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May 2012 is the seventieth anniversary of the first publication of Enid Blyton's Famous Five - read about it in this issue

Famous Five 70th anniversary celebrated with star illustrators

Quentin Blake, Helen Oxenbury, Emma Chichester Clark, Oliver Jeffers and Chris Riddell have provided brand new covers for Enid Blyton's Famous Five to bring these much-loved books to a new generation...

Much-loved illustrators including Quentin Blake and Helen Oxenbury have reimagined the Famous Five to mark the 70th anniversary of the adventurous quintet's first appearance, bringing new looks to Enid Blyton's classic characters. Full story in this issue.

In the news this month...

The Uglies quartet gets a makeover

Simon and Schuster have given Scott Westerfeld's UGLIES quartet the kind of makeover he himself describes in this ground-breaking, world-beating YA science fiction extravaganza. This is the third UK incarnation of this fantastic series, and it doesn't matter which set you find in the bookstore, grab it and read it - it's fabulous! Tally Youngblood lives in a world where your sixteenth birthday brings aesthetic perfection: an operation which erases all your flaws, transforming you from an 'Ugly' into a 'Pretty'. She is on the eve of this important event, and cannot wait for her life to change. As well as guaranteeing supermodel looks, life as a Pretty seems to revolve around having a good time. But then she meets Shay, who is also fifteen - but with a very different outlook on life. Shay isn't sure she wants to be Pretty and plans to escape to a community in the forest - the Rusty Ruins - where Uglies go to escape ' turning'. Tally won't be persuaded to join her, as this would involve sacrificing everything she's ever wanted for a lot of uncertainty. When she is taken in for questioning on her birthday, however, Tally gets sent to the Ruins anyway - against her will. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she could ever imagine: find her friend Shay and turn her in, or never turn Pretty at all. What she discovers in the Ruins reveals that there is nothing 'pretty' about the transformations... And the choice Tally makes will change her world forever. By the way, Del Rey Books have just published a graphic novel by Scott Westerfeld entitled SHAY'S STORY, which you can read about on the Graphic Novels page in this issue... and the press release below:

Author Scott Westerfeld has announced a series of graphic novels based on his "dystopian plastic surgery" Uglies series. But this time, the story's protagonist is Shay, Tally Youngblood's best frenemy. Westerfeld also announced the latest progress on the Uglies movie. After discussing his steampunk alt-history series Leviathan at Comic-Con, Westerfeld turned to his previous series, Uglies, set in a future where all teenagers have extreme plastic surgery at age 16 to become "pretty." Westerfeld announced that Del Rey will be publishing four  manga-inspired Uglies graphic novels, outlined by Westerfeld, written by Devin Grayson (who created the Vertigo series USER and had a long stretch writing Nightwing, among other Batfamily titles), with art by artist Steven Cumming. Westerfeld says that he was inspired to tell this new story from the perspective of Shay — Tally's sometimes friend and sometimes nemesis — because so many readers accused Shay of simply being a "bitch," and he wanted to explore the other other side of the Tally-Shay story. The first volume was published last month (March) 2012.

The other bit of Uglies news concerns the eventual Uglies feature film. Lola Visual Effects, the company that gave us Benjamin Button's strange aging process, put Captain America's face on a scrawny body, and let us glimpse an older, grayer Harry Potter, will be providing the visual effects for Uglies and its characters' radical bodily transformations. Lola will also be financing and producing the film, taking us several steps closer to an Uglies live-action film. It's possible (and rumoured) that India Eisley will play Tally, and Kaya Scodelario will play Shay...

The Casual Vacancy...

J.K. Rowling's first book for adults will be a "blackly comic" novel set in an idyllic English town where all is not what it seems, its publisher said on Thursday. The title of the closely guarded 480-page novel by the prolific "Harry Potter" author will be "The Casual Vacancy." It will be available worldwide in English on September 27 in hardback, e-book and in audio form, Little, Brown and Company said in a statement. The publisher promised it will be "blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising," and offered some general plot details. Rowling's foray into the adult fiction world begins when a character called Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly, leaving a town called Pagford in shock, before readers will realize that behind Pagford's facade is a town at war, according to the publisher. "Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupil ... Pagford is not what it first seems," said the statement. "And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?" When the novel was first announced in February, Rowling, 46 said the successful "Harry Potter" series had given her the "the freedom to explore new territory." The seven-book series sold 450 million copies worldwide and resulted in eight top-grossing movies. "The Casual Vacancy" is the British writer's first novel directly aimed at the adult market.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again...

HarperCollinsPublishers has acquired exclusive worldwide publishing rights from Warner Bros. Consumer Products for tie-in books to the two highly anticipated films The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again, directed by Peter Jackson and productions of New Line Cinema and MGM. "Inspired by the two films based on The Hobbit, the HarperCollins companion books are a fantastic way for fans of the world of Middle-earth to immerse themselves in the film experience," said Karen McTier, Executive Vice President of Domestic Licensing and Worldwide Marketing for Warner Bros. Consumer Products. "HarperCollins has a strong history with the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and we know that the detailed tie-in books will bring The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again to life in an in-depth and imaginative way." Victoria Barnsley, CEO and Publisher of HarperCollins UK and International, said, "The books by J.R.R. Tolkien are exceptional in their quality and their popularity, as are the films that they have inspired, and The Hobbit is the story that started it all three-quarters of a century ago. I am a huge admirer of the legacy of these stories and my own arrival at HarperCollins coincided with the work on The Lord of the Rings tie-ins, so I am especially excited to be returning to this unique publishing phenomenon." The Hobbit, first published by George Allen & Unwin in 1937, has been a perennial bestseller since starting life with a very modest 1,500-copy print run. Since then, it has gone on to sell many millions of copies in more than 50 languages, and in this 75th anniversary year of its publication, is set to captivate another generation of readers. HarperCollins acquired the publishing rights to The Hobbit and its sequel The Lord of the Rings when it bought Unwin Hyman publishers in 1990, revitalizing the books' sales and steering their publishing and book licensing through the unprecedented heights of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy in 2001-2003. Chris Smith, Editorial Director for Tolkien at HarperCollins, said, "We are delighted to have been able to pull together many of the same experts to work on these books, as well as new talents to update the publishing mix." Author, biographer and broadcaster Brian Sibley, who recently won the BBC Audio Drama Award for his dramatization of The History of Titus Groan, has returned to New Zealand to write the behind-the-scenes Official Movie Guides, while novelist and former Tolkien editor Jane Johnson is writing essential Visual Companions to introduce filmgoers to the remarkable world of the two films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. Bestselling New Zealand author and photographer Ian Brodie is writing the Location Guide which highlights the spectacular locations in New Zealand that have provided the settings for the films. In addition, HarperCollins will be breaking new ground with a range of children's books in the form of annuals, movie storybooks and feature titles, as well as a new series of lavish hardbacks written and designed by the award-winning team at Weta, who are working closely with the production team to guarantee that these books will be bursting with insider information and stunning visual imagery. David Brawn, Publisher of Estates at HarperCollins, said, "We are thrilled to be working again on film tie-in publishing for what we know will be a pair of remarkable films. The Lord of the Rings books sold 25 million copies worldwide during the films and I know we are in for similar levels of excitement with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. At the heart of all this is the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, which will be available in a range of print and digital formats to suit fans of all ages. I have no doubt that these films will leave filmgoers wanting to read or re-read The Hobbit and be enchanted by the phenomenal storytelling of one of the world's most popular and inventive authors."