April 23, 2007
Reviews
'Sophie and the Albino Camel' has been longlisted for the Branford Boase award. Judges will decide on a shortlist by the end of this month.
Meanwhile, reviews of 'Sophie and the Locust Curse' are starting to come in.
Posted by sahelsteve at 10:28 AM
March 02, 2007
Sophie and the Locust Curse is in the shops
Sophie and the Locust Curse was published yesterday. Here's a taster:
Sophie and the Locust Curse (8+)
First published in 2007 by Andersen Press Limited
Text © 2007 by Stephen Davies
Illustrations © 2007 by Dave Shelton
Posted by sahelsteve at 01:45 PM
August 30, 2006
Pre-order Sophie and the Locust Curse
Sophie and the Locust Curse is now available for pre-order on Amazon.
Meanwhile it seems that my mother has been on the Albino Camel Public Relations Warpath, with this letter in the Books section of last Saturday's Times. Ha ha. Thanks, Mum.
Posted by sahelsteve at 06:21 PM
August 15, 2006
Dave Shelton Locust Curse Roughs
Dave has finished the roughs for the 'Locust Curse' illustrations. The book is about resourcefulness and creativity in the face of suffering. Particularly poignant in the light of recent events in Gorom-Gorom.
Here are the pics for chapters 3, 4 and 7:
Posted by sahelsteve at 10:15 PM
July 24, 2006
Dave Shelton's Locust Curse cover
Well, he's done it again. Dave Shelton has proved yet again his uncanny talent for Getting The Pictures Right. I liked Dave's draft cover but this one is even better. The image brings the horror of 2004-5 flooding back, as all those who were there will agree.
Sophie and Gidaado are back, and this time the enemy is more deadly than any camel thief. When a locust swarm devours the crops all across Oudalan Province, Gidaado is forced to take on a humiliating new job in order to survive. He becomes a crier, announcing the descriptions of missing cows! With Sophie's help, Gidaado's lost cow songs become great hits.
This is the insect which Dave has immortalized in the above cover. If you remember, the celebrity-locust and all his less photogenic friends died horribly in Lanzarote. Whereas the people whose crops were destroyed that year are still very much alive and kicking.
Most of them.
Posted by sahelsteve at 10:59 PM
July 18, 2006
Not cover
It seems that this is how the cover of 'Sophie and the Locust Curse' is not going to look.
Shame really.
(Link to illustrator Dave Shelton's website)
Posted by sahelsteve at 09:08 AM
June 04, 2006
Dave Shelton to illustrate 'Sophie and the Locust Curse'
I am pleased to learn that Dave Shelton is going to be illustrating 'Sophie and the Locust Curse', due out in March 2007. Famine is a difficult subject to treat in a children's book, but I have tried to avoid sentimentality: 'Locust Curse' has lots of the usual banter, some daft songs, a camel race and an evil griot called Sam Saman (he was initially called Sam Saddam but my editors at Andersen Press were justifiably a little uneasy about that).