19 November 2010

Roald Dahl Funny Prizes and Costa Shortlists

Authors Louise Rennison and Louise Yates have won this year's Roald Dahl Funny Prizes with Withering Tights (7-14 year-olds) and Dog Loves Books (0-6 year-olds).
More information

Costa Book Awards 2010 Shortlists

The Costa Book Awards is one of the most prestigious and popular literary prizes in the UK and recognises some of the most enjoyable books of the year by writers based in the UK and Ireland.
The shortlists have been announced for the five categories: First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children's Book. The winner in each category will receive £5,000, and one of those five books will be selected as the overall winner of the Book of the Year and receive a further £30,000.
Costa Children's Book Award
* Flyaway by Lucy Christopher
* Annexed by Sharon Dogar
* Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud
* Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace
Costa First Novel Award
* Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai
* Coconut Unlimited by Nikesh Shukla
* The Temple-Goers by Aatish Taseer
* Not Quite White by Simon Thirsk
Costa Novel Award
* Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty
* The Blasphemer by Nigel Farndale
* The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell
* Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
Costa Biography Award
* How to Live A Life of Montaigne by Sarah Bakewell
* My Father's Fortune by Michael Frayn
* The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal
Costa Poetry Award
* Standard Midland by Roy Fisher
* The Wrecking Light by Robin Robertson
* Of Mutability by Jo Shapcott
* New Light for the Old Dark by Sam Willetts
The award winners in all five categories will be announced on 5 January and the 2010 Costa Book of the Year on 25 January 2011.
Full details

17 November 2010

Kids' Lit Quiz

The Oxfordshire and Berkshire Heat of the Kids' Lit Quiz saw OLA teams come 4th and 12th in a field of 42 teams. Well done! Their knowledge of books was tremendous and shows that reading is always a winner.
Authors supporting the KLQ at this heat were Lucy Coates, Jo Cotterill, Susie Day, M.G. Harris, Marie-Louise Jensen, and Mark Robson. A bookshop selling their books meant they were kept busy signing in the interval and after the event.
Thank you to Oxford High School for the venue, and congratulations to their team, which goes on to the the UK Final at the end of the month.
From the Quiz Master's blog: Two records were set - one UK and one World. There were 42 teams tonight the largest ever in the UK and to top that off a new world record score was established by Oxford High School when they scored 97.5. (The previous record was 95). Obviously this school went on to win and their number two team was second. Third place was tight and required a sudden death play-off between St Gregory the Great School and The Cherwell School. It was won by St Gregory. It was a very busy exciting afternoon, the literary brain-power was awesome. The Mayor of Bicester commented as he awarded the trophy that the competition was of an exceptionally high standard and that he was looking forward to attending the UK Final in Oxford on November 30th.(http://kidslitquiz.blogspot.com/)

02 November 2010

Scholastic Book Club

I’ve just set up our latest Scholastic Book Club school group order online. This means you can order your book choices from the Book Clubs leaflet (which I'll be handing out this week) and from a wider selection at http://clubs-school.scholastic.co.uk/olab and, what's more, you'll be able to have your books delivered to school for free.

You need to order your books by Thursday 18th November 2010 and the books will be delivered to school for me to hand out. For every £1 you spend 20p goes back to the library to spend on books.

Take a look at what’s on offer at http://clubs-school.scholastic.co.uk/olab – there are some great bargains with books costing as little as £1.99! Please note that some books are badged 13+.