If you love The Spook’s Apprentice series come along and meet Joseph Delaney in Christchurch this Wednesday (20 February). You can come and meet him at Upper Riccarton Library, from 7:00-8:00pm on Wednesday 20 February. He’ll talk about his books, you can ask him questions, and even get your book signed.
It’s a free event but you need to book a space. Just call the library on 03-941-7923 to book.
Joseph Delaney is the author of one of my favourite series, The Spook’s Apprentice. It’s seriously creepy and full of all sorts of horrible creatures. As the Spook’s Apprentice, Thomas has to keep the County safe from the evil that lurks in the dark. The latest book in the series, Spook’s: Slither’s Tale, has just been released, and to celebrate Joseph has joined us today to talk about his Top 5 scariest creatures in the Spook’s stories.
The Haggenbrood
This creature is used in ritual combat to determine the outcome of disputes between citizens of Valkarky (See ‘Slither’). It has three selves which share a common mind and they are, for all intents and purposes, one creature. It is fast and ferocious with fearsome teeth and claws.
Grimalkin
This is the witch assassin of the Malkin Clan (See ‘The Spook’s Battle’ and also ‘I am Grimalkin’). She is deadly with blades and stores powerful dark magic in the thumb-bones that she cuts from her dead enemies with her snippy scissors in order to wear around her neck.
The Bane
This creature from ‘The Spook’s Curse’ is trapped behind a silver gate in a labyrinth of dark tunnels under Priestown Cathedral. It is a shape-shifter with a terrible power; the Bane is able to press a victim so hard that his blood and bones are smeared into the cobbles.
Golgoth
This ‘Lord of Winter’ from ‘The Spook’s Secret’ has the power to plunge the world into another Ice Age. If summoned from the dark he can freeze you solid and shatter you into pieces like an ice stalactite falling on to a slab of rock.
Morwena
She is the most powerful of the water witches (See The Spook’s Mistake). Fathered by the Fiend, she has a blood-filled eye which is usually closed, the lids fixed together with a sharp thin bone. But anyone she gazes upon with that eye is immediately paralyzed and she is able to drink that victim’s blood at her leisure.
Best wishes, Joseph Delaney
Reserve your copy of the latest book in the Spook’s Apprentice series,Slither’s Tale, from your library now.
Some of my favourite stories are ones that creep me out and send a chill down my spine. When I was a kid there weren’t many authors who wrote horror stories or ghost stories. R.L. Stine’s books were about the creepiest I could find and he’s still writing them today. If you look up R.L. Stine in the library catalogue, you’ll find we have 97 of his books in the library!
If you like horror stories, ghost stories or stories about the supernatural there are now lots of authors who write these stories. Some of my favourite seriously spooky authors are:
If you like ghost stories, horror stories, things that go bump in the night and all things supernatural, you’ll love Seriously Spooky Month on the Christchurch Kids Blog this month. It’s Halloween on October 31st so we thought, what better way to celebrate than have a whole month of spookiness.
We’ll be highlighting the scariest books we have in the library, having some seriously spooky competitions, and we’ll be joined by some seriously spooky authors, including Joseph Delaney (author of the Spook’s Apprentice series).
Derek Landy hits New Zealand this week! If you’re a huge Skulduggery Pleasant fan like me you’ll be itching to meet Derek when he comes to Christchurch on Friday. You can meet him at The Children’s Bookshop this Friday (10 August) at 4:30pm.
In 2010 I got the chance to interview Derek Landy, author of the Skulduggery Pleasant books. He is a really cool guy and very funny. I asked him lots of questions about his characters, his inspirations and writing. Read the interview to find out the answers to these questions and more:
How do you come up with your names?
Was Skulduggery’s sidekick always going to be a girl?
What specific books, movies and music inspire you?
Would you consider making a Skulduggery Pleasant movie?
If you answered yes to the question above you just might have the chance to meet Derek Landy, the creator of Skulduggery Pleasant, when he comes to New Zealand for his 2012 Down Under Tour in August. If that isn’t enough, you’ll also get a complete set of Skulduggery books, signed by Derek. All you have to do to have the chance to meet Derek Landy is go to his website and answer these two questions:
Gordon Edgley is, amongst other things, a horror writer and uncle. He is also dead. Stephanie, his beloved niece, is saddened by this unexpected event. In the first Skulduggery Pleasant Book you are introduced to the rest of Gordon’s family. Name the other family members who make an appearance in the sample chapter on the website.
Tell them in 25 words or less why it should be you meeting Derek Down Under.
What are you waiting for? Go to www.skulduggerypleasant.co.uk to enter. You can also listen to a FREE audio book of the very first Skulduggery Pleasant book on his website.
I’ve been reading lots of short stories lately because we’ve been getting some cool collections of short stories in the library. The Chronicles of Harris Burdick is a collection of short stories written by 14 amazing authors, including Kate DiCamillo, Louis Sachar, Jon Scieszka and Lois Lowry. The stories are based on the original illustrations from the book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, in which there are only illustrations with a title and caption. If you’ve never seen The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, you should definitely get this from the library to have a go at making up your own stories to go with the pictures.
There are stories for everyone in this book, from the magical and funny to the strange and unsettling. There are naughty children, different dimensions, a wizard, floating nuns, aliens, ghosts, and a horrible stepfather who gets his comeuppance. All of the illustrations are amazing and you could make up all sorts of stories about them. I liked some of the stories more than others. Some of them are really strange and others just left me thinking ‘what just happened?’ My favourite story is The Harp by Linda Sue Park, about two sisters who are always bickering and get a spell put on them by a wizard. Get a copy of The Chronicles of Harris Burdick and discover this strange collection of stories from some of your favourite authors.
We hope you’ve enjoyed Seriously Spooky Month here on the Christchurch Kids Blog. Thanks to our seriously spooky authors, Joseph Delaney and Barry Hutchison for joining us on the blog.
Reading Organ Music by Margaret Mahy is like being stuck in a really weird, creepy dream. I had chills running down my spine and the whole time I was trying to figure out what was going on. All these things combine to make a thrilling story.
As Harley and David make their way home one night, through a dodgy part of town, they come across a battered old car parked on the side of the road with the keys in the ignition but nobody else about. They get in the car and drive off, but when they try to stop they realize the car is actually driving itself. The car eventually stops in the middle of a forest at a place called the Willesden Experimental Station, but what sinister secret does this place hide?
One thing I really liked about this book is its brilliant cover that is illustrated by Gavin Bishop. It really tells you a lot about the story.
If you like creepy, scary stories about ghosts and secret experiments then you should read Organ Music by Margaret Mahy.
Haunted is a brand new collection of ghost stories written by some of the best seriously spooky authors. I discovered it on the library shelves the other day and picked it up to see who the stories were written by. I was excited to see that Haunted includes short stories from Derek Landy (Skulduggery Pleasant), Joseph Delaney (The Spook’s Apprentice), Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines) and Susan Cooper (The Dark is Rising).
There are stories about a lost ghost child trapped in a mirror and wanting to pull you in; an evil Soul Eater waiting for its next victim; a ghost walk with a haunting twist; and the spirit of a drowned boy who needs to be put to rest. I can’t wait to read these stories and I’ll tell you about my favourite stories soon.
Halloween is nearly here. It’s celebrated on 31st October and it’s a time when we enjoy being scared by witches, ghosts and other creepy creatures! We might dress up, have a party, read scary stories or make some yummy treats. We’ve been highlighting some of our favourite spooky authors throughout our Seriously Spooky month, including Joseph Delaney and Barry Hutchison.
The Halloween page on our Kids website has lots of great ideas for celebrating Halloween.
I got my idea for the Spook’s Apprentice series when I moved to the village of Stalmine in Lancashire. It has its own boggart, ‘The Hall Knocker’, which was exorcised by a priest who laid it to rest under the doorstep of a cottage. So boggarts are important in the books!
My son’s first house when he’d just got married was in Hamlet Road in Fleetwood. It was a creepy house badly in need of decoration and it had a bad feeling about it. Strange things began to happen which culminated in a weird event. One night Stephen and his wife were in bed upstairs when they heard a tremendous crash from the kitchen below. The doors were locked and they thought they might have an intruder/burglar.
Nervously, they went downstairs to find a pan in the middle of the kitchen floor; inside it was half a cup. The other half of the cup was yards away near the door. Not only that, the cup was cut into two perfect halves as if a laser beam had sliced it. The cups and pans had not been next to each other and there was no explanation for why they ended up on the floor like that. They had no children (at that time) nor pets that might have caused that and the doors were locked. Nobody human had entered the house!
One explanation is that it was a poltergeist. If so I think that’s what boggarts are. They move things; break thing, make raps and bangs in the night. So the name ‘Hall Knocker’ is a good one for the Stalmine Boggart. You can imagine hundreds of years ago similar kinds of phenomena happening at the big house at the top of the village. The stories would have been passed down through the generations as folk tales, eventually being written up. There are different names for such things in different parts of England but in Lancashire (the County) we call them boggarts!
If you love stories that are creepy and action-packed, with brave characters that fight to protect humans from monsters that live in the dark, then you’ll love the Spook’s Apprentice series.
Today I have been thinking about Robert Ballard, the man whose book inspired my book THE GHOSTS OF IRON BOTTOM SOUND
Robert Ballard says that the sea is the world’s biggest museum. He loves finding and exploring shipwrecks (he found Titanic, H.M.A.S. Canberra – the ship in my book, Bismarck, and many others). He also believes strongly in the importance of protecting the oceans. Robert Ballard is definetly one of my heroes.
Here is a link to an interview for children, about him. If you search for yourself, you will find lots of other information, including photos and U-tube clips. If you look at shipwreck books in a library or bookshop, there’s a very high chance that you’ll find some books by him.
Tonight I’ve been back to school. That’s because we’re having a Book Week at Twizel Area School and I’m organising it! Tonight we had bedtime stories in the library. Kids came in their pyjamas and bought their teddies. We had 4 stories. I read ‘Who is Brian Bear?’ by Helen Taylor (one of my boys favourites when they were little) and First Snow by Kim Lewis (a story about a little girl who lives on a farm). Our Principal Mr Bill Feasey read one of Lynley Dodd’s wonderful books, Schnitzel von Krumm. Lastly Twizel’s doctor, Doctor Tim Gardner read Bad Jelly the Witch. He was fantastic at the character voices. After milo in the staffroom everyone went home to bed.
We’ve been doing lots of other wonderful Book Week things too. I might tell you some tomorrow. Anyway …
I was going to write more about my fascination with old house but instead I’ve been thinking about what makes a person a writer. Here are some of my thoughts:
* A writer is a reader. You have to read to write. They go together.
* A writer has stories in his or her head. Stories that won’t go away. Stories that need a home.
* A writer loves words and wants to make them dance.
I’m a writer.
Are you?
I never knew that I could make words dance
Or make them walk through people’s heads.
I love it that I can!
Take care out there, especially you kids in Shaky Town. Sometimes life can be a bit tough. Remember the good times and look after the people that have a place in your heart (and other people too!).
From your August Star Author
Sandy Nelson
Oops: I nearly forgot:
Here is a link to some information about H.M.A.S. Canberra, the ship in my book. It has some pictures of her, including one of her sinking the day after the Battle of Savo Island. She was scuttled. That means she was sunk because she was beyond repair. Eightyfour Australian sailors died the night of the battle, including the Captain.
Since I started being a writer I have had amazing support from the Twizel community and children. Lots of the students at school have a copy of The Ghosts of Iron Bottom Sound. I love it at Silent Reading time (we call it D.E.A.R. which stands for ‘Drop Everything and Read) because lots of kids read my book then. It’s a funny but lovely feeling seeing them reading a story that I wrote!
Remember, The Ghosts of Iron Bottom Sound is a book for ages 9 up, for girls and boys, and for older people too. This photo is taken in my classroom. I teach Year 4-5 students, a wonderful group of them. We’re all going skiing at Ohau on Wednesday – yaahoo!
Here’s some sad news: Harper Collins have decided not to publish my sequel, The Lucky Ship. That’s because not enough people are buying children’s books at the moment, and because they already have enough other great books to publish. I am very disappointed (I even cried a bit), but I am happy that The Ghosts of Iron Bottom Sound got published, that it got such good reviews, and that so many children (and adults) enjoy reading it. Maybe I’ll get something else published one day. I hope so. I love writing, and my editor told me I am a fantastic writer so that helps me feel a bit better.
Here’s the photo of some Twizel kids. I am proud to know them all!
I don’t have many days left to be Star Author, so I’ll try to post lots this week.
Have a good week
From your August Star Author
Sandy Nelson
who lives in the beautiful and vast land of tussocks and mountains
Skulduggery Pleasant is one of my favourite book characters and I always look forward to his latest battle against the forces of evil. Luckily I only have to wait a few more weeks as the sixth book, Death Bringer is due out in New Zealand on September 1. I can’t wait to be reunited with Skulduggery, Valkyrie, Ghastly and Tanith.
If you haven’t read any of the Skulduggery Pleasant books by Derek Landy I highly recommend them. They’re filled with action, mystery, thrills, chills, brilliant characters and perfectly-timed humour. If you want a taste of this awesome series, here’s the book trailer:
You can reserve your copy of Death Bringer at your local library now.
Keep your eye on the blog for your chance to WIN a copy of Death Bringer!
It’s Sunday morning. The sun is shining and I’m off skiing at my favourite skifield very soon: Ohau, where the sun shines, the snow invites, the views are spectacular, there are no lift queues, and my friends are dotted around the field or eating noodles and drinking coffee in the little cafe. It’s a great place. Ohau means place of wind and yes, it can be windy there, but not today!
Here’s a link to Ohau Ski Area, a photo of Lake Ohau taken by my son Josh (15), and a couple of poem that have come into my head when I have been skiing at Ohau.
(That poem was published in Crest to Crest by Wily Publications. It is a poem adults might understand more than kids because one of the meanings of Teal is that it is the name of an airline that used to be in N.Z. a long time ago – a time that my 7 year-old twins would call the olden days!)
And also for you today blog readers: Something from history …
Images from Guadalcanal in August 1942, the time in history that I wrote about in my book. It looks kind-of beautiful, but actually it must have been terrifying and heart-breaking.
If you love The Spook’s Apprentice series come along and meet Joseph Delaney in Christchurch this Wednesday (20 February). You can come and meet him at Upper Riccarton Library, from 7:00-8:00pm on Wednesday 20 February. He’ll talk about his books, you can ask him questions, and even get your book signed.
