite reads and recommending books.

              

We've been unofficially shadowing the Carnegie, and, as an author, it's been very interesting to hear what the teens have had to say about the books they've read, about the stories and their themes, book covers and illustrations, and characters and plots. The group have read and loved Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman. So well done, Tanya, for wowing your readers, and for winning the prized Carnegie Medal too!

              One thing has been very clear - TIGERs enjoy hanging around bookshelves in libraries - at the end of our session they go and check out the library shelves - and I can't get them to leave! And they all enjoy a far more diverse range of books than most bookshops stock. They're hungry for choice, interested in recommendations and happy to try out different types of books. Luckily for them, Finchley Central still has a great local library!

Savita on TWITTER @savitakalhan

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Girls on Film: by Tanya Landman

Today we have a guest post from Tanya Landman. One of Tanya's many previous books, Apache, was shortlisted for the Carnegie. For her latest, Buffalo Soldier, she returns to America, to the time of the Indian Wars. (For a review, see here.) Read on to find out about the inspiration behind her heroine.

I grew up very confused.
            My grandmother was born in 1903:  her generation had lived through WW1 and WW2, keeping the home fires burning and the country running, dealing with grief and loss with heroic fortitude.  All around me I could see strong, intelligent, capable women: there was nothing weak or feeble about any of them!  
            And yet when it came to film and TV,  if a woman appeared on screen at all,  you could guarantee three things.  She would:  
            1) scream   
            2) fall over 
            3) need rescuing.
Oh yes – and if she was being chased she’d be in high heels and she’d never ever have the sense to take her shoes off so she could run properly.  I seemed to spend most of my childhood yelling at the screen, “Don’t do that, you stupid woman!”

That’s probably why the film of Gone With The Wind had such a big effect on me.  Of course, there are all kinds of problems with it for a modern audience, but I saw it for the first time when I was eleven and Scarlett O’Hara – tough, manipulative, determined, resourceful – was a revelation.  OK, so she wasn’t particularly likeable.  But then, Scarlett didn’t give a damn about whether people liked her or not.  She was her own person, a  belle turned businesswoman, and  I admired her.
            But as far as female role models on screen were concerned,  Scarlett was kind of it.
            It’s true that every so often a character would come along who would be hailed by the press as a feminist icon.  I remember when Sarah Jane joined Doctor Who she was said to be something new and different.  She had a job!  Sarah Jane was a journalist, no less.   Wow! Here was a companion with brains!!!!
            I watched the first episode with avid interest.  As I recall she did the guaranteed 1 – 3 in about five minutes flat.
            It was the same with Marian Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark.   Another ‘breakthrough’ female character I thought she was great – for a while.  All right, she drinks men under the table, she wears trousers, she runs her own bar and stands up for herself.  But oh dear – pretty soon  there she is needing to be rescued.  And later  – well, there’s a big surprise – she ends up in high heels and a frock.
            When I started writing I wanted to create female characters who were not only capable of saving

their own skins, but of rescuing other people too. Who had adventures and faced challenges; who were good at what they did and could think and act for themselves. Just like real women, in fact.  I’ve written the kind of people I’d have enjoyed reading about in my youth:  the kind of ones I’d have loved to have seen on TV: people like Charley O’Hara, the subject of my new novel, Buffalo Soldier. Charley – born Charlotte – is born a slave, but she eventually achieves freedom – after a spell in one of the black regiments of the American Army (as a ‘buffalo soldier’) in the 19^th century Indian wars. Quite a girl!             So – in my dreams – I think it’s about time that Hollywood came along to make  me an offer I can’t refuse.   Come on, guys!  Charley O’Hara would look great on screen!  And it’s about time Katniss had some company….