Katie Davies wins Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize 2010
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This issue's cover illustration by David Wyatt is from C J Busby's Cauldron Spells (978 1 8487 7085 0, £5.99 pbk). Thanks to Templar Publishing for their help with this March cover.
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Debut author Katie Davies has won the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize 2010 for The Great Hamster Massacre (Simon and Schuster), a tale of a girl’s relentless quest for a pet hamster.
The Great Hamster Massacre was announced as the winner of the award by Children’s Laureate Anthony Browne in a ceremony at Waterstone’s Piccadilly, on Wednesday 10th February. Anthony Browne described the book as 'a funny and touching story told very convincingly and honestly from the point of view of a young girl.'
Davies is a former literary agent who has also written and performed comedy sketches for BBC Radio 4’s One programme. The Great Hamster Massacrewas inspired by her own begging campaign for two Russian Dwarf hamsters in 1989. It is the first in a series of pet-related dilemmas drawn from real-life experiences of friends and family.
Celebrating its sixth year, the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize was created to champion new and emerging talent in children’s writing. Previous winners of the prize include The Diamond of Drury Laneby Julia Golding, which also went on to win the Nestle Smarties Book Prize, Sally Nicholls’ story of a terminally ill 11-year-old, Ways to Live Forever, and last year’s winner Thirteen Treasures by Michelle Harrison.
