#children's bookshop online

[lilamigosneststore]

Buy School Supplies at Lil Amigos Nest

Shop for school supplies on the Lil Amigos Nest  website. Explore items such as stationery, school bags, book stands, and more.

[loverboybrightsideghost]

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[oidheadh-con-culainn]

#also even if all YA books WERE popular US fantasy #this still not nearly specific enough to hate the whole genre #like not only is it an inaccurate and ignorant view it’s also just an argument that does not make sense #like you’re going to tell me that a well written fantasy novel by an American author has never been both popular and good? are you really? #alright everybody go home Americans can’t write good fantasy and if they do it won’t sell #and same for romance. and dystopia. #genres go through trends. most of the ya dystopia published in recent years is trying to copy the success of the hunger games. #most of the supernatural romance is trying to copy twilight. it’s literally just what happens because publishing is an industry. #I can critique YA all day long as long as the argument makes sense #but a lot of these arguments boil down to ‘women and teenage girls like it on tiktok therefore it’s bad’ #ya lit

(via @ghosthauntsthelibrary)

yeah i mean all generalisations are generalisations and generally the way tumblr talks about stuff is in the least charitable / positive way possible which is just. exhausting tbh

the reason i mentioned us-published YA fantasy in particular is because a lot of the generalisations i see about YA literature that *do* have a grain of truth in them are nevertheless *specific to that subgenre* and don't apply equally or at all to other genres within the category. and there is a lack of recognition that other YA exists. discussions about how YA is too "old" these days and full of sexy romance ignore that UK YA skews younger than US YA and that YA without romance exists, for example. discussions about magic systems in YA ignore the fact that non-fantasy YA exists. etc.

those critiques are always lacking in nuance and they are always too broad a generalisation, and "this subgenre does things i don't like" is valid grounds for not reading that subgenre, but not for saying it shouldn't exist. but i've just seen a slew of posts recently that made generalisations about all YA based on that specific subsection of it which is why i singled it out

(at this point i read enough YA and also am friends with enough YA authors that i can usually tell what book people are hyperbolically vagueblogging about, and you start to notice patterns)

PLUS there is a side issue of people constantly calling fantasy/sci-fi YA, particular when written by women, and this is also partially the result of treating "YA" and "fantasy" as though they're synonymous, which is the other reason this particular generalisation bugs me. i see so many posts about "YA authors" doing x,y and z on twitter and when i actually look at the thread, they're literally all adult SFF and romance authors and it's like. why are you blaming this on YA, come on bro, at least make half an effort

i will happily talk about the broader trends in YA that piss me off and have led to me reading less of it but the second Tumblr users start acting like "US-published YA fantasy that's popular on tiktok" = "all YA books" i switch immediately into YA Defence Mode bc honestly regardless of whether I agree with the critiques of more specific subgenres, this category is HUGE and has so much going on and we can't have a meaningful conversation about that until people get their heads out of their arses and acknowledge that fact

[thelogbook]

My children's book 'The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess' is out now as a paperback in the UK. It's available in all good local bookshops (sometimes with a signed print). More details at www.tomgauld.com

Or go here for details of editions in twenty other languages: www.tomgauld.com/childrens-books

Also, if you've already got the book and enjoyed it, please consider giving it an online review.

[solacescastleglow]

🩰🍳🌿 Daily Life Aesthetics 🌿🍳🩰

What do you do when you can't motivate yourself to do things without a moodboard, but you don't want to look at a screen? Print the moodboards out of course! These will be going into a binder along with some troubleshooting notes so I can get things done even when my executive dysfunction is an issue. I highly endorse making these, the process was so fun.

Morning Routine

light stretches, the clean feeling of having just brushed my teeth, sesame turkish bread with hummus, reading with bleary eyes, chai lattes, the certainty of knowing exactly what I'm going to do that day, upbeat music, fresh air through the windows, saying good morning to my cat, picking out a cute outfit.

French

the sound duolingo makes when you get 10 in a row, nasal vowels, repeating phrases under my breath, understanding a new sentence for the first time, writing a ç by hand, watching french movies with french subtitles, studying the republican calendar to learn new nouns, understanding cooking and ballet terms instinctively.

Studying

the ritalin kicking in, getting 100% on a quiz, write now edit later attitudes, marginalia, a cup of tea slowly cooling next to my laptop, messy desks, flashcards, today's study schedule on the wall, feedback from professors, watching online lectures at 1.75x speed, going to a cafe to think.

Leaving the House

the sun on my face, buying flowers for the house, the smell of a secondhand bookshop, museums, getting a little treat, sitting in the shade, reading on a park bench, farmer's markets, the sound of rain hitting an umbrella, picnics, finding a cool record, seeing people wearing pretty outfits (and telling them that).

Exercising

winning badminton, feeling not exhausted but satisfied after a game, seeing my muscles actually move when I flex them, happy baby pose, better posture, laughing through the pain when doing bicycles, going on a walk, connecting with my sibling through pilates, high reps on the lightest weight possible.

Going to Therapy

the catharsis of crying, the ache in my chest fading after years of heaviness, allowing myself to be a kid again, feeling more whole, finding parts of me I thought were gone forever, knowing I can handle whatever life throws at me, laughing with my therapist about serious topics, curling up in a safe corner of my room.

Working on my Book

designing characters, research, writing rich descriptions of settings, planning out illustrations and page layouts, bringing imaginary conversations to life, watching over someone's shoulder as they read what I've written, finally getting a frustrating sentence right, dreaming about children who will see themselves in my writing.

Housework

a little nudge from the robot vacuum, the smell of steam coming out of the iron or dishwasher, exhausted satisfaction after finally getting the fitted sheets on, laundry in the wind, everything in its place, a clear mind in a clear space, rinsing the dust off the damp duster, the smell of fresh laundry.

Planning my Week

neat rows of binders, colour coded spreadsheets, calendars with everything in place, vision boards, grocery lists crumpled in a hand, knowing exactly how this week will go, step by step guides to each task, feeling safe in case of emergency, a messy journal and a neat wall calendar, time blocking.

Personal Finance

putting away 50% of my income into savings, being surrounded by beauty, a comfortable sinking fund, transferring money between sub-accounts, getting everything I've ever wanted, investing in things I'm passionate about, creating stability for the future, being debt free, being able to get a little treat with what I've saved.

Participating in my Religion

a cheekful of wine, the presence of g-d in the room, candles on ornate candlesticks, tikkun olam, the cycle of the year, awe as the ark opens, ripping challah apart, the grounding points of the magen david when I squeeze my necklace, playing with tzitzit, praying sounding like birdsong, the dusking of a new day.

Cooking

mise en place, the smell of garlic and spices, bubbling pots on the stove, the whole house warmed up, chatting with my dad, fresh vegetables, mountains of parmesan cheese, the chime of the pressure cooker, pretty plates, sitting down to eat with family and friends.

Showering

double cleansing, feeling literally squeaky clean, gourmand scents, leave in conditioner making my hair feel like seaweed, the tingly feeling of glycolic acid, burberry her mixed with cocoa and coconut, scented candles to set the mood, listening to self improvement podcasts, smooth skin.

Nighttime Routine

cookies and chamomile tea with my family, watching tv, calling 'goodnight' down the stairs, overheads off and warm lamps on, teeth feeling so clean after an everything toothbrush, reading in the faint light, filling out my journal, nighttime yoga, daydreaming about the future, an easy slip into a deep sleep.

[alexisnoir]

Good Omens S3 theories

I got a bit bored, so I quickly wrote down some theories on what might happen in that 90-minute "masterpiece." Personally, I still think they should make a 190-minute film or at least a 130-minute one. I’m praying that the scripts for the six episodes, which the actors got to read, after that finale aired, will eventually be released online so that we fans can read in detail how it was actually meant to unfold. In fact, they could even publish them as a book—I’d pay just to know what we missed out on.

1)

Aziraphale is riding up to Heaven in an elevator with Metatron. As the doors open, they step out, only to be stopped by the most unexpected sight—HER, standing among the other angels, but most notably, flanked by two incredibly surprising guests—Beelzebub and Jim (Gabriel). After leaving the bookshop, they traveled to Alpha Centauri, where she awaited them. Just because she was silent and seemingly absent doesn’t mean she hasn’t been keeping a watchful eye on what her children have been up to. The biggest source of tension is Metatron’s plan to proceed with the Second Coming, something that isn’t part of the Ineffable Plan. I imagine her taking Metatron by the ear and leading him to a corner like a naughty child for a “time out.�� This would give Aziraphale the opportunity to speak with her and truly understand what went wrong in his conversation with Crowley.

Meanwhile, Crowley is driving forward aimlessly, without direction. Eventually, Bentley, his car, comes to a stop in South Downs and refuses to go any further. Resigned, Crowley decides to settle there and open a plant shop. This story, which the creators could tell within a 90-minute frame, would allow for a focus on characters like Maggie, Nina, Crowley, Aziraphale, Anathema and Newton, Beelzebub and Gabriel, and Muriel. It would also offer an opportunity to reveal previously unseen scenes from the past.

That’s one theory I have.

2)

The other is that Aziraphale simply tells Metatron to “go to hell” and returns to Earth, descending in the elevator, while Heaven is closed off by God forever. This would also prevent the Second Coming.

3)

Another theory I have is that the Second Coming was just a cover and that Metatron doesn’t actually have any plan. He only wanted to separate Crowley and Aziraphale because he knew how powerful they are together. Add love to the mix, and you have a force comparable to HER own power.

On a different note, imagine Crowley and Aziraphale in South Downs, taking care of Beelzebub and Gabriel's child—or perhaps Anathema and Newton's. Two uncles. Crowley would definitely teach them gardening and how to keep plants standing strong so they don’t wilt, plus he’d give them astronomy lessons, while Aziraphale would read them bedtime stories. Additionally, I’d love for HER to restore Crowley’s vision. He has serpent’s eyes, and snakes can’t see stars well, or at least not in perfect detail. She could leave the way his eyes look, but I imagine he’d want to see his own creation in all its glory once again.

How much of what I wrote do you think will come true? It's a bit like reading tea leaves, and I happen to have the same first name as Agnes Nutter ;)

[scarlettsabetlondongirl]

Happy tenth anniversary Poet Scarlett Sabet and Jimmy Page

Gloria article online here or below:

"No one gave them a chance : The couple who caused consternation due to their age difference is celebrating their tenth anniversary

Jimmy Page, who was followed all his life by the fame of a womanizer, found peace at the age of 70 with today's 35-year-old Scarlett Sabet, a poet whose father has Iranian blood and with whom he shares his Victorian castle in Kensington.

Although almost no one gave them a chance because of the age difference, musician Jimmy Page, founder of the cult band Led Zeppelin, is celebrating the tenth anniversary of his love with the 35-year-old poet Scarlett Sabet this year . The famous musician and author of Led Zeppelin's greatest hits, who celebrated his 80th birthday in January, was enchanted by her lyrics, a red-haired beauty with long curly hair who seems to have come from some renaissance times.

As she told the British magazine Tatler a few years ago , it happened at the World's End Bookshop in King's Road, where she read her poems publicly for the first time. Seeing the crowd and the beautiful poetess who was also acting at the time, Page entered the bookstore, and after her reading, which left the audience speechless, he approached her and quietly said: "Your poems cut like a knife."

But it wasn't love at first sight, at least not on her part. His compliment touched her and was the impetus that made her decide to ignore acting and devote herself entirely to writing. But his reputation as a womanizer was rather odious to her. In the first months, they were just friends who would meet more by accident than on purpose, but the experienced rocker must have had a plan.

He was not even known as an excessively moral guy, he seduced Krissy Wood , Roni Wood's wife , during the period when they were good friends. Numerous models, actresses, singers have been "guests" in his bedroom, more than thirty of them are publicly known, he was married twice and has five children. Of course, all his affairs and scandals were followed by media articles that did not escape the romantic Scarlett.

Nevertheless, several random meetings on the street led to the first coffee, then lunch and socializing. And little by little, instead of in the bookstore, Scarlett spent more and more time with her laptop in his castle, where she soon moved. They started dating in August 2014 and it seems to be the most serious relationship Jimmy Page has ever been in.

They also opened the doors of their home for Tatler magazine, the Town House mansion made of red brick in London's Melbury Street, a well-known destination for fans of the band Led Zeppelin who "kidnapped" Page from David Bowie and bought it in 1972 for 350,000 pounds.

Today, the famous Victorian castle is their common home, the house is full of art, and supposedly - ghosts live with them. As Scarlett said, there is a strange energy in the house and that even though some have claimed that the castle is haunted, she and Jimmy feel nothing but positive energy.

When their relationship came to light in early 2015, the then 25-year-old poet admitted that she was horrified and frightened by so much media interest. She was then working as a waitress at the Chelsea Arts Club, a private club where famous artists gathered, and one day at the reception she received a phone call from a distraught member of the club. He said that a journalist from a tabloid stopped him in front of the entrance, showed him her picture and asked him if he knew her. "What did you do to have journalists walking around the club?", he asked her annoyed. Since then, Page paid her a bodyguard to accompany her to work, and their relationship was almost daily in the British media.

It was mostly about their 45-year age difference. Scarlett said that at that time she was indescribably ashamed, she thought that her life was sealed, but still she did not give up on her love choice, unusual for many. Now she is much more confident and openly talks about her love, and she says that she could not have found a better and more handsome partner who is her friend and who makes her laugh every day." Gloria

Photo: Shutterstock

[the---hermit]

20|10|2023

Today started with so much rain, but it turned out to be a nice and calm day. I am pretty tired but I feel good. I had once again a failed trip to another bookshop to look for a graphic novel I will probably have to order online at this point. The good bookish news is that a couple of books I ordered last month got here and I am very happy because they are all low effort but entertaining books which is exactly what I need at the moment. I am looking forward to a slow cozy weekend where hopefully I will also find some time to either journal or write down thoughts I'd like to discuss in therapy.

Cozy hobbit autumn activities and productivity:

Read first thing in the morning

Daily Irish practice on duolingo

I did some crosswords and sudokus while I was commuting to uni

3 hour English lit lecture

I was the emotional support for a new friend who had to deal with some stuff and I am counting this in this list because it has helped me realize things about myself and how much I am slowly growing in my ability to connect with people, I really hope this friendship will continue and grow in the future

Did a tarot reading for a friend and also one for myself

My mom picked me up at the bus stop and we went to a nearby field to see the tiniest lambs it brought me so much joy (we also got a little paistry that was really good)

📖: Something Is Killing The Children vol.3

[squishfacestudio]

Very happy that Squishbook: Make comics with Squishface Studio and friends! has been Highly Commended in the Children’s Literature category of the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards!

We might make a sticker to go on the book, but it will be a bit smaller than this.

Thanks very much to the good people running the Awards at the Wheeler Centre, and the judges who chose to give us this lovely (and unexpected) honour. I'm not sure how many micro-published books have received it.

Thanks and congratulations to the people who made the book and who are therefore all Highly Commended: Alex e Clark, Alex Pavlotski, Ben Hutchings, Briar Rolfe, David Blumenstein, Ive Sorocuk, Jin Hien Lau, Jo Waite, Nicholas J. Johnson, Patrick Alexander, Sarah Howell, Scarlette Baccini and Warwick Holt.

Thank you to the many libraries, festivals, schools and bookshops across Australia and New Zealand who had us come visit over the past year! Thanks to the grade 2s at Kensington Primary [now going into grade 4] who gave us their questions and drawings for the book!

And thank you to everyone who has bought Squishbook! You can get the book directly from us, or, if you're a school or library you can also get it thru our library distributors, ALS Library Services and James Bennett Online (and if you're teaching comics, be sure to check out our Squishbook teachers' resources too).

Our excellent stockists include:

ONLINE STOCKISTS

Cockatoo Comics (Sydney, NSW)

Brunswick Bound (Brunswick, Vic)

Collins Booksellers (Warrnambool, Vic)

Eltham Bookshop (Eltham, Vic)

Hobart Bookshop (Hobart, Tas)

Red Kangaroo Books (Alice Springs, NT)

Impact Comics (Canberra, ACT)

National Library of Australia Bookshop (Canberra, ACT)

BUY IN-STORE

Readings Kids (Carlton, Vic)

Readings St Kilda (St Kilda, Vic)

Sticky Institute (Melbourne, Vic)

All Star Comics (Melbourne, Vic)

Greenlight Comics (Adelaide, SA)

[brianbilston]

Let Sleeping Cats Lie - out now

It’s UK publication day for ‘Let Sleeping Cats Lie’, my collection of poems about pets. I wrote the for book children, aged between 7 and 95, and it’s available through all the usual bookshop places. You can find some of the online retailers here: https://linktr.ee/brianbilston There are a few signed copies knocking about, too. Here’s a small list of some of the independent bookshops who have…

[justforbooks]

Bookshops are a precious shelter from the storms of life

I found myself with a line from Bob Dylan’s Shelter from the Storm in my head: “Try imagining a place where it’s always safe and warm.”

Bookshops have been in a perfect storm of online competition, business rates and parking charges for a while, but they will always survive. Even the tornado of the pandemic won’t defeat them. The customers, from the tearful first few on the day bookshops reopened after lockdown to the joyful children getting back on the rocking horses or gazing at the fish, seem to feel the same way.

“We all become stories”, as Margaret Atwood once said, and the same is true of bookshops. When we refer to our favourite bookshops, we’ll mention the cat or the nice coffee, or the spiral staircase, or the really knowledgeable children’s buyer. Book-ish, which I recently stumbled upon after getting lost in a Welsh storm, has old typewriters lined up above the bookcases, all donated by locals, a reminder of how a community can take a bookshop to its heart.

Customers have told me how bookshops inhabit their subconscious as well. Graham Greene dreamed in such detail of a London bookshop that he went to look for it twice before realising it was completely dream-forged. In bookshops, as Virginia Woolf noted, we can lose the carapace of self, we can flit around our levels of consciousness and inhabit any of our potential selves. After reading that Greta Garbo spent hours in Rizzoli Bookstore because she needed “a break from being Garbo”.

Perhaps the most important self you can rediscover in a bookshop is from your childhood. Recently, a woman in her mid-60s was buying a contemporary literary novel when a dreamy look came over her and she asked: “I don’t suppose The Silver Sword is still in print?” I’m the same age, and we both identified deeply with the refugee in Warsaw during the second world war who kept his parents’ paper knife – the “silver sword” – in a shoebox. She was surprised when I told her it is still consoling children facing the storm of adolescence. Like The Magic Faraway Tree and I Capture the Castle, it is part of the secret canon, unknown to academia, of shot-in-the-arm books.

They exist for adults, too, and sell as steadily as chai in Delhi. They are written in a sort of trance-state burst of creativity, like Brideshead Revisited and 1984, the result surprising their authors but forever feeding the reader-soul. These are the books which are sniffed before purchase and hugged or kissed afterwards.

Serendipitous browsing throws up discoveries and rediscoveries in a way that algorithms never can. Every day there’s a customer who thumps a great pile on the till and exclaims “I’ve got to get out of here before I find any more – I only came in for a card.”

But whatever the storm may throw at us in the meantime, bookshops will forever be a shelter where it’s always safe and warm.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[nils-elmark]

My New Book About three Brave Americans

On August 25th 1914, a group of young Americans joined the Foreign Legion and “with a cowboy swing” marched through Paris, wildly cheered by the crowd. They were the first Americans in the Great War. I have written the intimate story of three of those young men: • David Wooster King - a 21-year-old dropout from Harvard and son of a rich businessman whose family can be traced back to Mayflower. • Alan Seeger - a 26-year-old poet and a dreamer from New York and a family of highly educated intellectuals. His ancestors too, can be traced back to start of the American nation. • Eugene James Bullard - a 19-year-old entertainer and boxer from Columbus, Georgia. His father was born a slave and his mother was Creek Indian. King ended up as an officer in the US Army chasing German spies in Switzerland in 1918. Later, he became a modern global adventurer, met rulers across the world and was sent to Casablanca in 1941 as the very first OSS agent reporting to President Roosevelt. Eugene Bullard too survived the war years. He was wounded at Verdun and invalided out of the French Army but despite all odds he became the world’s first black aviator. After the war, he married a young French woman and settled in Paris where he opened a bar. In the roaring 20s he was surrounded by every artist and intellectual of the day from Hemingway to Louis Armstrong. Bullard fought for the French again in 1940 before he was wounded and had to flee to New York with his two children. Here he was ignored except by the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The French never forgot him, and Bullard ignited the eternal flame at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in 1954 and was kissed on both cheeks by President Charles de Gaulle.

The third legionnaire, Seeger, was not so lucky as his two comrades. He was killed during the Battle of the Somme on July 4, 1916. However, six weeks earlier, he wrote the famous poem, ‘I Have A Rendezvous with Death’ which was to become his legacy. President Kennedy’s daughter Caroline recited it for her father six weeks before his fateful trip to Dallas in November 1963, and the poem has since inspired a line of American presidents during the 20th century. It has become an indestructible poetic lifeline linking France and the United States of America. The three young Americans, rooted in the nation, each has an amazing story to tell. But when their adventures are brought together we get a three-dimensional perspective on how America broke its isolation from the world and started to unite as a nation during the 20th century. The three men represent different pillars of the American soul, and their lives and dreams symbolize the story of how America became modern and remind us of the strong historic ties between France and America. Most of all, this book is a fantastic saga full of brave men, great adventures and terrific sacrifices that bring hope and a new direction in a time of human division.

You can buy the book at most online bookshops and at my publisher Pen & Sword.

[darlingofdots]

Another thing that bugs me about how people talk about fanfiction vs published fiction is that the two are just not comparable for a very specific reason: the majority of fanfic writers are not good writers. they're not even regular writers. This is because the majority of people who do any activity are not good at that activity, no matter what it is. Think about how many hobbies you've tried out for a bit and then never touched again, or how many people "play football" by just meeting up with their buds on the weekend and kicking the ball around for a bit. The nature of fanfiction is that there's basically no barrier to entry, it's very easy to post your fic online somewhere, and because reading fic is free, readers are much more likely to give something unfamiliar a go than they would be when buying a book at a bookshop. So we're exposed to a significantly wider range of fanfic writing than we are traditional fiction! But it also means that it's super difficult to then make any kind of meaningful statement about what fanfiction writers can or cannot do, because no matter what you will end up with some mighty sweeping generalisations.

In any given group of fic writers, you've got a bunch of newbies who've not written much and they've never taken any classes or been part of a feedback group, they just had this thought about this book they read so they wrote it and then posted it on AO3. A lot of them will be bad writers, whether that's because they just haven't built the skill yet or because writing is just not for them. In that same group you've got people who have posted loads of fic for loads of different fandoms, and some of them will be good and some will be bad and most will be just, like, fine. But then you also have people who have been writing since they were children and got degrees and certifications and maybe even publish original works, but they also write fanfiction sometimes. This is a really messy sample! There's way too much variation here.

To say "fanfiction writers can't do x" or "fanfiction doesn't teach you to write y" is a bit like saying "crocheters only ever make granny squares". If you had access to the stuff people crochet the same way as we do for fanfiction, a shitton of it would be crooked coasters and granny squares! Because those are the projects that people pick up when they're just trying out crochet, and the majority of them will never go much further and probably stop crocheting altogether. But we don't see everybody's first or even third crochet projects the way we see people's fanfiction, so we don't think like that.

Yes, fanfiction spaces encourage and reward some aspects of writing more than others, but the same is true for like, different fiction genres in general. I'm not going around saying "mystery writers just never learn how to write decent porn, so sad, they'll never be a real author" because that's silly as fuck. You don't need to be good at writing porn to write good mystery novels. If a mystery writer wants to get into writing porn, they'll just have to build that skill. Don't judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, and stop comparing the entirety of people who write fanfiction to the very select group of people whose writing gets professionally published.

[sophieswundergarten]

NEW FIC IDEA!!!

An outsider POV, where it's someone/a few people visiting this awesome old bookstore absolutely stuffed with books and interesting plants and trinkets.

It's a young kid who enters first, and finds a kind young man with a sweater vest behind the counter who seems to be playing chess with himself. He advises the kid about books on chess and adventure stories, and when the child doesn't have quite enough money for the book he chooses, the young man just winks at him and lets him take it.

A few days later, the little kid drags his older sister to the bookstore. The young man who'd been behind the counter earlier was average, but the kid is pretty sure he'd remember if it was actually a really tall girl with blond hair and bright blue eyes.

The young lady waves at them as they enter, going back to her book on birds of prey. The two kids wander around the store for a bit, and the sister makes sure to double check she has enough money to pay for their books. The girl behind the counter checks them out at record speed, and offers the kids a marble each out of the bright red bucket sitting next to her.

The very next day, the older sister brings her friend. The two of them are surprised and a little excited to find a very dashing young man in spectacles manning the bookshop this time.

The two of them are doing a research project in school, and the sister talked her friend into coming there instead of looking online for sources. After they get over their tittering over his appearance, the two of them go up to him and ask if he knows anything about their project topics. They are delighted to find that the bespectacled young man seems to know everything about what they're researching. He even gives them a few tips on their writing.

A couple weeks later, the kid and his sister are back with their family. Their parents have been surprised that their kids are suddenly so invested in reading. They've been to the library a lot, but the kids have been begging their parents to actually visit the store with them so they can fully experience it.

When they finally convince their parents, the family enters to find a young girl with dyed hair in a green plaid suit jacket and band t shirt sitting on a stool manning the desk. The parents are a little upset that this seemingly under-aged and unsupervised girl is running a bookstore, but somehow the disdainful look the girl gave upon them looking up deters the adults from asking any pointed questions. The young girl sits on the stool, completely ignoring the family and quietly tapping her feet against the wood as she scribbles in a notebook.

Eventually, everyone is satisfied, and when they come up to check out, the girl looks appraisingly at all of their choices. She quietly switches out one of the parent's books with a small volume of collected poems, and the adults are too surprised and unsettled to comment.

Some time goes by, and whatever holiday (I'm thinking, like, Thanksgiving/Christmas or something), comes up. The family is walking into town for shopping or a communal celebration when they pass the bookstore. The adults are still a little concerned about the young girl they saw when they visited (And from what they heard from their kids the other people didn't seem to be nearly old enough either), and take a moment to peek in the window. But, the shop is closed, and there is a note hanging from the door. In several different handwritings and inks, a message has been written explaining that the various young people running the store have gone home to celebrate the holiday with their family. They wish their customers the best, and list the date they'll be back, signing their names at the bottom.

The children are ecstatic to have learned the names of their mystery booksellers, and the parents are reassured that the kids have someone looking out for them, and the family happily moves on to their own festivities

[papillon82fluttersby]

Famous Five Art Nostalgia – Publishing Overview

Introductory post

When I started this series of posts a few months ago, I only had the vaguest idea about the various editions of the Famous Five books that existed over the years in France. The most well-known editions are those from the “Bibliothèque Rose” collection from publisher Hachette – ask anyone on the street (born in the last millennium) and it is probably what they have in mind. But through my searches on the second-hand market – both physical and online – I discovered several additional publications, and even the “Bibliothèque Rose” collection itself saw several variations over the years, giving us a plethora of cover art and inside illustrations to enjoy. Read on to get an overview of the publishing history of the Famous Five books in France (and French-speaking Switzerland)!

The French publisher, Hachette, was founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as a bookshop and publishing company, first specialising in schoolbooks. In the 1850s, Louis Hachette opened several bookshops in railway stations and started to diversify his offer with serialised novels, travel books and magazines. In 1853, he signed a partnership with the Countess of Ségur (still famous to this day in the world of children’s literature) and subsequently founded the “Bibliothèque Rose” collection (lit. “pink library”) three years later, focused on books aimed to children aged 6-12. 150 years later, Hachette is now the first publishing company in France, and the “Bibliothèque Rose” collection still exists, although it has known many changes over the years.

The first Famous Five book was first published in France in 1955, under the simple title “Le Club des Cinq.” The French publisher did not follow the original English publishing order, and instead chose to publish in priority the books which, I assume, were deemed to garner most traction at the time. The first six books published in France have their original editions in a collection named “Ségur-Fleuriot” (thus named as an homage to two female writers whom Louis Hachette had been working with). These books were pocket-sized, with a hard cover, black-and-white illustrations, and a full-colour dust jacket.

“Ségur-Fleuriot” collection – From left to right:

#02 Five Go Adventuring Again / Le Club des Cinq (1955, ill. Simone Baudouin);

#03 Five Run Away Together / Le Club des Cinq contre-attaque (1955, ill. S. Baudouin);

#04 Five Go to Smuggler’s Top / Le Club des Cinq en vacances (1956, ill. S. Baudouin);

#06 Five Go On Kirrin Island Again / Le Club des Cinq joue et gagne (1956, ill. S. Baudouin);

#07 Five Go Off to Camp / Le Club des Cinq va camper (1957, ill. Paul Durand);

#08 Five Get into Trouble / Le Club des Cinq en péril (1957, ill. S. Baudouin).

(Note: The numbers starting with # correspond to the original English publishing order.)

From what I can gather – even if I find it odd because it doesn’t sound commercially sound – the next books benefitted from a double first edition: one in a collection called “Nouvelle Collection Ségur” with a soft cover, and the other in the above-mentioned “Bibliothèque Rose” with a hard cover. As far as I know, both these editions featured the same inside illustrations, although I have never seen a copy of a “Nouvelle Collection Ségur” book, so I cannot be absolutely sure of this. The red-coloured artwork featuring on the “Nouvelle Collection Ségur” covers were re-used (in black) on the inside title pages of the “Bibliothèque Rose” editions.

“Nouvelle Collection Ségur” – From left to right (in addition to the first six books which joined this collection at some point):

#10 Five on a Hike Together / Le Club des Cinq en randonnée (1958, ill. S. Baudouin);

#12 Five Go Down to the Sea / Le Club des Cinq au bord de la mer (1959, ill. Aldo de Amicis);

#09 Five Fall into Adventure / Le Club des Cinq et les gitans (1960, ill. Jeanne Hives);

#11 Five Have a Wonderful Time / Le Club des Cinq en roulotte (1960, ill. J. Hives);

#13 Five Go to Mystery Moor /  La locomotive du Club des Cinq (1961, ill. J. Hives);

#14 Five Have Plenty of Fun / Enlèvement au Club des Cinq (1961, ill. J. Hives);

#16 Five Go to Billycock Hill / Le Club des Cinq et les papillons (1962, ill. J. Hives);

#01 Five on a Treasure Island / Le Club des Cinq et le trésor de l’île (1962, ill. J. Hives);

#18 Five on Finniston Farm / Le Club des Cinq et le coffre aux merveilles (1962, ill. J. Hives);

#19 Five Go To Demon’s Rocks / La boussole du Club des Cinq (1963, ill. J. Hives); 

#17 Five Get into a Fix /  Le Club des Cinq aux sports d’hiver (1964, ill. J. Hives);

#05 Five Go Off in a Caravan / Le Club des Cinq et les saltimbanques (1965, ill. J. Hives) [not featured];

#20 Five Have a Mystery to Solve / Le Club des Cinq et le vieux puits (1966, ill. J. Hives) [not featured];

#21 Five Are Together Again / Le Club des Cinq en embuscade (1967, ill. J. Hives).

If you count carefully, the 6 books from the “Ségur-Fleuriot” edition added to the 14 books from “Nouvelle Collection Ségur” make for a total of 20… out of 21 from the original English series! Where is the last book?? Well, the missing book (namely #15 Five on a Secret Trail / Le Club des Cinq se distingue) benefitted from a higher-end edition called “Idéal-Bibliothèque,” featuring a larger-size format, hard cover, better-quality paper, a dust jacket, and more numerous illustrations. A second book joined this upgraded edition a year later.

“Idéal-Bibliothèque” collection:

#15 Five on a Secret Trail / Le Club des Cinq se distingue (1961, ill. J. Hives);

#08 Five Get into Trouble / Le Club des Cinq en péril (1962, ill. J. Hives).

The “Bibliothèque Rose” editions, featuring hard covers, 4 to 6 full-page colour art, and several black and white illustrations, are the most well-known to this day.

“Bibliothèque Rose” original editions from 1958 to 1967, featuring artwork from the four original illustrators

(Note: Covers sorted according to the original English publication order, as it is very difficult to pinpoint the exact French publishing order due to the many re-editions.)

The series became wildly popular and benefitted from several re-editions, some of them with new cover art produced by the then-current illustrator, Jeanne Hives.

Some “Bibliothèque Rose” re-editions from 1965-1969, featuring new cover art by Jeanne Hives

The 1970s saw a renewal of the “Bibliothèque Rose” collection with the arrival of illustrator Jean Sidobre who, over the next 15 years, produced numerous covers for all 21 books and, in time, produced the full set of inside illustrations. In these newer editions though, the number of full-page colour illustrations was reduced to four due to economic constraints.

Various cover art by Jean Sidobre from 1971 to 1985

(Note: The third cover for '#03 Five Run Away Together / Le Club des Cinq contre-attaque' is not from Sidobre but from another illustrator, called Annie-Claude Martin.)

Back in the early 1970s, thanks to the series’ popularity, some of the books were published in a larger size format featuring several more colour illustrations and some black and white ones. These editions were respectively called “Galaxie” and “Vermeille” and were both illustrated by Jean Sidobre. Some of the art is the same as in “Bibliothèque Rose” above, and some is new. You will notice that the two books from the “Galaxie” edition are also part of the “Vermeille” edition; my guess is that they started these upgraded editions as “Galaxie”, but for some reason decided that “Vermeille” was better, and so they fitted the first two books into the developing new collection – as far as I can figure out, the contents of these two books are the same under “Galaxie” and “Vermeille”, the only difference being the cover art.

“Galaxie” collection:

#02 Five Go Adventuring Again / Le Club des Cinq (1971, ill. J. Sidobre);

#21 Five Are Together Again / Le Club des Cinq en embuscade (1972, ill. J. Sidobre).

“Vermeille” collection:

#18 Five on Finniston Farm / Le Club des Cinq et le coffre aux merveilles (1973, ill. J. Sidobre);

#21 Five Are Together Again / Le Club des Cinq en embuscade (1974, ill. J. Sidobre);

#02 Five Go Adventuring Again / Le Club des Cinq (1974, ill. J. Sidobre);

#01 Five on a Treasure Island / Le Club des Cinq et le trésor de l’île (1975, ill. J. Sidobre);

#17 Five Get into a Fix / Le Club des Cinq aux sports d’hiver (1975, ill. J. Sidobre);

#09 Five Fall into Adventure / Le Club des Cinq et les gitans (1975, ill. J. Sidobre);

#04 Five Go to Smuggler’s Top / Le Club des Cinq en vacances (1975, ill. J. Sidobre).

The 1980s saw a drop in “Bibliothèque Rose” sales as kids were moving from books to TV and video games. To boost sales, the publisher made several changes to the look and format of the books, and the original text was sometimes abridged.

In 1988, as sales continued to fall, and to save money, Hachette changed its “Bibliothèque Rose” hardbacks to a softcover pocket format. The inside colour illustrations disappeared and the black and white ones decreased in number (re-using former art from Sidobre). On the upside, these editions saw a series of new cover art from a different illustrator, Yves Beaujard, whose art style on these covers is very similar to Sidobre’s, which leads me to think that this was a requirement from the publisher who wanted a certain consistency between Beaujard’s cover art and Sidobre’s inside illustrations.

From 1988 to 1992, the whole series benefitted from new cover art by Yves Beaujard (with the exception of ‘Le Club des Cinq au bord de la mer’ and ‘Le Club des Cinq et les papillons’, which re-used former art from Jean Sidobre)

(Note: As far as I know, ‘#03 Five Run Away Together / Le Club des Cinq contre-attaque’ was never included in this edition.)

In the 1990s, a series of new cover art was produced by Paul Gillon, with the same general layout as the previous edition. The inside black and white illustrations are either former art by Sidobre or new art by Anne Bozellec.

Cover art by Paul Gillon from 1991-98

In 2000, Hachette celebrated the new millennium with a new style for its “Bibliothèque Rose” collection, featuring a hybrid format between hardback and softback adorned with a glossy aesthetic. The inside illustrations are the same as the previous editions, by Sidobre or Bozellec.

Cover art by Philippe Munch and Jame’s Prunier from 1999-2004

(Note: As far as I know, ‘#10 Five Go on a Hike Together / Le Club des Cinq en randonnée’, ‘#11 Five Have a Wonderful Time / Le Club des Cinq en roulotte’, ‘#12 Five Go Down to the Sea / Le Club des Cinq au bord de la mer’, ‘#17 Five Get into a Fix / Le Club des Cinq aux sports d’hiver’ and ‘#21 Five Are Together Again / Le Club des Cinq en embuscade’ were never included in this edition.)

In the mid-2000s, the morality police made their way through the books, resulting in watered-down translations and some title changes. Frédéric Rébéna did a series of new cover art. The inside illustrations all but disappeared, only featuring as small vignettes at the opening of each chapter.

Cover art by Frédéric Rébéna from 2005-11

In the 2020s, the series changed from “Bibliothèque Rose” to “Bibliothèque Verte” collection with new cover art by Auren.

Similar to “Bibliothèque Rose,” “Bibliothèque Verte” (lit. “green library”) was another historically popular collection from publisher Hachette, initially aimed toward a teenage male readership, while “Bibliothèque Rose” was leaning toward a younger and female audience. Nowadays, the line between what is deemed appropriate reading material for boys or girls has thankfully blurred and both collections are now thematically oriented, “Bibliothèque Rose” focusing on humour/emotion and “Bibliothèque Verte” on action/adventure. Hence the marketing decision that caused the Famous Five series to lose its historical pink palette.

Cover art by Auren from 2019-21

And that’s a wrap for the main French editions! But there’s still a few more to go through.

First is France Loisirs, a book sales club to which you can register and you will receive a certain number of books each month. I do not know if the whole series was ever fully published by France Loisirs; the visuals that you will find below are all that I could find. The books are hardbacks with a dust jacket and without any inside illustrations. From what I could gather, they were published from 1975 to the early 1980s. The illustrator is called J.P. Morvan and, if you look closely, often took inspiration from earlier “Bibliothèque Rose” illustrations by Jean Sidobre.

“France Loisirs” edition from 1975-82 with cover art by J.P. Morvan

In the 1990s, France Loisirs published another batch, re-using cover art by Paul Gillon from the contemporary “Bibliothèque Rose” edition. I’m a bit fuzzy on the exact dates, but these were published from the early to mid-1990s to around 2000. I do not know anything about the books themselves, but I can assume that they contain only plain text without any inside illustrations.

“France Loisirs” edition from the 1990s featuring art by Paul Gillon

Last on our exploration of “Famous Five” French publishing is actually not French at all! But I’m including it in this post because it uses the same French translations as Hachette.

This particular edition is from a publisher named “Edito Service SA, Genève”, which you may have guessed is from Switzerland. I don’t have a lot of information about its history and only learned about its existence because some of these books made it through the border into France, and from there onto the online second-hand market. The books each contain 5 illustrations by Umberto Nonna (3 black and white and 2 full-colour), and they come both in softback and hardback formats. They were published in 1981-82.

“Edito Service” edition from 1981-82 (softbacks)

“Edito Service” edition from 1981-82 (some of the hardbacks)

(Note: Despite what the above pictures suggest, all the hardback covers have the same dark green background.)

Thank you for your attention, and see you soon!

~~~~~~

We’ve now truly come to the end of this deep-dive into Famous Five French publishing.

[strawberryxmagic]

[ lucy hale | she/her ] Another face is seeking safety in New Orleans. Make sure to welcome HAVEN KENNER to the home of the resilient. Rumor has it that they are an 21 year old WITCH/WOLF HYBRID, who is one of the SURVIVORS but we’ll keep that a secret. They are said to be STUBBORN, but that’s all a façade to cover up their HARD WORKING nature. We’ve heard that they can be found listening to I CAN DO IT WITH A BROKEN HEART by TAYLOR SWIFT, which sums them up pretty well. Let’s hope that they can find a way to survive this harsh new world.

&. BASICS 

Full Name: haven briar kenner

Nicknames: tbd

Age: 21 

Sexuality: pansexual

Date of Birth:

Gender & Species: female / witch-werewolf hybrid

Current Location: new orleans

&. MORE BASIC INFO

Languages: english, french

Education: going to college part time

Occupation: works at a bookshop

Drinks, Smokes, & Drugs: none

&. PERSONALITY

Zodiac Sign:

Bad Habits: overworking herself

Hobbies: reding, writing,

Fears: disappointing her family

Five Positive Traits: amiable, bright, creative, kind, sympathetic

Five Negative Traits: stubborn, denfensive, impulsive, shy, intense

&. BIOGRAPHY

classic overacheiver

super close with her mom and siblings.

is always trying to take care of everyone else but herself

she's not always the most understanding after putting so many things on her plate but she will listen and give you hugs when you need it

she loves reading and writing stories. it's the only thing that has kept her functioning

as a kid, haven was kind of the best of both worlds between her brother and sister. she was not as reserved as her brother but not quite as independent as her sister.

she always admired that her brother would try his best to take care of them in his own way. she was naturally a caring person who wanted the people she cared about most to be alright. to be happy. gradually, she put herself to the side and focused more on making sure her sister, her mom, and even the brother dedicated to taking care of her was alright. even if it wasn't big things, she would always make sure they were good.

even with her mild mannered and kind nature, haven definitely had a temper simmering beneath the surface. she was more passive aggressive when she got mad. but when it came to her family, she could be every bit the belligerent werewolf her sister could. her rage was just more contained, more in the shadows.

during high school, haven focused more on her future. on being able to take care of the people cared about most. she joined clubs, she took ap classes, she did everything she could for her future college applications. she planned on going to best college she could get and get a career that could take care of her family.

after high school, haven initially went away to college. she struggled, always worried about her family and if they were doing alright. after her first year and many panic attacks later, she transferred to a university back in louisiana where she was only a drive away.

when haven found out that both her siblings had disappeared, she didn't quite handle that well either. but she shoved all that aside to focus on her mother. she knew that tara would be even worse off than she was. they were all her children after all. haven transferred once again, but this time to an online university. she was determined to make sure her mom was alright. she found herself a job ( or two ) and focused all her energy on keeping what was left of her family sane and functional, herself be darned.

when her siblings appeared again after being trapped in a prison world, haven spread her energies to making sure that they were sane and functional. she would make sure they remembered to eat, what their schedules were, make sure the house was clean, etc.

after the gala, she is a nuerotic mess, requiring her mom and siblings to keep in touch so she can make sure that they haven't disappeared again.

(i’ll add more or edit this later!