Online bookseller Red House is calling for members of the public to cast their vote in their Children’s Book Award before nominations close on 20th January 2012. The 2012 shortlist has been drawn up and children can choose one of 10 books to vote for.
The Children’s Book Award, now in its 32nd year, was founded in 1980 by author and librarian Pat Thompson, is run by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups and sponsored by Red House, a mail order bookshop specialising in the sale of affordable children’s and babies books.
The literary award is split into three groups – books for younger children, younger readers and older readers. Voters must rank each book in the three categories and the overall winner of each is then put before a panel of judges. It is their job to select the best children’s book of the three.
Past overall winners have included ‘Skeleton Key’ by Anthony Horowitz (2003), ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief’ by Rick Riordan (2006) and ‘Shadow’ by Michael Morpurgo (2011). This year’s shortlist is incredibly varied and holds some of the best children’s books of 2011, and many of the authors have already won numerous prizes and literary awards for their work in the past.
In the Younger Children category the nominees include ‘Rollo and Ruff and the Little Fluffy Bird’ by Mick Inkpen, ‘Don’t Worry Douglas!’ by David Melling, ‘Peely Wally’ by Kali Stileman and ‘Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice’ by Chris Wormell. The Younger Readers category contains ‘One Dog and his Boy’ by Eva Ibbotson, ‘Sky Hawk’ by Gill Lewis and ‘Brilliant World of Tom Gates’ by Liz Pichon. In the Older Readers category voters can choose from ‘Grace’ by Morris Gleitzman, ‘A Monster Calls’ by Patrick Ness and ‘My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece’ by Annabel Pitcher.
Lindsay Eyers of Red House said: “The Red House Children’s Book Award is always a big event and we want to make sure that people remember to get their votes in before the cut-off date.
“Once your children have voted, you should remember to take a look at our Pick of the Year, which showcases the top 40 books that didn’t quite make it onto the shortlist. And remember – all of the books included on the 2012 shortlist and our Pick of the Year are available to buy online from Red House.”
You can vote now by visiting www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk.
Via EPR Network
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