Tuesday 14 January 2014

Our Favourite Books



Here are some comments from library staff about the books in the award. Let us know what your favourite is.

"My favourite on the shortlist is 'Oliver Fibbs: Attack of the alien brain', because I really liked Oliver's imaginative story telling and how his class enjoyed it so much. Also the book was very funny, so funny I nearly fell out of bed laughing!" (Jenny)

 "My favourite book is 'The No. 1 Car Spotter and the Car Thieves'. I love this book for its thrilling fast paced story line as well its ability to conjure up colourful images of another country and its culture!" (Annabel)

"My favourite book is 'Claude in the Spotlight.' I love the illustrations, especially the expressions on Claude's face. But the main thing that I love about the book is Sir Bobblysock - he is such a nervous and anxious character, but still follows his friend Claude into his adventure!" (Carol)


"My favourite book in the award is 'The Magical Peppers and the Great Vanishing Act.' I really enjoyed the story and the magic tips in the book too. It's funny and, even though I didn't almost fall out of bed laughing (like Jenny), I'm sure I felt myself levitating at one point. Was that the power of Uncle Potty's magic?" (Gary)


" Out of all 5 of the short listed books my favourite was 'My Funny Family Gets Bigger.' I really got to like Mattie and her crazy but lovable family at Christmas time. Mattie's idea of giving her siblings a pet rock for Christmas was genius and naming it 'Petroc' was inspired!" (Amina)

Now it's your turn to tell us which one is your favourite and why you like it. We can't wait to see what you think too!

 

Authors Videos

We thought you might find these videos fun.

Here is Sian Pattenden talking about her Magical Peppers series of books.


Here's Atinuke reading from one of her Car Spotter books.

Meet the Authors

If you want to know more about the authors of the five shortlisted books in our Children's Book Award here are some links to their websites.

Did you know....?
  • Atinuke was born in Nigeria and now tells stories in schools, theatres and festivals all over the world!
  • Steve Hartley is also an astronaut, spy, racing-car driver, trapeze-artist and vampire-hunter!
  • Chris Higgins has four daughters and is rapidly acquiring a whole bunch of grandchildren even though she feels far too young to be a granny!
  • Sian Pattenden has been one half of a band called 100% Ponies and has appeared in Doctor Who as Young Tegan (wearing a wig.)!
  • Alex T Smith did want to have careers in space travel, cookery and being a rabbit, but finally decided to become an author and an illustrator!

The Books in the Award


The Surrey Libraries' Children's Book Award is now in its 4th year, and celebrates the best fiction written for 7-9 year olds.

The shortlist of 5 books that will be competing for the 2014 Surrey Libraries' Children's Book Award has been decided. The books are:





The winner of the award will be selected by our Champion Schools and some of our Chatterbooks Groups in April 2014. We will be sharing the opinions and art work of those children involved on this blog. The winner will be announced at our Award Ceremony, which will be held at the H.G. Wells Centre in Woking on Wednesday 30 April.

So keep visiting this blog to find out what the children have been up to whilst deciding who the winner should be.


Monday 13 January 2014

Welcome to the 2014 Book Award

Welcome to Surrey Libraries' Children's Book Award 2014 blog. This award is part of Off The Page, which is our library festival for children.

This blog is a place for our Champion schools and Chatterbooks groups to share their thoughts and ideas about the books in the award.

The Champion schools this year are:
  • Kingfield School, Woking
  • Loseley Fields Primary School, Godalming
  • Mytchett Primary
  • St. Bartholomew's Primary School, Haslemere
  • St. John's CofE Primary, Dorking
  • St. Matthew's CofE Primary, Redhill
  • St. Nicholas CofE Primary, Shepperton
  • South Camberley Primary
  • The Dawnay School, Bookham
  • Weyfield Primary Academy, Guildford

The Chatterbooks groups are:

  • Addlestone
  • Camberley
  • Dittons
  • Lingfield
  • Walton

The photo here shows the library team involved in organising the Book Award. We look forward to reading your blog posts about the books.