We’re back after our brief half-term hiatus and we’re ready to enjoy the second half of this spring term- there’s lots to look forward to!
While we were away, the longlists for the 2017 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards were announced; these will be whittled down into shortlists in a few weeks time (16th March) but until then, you’ll find the lists below. These books were selected from the nominated lists published in October last year.
As we’ve mentioned before, the awards are celebrating some birthdays this year; the Carnegie Medal is 80 this year and the Kate Greenaway Medal is 60 and you’ll find the anniversary timetable here; there’s lots planned, as you can see!
Carnegie Medal longlist:
Kate Greenaway Medal longlist
Phew! There are lots of wonderful books on these lists and we’re excited to see which of these make the final shortlists on 16th March. In the mean time, why not take a look at the official CKG website; it’s packed full of useful news and resources, including details of how you can set up a shadowing group for your school.
Now: onto our Friday Reads for this week:
Apryl: One Hundred Sausages by Yuval Zommer
Scruff the dog’s favourite things in the WHOLE WORLD are sausages: I am a vegan, so I don’t eat sausages AT ALL EVER. Despite these wildly different life choices, I had a brilliant time reading this story about a lovely pup whose passion for eating means that even his dreams feature a wide variety of his favourite food.
When the local butcher shop has a break-in and all his stock is stolen, Scruff is the number one culprit and it’s up to him to prove his innocence and find the real thief. Zommer’s illustrations are brilliant (I especially loved the Ada the Afghan Hound!) and I loved following Scruff’s adventure as he seeks out the sausage-based truth.
(Templar Publishing, £6.99 paperback, ISBN 9781783705764, find it at a Norfolk Library)
Harriet: Didn’t We Have a Lovely Time! by Michael Morpurgo, illustrated by Quentin Blake
As well as a few new non-fiction titles on the subject of refugees, there are some lovely stories too. This is a very small book in celebration of 40 years of the Morpurgos’ city farms, and although the young boy featured in the story had become on orphan escaping from Vietnam as one of the ‘boat people’ in the late 1970s, his story is as heart breaking today as it was then. The story shows how trauma reveals itself in different ways in different people – in this case the boy would not speak or smile – but how through sympathy, respect and care they can be helped through. Through talking to the farm animals, this boy gradually opened up to the humans around him.
(Walker Books, £6.99 hardback, ISBN 9781406371635)
Zoë: The Party Club by Anne Fine
This is a lovely little story from Anne Fine which is easy to read and would make a good class read for story time because of the theme. It would also lend itself to class discussions about change, growing and difference for PSHE because Rosie is facing a big change in her social calendar as her school friends no longer want to have birthday parties.
Hearing that Victoria is not having a party is devastating news to Rosie as she loves all aspects of birthday parties from the food to the frilly frocks and games. As she talks to her friends about their birthdays, Rosie realises they are changing their ideas about how they should be celebrated. How will she respond to these ideas?
(Walker Books, £5.99 paperback, ISBN 9781406365504, find it at a Norfolk Library)
You can find the archive of our past recommendations just here.
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