Puku.co.za

Winner of the 2012 Golden Baobab Awards!

Bontle — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 11:51:00 +0200

The Golden Baobab Prize is the premier African literary award for stories for children and young adults. The prize is organised by a passionate volunteer team from all over the world and is sponsored by the Global Fund for Children and the African Library Project. Unpublished stories in either the junior (for readers aged 8-11 years) or senior (for readers aged 12-15 years) category are judged by a African panel of renowned writers and publishers. Winner of the 2012 Golden Baobab Prize, Senior Category: Joy Nwiyi for Something for Next Time Winner of the 2012 Golden Baobab Prize, Junior Category:

Nuwe Kinderboek Deur Steyn en Serfontein: Die Kolonel

Bontle — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 10:42:58 +0200

Die Kolonel deur Esta Steyn en Luan Serfontein Daar is groot konsternasie by die polisiestasie. Die Kolonel is weg! Skoonveld soos ’n groot speld! Die Kolonel is nie net bekend en bemind nie, hy is ook baie bekwaam. Daar word gesê hy kan diewe en dwelms op ’n afstand uitsnuffel. Sersant Sol en konstabel Bongani sal moet soek, want hulle kan nie hulle werk sonder dié baasspeurder doen nie. Lees meer oor hierdie nuwe boek Book details Die Kolonel deur Esta Steyn, Luan Serfontein Book homepage EAN: 9780798159241 Find [...]

Pirated Books Cost Zimbabwean Textbook Publishers Millions

Bontle — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 09:54:45 +0200

Hundreds of recreational and education books are being illegally re-printed and re-sold at a fraction of the original cost on the streets of Zimbabwe’s big cities. While schools, parents and children are hungry for resources, publishers and writers are paying the price for illegal distribution of their work as their earnings plummet. “Publishers are stuck with hordes of books in their warehouses but what the small guy, the underground baron is doing is to use the simplest technology to achieve maximum gains at the cost of publishers.” Education institutions often suffer shortages of essential textbooks and resort to making own copies of [...]

DHL Commits to Delivering One Million E-Readers to African Children by 2015

Bontle — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 09:43:10 +0200

DHL Express is using its global reach and decades of experience in logistics, mail and express services to deliver e-readers and e-learning to African children. DHL recently partnered with the international non-profit Worldreader to assist Worldreader reach millions of children in developing countries. To this end, DHL Express would support Worldreader’s mission of putting 1,000,000 Amazon KindlesTM loaded with some of the world’s best-loved books into the hands of young children in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania before the end of 2015. Read the complete article

SCBWI SA Gauteng Branch to Host End-of-Year Event

Bontle — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 09:36:16 +0200

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is one of the largest international organisations for writers and illustrators. The SCBWI SA Gauteng branch will have their end-of-year event from 10:30am on the 4th of December in Emmarentia, Johannesburg. It will be an opportunity to talk about your illustrating and writing during the year as well as socialise with friends and colleagues. All are welcome. Please bring a plate to share. For address details, write to Jenny at SCBWI.SA.Gauteng@mweb.co.za Read the complete article

Public-Private Partnership Launches R60-Million Primary School Reading Programme

Bontle — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 09:28:52 +0200

Last week, the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Donald H. Gips and South African Deputy Minister of Basic Education Enver Surty launched a $7.5 million (approximately R60 million) public-private partnership aimed at improving primary school level reading for millions of South African children over a three year period. The initiative will be called the School Capacity & Innovation Program (SCIP). By focusing on South African solutions to South Africa’s challenges, SCIP will provide the resources to education partners who have already demonstrated innovation, impact and a vision for growth. This will allow each implementer to carefully refine, rigorously test and thoughtfully [...]

PUKU Reviews the Thrilling New Adventure from Anthony Horowitz: Oblivion

Bontle — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 08:46:15 +0200

About the Book Having escaped from Hong Kong, the five gatekeepers – Matt, Pedro, Scott, Jamie and Scarlett – are scattered in a hostile and dangerous world. As they struggle to re-group and plan their next move, the malevolent King of the Old Ones gathers his forces in Oblivion: a desolate landscape where the last survivors of humanity must fight the ultimate battle. The Review Oblivion is the fifth and final instalment in the bestselling fantasy series The Power of Five and it certainly will not disappoint fans of the series. Oblivion is [...]

Paperight Launches Multilingual Young Writers Competition

Bontle — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:51:22 +0200

Paperight is now accepting original short stories, poems, essays and illustrations in English, isiZulu, isiXhosa and Afrikaans for their upcoming Young Writers Anthology. High school learners from around South Africa are invited to submit their original short stories, essays, poetry and black-and-white illustrations for inclusion in this ground-breaking new collection. The collection will be selected, edited and compiled by a collective of literary editors and designers and will be distributed in print – through our ever-growing national network of Paperight outlets – online and on mobile phones, potentially reaching an audience of hundreds of thousands of young readers. The Paperight Blog

Excitement Building for Annual Book Reading Quiz

Bontle — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:42:00 +0200

Next month, Joburg’s librarians will finalise the list of books for the 2013 edition of The Battle of the Books competition. This annual event is a book-based inter-school, knock-out quiz for learners in Grades 6 and 7 in the greater Johannesburg region. This competition and its equivalent for Grade 4 and 5 learners, Story Skirmish, is run by the City of Johannesburg library and information services. Last year, 181 schools took part in Battle of the Books while 188 competed in the Story Skirmish. The librarians who choose the books that quiz questions are based on ensure that at least half [...]

Jay Heale Talks Selling the Idea of Loving Books

Bontle — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:33:41 +0200

Every month on his blog Bookchat, Jay Heale shares some of his thoughts on chilren’s literature. During his life, Jay has been an author, editor, publisher, bookseller, school librarian, actor, barman, journalist, reviewer, furniture salesman, traveller, wine writer, broadcaster, film director and storyteller in the circus ring. He was a founder member of the South African Children’s Book Forum (SACBF) which is now IBBY SA. Today’s he’s talking about selling the idea of loving books: In the late 1950s a trained encyclopedia salesman called in on the headmaster of a private preparatory school in Kent, England. The headmaster was a better [...]