Kampung Boy ‘sparkles’: Read Alert
‘To a generation growing up on “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, LAT’s “Kampung Boy” has a lot to offer.’ – Read Alert
‘The Red Piano in ‘Summer Reading Guide’
Book lovers all over Australia are receiving copies of the Summer Reading Guide. This year, we’re delighted to see our title ‘The Red Piano’ is in it.
Under the bonnet of our new website
The new Wilkins Farago website is launched this week. We take a little look under the bonnet.
‘The Red Piano’ on Radio New Zealand
John McIntyre of the Children’s Bookshop in Wellington reviewed ‘The Red Piano’ on Radio New Zealand’s ‘Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan’ show today.
Red Piano ‘incredible’: Bendigo Advertiser
Another rave review for The Red Piano, this time from one of Victoria’s leading regional papers, the Bendigo Advertiser.
Meet André Leblanc, author of ‘The Red Piano’
An interview with the author of ‘The Red Piano’, Canadian André Leblanc. It forms part of extensive teacher’s notes for the book that can be downloaded free from the Wilkins Farago website.
Of vampires and fairies
Where have all these vampires come from? … According to the website The Vampire Library, there are now about 100 fiction series about these bloodsuckers in circulation and you can bet your coffin more are on their way.
Make Amazon charge GST
Now that the Productivity Commission’s proposal to abolish parallel import restrictions has been defeated, how about getting the Government to do something that would support Australian booksellers: force overseas online etailers like Amazon to charge GST on books (and other goods?) sold to Australia?
Australian publishing – stet*
Today, an intense year-long debate about the future of Australia’s publishing industry effectively came to an end with the announcement that the Australian Government had rejected a proposal from its own think-tank to turn Australian into an open market for books.
‘The Red Piano’ featured in ‘The Australian’
‘The Cultural Revolution may seem a grim subject for a children’s book, but André Leblanc’s The Red Piano … unfolds with the simplicity of a parable.’
Teaching kids about Asia
‘It is impossible to conceive of a future Australian education system that does not take the study of Asia seriously.’
Great review of ‘Kampung Boy’
If you liked Peanuts or enjoy Leunig, you won’t be able to resist Kampung Boy
Long may ‘Magpies’ swoop
With the mainstream media typically ignoring children’s books, to have a specialist children’s book review at all is a blessing (the CBCA’s Reading Time is another such). That Magpies uses reviewers who are knowledgeable, well-read, thoughtful and passionate makes it all the more so.
We’re now selling online
Of course, our preference is to sell books through booksellers, but that’s not always possible—while many booksellers love our books as much as we do, some simply won’t stock them no matter what we or our distributor, The Scribo Group, seem to do.
Wilkins Farago @ the Frankfurt Book Fair
Just returned from this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair. It’s the world’s largest and an important fair for Wilkins Farago.
What people think of our books
‘Visiting the WF site was not an easy thing to do … I almost didn’t make it back to comment after getting caught up in those lovely books. ‘
‘Asian Currents’ likes ‘Kampung Boy’
Australian publisher Wilkins Farago should be congratulated for bringing the much-loved Malaysian cartoonist Lat’s Kampung Boy to Australia.
‘The Age reviews ‘The Red Piano’
‘First published in France, The Red Piano, with its striking illustrations and haunting story, is clearly a work of love. Aimed at young children, it is a lavishly produced picture book.’
Working with Amnesty International
The books have to stand on their own as works of children’s literature, of course. But if they can also stimulate enquiry in young minds, then we’re doubly happy.
Feast your eyes on the cover
‘The telling of Zhu Xiao-Mei’s story in picture book form is reminiscent of Mao’s Last Dancer children’s edition and tells the story of one person’s courage with the combination of sparse, well-chosen language and sensitive, unforgettable illustrations.’
The Most Hated Book Down Under
This is really an argument about bestsellers, profit margin and market power …
Early plug for ‘The Red Piano’
‘I really love books with strong female characters and believe that it is so important that children are exposed to these sorts of stories about people, especially children, who follow their dreams and stand up for what they believe.’
‘The Enemy’ one for the classroom
Davide Cali and Serge Bloch’s The Enemy is singled out as a ‘thought-provoking’ book about war for classroom discussion by the National Library of New Zealand’s kids’ book website.
A world of children’s books ignored
Each year at Frankfurt I see wonderful children’s books, award-winning children’s books, big-selling children’s books, innovative, memorable and challenging children’s books. But Australian children are likely to read only a fraction of them merely because these books were originally published in a language other than English.