Red House Children's Book Award 2010 Shortlist

Books have been nominated by children across the country, and these are the top ten books published in 2009, chosen by them!
The Older Reader category shortlist:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Ausländer by Paul Dowswell
Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur
The Younger Readers category shortlist:
Angel Cake by Cathy Cassidy
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney
Mondays are Murder by Tanya Landman
The Younger Children's shortlist:
A Very Strange Creature by Ronda Armitage & Layn Marlow
Crunch Munch Dinosaur Lunch! by Paul Bright & Mike Terry
The Baby Dragon-Tamer by Jan Fearnley
Bottoms Up! by Jeanne Willis & Adam Stower
Voting to select the top books closes 1 May. You need to have read all 3 books in any section to vote 1, 2, 3.
Reads of the year 2010
After taking out the Top Ten, which become the shortlist for the 2010 award, these are 40 recommended books, chosen by children as their favourites.

Great Expectations - whole school reading during 2010

Our Lady's Abingdon shares its 150th anniversary with Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations. It was published in instalments, starting in 1860, and the aim is to read the book over the year, about five chapters each month. Monthly instalments are on the Library pages on the school intranet. We are now up to Chapter 15. There are also printed copies, including abridged and play versions, available for loan from the Library. As the book is out of copyright there are also web versions available.

Michael Foreman

Read an interview with one of Britain’s best loved illustrators Michael Foreman in Write Away online magazine. He talks about his books, his ongoing collaboration with Michael Morpurgo, and a career which spans five decades. He has been nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and is the subject of an exhibition at the National Army Museum.

Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2010

The winner of the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2010 is The Great Hamster Massacre by Katie Davies. The Great Hamster Massacre is the story of a young girl's life and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the untimely death of her beloved pet.

Anthony Browne, Children's Laureate, who announced the winner, described the book as “a funny and touching story told very convincingly and honestly from the point of view of a young girl."

Davies, a former literary agent who has also written and performed comedy sketches for BBC Radio 4’s One programme, said: “I’m as happy as I am surprised. I keep catching sight of myself in shop windows, grinning like an idiot. I haven’t won anything since the St Helen’s C of E sack race in 1985. Thanks very much to Waterstone’s, and to everyone who helped me write it.” She beat stiff competition from the other books on the shortlist:
Flyaway by Lucy Christopher
The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh
The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester
Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur
The Seven Sorcerers by Caro King
The Toymaker by Jeremy De Quidt, et al.
Meteorite Strike by A.G. Taylor
Desperate Measures by Laura Summers

Last year's winner was The Thirteen Treasures by Michelle Harrison.
More information.

Marcus Sedgwick

Award winning author Marcus Sedgwick visited Abingdon and spoke to over 800 local children about his books and where he finds his ideas. This entertaining event, jointly organised by the Librarians from Our Lady’s Abingdon, Abingdon and St Helen & St Katharine schools, was the 5th annual Joint Schools' Author Visit, with the aim to also invite children from local schools who may not have the opportunity to see a ‘big name’ author.

In the morning there were two talks to secondary students featuring his vampire novel My Swordhand is Singing. All of OLA's year 8 and year 9 found out about the background research and reading which had gone into creating this terrifying tale.

In the afternoon children from local primary and prep. schools were introduced to his new and funny series The Raven Mysteries, and found out how he planned his books. There was plenty of time to ask questions, and some took part in a mini play featuring the characters from the Raven Mysteries.

Next year's event will take place at Our Lady's Abingdon.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

It's the 21st century and a teenager discovers he's the descendant of a Greek god. He sets out on an adventure to settle an on-going battle between the gods. Based on the book Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan this film is released in the UK on 12 February, and rated PG.

Cat tales

Following the runaway success of the story of Dewey the library cat from Iowa USA, the story of Casper the commuting cat from Plymouth (UK) is to be told.

Dewey: The Small-town Library-cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron (available for loan from the school library at 636.8 MYR) tells the story of an adorable library cat whose antics kept library users in stitches. On the coldest morning of the year, Vicki Myron found a tiny, bedraggled kitten almost frozen to death in the night drop box of the library where she worked, and her life — and the town of Spencer, Iowa — would never be the same.

Casper became an international celebrity last year after it was revealed that he regularly caught the No 3 bus from his home in Plymouth for the 11-mile (18km) round trip into the city centre. The 12-year-old black and white cat would queue patiently with other commuters and, if there was a spare seat on the bus, would curl up and fall asleep. Casper, who had been making the journey for several years, was killed by a car last week and New York publishers Simon and Schuster intend to publish a book telling his life story.

More information