Oh Good. We're Not the Only Nutty Country Out There.

We live in a world where The Boy In the Striped Pajamas and Wintersmith can compete for the same award. The Galaxy British Book Awards (also known as the Nibbies because "Nibbies" sounds a lot more English), "bring together established authors, celebrity writers and new talent whose work is voted on by ordinary readers." Basically they're the Quills of England.

These are the nominations for best children's book of the year:

* CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne;
Flanimals of the Deep - Ricky Gervais;
Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend - Francesca Simon;
The Incredible Book Eating Boy - Oliver Jeffers;
Peter Pan in Scarlet - Geraldine McCaughrean;
Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett

Uh... Go Terry and Geraldine and Oliver! I love you, Ricky, but come on, man. Haven't you enough accolades for one lifetime?

And again with the Richard and Judy references. Anyone ever seen them?

Thanks to Big A little a for the link.

Movie Tie-In Covers

It raises heckles faster than greased lightening. You walk into a bookstore, idly pick up an old favorite, and find a movie cover slapped haphazardly on your favorite title. Right now we're seeing the Bridge to Terabithia movie on an old classic, but at least it sells books right? Less easy to justify was the entirely ridiculous Ella Enchanted cover with Anne Hathaway sparkling those pearly whites at us. And even worse still? Steve Martin on a republished edition of Cheaper By the Dozen. We circulate one of these at work, and I can only justify handing it out by imagining the shock on the child readers' faces when they realize how distant the movie was to the original title.

So it was that The Guardian wrote a recent article entitled Trials and Adaptations that crows beautifully over this topic. The piece is unapologetically British (with references to things like the Richard and Judy Book Club rather than Oprah) but the point remains the same.

Thanks to the Bound To Read MySpace Blog for the link.