An Introduction to Love My Books

Have you heard about the brilliant online resource for inspiring children to enjoy and cherish books? 

Love My Books is a website formed and run by Sue Ellis, Sue McGonigle and Olivia O'Sullivan, combining their ​many years’ experience both nationally and internationally, ​in developing a love of books and reading with children, parents, teachers and student teachers.

Their shared experience spans many areas of the book industry, from working with publishers, authors and illustrators, TV, and​ agencies such as the British Council and Department for Education. They are authors of books published about children's reading and literacy, and have overseen highly successful national reading projects.

They previously worked together as the Senior Education Team at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) and currently teach at university level and work as independent consultants, as well as being Mums themselves.

The Children's Bookshow is familiar with Sue Ellis, having worked with her on a workshop for teachers at CLPE on how to teach children's literature in translation. Also, one of our board members, Myra Barrs, has collaborated with her. They have worked together for many years and created lots of books together, including a Parents' Handbook called 'Reading Together', with Walker Books. Sue is working for the Institution of Education currently. The Children's Bookshow grew out of a project which Myra Barrs directed, which was the production of a book entitled Simply the Best Books for Children.  The Children's Bookshow organised a tour to publicise the book to teachers and parents which included performers Quentin Blake, Michael Rosen, Posy Simmonds, James Berry, Susan Price, Malachy Doyle, John Agard, Roger McGough, Ian McMillan, Jamila Gavin, Adrian Mitchell, Julie Rainsbury, Grace Nichols, Catherine Fisher, Kit Wright and Andrew Fusek Peters all reading their work in venues ranging from the Purcell Room at the Royal Festival Hall to the Cheltenham Literature Festival, ten venues in all, and in which the Bookshow worked with eight literature festivals around the country.

The first patrons of Love My Books were the prestigious and talented Michael Rosen and SF Said, now joined by David ALmond and Mini Grey. You can read more about them on the patrons page of the Love My Books website. 

Love My Books is also active on facebook and twitter so you can see what they're up to regularly. If you are a parent or teacher, or work with books or children in any way, we highly recommend that you spend some time familiarising yourself with the Love My Books webiste. Book recommendations are organised by ages, book types, and well-thought out categories so that you should be able to find the right book for any child and any situation. You can also find good advice to your questions about reading with your young child. It's a wonderful resource and one that is always growing and evolving. You can keep up to date with their latest highlighted books by signing up to their newsletter. 

An award for one of our new Bookshow authors.

"The Adventures of Shola" has just won the 2015 Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation. 

Margaret Jull Costa has freshly translated this charming story, from the original Basque text by Bernardo Atxaga, illustrated by Mikel Valverde.

The Children's Bookshow is so thrilled to share this news because Bernardo Atxaga will be joining us in this year's tour, flying over from Spain to talk about his creation. We will be very excited to welcome him and celebrate this new retelling of his work, for our nation to enjoy. 

Margaret and the Shortlisters, with Sian Williams from
The Children's Bookshow. ©ESU/Gigi Giannella 2015  

The Marsh Award has been offered biennially since 1996, to celebrate, encourage and promote high quality translated fiction for young readers. The ceremony was held at Dartmouth House in London, the home of the English-Speaking Union, who 
have administered this award on behalf of the Marsh Christian Trust since 2007. 

The judges said, ‘this is a delightful book which can be enjoyed by anyone as it is full of humour, for young people and adults alike. There are delightful characters with very real personalities and some truly philosophical moments throughout. This is such an accessible text, made up of stories which are so satisfying to read aloud and the wonderful translation really makes the story come alive for a new audience.’ 

Margaret Jull Costa, the winning translator, told the assembled audience at Dartmouth House: ‘I am absolutely thrilled to win this award, because it’s a book I absolutely love, and because any translation prize is also a prize for the original author, in this case the wonderful Bernardo Atxaga and his equally wonderful illustrator Mikel Valverde. I would also like to say how important I think this prize is, celebrating as it does children’s literature in translation.’

About the English-Speaking Union:
The ESU is a unique global educational charity and membership organisation that brings together and empowers people of different languages and cultures.
By building skills and confidence in communication, we give people the opportunity to realise their full potential. Worldwide, our members and alumni support us in this work. Our vision is to provide people in the UK and internationally with communications skills, 
confidence and opportunities to engage in an exchange of ideas and opinions. Enquiries should be directed to Michael Pryke, Director of Communications – michael.pryke@esu.org - 020 7529 1572.

About the Marsh Christian Trust:

The Marsh Christian Trust is a grant-making body supporting registered charities. The Trust administers a Marsh Award Scheme, to recognise the achievements of those who strive to make our world a better place through volunteering or academic excellence. Founded in 1981, by Brian Marsh OBE, it now runs over 70 Awards with a number of partner organisations and supports a growing number of smaller charities through its grant making programme.