John Lewis Solihull Children's Book Award 2008
Set up to promote a love of reading amongst young people in years 5/6/7 and 8 the long list is chosen by a panel of teachers and librarians. Children choose the short-listed three books and the winner. John Lewis sponsors the award and the three short listed books are bought by them for every local authority school in the Borough.
The winners over the past three years have been :
- Cathy Cassidy: Scarlett
- Justin Somper: Vampirates
- Michael Lawrence: Nudie Dudie
If you would like to send in a review of the books you are reading for the award we will be presenting prizes for the best reviews at the award ceremony on July 11 at Bushell Hall. All three authors will be there, one of them to pick up their award and all of them to answer your questions and sign books.
This year the short listed books are:
Robert Swindells: In the Nick of Time
Charlotte is out in the woods on her own one day when something mysterious happens - she walks along a row of stones laid like stepping-stones on the forest floor...and finds herself in another age. She has somehow slipped back to 1955, and is now, in the same woods, on the site of a very unique school, an open-air school for sick city children. No one believes her tales of the world she's come from, her mobile doesn't work and she can't see how on earth she's going to get back. A friendship with another pupil proves the key - is Jack more than he seems?
Gwyneth Rees: The Making of May
Eleven-year-old May's life changes dramatically when she leaves the city and moves to Thornton Hall, a big house in the countryside where her grown-up brother Ben has got the job of gardener - despite having been less than truthful about his qualifications! With her new friend, Alex, May discovers that life at the Hall isn't quite as simple as it seems. What lies behind the locked tower room door that housekeeper Mrs Daniels guards so closely? As May and Alex begin a journey of discovery, transforming the Hall's overgrown walled garden, Mrs Daniels starts to close in on Ben's little secret. Could May be about to lose Thornton Hall - just as she realises its power to be the making of both her and Alex?
Sophie McKenzie: Girl Missing
Lauren has always known she was adopted but when a little research turns up the possibility that she was snatched from an American family as a baby, suddenly Lauren's life seems like a sham. How can she find her biological parents? And are her adoptive parents really responsible for kidnapping her? She manages to wangle a trip across the Atlantic where she runs away to try and find the truth. But the circumstances of her disappearance are murky and Lauren's kidnappers are still at large and willing to do anything to keep her silent...
Contact
If you have any queries about the award please contact Chris Turner on 0121 788 4384 or email mailto:cturner@solihull.gov.uk