The last few months have been full of great events, fantastic books and loads of really wonderful writers and illustrators. In June we had the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway award ceremony at the Natural History Museum; with the amazing Sally Gardner winning for her book Maggot Moon and Levi Pinfold getting the Greenaway for his Black Dog. Both of them had stiff competition and I don’t envy the judging panel. During the past few months I have had the great pleasure to arrange some visits in to various schools and all the authors have been absolutely fantastic. We had Darren Shan talking about his new Zom-B book, Melvin Burgess discussing The Hit, Sophia Bennett and You Don’t Know Me and Sam Hepburn (aka Sam Osman) with Chasing the Dark. The next few months look just as exciting, so I can’t wait to tell you all about.
Last week I had the pleasure of attending a panel discussion with R J Palacio, Sally Gardner and Laura Jarratt, where they discussed why they had used facial disfigurement as a theme in each of their books and what if anything they were hoping to achieve. A full description of this evening can be found on the Anne Harding Blog. I was also able to present R J Palacio with the Centurion Book Award which she won for 2012, and which was voted on by secondary schools in the Bath area.
This Thursday saw the launch of the new book by Julia Donaldson and Charlotte Voake. Entitled “Further adventures of the Owl and the Pussy cat” this is a ‘homage’ to the work of Edward Lear and includes several wonderful characters from some of his other works. It is a lovely book for reading out loud to both individuals and also to groups of children. Iam looking forward to reading the book to my new grandchild, when they arrive.
Bennett, Sophia You don’t know me Chicken House 9781908435460
Burgess, Melvin The Hit Chicken House 9781908435330
Donaldson, Julia & The further adventures of the Owl
Voake, Charlotte and the Pussy Cat Puffin Books 9780141332888
Hepburn, Sam Chasing the Dark Chicken House 9781908435682
Gardner, Sally Maggot Moon Hot Key Books 9781471400445
Jarratt, Laura Skin Deep Electric Monkey 9781405256728
Palacio, R J Wonder Corgi Childrens 9780552565974
Pinfold, Levi Black Dog Templar 9781848777484
Shan, Darren Zom-B Angels Simon & Schuster 9780857077646