Carnegie Medal 2010

See the nominations for the 2010 Carnegie Medal here.

Several of these titles are already in HCC library and some are already strong favourites of our readers (including Rachel Ward's Numbers). There are two nominations for Marcus Sedgwick.

The shortlist will be announced on Friday 23 April 2010 - we'll be shadowing again at HCC. What are the titles you'd like to see on the shortlist? Any predictions for the overall winner?

Neil Gaiman wins the Booktrust Teenage Prize 2009

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is this year's winner of the Booktrust Teenage Prize.

The Graveyard Book tells the story of Nobody ‘Bod’ Owens, a child abandoned in a graveyard after the vicious murder of his parents and sister by The Man Jack. Raised and educated by the ghosts that live there, Bod encounters terrible and unexpected menaces in the horror of the pit of the Sleer and the city of Ghouls. It is in the land of the living that the real danger lies as The Man Jack is determined to find Bod and finish him off.

Previous winners include Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Rachel Ward visits HCC!

A wonderful visit from Rachel Ward last week. The Battle of the Books team reprised their presentation of Numbers before we heard a fascinating talk by Rachel. Numbers is Rachel's first published book and has just been longlisted for the 2010 Carnegie Medal. It is also in this year's gr8 txts selection. The sequel, Numbers 2: The Chaos will be published in June 2010.

Numbers

Booked Up books have arrived!

All the Booked Up books have now arrived and most have been given out to Year 7 student in their English classes. All the students were delighted to receive their books.