Children’s Laureate Jacqueline Wilson has announced that debut author Tom Becker has won the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize for his novel Darkside, set in a dangerous parallel ‘secret’ London where nightmares walk the streets.
The announcement was made at a central London Awards ceremony earlier today.
The winner of the Marsh Award, announced last night was Anthea Bell for her translation of The Flowing Queen by Kai Meyer
A graphic novel - American Born Chinese - has won the Michael L Printz Award for the first time - more details shortly
Mystery Writers of America - Edgar? Nominees
Kevin Brooks is one of the nominees for the Edgar Awards (a US prize organised by the Mystery Writers of America in memory of Edgar Allan Poe):
Best Young Adult
The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks (Scholastic - The Chicken House)
The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson (Penguin YR - Sleuth/Viking)
Crunch Time by Mariah Fredericks (Simon & Schuster - Richard Jackson Books/Atheneum)
Buried by Robin Merrow MacCready (Penguin YR - Dutton Children's Books)
The Night My Sister Went Missing by Carol Plum-Ucci (Harcourt Children's Books)
Best Juvenile
Gilda Joyce: The Ladies of the Lake by Jennifer Allison (Penguin Young Readers - Sleuth/Dutton)
The Stolen Sapphire: A Samantha Mystery by Sarah Masters Buckey (American Girl Publishing)
Room One: A Mystery or Two by Andrew Clements (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
The Bloodwater Mysteries: Snatched by Pete Hautman & Mary Logue (Penguin Young Readers - Sleuth/Putnam)
The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery by Nancy Springer (Penguin Young Readers - Philomel/Sleuth)
On the move with your webready handheld?
Go achuka.mobi for link to the Newbery/Caldecott announcement, around 8am US Pacific time, 4pm UK time.
If you're lucky, you might be able to access the live WebCast around 7.45 am, 3.45pm UK time:
www.unikron.com/ala-webcast
Guardian Unlimited: Arts blog - books: Adults only... or not
On The Guardian's books blog, Adele Geras, one of the Costa judges, defends the winning title against accusations that its subject matter is too mature for children...
Telegraph | News | Costa Book Awards: winners revealed
The grittiest of the winners is the children's book, Set in Stone, written like a Victorian melodrama by Linda Newbery. It is the account of a tutor hired to teach the daughters of a wealthy hermit who reigns over a profoundly unhappy household. The tutor eventually discovers that incest is at the root of the misery. Books for the category should be for children aged between 8 and 14 and critics say that Set in Stone should not be read by under-14s. Adele Geras, one of the judges, said: "It is not in your face and there are no scenes of incest. It only comes out at the end in a very subtle way. "It is a very fine book but I would say that it is for the upper age range. However, I think that a younger child would be bored and give up before it got to any incest."
Other shortlisted children's books were
Clay by David Almond
The Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding
Just in Case by Meg Rosoff
