18 October 2011

Book awards round up

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize shortlist for 2011
My Name Is Mina, by David Almond
Return to Ribblestrop, by Andy Mulligan
Moon Pie, by Simon Mason
Twilight Robbery, by Frances Hardinge
The winner will be announced on Thursday 10 November. Established in 1967, the Guardian children's fiction prize is the only children's prize to be judged by writers. This year's judges are Julia Eccleshare, Michelle Paver, Julia Golding and Marcus Sedgwick. Previous winners include Alan Garner, Joan Aiken, Ted Hughes, Philip Pullman and Jacqueline Wilson.


Richard and Judy’s Children’s Christmas Book Club 2011
is made up of twelve titles for mixed age groups and includes old and new favourites:
* Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Pop-Up Book, Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake
* Dear Zoo Noisy Book, Rod Campbell
* Egyptology, Emily Sands, Dugald Steer, Nick Harris and Helen Ward
* Farmyard Tales Wind-up Tractor Book, Stephen Cartwright
* Happy Christmas Boris!, Sam Lloyd
* The Jolly Postman or Other People's Letters, Janet Ahlberg and Allan Ahlberg,
* Monstersaurus, Claire Freedman and Ben Cort
* Snuggle Bunny, Emma Goldhawk and Jon Lambert
* Paddington's Cookery Book, Michael Bond and R.W. Alley
* Pippi Longstocking Gift Edition, Astrid Lindgren and Lauren Child
* Puss in Boots, Stella Gurney
* See Inside: Noisy Castles, Katie Daynes and David Hancock
Further information


Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011 shortlists
The Funniest Book for Children Aged Seven to Fourteen:
* Animal Tales by Terry Jones, illustrated by Michael Foreman
* The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon
* The Get Rich Quick Club by Rose Impey
* Letters from an Alien Schoolboy by Ros Asquith
* Penny Dreadful is a Magnet for Disaster by Joanna Nadin, illustrated by Jess Mikhail
* The Wrong Pong by Steven Butler, illustrated by Chris Fisher
The Funniest Book for Children Aged Six and Under:
* Bedtime for Monsters by Ed Vere
* Cats Ahoy! by Peter Bently, illustrated by Jim Field
* First Week at Cow School by Andy Cutbill, illustrated by Russell Ayto
* Limelight Larry by Leigh Hodgkinson
* Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School by David Mackintosh
* A Place to Call Home by Alexis Deacon, illustrated by Viviane Schwarz

Forward Prize
Poet John Burnside has been named the winner of the £10,000 Forward Prize for his collection Black Cat Bone. The Scottish writer has been nominated for this prize four times. "Burnside's Black Cat Bone is at once a very direct and a very subtle book," said Sir Andrew Motion, chairman of the judging panel. The Forward Prizes were founded in 1992 and reward both established and up-and-coming poets. Irish poet Seamus Heaney received last year's prize for his collection, Human Chain.

Wales' first Young People's Laureate
Catherine Fisher, an award-winning author of fantasy novels for children, is named Wales' first Young People's Laureate. Specialising in myth and history, Fisher's futuristic novel Incarceron is available from the school Library.






13 October 2011

OLA Visitor Theresa Breslin wins Young Quills prize

OLA Visitor Theresa Breslin has won the Young Quills prize for historical fiction. Organised and awarded by the Historical Association and introduced two years ago in recognition of the important role fiction can play in introducing children and young people to history, the Young Quills are shortlisted by young people. Only historical fiction from the previous 12 months directly aimed at children and teenagers are included.
The winner in the teenage section (12+) is Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin, who was one of the guests at our recent OLA Reading Festival. The book is set in Spain during the fifteenth century, and had already been shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. The winner in the primary section (under 12 years ) for this year is ‘The Sacred Scarab’ by Gill Harvey, set in Ancient Egypt.