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An Episode Of Sparrows
''An Episode of Sparrows'' is a novel written in 1955 by Rumer Godden. It was re-issued in 2016 in The New York Review Children's Collection. Plot summary The novel focuses on children in Catford Street, a working-class street in South London, with much stone and asphalt but only a few patches of green. They are seen through the eyes of a pair of well-situated sisters in middle age, one sympathetic to the children, the other not. The main character is a difficult young girl named Lovejoy Mason, who is unofficially fostered by an aspiring restaurateur and his wife, with whom she has been left by her irresponsible mother, a sub-tenant of theirs. Lovejoy finds a packet of cornflower seeds and plants a small garden in a wrecked churchyard otherwise filled with rubble from the Blitz. Although some other children dislike and humiliate her, Tip Malone, who heads a gang of local boys, comes to take an interest in Lovejoy and her project. Ultimately, several adults become involved in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WikiProject Novels
A WikiProject, or Wikiproject, is a Wikimedia movement affinity group for contributors with shared goals. WikiProjects are prevalent within the largest wiki, Wikipedia, and exist to varying degrees within sister projects such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikisource. They also exist in different languages, and translation of articles is a form of their collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS News noted the role of Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine in maintaining the accuracy of articles related to the disease. Another WikiProject that has drawn attention is WikiProject Women Scientists, which was profiled by ''Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian'' for its efforts to improve coverage of women scientists which the profile noted had "helped increase the number of female scientists on Wikipedia from around 1,600 to over 5,000". On Wikipedia Some Wikipedia WikiProjects are substantial enough to engage in cooperative activities with outside organizations relevant t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rumer Godden
Margaret Rumer Godden (10 December 1907 – 8 November 1998) was an English author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably ''Black Narcissus'' in 1947 and ''The River'' in 1951. A few of her works were co-written with her elder sister, novelist Jon Godden, including '' Two Under the Indian Sun'', a memoir of the Goddens' childhood in a region of India now part of Bangladesh. Early life Godden was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, England. She grew up with her three sisters in Narayanganj, colonial India (now in Bangladesh), where her father, a shipping company executive, worked for the Brahmaputra Steam Navigation Company. Her parents sent the girls to England for schooling, as was the custom of the time, but brought them back to Narayanganj when the First World War began. Godden returned to the United Kingdom with her sisters to continue her interrupted schooling in 1920, spending time at Moira House Schoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Salter
George Salter (5 October 1897 – 31 October 1967), born Georg Salter, was an originally German, and from 1940 onwards an American book cover designer. He revolutionized cover design for books. He claimed worldwide fame for his design for Alfred Döblins ''Berlin Alexanderplatz''. Life Georg Salter was born in Bremen, the child of a Hamburg musician. In the year of his birth, his parents converted from Judaism to Christian faith. With his parents and three siblings he moved to Berlin. After finishing school and serving in the military, he studied in the art craft school in Berlin. 1921, he began work as set designer. Starting in 1927, he started working as designer for the publisher '' Die Schmiede''. Salter taught at the Municipal Art School in Berlin in the early 1930s, where he taught designer Hans Barschel. In November 1934 Salter emigrated to the US and started living in New York, where he immediately began to design book jackets for US publishers. He became an American c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viking Books
Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquired by the Penguin Group in 1975. History Guinzburg, a Harvard graduate and former employee of Simon and Schuster and Oppenheimer, a graduate of Williams College and Alfred A. Knopf, founded Viking in 1925 with the goal of publishing nonfiction and "distinguished fiction with some claim to permanent importance rather than ephemeral popular interest." B. W. Huebsch joined the firm shortly afterward. Harold Guinzburg's son Thomas became president in 1961. The firm's name and logo—a Viking ship drawn by Rockwell Kent—were meant to evoke the ideas of adventure, exploration, and enterprise implied by the word "Viking." In August 1961, they acquired H.B. Huesbsch, which maintained a list of backlist titles from authors such as James Joyce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macmillan (publisher)
Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publishers. Founded in London in 1843 by Scottish brothers Daniel and Alexander MacMillan, the firm would soon establish itself as a leading publisher in Britain. It published two of the best-known works of Victorian era children’s literature, Lewis Carroll's ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and Rudyard Kipling's ''The Jungle Book'' (1894). Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Harold Macmillan, grandson of co-founder Daniel, was chairman of the company from 1964 until his death in December 1986. Since 1999, Macmillan has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group with offices in 41 countries worldwide and operations in more than thirty others. History Macmillan was founded in London in 1843 by Daniel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Review Children's Collection
The New York Review Books Children's Collection is a series of children's books released under the publishing imprint New York Review Books. The series was founded in 2003 to reintroduce some of the many children's books that have fallen out of print, or simply out of mainstream attention. The series includes more than 80 titles, ranging from picture books to young adult novels. Often reissued with new introductions, writers such as Michael Chabon, Neil Gaiman, and Philip Pullman have all introduced titles in this series. The titles include the Caldecott Medal-winning picture book '' D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths''; the Newbery Honor Book ''Pecos Bill''; ''Wee Gillis'', a Caldecott Honor Book; the 1944 winner of the Carnegie Medal, ''The Wind on the Moon''; Esther Averill's ''Jenny and the Cat Club'' series; ''The House of Arden''; ''The 13 Clocks''; ''The Wonderful O''; '' The Peterkin Papers''; and holiday favorites ''The Midnight Folk'' and ''The Box of Delights''. Titles In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Blitz
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germans conducted mass air attacks against industrial targets, towns, and cities, beginning with raids on London towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940 (a battle for daylight air superiority between the Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force over the United Kingdom). By September 1940, the Luftwaffe had lost the Battle of Britain and the German air fleets () were ordered to attack London, to draw RAF Fighter Command into a battle of annihilation.Price 1990, p. 12. Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, ordered the new policy on 6 September 1940. From 7 September 1940, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 of the following 57 days and nights. Most notable was a large d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacqueline Wilson
Dame Jacqueline Wilson (née Aitken; born 17 December 1945) is an English novelist known for her popular children's literature. Her novels have been notable for featuring realistic topics such as adoption and divorce without alienating her large readership. Since her debut novel in 1969, Wilson has written over 100 books. Early life Jacqueline Aitken was born in Bath, Somerset, on 17 December 1945. Her father, Harry, was a civil servant and her mother, Biddy, was an antiques dealer. She particularly enjoyed books by Noel Streatfeild, as well as American classics like '' Little Women'' and '' What Katy Did''. At the age of nine, she wrote her first "book", "Meet the Maggots", which was 21 pages long. Wilson was given the nickname Jacky Daydream at school, which she later used as the title of her autobiography, which tells of her life as a primary school-aged child. Wilson attended Coombe Girls' School in Surrey and Carshalton Technical College. After leaving school at ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Innocent Sinners
''Innocent Sinners'' is a 1958 British black and white film directed by Philip Leacock and starring Flora Robson. It was based on the 1955 novel ''An Episode of Sparrows'' by Rumer Godden. Plot Olivia Chesney is too sick to leave home, somewhere in Battersea in London, but waves out of her window to various neighbours. These include Lovejoy (June Archer) who is a neglected young girl in post-war London who finds solace in the secret garden which she creates on a bomb site. Her motivations are mixed: she buys grass seed using borrowed money, and steals a net from a baby's pram to use to protect the seed growing. She steals money from the candle box in the church in order to buy a garden fork. Lovejoy is being raised by the Vincents. Mr Vincent is a waiter in a posh restaurant and is very kind to Lovejoy. Her mother seems to have a dubious lifestyle when she visits Lovejoy, and she has "male callers" such as Col Baldcock who Lovejoy is asked to address as "uncle Francis". Mr V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Leacock
Philip David Charles Leacock (8 October 1917 – 14 July 1990) was an English television and film director and producer. His brother was documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock. Career Born in London, England, Leacock spent his childhood in the Canary Islands. He began his career directing documentaries and later turned to fiction films. He was known for his films about children, particularly '' The Kidnappers'' (US: ''The Little Kidnappers'', 1953), which gained Honorary Juvenile Acting Oscars for two of its performers, and '' The Spanish Gardener'' (1956) starring Dirk Bogarde. He also directed '' Innocent Sinners'' (1958) with Flora Robson, '' The Rabbit Trap'' (1959) with Ernest Borgnine, and '' The War Lover'' (1962) with Steve McQueen, based on John Hersey's novel about a World War II pilot. He began to work mainly in Hollywood, where he made '' Take a Giant Step'' (1959) about a black youth's encounter with racism and '' Let No Man Write My Epitaph'' (1960) about an asp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1956 British Novels
Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are killed for trespassing by the Huaorani people of Ecuador, shortly after making contact with them. * January 16 – Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser vows to reconquer Palestine (region), Palestine. * January 25–January 26, 26 – Finnish troops reoccupy Porkkala, after Soviet Union, Soviet troops vacate its military base. Civilians can return February 4. * January 26 – The 1956 Winter Olympics open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. February * February 11 – British Espionage, spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean (spy), Donald Maclean resurface in the Soviet Union, after being missing for 5 years. * February 14–February 25, 25 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held in Mosc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
