Tag: Covers

Cover Reveal for Quidditch Through the Ages

illustrated quidditch

As part of the new editions of the Harry Potter books, there is a new illustrated edition of Quidditch Through the Ages, with illustrations by Emily Gravett. The full press release and cover image from Bloomsbury is below.

I love the colour in this cover – the teal background, the golden lettering and the colourful images of the quaffle, the bludgers, the snitch, and a broomstick, as well as various quidditch players zooming around and team colours and emblems. It brings the book to life and it will be lovely to see what is inside.

BLOOMSBURY REVEALS COVER FOR NEW ILLUSTRATED EDITION OFQUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGES

‘Oh, you wait, it’s the best game in the world.’ Ron Weasley

Bloomsbury Children’s Books has revealed the cover of the full-colour illustrated edition of J.K. Rowling’s Quidditch Through the Ages illustrated by Emily Gravett. The cover showcases some of the key elements of Harry Potter’s favourite sport – including players, team badges and a hovering Golden Snitch waiting to be caught. Devoured by Harry Potter in his first year, Quidditch Through the Ages is consulted on a daily basis by the young witches and wizards at Hogwarts, and this beautifully illustrated edition is set to become a firm favourite for readers of all ages who dream of grabbing a broomstick and taking to the skies.

Publishing in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and USA on 6th October 2020, Quidditch Through the Ages Illustrated Edition features showstopping artwork from Emily Gravett, twice winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal. Emily’s wildly creative imagination has conjured a cornucopia of sporting memorabilia to surprise and delight. With some items lovingly created in a dazzling range of media and infused with her trademark visual wit, these charming and funny artworks are the perfect pairing for J.K. Rowling’s humorous insights into the magical, airborne sport.

Quidditch Through the Ages invites readers to take a whistle-stop tour through wizarding history, reliving epic matches and great moments along the way. Accessible at any point in the Harry Potter reading journey, it is packed with trivia, tales of on-pitch antics, and Quidditch stars past and present. The sports almanac also contains comprehensive profiles of teams loved by readers of the Harry Potter novels.

Quidditch Through the Ages first appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. After catching Harry Potter with a copy, it is also the reason that Professor Snape invents the rule that no library books are allowed outside of Hogwarts School. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone continues to mesmerise readers and, in 2019, was the number three bestselling children’s book in Australia overall and the number two children’s novel.

A percentage of proceeds from the sale of this edition will go to J.K. Rowling’s own international charity Lumos, which helps some of the world’s most vulnerable children and young people to have a better life; and to Comic Relief.

Wizarding World Digital has exclusively revealed examples of artwork from Quidditch Through the Ages Illustrated Edition. See Emily Gravett’s astonishing art at the below link.
https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/bloomsbury-reveal-cover-for-new-illustrated-edition-of-quidditch-through-the-ages

September 2019 Round Up

Readings and Musings on all things books, Aussie authors and everything in between

 

This month, I reached my overall reading goal of 150 books with Whisper by Lynette Noni. Overall, I have reached 71 books in my Australian Women Writer’s challenge, and am nearing the end of my PopSugar Challenge, with only a few categories left. I also filled out my Book Bingo card for the year, with my final wrap up post to be written after my final post for that goes live.

#Dymocks52Challenge

Here is a breakdown of what I read.

September Round-Up – 15    

Book Author Challenge
The Impossible Quest #1: Escape from Wolfhaven Castle Kate Forsyth General, #Dymocks52Challenge, #AWW2019
A Lighthouse in Time Sandra Bennett General, #Dymocks52Challenge, #AWW2019
New Coach Tim Cahill General, #Dymocks52Challenge
488 Rules for Life Kitty Flanagan General, #Dymocks52Challenge, #AWW2019
Silver Chris Hammer General, #Dymocks52Challenge
Beauty, Beast and Belladonna

 

 Maia Chance General, #Dymocks52Challenge
There Was Still Love

 

 Favel Parrett General, #Dymocks52Challenge, #AWW2019
Rebel Women who Changed Australia

 

 Susanna de Vries General, #Dymocks52Challenge, #AWW2019, Book Bingo
Binder of Doom: Boa Constructor Troy Cummings General, #Dymocks52Challenge
The Deathless Girls Kiran Millwood Hargrave General, #Dymocks52Challenge
The Book of Dust Volume 2: The Secret Commonwealth Philip Pullman General, #Dymocks52Challenge, Book Bingo
The Christmasaurus and the Winter Witch Tom Fletcher General, #Dymocks52Challenge,
Dragon Masters: The Land of the Spring Dragon Tracey West General, #Dymocks52Challenge,
The Mitford Scandal Jessica Fellowes General, #Dymocks52Challenge,
Whisper

 

 Lynette Noni General, #Dymocks52Challenge, #AWW2019,

2019 Badge

  1. The Impossible Quest #1: Escape from Wolfhaven Castle by Kate Forsyth
  2. A Lighthouse in Time by Sandra Bennett
  3. Tiny Timmy: The New Coach by Tim Cahill
  4. 488 Rules for Life by Kitty Flanagan
  5. Boa Constructor (Binder of Doom) by Troy Cummings
  6. Silver by Chris Hammer
  7. Beauty, Beast and Belladonna by Maia Chance
  8. There Was Still Love by Favel Parrett
  9. Rebel Women who Changed Australia by Susanna de Vries
  10. The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
  11. The Book of Dust Volume 2: The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
  12. The Christmasaurus and the Winter Witch by Tom Fletcher
  13. Dragon Masters: The Land of the Spring Dragon by Tracey West
  14. The Mitford Scandal by Jessica Fellowes
  15. Whisper by Lynette Noni

 

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Book Bingo

 

Rows Across:

 

Row One: BINGO

 

A book with a red cover: Children of the Dragon: Race for the Red Dragon by Rebecca Lim – #AWW2019

Beloved Classic: Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner – AWW2018

A novel that has more than 500 pages: Rebel Women who Changed Australia by Susanna de Vries, The Book of Dust Volume 2: The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman

 – #AWW2019, The Book of Dust Volume 2: The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman

A novella no more than 150 pages: Deltora Quest: The Forest of Silence by Emily Rodda – #AWW2019

Prize winning book: Somewhere Around the Corner by Jackie French – #AWW2019, Alexander Altmann A10567 by Suzy Zail – #AWW2019

 

Row Two: BINGO

 

A book by an author with the same initials as you: The Book Ninja by Ali Berg and Michelle Klaus – #AWW2019

Non-Fiction book about an event: The Suicide Bride by Tanya Bretherton – #AWW2019

Fictional biography about a woman from history: Fled by Meg Keneally – #AWW2019

Memoir about a non-famous person: Australia’s Sweetheart by Michael Adams

Book written by an Australian woman more than 10 years ago: Deltora Quest: The Lake of Tears by Emily Rodda – #AWW2019 (2001)

 

Row Three: BINGO

 

Themes of Science Fiction: Daughter of Bad Times by Rohan Wilson

Themes of Culture: The Lost Magician by Piers Torday

Themes of Justice: What Lies Beneath Us by Kirsty Ferguson – AWW2019

Themes of Inequality: The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer – AWW2019

Themes of Fantasy: Vardaesia by Lynette Noni – AWW2019

 

Row Four: – BINGO

 

Book with a place in the title: The French Photographer by Natasha Lester -AWW2019

Book set in the Australian Outback: The Last Dingo Summer by Jackie French (Matilda Saga #8) – #AWW2019

Book set on the Australian Coast: The House of Second Chances by Esther Campion – AWW2019

Book set in the Australian Mountains: The Orchardist’s Daughter by Karen Viggers – AWW2019

Book set in an exotic location: Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte – #AWW2019

 

Row Five: BINGO

 

Written by an Australian Man: The Honeyman and the Hunter by Neil Grant

Written by an Australian Woman: Zelda Stitch Term Two: Too Much Witch by Nicki Greenberg – AWW2019

Written by an author under the age of 35: Archibald, The Naughtiest Elf in the World Causes Trouble with the Easter Bunny by Skye Davidson – #AWW2019

Written by an author over the age of 65: Miss Franklin: How Miles Franklin’s Brilliant Career began by Libby Hathorn – #AWW2019

Written by an author you’ve never read: The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble – #AWW2019

 

Row Six: BINGO

 

Literary: Zebra and Other Stories by Debra Adelaide – AWW2019

Crime: All the Tears in China by Sulari Gentill – AWW2019

Historical: The Familiars by Stacey Halls

Romance: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Comedy: Best Foot Forward by Adam Hills

 

Rows Down:

 

Row One:  – BINGO

 

A book with a red cover: Children of the Dragon: Race for the Red Dragon by Rebecca Lim – #AWW2019

Book by an author with the same initials as you: The Book Ninja by Ali Berg and Michelle Klaus – #AWW2019,

Themes of science fiction: Daughter of Bad Times by Rohan Wilson

Book with a place in the title: The French Photographer by Natasha Lester -AWW2019

Written by an Australian man: The Honeyman and the Hunter by Neil Grant

Literary: Zebra and Other Stories by Debra Adelaide – AWW2019

 

Row Two: BINGO

 

Beloved Classic: Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner – AWW2018      

Non-Fiction book about an event: The Suicide Bride by Tanya Bretherton – #AWW2019

Themes of culture: The Lost Magician by Piers Torday

Book set in the Australian outback: The Last Dingo Summer by Jackie French (Matilda Saga #8) – #AWW2019

Written by an Australian woman: Zelda Stitch Term Two: Too Much Witch by Nicki Greenberg – AWW2019

Crime: All the Tears in China by Sulari Gentill – AWW2019

 

Row three: BINGO

 

Novel that has 500 pages or more: Rebel Women who Changed Australia by Susanna de Vries

 – #AWW2019, The Book of Dust Volume 2: The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman

Fictional biography about a woman from history: Fled by Meg Keneally – #AWW2019

Themes of justice: What Lies Beneath Us by Kirsty Ferguson – AWW2019

Book set on the Australian coast: The House of Second Chances by Esther Campion – AWW2019

Written by an author under the age of 35: Archibald, The Naughtiest Elf in the World Causes Trouble with the Easter Bunny by Skye Davidson – #AWW2019

Historical: The Familiars by Stacey Halls

 

Row Four: – BINGO

 

Novella no more than 150 pages: Deltora Quest: The Forest of Silence by Emily Rodda – #AWW2019

Memoir about a non-famous person: Australia’s Sweetheart by Michael Adams

Themes of inequality: The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer – AWW2019

Book set in the Australian mountains: The Orchardist’s Daughter by Karen Viggers – AWW2019

Written by an author over the age of 65: Miss Franklin: How Miles Franklin’s Brilliant Career began by Libby Hathorn – #AWW2019

Romance: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

 

Row Five: BINGO

 

Prize winning book: Somewhere Around the Corner by Jackie French – #AWW2019, Alexander Altmann A10567 by Suzy Zail – #AWW2019

Book written by an Australian woman more than ten years ago: Deltora Quest: The Lake of Tears by Emily Rodda – #AWW2019 (2001)

Themes of fantasy: Vardaesia by Lynette Noni – AWW2019

Book set in an exotic location: Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte – #AWW2019

Written by an author you’ve never read: The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble – #AWW2019

Comedy: Best Foot Forward by Adam Hills

 

 

Of these, due to work obligations, not as many were Australian Women as I would have liked but will aim to get more read in the coming months. Other challenges will hopefully be filled in then as well so I can add those lists in towards the end of the year and in my final wrap up posts for each challenge.

 

Until next month!

Corella Press Blog Tour: Interview with Kathleen Jennings

Hi Kathleen, and welcome to The Book Muse.

When did you first start illustrating for books, and what attracted you to doing so?

 I’ve always drawn on things (lecture notes, people), but I started seriously illustrating about ten years ago, when my first book cover (for Greer Gilman’s Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter’s Tales, from Small Beer Press) was published.

I love stories and storytelling, and that is what attracted me to illustrating: this very immediate, physical way of telling tales and playing in other people’s stories.

 Have you always enjoyed drawing and illustrating? What other things do you enjoy?

 Yes, although I planned to do something with prose before I started working on my art. I remember a Little Red Riding Hood book we had with beautiful soft illustrations, and Garth William’s illustrations for the Little House books, and of course (and most of all) Pauline Baynes’s illustrations for Narnia: illustrations have always been important to me, but I enjoy it more the more I do it. Levelling up, getting a bit more control, pulling off an effect I’ve been trying to get right.

I also write (I have an Australian Gothic novella, Flyaway, coming out from Tor.com next year!), and do a bit of research and tutoring at university, and I’ve been a lawyer and a translator, among other things.

 What is your favourite medium to use when illustrating?

 I really enjoy the graphic simplicity and mystery and engineering considerations of cut-paper silhouettes, like these Corella illustrations. But I also enjoy the chatty narrative possibilities of pen-and-ink (a proper dip pen with a Hunt Crowquill 102 nib), and I do a lot of documentary/life sketching with Pitt marker pens. Lately I’ve been playing around with linocuts, as well. So: all of them! But I’m very fond of having a strong traditional media base, although I often tidy things up digitally and add digital colour.

 How long have you been working with Corella Press?

 I’ve been working with Corella since they started and I designed their logo! So many sketches of little parrots.

 

 Do you work primarily with Corella Press, or are there other authors and places you work with?

 I work with lots of publishers and individual authors. Small Beer Press have been with me from the very beginning, but I’ve worked with Tor.com, Candlewick, Little, Brown, Simon & Schuster, and Walker Books UK. Locally, I’ve worked with Ticonderoga, Twelfth Planet and Fablecroft, among others. And I do a lot of work with Angela Slatter, a Brisbane-based British Fantasy and World Fantasy Award winning author.

 Did you enjoy creating the artwork for the books being released in this series?

 The artwork for these Corella covers has been a great deal of fun. The books weren’t selected when we started, so I was needing to design a matched, linked set of images that saidAustralian Mystery and Crime, and then incorporate elements specific to each book as those emerged, and make them beautiful, too — or at least pleasing to me.

 It’s a ridiculously fine and lacy piece, too — about 29cm round and all hand-cut, and such a pleasure to pick up and peer at the world through.

 What are your plans for future projects?

 So many! I’ve just finished a map and ornaments for Holly Black’s Queen of Nothingand chapter headers for the 10thanniversary edition of Cassandra Clare’s Clockwork Angel. There are a few secret projects with favourite authors in the works, but a fairy-tale book with Juliet Marillier, through Serenity Press, has been announced. And I want to experiment more with linocut illustrations.

 Do you have any artists or illustrators who inspired you, or whose work you always enjoy seeing? Who are they and why?

 So many! It’s hard to choose. But Rovina Cai’s work is enchanting, and Charles Vess’s illustrations have always been an inspiration. Pauline Baynes is the first illustrator I recognised as such: she isNarnia to me, but it’s her illustrations for Tolkien (especially Farmer Giles of Ham) that taught me a lot about the fun and possibilities of it. At the moment I’m collecting Angela Barrett’s and Evaline Ness’s picture books — Evaline Ness’s Do You Have The Time, Lydia, in particular, is vigorous and human and an important reminder to just do the work that needs to be done.

 

Kathleen also sent through these concept sketches of the artwork she created:

Web-KJennings-CorellaThumbnails
Credit: Kathleen Jennings (c) – Preliminary sketches of final cover art for Corella Press, sent to me by the illustrator for use. 

 

Thanks Kathleen

 

 

 

Book Bingo Twenty-two – a prize winning book, a book by someone over sixty, and a book with a yellow cover.

Book bingo take 2

With 2018 rushing towards its busy, and warm conclusion, and in consultation with my fellow book bingo players, I have assigned some previously read books to the following categories, and have assigned my prize-winning category is taken up this time by 2007 Aurealis Best Children’s Book winning series, The Chain of Charms by Kate Forsyth, and have utilised other books in different squares from last time for others this time.

Book bingo take 2 .jpg

Rows Across – update:

Row #2 –

A book with a yellow cover: Australia Day by Melanie Cheng – AWW2018

A book by an author you’ve never read before: If Kisses Cured Cancer by T.S. Hawken

A non-fiction book:

 A collection of short stories: Fairy Tales for Feisty Girls by Susannah McFarlane – AWW2018

A book with themes of culture: Relic of the Blue Dragon (Children of the Dragon #1) by Rebecca Lim – AWW2018

 

Row #3:  – BINGO

A book written by an Australian woman:Disappearing Act by Jacqueline Harvey (Kensy and Max #2) – AWW2018, The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton – AWW2018

A book written by an Australian man: Captain Cook’s Apprentice by Anthony Hill

A prize-winning book: Chain of Charms series by Kate Forsyth – 2007 Aurealis Award for Best Children’s Fiction – AWW2018

A book that scares you: What the Woods Keep by Katya de Becerra – AWW2018

A book with a mystery: The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes (Mitford Murders #1)

 

Row #5

A book that became a movie:

A book based on a true story:

A book everyone is talking about:

A book written by someone under thirty: The Yellow House by Emily O’Grady – AWW2018

A book written by someone over sixty: Miss Lily’s Lovely Ladies by Jackie French – AWW2018

 Rows Down update:

Row #1 –

A book set more than 100 years ago: The Gypsy Crown by Kate Forsyth (Chain of Charms #1) – AWW2018

A book with a yellow cover: Australia Day by Melanie Cheng – AWW2018

A book written by an Australian woman: Disappearing Act by Jacqueline Harvey (Kensy and Max #2) – AWW2018

A forgotten classic:

A book that became a movie:

Row #3: –

 A memoir: No Country Woman by Zoya Patel – AWW2018

A non-fiction book:

A prize-winning book: Chain of Charms series by Kate Forsyth – 2007 Aurealis Award for Best Children’s Fiction – AWW2018

A book with non-human characters: A Home for Molly by Holly Webb, Beast World by George Ivanoff

A book everyone is talking about:

Row #5 – BINGO

 A Foreign Translated Novel: The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree by Paola Peretti

A book with themes of culture: Relic of the Blue Dragon (Children of the Dragon #1) by Rebecca Lim – AWW2018

A book with a mystery: The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes (Mitford Murders #1)

A book with a number in the title:

A book written by someone over sixty: Miss Lily’s Lovely Ladies by Jackie French – AWW2018

AWW-2018-badge-rose

Row three across and row five down are my bingo rows this time around!

Australia DayLast time, Australia Day by Melanie Cheng slotted into the short story square, and yet this time, it fits into the yellow cover category this time. A series of short stories about life in Australia, and the varying experiences within society, aiming to capture the breadth of society and the different ways people react to, and deal with how they are perceived, and what is expected from the Australian experience, or perhaps in some cases, Melanie plays on the conflict between what is expected and who her characters are – varying between race, gender, class and sexuality to try and give a well-thought look at how Australia and Australia Day, isn’t the same for everyone, whatever their identity, and that it never will be. By revealing uncomfortable truths about Australian society in a way many people can relate to and understand.

Miss Lily 1Another book I recycled this time was Miss Lily’s Lovely Ladies by Jackie French – which fitted into the over 500-page square last time. This time, it fits into a book by someone over sixty – I did this again to make it easier filling the remaining categories with books I am in the middle of, and some I am yet to find. A historical fiction novel set during World War One, Sophie is sent to London to a school to learn how to be a lady – yet it is much more than that – she learns the ways of spying and using her feminine ways to find out about the war, and eventually, play a part in the war on the front line, in a time when the world is in tatters, and where men and women are dying everyday as battles rage across Europe, leaving Sophie’s home relatively untouched by the guns of war. Jackie French has been writing for all age groups for many years, and has been a favourite of mine since I was thirteen, and read Somewhere Around the Corner, which I still have my shelf. Another good book that fit more than one square.

My final square is the prize-winning book square. Ordinarily, this would go to a single book, however, with the flexibility we have given ourselves in this challenge, I have assigned it to a series I read this year within two weeks (had I not been so sick, it would have been a week). The Chain of Charms series by Kate Forsyth won the Aurealis Award for Best Children’s Fiction in 2007, for the whole series, comprised of six books, and won for books 2-6, i the long fiction category:

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

Kate Forsyth, The Silver Horse, The Chain of Charms 2, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Herb of Grace, The Chain of Charms 3, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Cat’s Eye Shell, The Chain of Charms 4, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Lightning Bolt, The Chain of Charms 5, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Butterfly in Amber, The Chain of Charms 6, Pan Macmillan

The series follows Luka and Emilia during the final days of a tyrannical reign during the time of Oliver Cromwell, trying to track down charms from each Roma family in the south regions of England, to reunite them and their families to bring back their good luck and fortune, and also, help stop the violence growing around them, and release their families from prison. It is a charming tail about friendship, and family, tying in historical fact and belief to create a world that children and any other readers can escape to.

Again, all my books are by Australian Women Writers. My aim was for each to be a unique book, but as I am cutting it fine, I’m not sure that will happen, so recycling will happen at times. Onto my next Book Bingo in two weeks time!

Booktopia

Book Bingo 2018

At the start of this year, I had decided to undertake the annual Australian Women Writer’s Challenge, and the 2018 Popsugar Reading Challenge. As I will read some books that will work for both, this shouldn’t be a massive undertaking, apart from a few categories that won’t coincide with the #AWW2018.

AWW-2018-badge-rose

Whilst perusing some of my favourite blogs today, I came across a Book Bingo, that Theresa Smith Writes and Mrs B’s Book Reviews are taking part in. I decided to give this a go, deciding that I would be more casual, and try to fill as many squares as I could. Rather than actively seek out all the squares, I am aiming to see where books for the other challenges fit into them to make it easier for me. I do have some books that won’t fit the #AWW2018 but might fit this and the other challenge I can do.

As today is launch day, there is no review for today. I aim to have one up on the 20th though, possibly scheduled. Keep an eye out for it and a note about which square it has filled.

To try and keep involved with Theresa and Mrs B, I will aim to complete a bingo review on the first and third Saturday of the month, whichever square happens to be have been filled at that time, and that will be the review I post.

I will be aiming to complete this over the course of the year, however, if I miss a few squares I won’t worry, though filling them all would be a very cool achievement. As part of this year’s reading journey, being able to use books across a few challenges will help me complete as many reviews and as many categories as possible.

If I double up with Theresa and Mrs B, that will be entirely coincidental, but also rather fun and interesting to see how we manage to fill the squares, and as some categories are open, what we choose to read for these ones.

My focus is of course, the #AWW2018 challenge, but this is just a bit of added fun.

Here is the bingo below, and ping-backs to Theresa and Mrs B are in the second paragraph.

book bingo 2018.jpg

If you want to join me, as a blogger, ping back this and the other posts, and share your reviews!

Booktopia