At various meetings with editors in London last week, amidst the pitching of FANTASTIC new books by writers and illustrators represented by Fraser Ross Associates, we found ourselves revisiting well-worn areas of regret, including the lack of review space for books for young people.
There are so many wonderful books out there – why don’t they get the attention they deserve?
Of course, there are some regular review slots, and we are grateful for them all, but longer considered pieces of the kind adult publishing expects and gets, is almost non-existent.
But there are beacons of good practice, and Books for Keeps, an online review magazine is one of them. There’s a new edition up this morning – go and take a look here. It’s packed with interesting reviews and lots of interesting articles including – in this month’s edition – obituaries for those greats of the world of children’s books, Anthea Bell and John Burningham. Sadly missed.
And then this appeared – a review of Walking Mountain, the outstanding 12+ novel by Joan Lennon. It’s in Undiscovered Scotland, but rest assured, it’s entirely suitable for anybody living outside Scotland, undiscovered or otherwise.
For writers and illustrators it’s easy to feel rather undiscovered, but this thoughtful, intelligent response to Joan’s book – we’re not sure who wrote it – is a great encouragement for a writer alongside its primary purpose of pointing out great reads to us all.
You can buy or order Walking Mountain, published by Birlinn, in all good bookshops, or you can buy it on-line here. You can also borrow it from your local library.
