Category: General

Trawling the internet, researching libraries and databases, and occasionally from material sent to me, I discover things I did not know much about, or indeed at all! There can be more than one Discovery of the Day.

Rosemary Sutcliff books loved by Guardian journalist before loved Interactive Fiction

Anthony Lawton2 Comments

Rosemary Sutcliff’s children’s books, perhaps including The Eagle of the Ninth, were loved by journalist Naomi Alderman when she was in the Puffin club. In the Guardian newspaper today she writes about interactive fiction. “As a child, all I wanted was to walk into my favourite stories; interactive fiction is making that possible”.  Serious novelists, she notes, are now creating games with story and text.

“The first time I saw someone playing a computer game was around 1981, at the Puffin Club expo. The hall was filled with stands for my favourite authors – Joan Aiken, Rosemary Sutcliff, Lucy Boston – but the biggest queue was for the bank of computers where children took 10-minute turns playing a ‘text adventure’ …

… Novels and computer games occupy different ends of the cultural spectrum, but have in common the creation of imaginary worlds that beckon us to enter. “

Source: Technology | The Guardian.

Rosemary Sutcliff Black Ships Before Troy | Classical Studies and Ancient Greece

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Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical novels, including The Eagle of the Ninth (now a film/movie) and The Lantern Bearers, are classics of both children’s literature and historical fiction. Some novels, like The Flowers of Adonis, and some retellings such as Black Ships Before Troy are set in Ancient Greece. But according to one book review:

“Children’s literature does not feature much in classical studies, as classicists tend not to distinguish between literature written for children and literature that children happen to read’.Read More »

Rosemary Sutcliff children’s book Frontier Wolf inspires models | Sutcliff Discovery of the Day

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Rosemary Sutcliff’s books, such as Frontier Wolf, inspire not just children aged ‘8 to 88’ (her phrase), readers, teachers, archaeologists,  historians and film makers, but also makers of small model armies and soldiers. I found these models of German Auxiliary cavalry inspired by Rosemary Sutcliff children’s book Frontier Wolf.

International Children’s Book Day | Another Sutcliff Discovery of the Day

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International Children’s Book Day today, is suitable to celebrate Rosemary Sutcliff as well as Hans Christian Andersen whose birthday it is. This year  the international sponsor, Spain, chose the theme ‘Un libro te espera, búscalo!’ which means ‘A book is waiting for you, find it!’. It seems like most people in the UK did not find the day, let alone the waiting book, if the lack of public mention here is an indicator. (Also, for all who share my taste in music, it is the birthday of Emmylou Harris.)

Hans Christian Andersen book Award | Sutcliff Discovery of the Day

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

Rosemary Sutcliff was the UK children’s author  nominee for The Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1969 and 1974. She was highly commended in 1974. Every two years the International Board on Books for Young People awards the prize  Read More »