David Maybury | Blog

I’m having some blog withdrawal so here’s one last, honest it’s my last, paper link post (from Beijing no less).

SF Sai reviews Shaun Tan’s excellent new book of short stories - Tales from Outer Suburbia in the Guardian:

This may be the most beautiful book you’ll see all year. Once you’ve read it, you may find yourself feeling as though an exchange student from another planet has dropped by and left a glowing matchbox garden in your kitchen cupboard.

Alison Flood checks out Logicomix - graphic novels based on the life of Bertrand Russell, the philosopher, logician, mathematician and Nobel prize for literature winner.

The book is a rare intellectual and artistic achievement which will, I am sure, lead its readers to explore realms of knowledge they thought were forbidden to them.

Michael Rosen talks laureatships in the Guardian -

I’ve come to the conclusion that the most important thing any of us who care about children’s books can do is to be enthusiastic about them. In the present climate, where books are the optional extra in schools too busy “doing literacy” to have time to read, being enthusiastic about books has become slightly subversive.

Michael Prest talks to Micheal Rosen in the Independent UK - laureates were in vogue last week. This time Rosen encourages anyone/everyone to study Children’s literature - he’s on a quest to get everyone reading - and he’s setting up a new MA in Children’s lit in Birbeck College, London.

The Guardian defends Comic Sans. Every font has its day.

Sarah Clarke, Waterstone’s Book Buyer, takes a stab at choosing her own modern classics in the Telegraph.

Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers: This is a beautifully illustrated and very touching tale of friendship. Last Christmas’s animation has ensured that it will, like The Snowman, be enjoyed by generations to come.

Back in the Guardian with Julie Eccleshare - reviewing Mo Willem’s Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, ohn Yeoman and Quentin Blake’s The Wild Washerwomen and Tasha Pym and Joel Stewart’s Have You Ever Seen a Sneep?

And one last interview - back in the Independent UK. Jonathan Sale talks to Lucy Hawking about the series she has co-written with her Dad, Stephen.

The three “George” books are based on my father’s 40-year career in science. It was my idea in the first place – the characters and the plot lines – and he is my scientific adviser. I always knew he was a scientist, not least because our house was always full of physicists, who seemed to be incredibly numerous, although in fact theoretical physics is a very small world.