Official painting of the Grand Départ

The Guardian's Children's Books section recommends a few books for kids that feel they are ready to tackle adult fiction.

4. Try the Classics
There are many Classic novels for young adults. Jane Eyre, Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Kidnapped, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Coral Island are a few of my favourites, for while the plot is suitable for a younger audience, the writing is more challenging than in most modern teenage novels, while just knowing that you've read "A Classic" can do a lot for your self-esteem. Once I'd read a few of the above books, the heavy tomes bound in old leather sitting haughtily on my parent's bookshelves suddenly became much less intimidating. (Firebird)

If they are not ready for that yet, Fast Company suggests several recently-released YA books:

For example, for the middle grade series Carly Keene: Literary Detective, the author needed to be able to write a period story, because the title character travels back in time and meets the Bronte sisters. (Evie Nagy)

Picture source

Harrogate News reports that Yorkshire artist Alister Colley has been

named as the Official Artist of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2014.
Colley, who was born in Harrogate and works out of his studio in Pateley Bridge, has commemorated the historic sporting occasion being in his home county with the production of an official painting and 2,014 limited edition prints of his work – to celebrate the year of the event.
The painting which reflects Yorkshire’s rolling landscapes full of cyclists pedalling past a backdrop of some of the county’s key landmarks, is typical of Alister’s style blending acrylic paint with chalk and oil base pastels. 28 pan-Yorkshire locations and landmarks are featured in the imagined landscape including the whale bones at Whitby, Sheffield’s famous Crucible Theatre, the Yorkshire coast, Brontë Parsonage and Ribblehead Viaduct.

Prints of the painting can be found here.

CBC has a quiz on the Brontës. Reading in Winter posts about Jane Eyre. Go Into the Story posts about the Moira Buffini screenplay for Jane Eyre 2011.