Yesterday, I went up to Edinburgh for the day to meet up with fellow PaperTigers blogger Sally Ito and her children, who are on holiday in Scotland at the moment. Despite the pretty miserable weather, we had a busy, fun-packed day.

Of course, following Sally’s post about Greyfriars Bobby last month, we had to visit the famous churchyard – here we are by the famous statue!

On the way there, we passed The Elephant House, now famous for being the place where J.K.Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – and at the children’s behest we returned there later, which proved to be an absolute treat for an elephant-lover like me, as it is chock-a-block full of elephants from floor to ceiling – here we are, with elephant-shaped shortbread!

In between we visited the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions - here we all are in the thermal-imaging chamber… In the shop afterwards I found some beautiful Hiroshige pictures to make into Tatebanko, “the forgotten Japanese paper diarama”: they were certainly new to me but I’ve found this very interesting post about Tatebanko by artist Judith Hoffman (and what amazing metal books she creates!).

I also found a fantastic book for young (and old! – Older Brother, Younger Brother and my husband all loved it!) children: Gallop! by Rufus Butler Seder (Workman Publishing, 2007) – a “Scanimation Picture Book”. Without the moving images, this would be a charming board book for the very young, with interactive verse and good use of color and onomatopoeia:

Can you flutter like a butterfy?
Flittery-float-float!
Can you swim like a turtle?
Glippety-gloap-gloap

…and there’s a delightful twist to the poem at the end. But on top of all that, there are the truly wonderful moving images, which, magically, only work if you move the pages. Watch Seder talking about his Scanimation process on this video - fascinating! In the publication details at the front of the book, Seder “acknowledges some illustrations in this book are based on the motion photography pioneered by Eadweard Muybridge” – in fact, the cover itself pays homage to Muybridge’s The Horse in Motion. So there’s a good excuse, if one is needed, for parents to enjoy the book too! Another book, Swing!, came out last year too – it’s next on my wish-list…

So all in all, we had a great day and have clocked up another real-life meeting among the PaperTigers Team!

If there is anybody who doubts the power of J.K. Rowling to excite readers around the world, please look carefully at this photo. At the moment that The Tales of Beedle the Bard is being released in English, it is also appearing in Thai–and on a huge banner outside a Bangkok bookstore.

This is particularly exciting because in the dark ages before Harry Potter, conventional wisdom claimed that Thai children would only read comic books. It just took one young wizard and his talented creator to prove that generalization was wrong–and his magic continues to keep young readers in Thailand–and all over the world– reading.

Putting this book on your list of holiday gifts to give ensures that more than one child will be happy if you buy it. J.K. Rowling is giving all profits from this book to the Children’s High Level Group, a charity devoted to helping the one million children in Europe who live in large institutions. If there was ever a good reason to buy one book for everyone on your gift list, this could be it.

We’re delighted to hear from two British boys who responded to our plea for information about books that children love. Alistair, who is nine and a half, says that books he has recently read for fun are books in the Young James Bond series by Charlie Higson, Horrid Henry by Francesca Simon, and The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. His favorite authors are Michael Morpurgo, Charlie Higson, and Francesca Simon, with Hurricane Gold (in the Young James Bond series) and Tiger of the Snows by Robert Burleigh among the books that he has discussed with his friends. Morpurgo’s The Wreck of the Zanzibar is one of the books he has read for school that he enjoys and among his favorite books in a series are The Chronicles of Narnia, the many adventures of Harry Potter, and Young James Bond. Books he has read more than once are volumes of Tintin, Asterix, Harry Potter, and The Making of Monkey King and Monkey King Wreaks Havoc in Heaven, both by Debby Chen. A book that he found in the library that he longed to keep is one about BMW motorcycles–and, he assures us, although he’s a boy, he does enjoy reading books in which girls are central characters!

Ben, who is seven and a half, loves to read pop-up books, encyclopedias, stories with pictures, and Adam Frost’s Ralph the Magic Rabbit. Books that he has read more than once are Tintin books, Steve Parker’s Larger than Life, which he says is amazing and has recommended to his friends, Surprising Sharks by Nicola Davies, and If I Didn’t Have Elbows by Sandi Toksvig. His favorite writers are J.K. Rowling, Julia Donaldson, Herge, Francesca Simon, and Dick King-Smith. When it comes to books that he has borrowed from the library and wishes he could keep, he simply admits there are “loads.” He too enjoys books about girls, but not ones about sports!

Thanks to Alistair, Ben, and Evan for responding to our questions, which can be found at The Tiger’s Bookshelf: Asking the Kids

We would love to hear from more readers–perhaps a girl or two?

Most of us know that bright children frequently read books written for adults, but it’s less commonly recognized that bright adults frequently read books written for children. (Harry Potter, anyone?) No matter how old or how young we are, what unites us as readers is that deep feeling of satisfaction that comes with turning the last page and thinking “Now that was a good book.”

T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, A Wrinkle in Time, Harriet the Spy, and The Lord of the Rings are only a few of the books that have been read by adults and children with equal delight, and have been claimed by both groups as favorites. The element that these books all share is the magic created by a writer who placed highly original characters in a world that was constructed by considering the story, not the age of its readers, nor any underlying didacticism.

The people we hope to have in our new book group are readers who can sink into a children’s book with pleasure and want to talk about it in a community of like-minded bibliophiles, whether they be eight or eighty, whether they live in Peoria or Phnom Penh. Our goal is to host an ongoing conversation in which people from all over the world, adults and children, can unite over books that they all love and want to discuss online.

The books that are featured will fall into the range of readers between the ages of eight and twelve and will be set in countries all around the world. We hope that the magic of literature will help to bring together the inhabitants of far-flung continents, in the same way that the book discussions will bring together people of different generations and different cultures.

This is a book group that exists in whatever timeframe you choose – send your responses while you’re still in your pajamas, while you’re eating lunch, or when you should be doing your homework. Send your comments and respond to other readers whenever you like – it’s that easy. If you don’t like the book that’s been chosen, let us know. If it reminds you of others that you’ve read, tell us. If you don’t like the questions that have been posed about the book, write about the points that are meaningful to you. Suggest titles for future discussion. Argue, discover a new point of view, chat about books – for many of us there’s nothing better than that. Opening a book opens a new world to explore, and a good book makes that world a part of its reader forever. Let’s discover new worlds together through the magic of books.

Two weeks ago today, my children stayed up till well after midnight to take part in a social event which will be earmarked by history as the denouement of a publishing phenomenon: dressed in old university gowns and carrying wands; one wearing an emerald silk shirt and the other bearing a lightening scar and drawn in spectacles, they headed across the road to our local, independent bookshop for a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows launch party. We duly picked up the book and as soon as we got home again, the boys went to bed and I started reading – a rattling good read… but the instances pointed out in the links below did not go unnoticed.

The popularity of the Harry Potter books means that they will become a focal point for many issues pertaining to children’s books, particularly now the series is complete and a critique can encompass the whole body of work. We already have the beginnings of some stimulating discussions. I read with interest Shen Book’s exploration of Harry Potter as a multicultural character, part of their Crossing Cultural Borders series – and also really enjoyed Emily Jiang’s witty reduction of the Deathly Hallows plot to a Haiku summary… if you haven’t read the book yet, don’t click here! There has been some in-depth discussion of J.K. Rowling’s use of cultural stereotyping: it is worth reading what Debbie Reese and Educating Alice have to say, as well as the comments to their posts, which are equally thought-provoking. Also, (more…)

My 10-year-old friend Nicky is the quintessential bribable reader. When I went shopping with his mom and older sister recently, Nicky patiently spent several contented hours in a corner of a shoe department, burrowing into The Titan’s Curse, the latest volume in Rick Riordan‘s Olympian-themed Percy Jackson series. Nicky’s mom had sagely bought this hefty tome for him in anticipation of our shopping spree.

For Nicky’s generation, multicultural includes imaginary worlds. Brought up on Harry Potter and undaunted by huge page numbers, he loves books in series. “The Lionboy series [by Zizou Corder] is one of my favorites,” he emailed me. “It’s about a boy who got scratched by a leopard when he was a baby. Ever since then he has been able to speak with cats. After his parents were kidnapped his journey takes him all over the world, including his native continent, Africa. He soon finds out that it’s very hard to get 5 circus lions from France to Africa at the same time he’s trying to save his parents from a mysterious corporation before they get brainwashed.”

Nicky will be busy with Deathly Hallows for the next few weeks, of course, but until he gets hooked on a series, how does he decide what books to read? “This might sound weird, but I usually choose a book by its cover. If the cover looks interesting, I read the summary.” Nicky promises to glance up from his latest read from time to time to comment again for PaperTigers on books he loves. Meanwhile, for a list of series books for kids, click here. And here, for Stephen King’s lovely goodbye to Harry Potter.

We are rapidly approaching the day that millions of kids (and adults) around the world have been waiting for. The much anticipated seventh and last work, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows written by J.K. Rowling , goes on sale this Saturday, July 21st.

The Harry Potter books have sold 325 million copies world-wide and have been translated into 64 languages, as well as being converted into a successful film franchise. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows reached the top spot on both the Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble bestseller lists just a few hours after the date of publication was announced on February 1, 2007. Retailers report that more orders have been placed for this book than for any other in history, and American publisher Scholastic announced an unprecedented initial print run of 12 million copies.

Check out your local libraries and book stores to see what special events they have planned to celebrate the book release!

There are two great children’s book fairs opening this week – one in Argentina and one in Hong Kong.

The 18th Feria del Libro Infantil y Juvenil (Buenos Aires Children’s Book Fair) opens on Monday, July 16 and runs until August 3. This is one of the premiere children’s book fairs and features all kinds of books for children and teens, as well as workshops, storytelling, games and competitions.

The Hong Kong Book Fair has 475 exhibitors and hopes to surpass last year’s attendance of over 685,000. This book fair runs from July 18 – 24, and features special events for children and their families.

To see the other great events, workshops and conferences happening this week please visit our calendar. As always, comments and feedback are welcome.