BfK News: July 2011
AWARDS
Red House Children’s Book Award 2011
Michael Morpurgo’s novel Shadow is the winner of this Award which is voted for entirely by young readers. Shadow won both the category for younger readers and the overall prize which is co-ordinated by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups. Morpurgo has now won the Award three times, the only author to do so in the award’s 31-year history.
Shadow tells the story of boy who is befriended by an army sniffer dog in Afghanistan. It is partly set at a detention centre for asylum seekers in the UK. ‘It was a difficult book to write because I was writing about a contemporary conflict,’ Murpurgo said. Morpurgo’s previous wins were for Kensuke’s Kingdom and Private Peaceful.
Other winners were Angela McAllister and Alison Edgson’s Yuck! That’s not a Monster (Little Tiger Press, 978-1848950290, £5.99 pbk) in the category for younger children, and Alex Scarrow’s TimeRiders (Puffin, 978-0141336336, £6.99 pbk) in the older readers’ category.
The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2011
The longlist for this year’s prize is:
My Name is Mina by David Almond (Hodder, £12.99) 9+
Small Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans (Doubleday, £10.99) 8+
Twilight Robbery by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan £9.99)
Momentum by Sacci Loyd (hodder, £6.99) 12+
Moon Pie by Simon Mason (David Fickling Books, £10.99)
Return to Ribblestrop by Andy Mulligan (Simon & Shuster, £10.99)
My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher (Orion, £9.99)
Mt Gum and the Secret Hideout by Andy Stanton (Egmont £5.99)
The CILIP Carnegie Medal 2011
The winner is Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (Walker, 9780385617031) 14+.
The other shortlisted books are:
Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin (Doubleday, 9781406310276) 12+
The Death Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean (Oxford Children’s Books,9780192756022) 10+
The Bride’s Farewell by Meg Rosoff (Puffin, 9780141383934) 12+
White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick (Orion, 9781842551875) 12+
Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace (Andersen Press, 9781849390484)14+
CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2011
The Winner is Farther by Grahame Baker-Smith (Templar, 97848771260) 8+.
Shortlisted books are:
Me and You by Anthony Browne (Doubleday, 9780385614894) 4+
April Underhill Tooth Fairy by Bob Graham (Walker, 9781406321555) 5+
Jim by Hilaire Belloc, ill Mini Grey (Cape, 9780224083676) 6+
The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins, 9780007182305) 5+
Big Bear, Little Brother by Kristin Oftedal (Macmillan, 9781405051989) 3+
Ernest by Catherine Rayner (Macmillan, 9780230529199) 3+
Cloud Tea Monkeys by Mal Peet & Elspeth Graham, ill Juan Wijngaard (Walker, 9781406300925) 8+
2011 Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award
The winner is Helen Limon for Om Shanti, Babe, a story about growing up, family and friendships that the judges described as ‘Fabulous… laugh-out-loud funny’. Helen is the founder of Zed Said publisher in Newcastle-upon-Tyne which publishes local authors and illustrators; she is also celebrating her recent PhD in creative writing from Newcastle University.
The Highly Commended award went to Karon Alderman, who teaches literacy skills to adults in Newcastle. Her story, For Keeps, was inspired by the real-life campaign in the city to save asylum seeker Leonie Mendo and her daughter from deportation to Cameroon.
The judges were Trevor Phillips (Chair of The Equality and Human Rights Commission); Jake Hope (Children’s Librarian for Lancashire Libraries); Geraldine Brennan (Journalist and former Books Editor at The TES); Mary Briggs (Co-Founder of Seven Stories, the Centre for Children’s Books) and Janetta Otter-Barry (Janetta Otter-Barry Books at Frances Lincoln Children’s Books).
Now in its third year, the Award was founded jointly by Frances Lincoln Limited and Seven Stories, the national centre for children’s books, in memory of Frances Lincoln (1945-2001) to encourage and promote diversity in children’s fiction. The prize of £1,500 plus the option for Janetta Otter-Barry at Frances Lincoln Children’s Books to publish the novel is awarded to the best manuscript for eight to 12-year-olds that celebrates diversity in the widest possible sense. The closing date for the next award is 31st December 2012. For entry forms contact Helena McConnell; E: helena@sevenstories.org.uk or diversevoices@sevenstories.org.uk T: 0845 271 0777 x706
CLPE Poetry Award 2011
The winner is Off Road to Everywhere by Philip Gross, ill. Jonathan Gross (Salt Publishing). It was described by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, last year’s winner of the prize and a judge as, ‘an outstanding winner for this Award’ while fellow judge Fiona Waters who is also a previous winner said, ‘This is wonderful stuff. Here are real, proper poems which are full of beauty and imagination. I loved it!’
If You Could See Laughter by Mandy Coe (Salt Publishing) was Highly Commended. The other shortlisted titles are:
Everybody Was a Baby Once and other poems by Allan Ahlberg, ill. Bruce Ingman (Walker Books)
Cuckoo Rock by Phil Bowen, ill. Fred James (Salt Publishing)
A Million Brilliant Poems (part one) compiled by Roger Stevens, ill. Jessie Ford (A & C Black)
The judges were Carol Ann Duffy, Andrew Lambirth and Fiona Waters and the judging panel was chaired by Julia Eccleshare. For further information contact Ann Lazim: ann@clpe.co.uk”>ann@clpe.co.uk ; 020 7902 2287.
NEWS
Life, Above All
Originally published in 2005 as Chanda’s Secret (and reviewed in BfK No. 155), Allan Stratton’s powerful novel for teens set in an imaginary sub-Saharan African country is both a convincing human story and a documentary novel about the problem of AIDS. 16 year-old Chanda has to care for her sick mother while also coping with living in a prejudiced community. Now republished by Chicken House as Life, Above All, a film version will be opening this year. See http:/www.lifeaboveall.co.uk for more details.
