The shortlisted titles are:
The Book I Couldn?t Put Down
Cool! by Michael Morpurgo (Collins)
The Dark Horse by Marcus Sedgwick (Orion)
Firesong by William Nicholson (Egmont)
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Scholastic)
Secrets by Jacqueline Wilson (Random House Children?s Books)
The Best Book with Facts in it
Microlife by David Burnie (Dorling Kindersley)
One Small Suitcase by Barry Turner (Puffin)
Pirate Diary by Richard Pratt and Chris Riddell (Walker Books)
True Polar Stories by Paul Dowswell (Usborne Books)
Who was David Livingstone by Amanda Mitchison (Short Books)
The Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud
Kipper?s A to Z by Mick Inkpen (Hodder Children?s Books)
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (Macmillan Children?s Books)
That Pesky Rat by Lauren Child (Orchard Books)
Slow Loris by Alexis Deacon (Random House Children?s Books)
Words to Whisper, Words to Shout compiled by Michaela Morgan, illustrated by Chloe Cheese (Chrysalis Books)
The shortlist, from which the Young Judges select their category winners and the overall Blue Peter Book of the Year, was selected by a group of adult judges: James Naughtie, journalist and broadcaster; Elizabeth Attenborough, former editor and publisher, now Children?s Book Consultant and Co-ordinator of the Talk to your Baby Campaign; Steve Hocking, Blue Peter editor; and Nicky Singer, winner of the Blue Peter Book of the Year 2002.
Nine young judges from all over the UK aged between 6 and 14 years will now read the 15 shortlisted books to decide on the category winners and the overall Blue Peter Book of the Year. The young judges were chosen from 10,000 entries for a competition run by Blue Peter during the summer.
