A book about feline pirates has claimed the bounty of an award at this year’s Roald Dahl Funny Prize.
Cats Ahoy! by Peter Bently and illustrated by Jim Field (Macmillan Children’s Books) was awarded the prize for children aged six and under at today’s prize ceremony.
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates (Scholastic), written and illustrated by Liz Pichon, won the seven to 14 category.
Digital publisher Andrews UK has released the first 3D video-supported e-book onto the market through Apple’s iBookstore.
The company has included a six-and-a-half minute 3D film within the e-book A Dream of Christmas 3D, a story about a child dreaming of visiting Santa’s toy factory, written by Andrews UK c.e.o. Paul Andrews.
The e-book costs $7.99 (£4.99) and readers can access the 3D video when using Apple’s Digital AV Cable connected to a 3DTV.
World Book Day is set for a 2012 revamp, with new management, branding and digital promotional ideas hoping to achieve more than one million book token redemptions.
WBD will return on 1st March 2012—led by children’s marketing specialist Kirsten Grant as its new director and Penguin’s Joanna Prior as chair—with a new push after what Prior described as a “loss of energy for redemptions” which were not getting children “excited enough”.
Independent bookseller Ron Johns is moving into children’s fiction publishing, following a number of successes as a publisher of picture books and coffee-table books under the Mabecron Books imprint.
Johns, who owns bookshops in Falmouth, St Ives and Plymouth, said booksellers are “well placed” to develop their links with local authors and to move into publishing titles themselves. Mabecron Books includes local author Helen Dunmore and illustrator Michael Foreman on its list.
Hot Key Books has bought a trilogy by a debut novelist for a "strong advance", with the three books focusing on a young boy whose life changes when his virtual-reality prowess is discovered.
Managing director Sarah Odedina bought UK and Commonwealth rights to The Insignia Trilogy by S J Kincaid from HarperCollins US, with plans to publish book one in August 2012, a month after the US release.
Developer Dubit has taken its virtual world into mobile platforms by offering virtual worlds as apps on iPads and mobile phones.
Chief technical officer Matthew Warneford said: "Almost 40% of children play games on their mobile devices. The key is designing the right experience for the different form factors; from laptop, to tablet, to smartphone. Each device needs its own experience."
HarperCollins Children's Books has bought the concluding parts to Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant series, signing a deal for books seven, eight and nine.
Editorial director Nick Lake bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Michelle Kass. Since the first book was published in 2007, HarperCollins said it has sold more than two million copies worldwide.
Author Nick Hornby wants to establish a national network of story centres for children, following a successful first year for the Ministry of Stories in Hoxton, London, which Hornby co-founded with Lucy Macnab and Ben Payne.
Macmillan Children's Books has acquired a new trilogy called Birthright by Elsewhere author Gabrielle Zevin, who was previously published by Bloomsbury.
UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, were bought in the books from Douglas Stewart at Sterling Lord Literistic agency in the US, in a deal brokered by the UK sub-agent, Shirley Stewart of the Shirley Stewart Literary Agency.
The Government emphasis on reading for pleasure could be behind an uplift in sales to school libraries, claims bookseller Marilyn Brocklehurst of the Norfolk Children's Book Centre.
She said: "The pronouncements by the government about reading for pleasure are having an impact; schools are asking us for support to develop their libraries. Teachers who care about reading now have a mandate to sort out the school library."
