Janet Doolaege's Blog: Giveaway

Giveaway

I'm giving away five copies of my illustrated children's book THE STORY OF AN ORDINARY LION, for readers aged 7 to 77. Ends Friday October 10.

Giveaway

I'm giving away four free copies of the illustrated EBONY AND SPICA!
Ends 1 May.

Ebony and Spica

Spring is here and baby birds fall out of nests.

The story of two birds that I rescued, EBONY AND SPICA, is now in paperback with full colour illustrations. Anyone with an interest in birds, wildlife and/or tame creatures should find it interesting. This slim volume is attractive, and even if it's not for you, I think it would surely make a good gift for someone you know, or for a child.
http://tinyurl.com/ktv625v (UK)
http://tinyurl.com/l69alpx (US)
http://www.newgeneration-publishing.c...

Honest reviews welcome!

Better than freebies?

We’re all desperate to get our books “out there”, and we’re often tempted to make them free online, just in the hope of attracting readers. I’m not sure that this really works. There are people who will download hundreds of books just because they’re free, but they won’t have time to read them. What’s the point of numerous downloads if the books aren’t actually read?

So how about this: Worldreader.org is a not-for-profit organization that has been distributing e-readers to schools in Africa and Europe. It’s cheaper and more effective to supply e-readers than paper books in the sort of quantities that are required for education and the teaching of literacy. Once the gadgets (basic mobile phones and Kindles) have reached their destination, it costs almost nothing to keep them stocked with reading material – and this means not just textbook content but novels! Stories! The sort of things that children all over the world will love to read, given the chance.

I have three books for children that have been mouldering on the Web for some time because I don’t do much marketing and consequently there haven’t been very many downloads. I’ve just donated to Worldreader.org the right to download them free of charge. Who knows? It would be wonderful if children actually read them! And I also feel I may be doing something useful. (Of course, they remain available for sale as well.)

Queries to: publishing@worldreader.org

"Lost" books

When I was a child, I borrowed most of the books that I read from the local library, and it seldom occurred to me to make a note of titles or authors. Consequently, many years later, I have vague, nostalgic memories of books that made a great impression on me, but I can’t find them. There was one in particular that would swim back into my memory from time to time: something about a girl and a strange pool in a wood, and the god Dionysus. I could remember, with a shiver, the “piping in the chimneys”. But what was it? Imagine my excitement when I read a description on the website of Girls Gone By publishers http://www.ggbp.co.uk/ and realized that it must be "Pandora of Parrham Royal" by Violet Needham. I ordered it immediately and have just read it. Sure enough, here was my lost book! It is actually a strange novel, not necessarily aimed at children. Some of the language requires a wide vocabulary and a high level of comprehension. (Do we, I wonder, tend to spoon-feed children nowadays with very simple language?) Anyway, it’s a gripping story set in a country house in 1946, and I realized that it has certainly influenced my own novels, in which I start with an ordinary, everyday setting and then introduce a hint of something uncanny and weird.

I have another “lost book”. Will I ever find it, I wonder? Something about an extraterrestrial, captured and kept in a building – maybe a tower? – in a locked enclosure. Two children investigate. I think it was probably written in the 1950s, and if anyone can track it down for me, I shall be most grateful.