This term, Booked Out author Tristan Bancks is staging a World Change Challenge to raise $20,000 to buy 20,000 books for kids in the developing world through literacy charity Room to Read. Help him out and you can win a free author talk in your school or a Random House book prize pack.

Last time Tristan staged the World Change Challenge students around Australia raised funds to build a school library in Siem Reap Cambodia.  This time, it’s 20,000 local-language books for kids in Asia and Africa. $1 funds 1 book.

It’s a great way to engage kids in literacy, fun and social good. Watch the four-minute video showing how a single class raised $567 in one day, then hit the World Change Challenge page for a campaign pack and lots of fun fundraising ideas. – http://www.tristanbancks.com/2014/03/room-to-read-world-change-challenge-2014.html

Details of the Everyday Hero campaign are here – https://give.everydayhero.com/au/room-to-read-world-change-challenge

The World Change Challenge is supported by Room to Read author-ambassadors Susanne Gervay, Deborah Abela, Sarah Davis, Gus Gordon, Kate Forsyth, Jacquie Harvey, Belinda Murrell and Oliver Phommavanh.

World Change Starts With Educated Children.

Booked Out would like to congratulate Sofie Laguna on the upcoming release of her new book, The Eye of the Sheep.

Sofie’s second novel for adults, The Eye of the Sheep is the story of Jimmy, and his family who are struggling to cope with a different and difficult child.

Ned was beside me, his messages running easily through him, with space between each one, coming through him like water. He was the go-between, going between the animal kingdom and this one. I watched the waves as they rolled and crashed towards us, one after another, never stopping, always changing. I knew what was making them come, I had been there and I would always know.

Meet Jimmy Flick. He’s not like other kids – he’s both too fast and too slow. He sees too much, and too little. Jimmy’s mother Paula is the only one who can manage him. She teaches him how to count sheep so that he can fall asleep. She holds him tight enough to stop his cells spinning. It is only Paula who can keep Jimmy out of his father’s way. But when Jimmy’s world falls apart, he has to navigate the unfathomable world on his own, and make things right.

The launch of Sofie’s new work is happening at Readings, Hawthorn on Thursday the 31st of July. Visit Readings, Hawthorn for more details

Today we might be a little delayed in getting back to you as we are moving offices! We aim to be back in full swing on Monday morning. If you have a pressing enquiry, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.

A new essay by author Meme McDonald is featured in the latest Griffith Review. Her essay ‘You Have My Heart’, is part of a special edition exploring the theme Cultural Solutions.

Cultural Solutions

Grififth REVIEW 44: Cultural Solutions explores new ways people are working together and solving social problems that governments and other organisations have struggled with. ‘In this edition our contributors share the cultural solutions that are transforming the lives of Australian people and communities,’ says Griffith REVIEW editor Julianne Schultz.
Cultural Solutions puts flesh on the bones of the cultural richness around us and proves its success in providing new fixes for old problems.

Excerpt from You Have My Heart:

‘Our patron takes us to the Wild Bird Park in Kushiro and introduces the man who speaks the language of the Japanese Crane. Twenty-five years ago, there were only six pair of Japanese Crane left in the world. The businessman and the birdman and others created a programme in schools. School children scattered corn on the snow through the long winter months to feed the birds. When we visit twenty-five years later, there are more than six hundred Japanese Crane dancing in the marshes.

Seventy people of all ages and experiences from Kushiro joined us in the final performance of Waderbirds.  Delegates with a commitment to wetland sites around the world are gathered in Kushiro this April for the international migratory birds Ramsa Convention, named after the town in Iran where the first wetland convention was held in 1971. Six hundred of these delegates form a procession through the parkland to watch the story of the Eastern Curlew. Some of the delegates were with us in Broome and so know their roles as puppeteers working two metre high bamboo poles beneath bird wings.  

When our last dinner at the sushi factory is finished and the dishes cleared and washed, the Aboriginal dancer travelling with us plays didgeridoo and clapsticks. With chef and staff, there are more than twenty of us. Soon we are all up dancing the kangaroo and emu, our patron included. He offers a precious kimono as first prize. To the dismay of most of the performers, he judges the winner of the dance to be the Australian photographer.

When we leave the sushi factory on Hokkaido, the Japanese businessman, owner of the factory, and our patron, stands beside the cars that are to take us to the airport for departure. One hand is on his suit coat covering his heart. Two tears, one on each cheek, make their way neatly down to his chin. His voice is quiet. ‘I may not see you again in this life. You have my heart.’

For more information about the Griffith Review, click HERE

Booked Out are very pleased to congratulate Amanda (AJ) Betts on winning the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature at the recent NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. She was presented the award for her latest novel Zac and Mia, a warm and uplifting story of two young people forming an unexpected friendship in hospital.

Zac and Mia are unforgettable—they put hooks into my heart that are still there. Be warned: if you pick up this book, you won’t want to put it down.
– Fiona Wood

To read more about the 2014 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, click here to view the story via Amanda’s website.

Amanda is based in WA and is available for school bookings.

Take a moment to look around our refurbished website. You’ll find a few reasons to enjoy browsing through our list of speakers even more:

Smarty Pants

you can now read speaker profiles on the train to work with our new responsive smartphone-friendly site.

#nofilter

as Instagram has taught us, everything is better with a filter. Use our new and improved search filter to narrow down the hunt and view those speakers most relevant to your needs.

On the road, again

our new, dedicated tour page makes it much simpler to find out which interstate authors are in your area, and when.

How much do you love us?

Say goodbye to the Feedback Friday system, and hello to a more logical way to send in or view others’ feedback and testimonials. Testimonials for speakers are now viewable directly in their profiles. You can also send an evaluation to us from there. There’s also a page specifically to see reviews about our agency, here.

Archie Fusillo’s newest novel, Dead Dog in Still of the Night is is published by Ford Street this month. We know Archie’s fans have been eagerly awaiting his next book!

The book will be launched by Santo Cilauro, at the new Docklands Library, 2pm Sunday June 8th.

I love it! Made me laugh out loud and weep. This is a superb evocation of the complexity of family life and how we navigate it
—Lesley Reece, Director, The Literature Centre, Fremantle WA

Tangled and intricate, the plot unravels with miscommunications, wrong perceptions, hidden perceptions, hidden emotions and gritty realistic episodes
—S. Warren, ReadPlus, QLD

Dead Dog is getting some good press already and there is a big article about it in the latest issue of Magpies. Teacher’s notes are available here.

The theme of Children’s Book Week (16–22 August) this year is ‘Connect to Reading’.

The shortlist for the CBCA Book of the Year has been announced and, as ever, we are excited! There are some really fantastic selections on the list this year, and we are always happy when there is a mixture of well established and up-and-coming creative talent.

Even better, we work with a number of the award nominees, and can send them to your school! Shortlists creatives that you can book through us include:

Older Readers

• Will Kostakis (The First Third)
• Melissa Keil (Life in Outer Space)
• Allyse Near (Fairytales for Wilde Girls)
• Fiona Wood (Wildlife).

Early Childhood

• Freya Blackwood (Banjo and Ruby Red)

Picture Book

• Freya Blackwood (The Treasure Box)
• Craig Smith (illus., The Windy Farm)
• Doug MacLeod (author, The Windy Farm)

Eve Pownall Award for Information Books

• Terry Denton (Jandamarra)

Some of these speakers still have dates available to visit schools in or around Book Week, so pick up that phone and book with us before someone beats you to it!

You can see the full list of shortlisted books for older readers, younger readers, early child, picture book, and the Eve Pownall Award for information books online here, or download the printable PDF here.

Booked Out is migrating our email service to a new host, which we started doing on Monday 14 April.

Emails sent to us from Monday 15 April onwards may have had trouble arriving, and if this message is still up on our site, we’re still migrating the service.

If your message is urgent please phone us on 03 9824 0177 to check whether we’ve received your message.

Thanks!

Michael Pryor has published thirty-four books, the latest being Machine Wars (Random House, April 2014).

At Booked Out, we are hoping that the machines don’t get into our computers — our database could turn against us!

The Bourne Identity meets The Terminator in this fast-paced technothriller for boys aged 10 to 14.

It was only a matter of time until one escaped.

Bram just wasn’t expecting it to be today.

In the sky, drones are hunting him. On every corner, machines are waiting to kill him.

But Bram has a plan. First, scatter and hide. Then, with his best friend and wise-cracking roboduck, help to save the world. – See more at the Random House website.