FATHERS READING TO SONS

Here is some interesting information from the Australian Booksellers Association about the need for reading aloud with boys.

Engaging boys in reading can be tough.  Many parents find their boys either aren’t interested in sitting still long enough, or they often perceive reading as a “girl thing”.  The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy shows that girls have consistently outperformed boys in reading across the last six years of assessments.  Research also indicates that boys are three to five times more likely than girls to have a reading or learning disability.

When it comes to engaging boys with books, the key is reading with dads, uncles and grandfathers.  When fathers engage with their sons in reading, the level of boys’ engagement, interest and participation are known to change.  Dads are able to engage their sons in different ways with books, usually by hooking into shared interests and developing sustainable reading habits.

THE ANCHORESS by Robyn Cadwalleder

Review by Chris Pritchard
 
The story is set in the thirteenth century within the confines of a stone cell measuring seven paces by nine. The Anchoress tells the story of Sarah, only seventeen when she chooses to become an anchoress, a holy woman shut away in a small cell at the side of the village church. Fleeing the grief of losing a much-loved sister in childbirth and the pressure to marry, she decides to renounce the world, with all its dangers, desires and temptations, and to commit herself to a life of prayer and service to God. But as she slowly begins to understand, even the thick, unforgiving walls of her cell cannot keep the outside world away, and it is soon clear that Sarah's body and soul are still in great danger.

The idea of an anchoress and her place in the religious life of a village is hard to grasp and a disturbing concept in this modern time. The basis of the story is fascinating but it left me wondering how the idea of inflicting these situations on women came into being in the first place.
 
The book is written in the first person and I wasn't sure I wanted to read the book through. I did. My opinion of this religious practice did not change but I found the writing readable and descriptive and worth the perseverance.
 

Editor: I take my hat off to this reviewer because I couldn't preserver with the book.

WATERSONS CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARDS 2015

Waterstones is a British book retailer that operates 275 stores and employs around 3,500 staff in the UK and Europe.  They’ve just announced their Children’s Book of the Year shortlist and it’s interesting to note that one third of the 18 titles are tales of young heroes solving a mystery or a murder echoing the world of authors such as Agatha Christie and Enid Blyton.  Waterstones believe there is evidence that young adult readers are moving away from the fantasy/dystopian/magic stories of recent years towards more contemporary books.  Take a look at the shortlist for 2015 here.

If you're looking for titles for children from babies to teenagers we have a Kid's Reading Guide in store to help.  Remember Easter isn't all that far away and a book is a wonderful gift.

READER'S REVIEWS

We have a selection of proof copy and advanced reading copies in the bookshop at the moment looking for someone to review them.  Some have already been published and some will appear as new releases in the next couple of months.  They all deserve a review and they are all free, are you game?

You can read some of the reviews that have already been submitted to our website.  Take a look http://www.fosterslittlebookshop.com.au/index.php?page=book_reviews

HARPER LEE BOOK RELEASE

What more can be said about the new Harper Lee manuscript.  We do know that online bookmaker sportsbet.com.au is making it $5.00 to pick up the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, $7.00 for the Man Booker and $11.00 for the Nobel Prize for Literature. And if that wasn't enough, you can also make a bet on whether it will be made into a movie or not.

It has also reached #1 spot on the Amazon Best Seller list despite not being released until July 14th. Yes, you did read that correctly............

We are taking orders for the book now, and my name is on the top of the list for a copy. 

I'd have a big smile on my face too...............!!

THE DEATH OF THE BOOK HAS BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED...!!

The death of the book has been greatly exaggerated:

Despite all the predictions to the contrary, sales of printed books held up in 2014 and look set to dominate total book sales in 2015.  Read more of these lovely words here https://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2015/1/28/information-technology/death-book-has-been-greatly-exaggerated

Whilst the report covers the US and the UK, we have word from the Australian Booksellers Association that Australia is also on trend, plus there is an increase in small independent bookshops opening across the country.  You read it here!

VALENTINE'S DAY: February 14, 2015 Window of Love

Some people celebrate Valentine's Day by giving flowers, chocolates, jewellery or other presents of all shapes and sizes to their loved ones or those they admire.  Local trader Deborah Harris from Main Street Revelations has offered customers a unique way to celebrate this day.  Customers are given the chance to write a dedication to love on a heart shaped paper and post them in the window of the store.  What a wonderful idea, well done Deborah.

PUBLISHER: Hogarth Press

Leonard and Virginia Woolf founded Hogarth Press in July 1917. After purchasing a hand press and teaching themselves to use it, the Woolf’s published their first text.  Today, as imprint of The Crown Publishing Group, which is part of Random House, Hogarth distinguishes itself as a new home for a new generation of literary talent - "an adventurous fiction imprint with an accent on the pleasures of storytelling and a broad awareness of the world."

See the full story here.

AUTHOR: Harper Lee

What wonderful news that there is another book by Harper Lee.  Anyone who has read To Kill a Mockingbird will be waiting for the release of this new title Go Set A Watchman. It is set during the mid-1950s and features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird some twenty years later. Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New Yorkto visit her father Atticus. She is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand both her father’s attitude toward society, and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood.  Most people who have seen, or listened to, the news report will know that the author wrote this book first and was advised by the publisher to go back and write about Scout (the daughter of Atticus) when she was a young girl.

How wonderful for the author that this book is being published in her later years.