ACHUKAblog
Proving as at home with younger fiction as he is with the complex themes of his teen writing, Reynolds weaves a wonderfully nuanced series of stories around the daily ritual of the walk home from school. Never afraid to confront serious issues but always handling them with sensitivity and wit, Look Both Ways is marvellous entertainment with deceptive gravitas.
ACHUKA Book of the Day Tue 26 Nov 2019
Second story in the RUN sequence of four, which began with Ghost.
It’s not the taking part, it’s the winning that counts for Patina! Patty, as she’s known to her friends and family, has lost a lot in her life – her dad died when she was young, her mum has lost her legs and now she has to live with her uncle and his wife. On top of that Patty has to go to the poshest school that ever existed. Now her running team has become a relay team and independent “I can do everything by myself” Patty has to work with her team mates to win.
Times Children’s Book of the Week, 16 Feb 2019
First title in a 4-book series: Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school running team-a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. They all have a lot to lose and a lot to prove. Not only to each other, but to themselves.
“Award-winning writer Reynolds (Long Way Down, 2017, etc.) offers a letter in the form of a long poem that acknowledges and encourages young people’s dreams and aspirations… Inspirational reading for any occasion.” KIRKUS
” A powerful and affirming book-length poem for teens.” School Library Journal
“This stylistic masterpiece speaks to the dreamer in us all, regardless of where we are on the path to success.” TeenReads
The poetry is stark, fluently using line breaks and page-turns for dramatic effect; the last of these reveals the best closing line of a novel this season. Read alone (though best aloud), the novel is a high-stakes moral thriller; it’s also a perfect if daring choice for readers’ theater. The Horn Book Magazine
A middle-grade road-trip through American race relations past and present, perfect for fans of Ross Welford and Jason Reynolds.
How to Go on an Unplanned Road Trip with Your Grandma:
Grab a Suitcase: Prepacked from the big spring break trip that got CANCELLED.
Fasten Your Seatbelt: G’ma’s never conventional, so this trip won’t be either.
Use the Green Book: G’ma’s most treasured possession. It holds history, memories, and most important, the way home.
What Not to Bring: – A Phone: Avoid contact with Dad at all costs. Even when G’ma starts acting stranger than usual.
The UKLA Book Awards are the only awards to be judged entirely by teachers. The awards are presented to books that are considered to “enhance all aspects of literacy learning”. The judging process ensures teachers are able to share the books with their classes and discover what genuinely works with young readers in each of the three age categories. Judgements are therefore soundly based on pupil response.
For an unprecedented second year in a row the 3-6 category has been won by Morag Hood. She said “I am so honoured that I Am Bat has been chosen as the winner, and to win for the second time is just incredible! What better accolade than from the teachers who know and understand children the most. It fills me with joy to know that my little bat is being used in classrooms and, I hope, helping to encourage a life-long love of reading.”
Equally unprecedented was the fact that the judges, after intense debate, decided to award a Highly Commended in each of the three age categories to books that were very different but equally valuable and too good not to be specially recognised. So the Newbery Medal winning After the Fall by Dan Santat has been Highly Commended in the 3-6 category with S.E Durrant’s Running On Empty in the 7-11 and Carnegie medal winning Elizabeth Acevado’s verse novel The Poet X in the 12-16.
This has been a triumphant year for poetry. Indeed, the verse novel Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds won the 12-16 category, while The Explorer by Katherine Rundell took the 7-11 category.
The 2019 awards were presented at a special ceremony on July 12th at the UKLA International Conference, Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University. Student teachers from 20 universities around the UK take part in Shadowing the awards and read and use the shortlisted books on teaching practice in schools before having their own online vote to select their own winners. Mini Grey‘s The Last Wolf was the 3-6 winner and S.E Durrant’ Running on Empty won the 7-11 student vote too. The National Education Union sponsors student shadowers to attend the conference and they also announced and presented their awards at the ceremony.
10 teachers nominated from the 58 involved in the shortlisting, who came from Midlands region around Sheffield, formed the final judging panel and had the challenging task of reading all the shortlisted books in all three age categories, which meant nursery teachers reading fiction for teenagers and secondary teachers reading picture books.
Research carried out by members of UKLA (Cremin et al 2008) clearly demonstrated the links between teachers’ knowledge of children’s books and the likelihood of pupils becoming successful readers. Despite this evidence, teachers are seldom given time to read new books or funding to purchase them when they do.
The Shortlists in full
3-6
After the Fall written and illustrated by Dan Santat (Andersen Press)
The Last Wolf written and illustrated by Mini Grey (Jonathan Cape)
Bob’s Blue Period written and illustrated by Marion Deuchars (Laurence King)
Stardust written by Jeanne Willis and illustrated by Briony May Smith (Nosy Crow)
The Big Book of the Blue written and illustrated by Yuval Zommer (Thames & Hudson)
I Am Bat written and illustrated by Morag Hood (Two Hoots)
7-11
The Explorer written by Katherine Rundell illustrated by Hannah Horn (Bloomsbury)
Running on Empty written by S. E. Durrant illustrated by Rob Biddulph (Nosy Crow)
Sky Dancer written by Gill Lewis (Oxford)
The Wild Robot written and illustrated by Peter Brown (Piccadilly)
The Murderer’s Ape written and illustrated by Jakob Wegelius. Translated by Peter Graves (Pushkin Press)
Kick written by Mitch Johnson (Usborne Publishing)
12-16
Moonrise written by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury)
The Poet X written by Elizabeth Acevedo (Egmont Electric Monkey)
Long Way Down written by Jason Reynolds and illustrated by Chris Priestley (Faber)
Piglettes written and translated by Clémentine Beauvais (Pushkin Press)
After the Fire written by Will Hill (Usborne Publishing)
Mary’s Monster: Love, Madness and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein written and illustrated by Lita Judge (Wren & Rook)
Featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling American black authors writing for teens today, Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and black. Whether you are in America, the UK, or anywhere across the globe, this powerful collection of stories will remind you of our shared humanity.
Stories from: Renee Watson, Varian Johnson, Leah Henderson, Lamar Giles, Kekla Magoon, Jason Reynolds, Brandy Colbert, Tochi Onyebuchi, Liara Tamani, Jay Coles, Rita Williams-Garcia, Tracey Baptiste, Dhonielle Clayton, Justina Ireland, Coe Booth, Nic Stone and Ibi Zoboi
Recently posted out to subscribers, Teen Titles 74 includes features on Jason Reynolds, Alex Wheatle, L J MacWhiret, and Kendare Blake. Plus brief Author Factfiles on Dan Freedman, Paolo Peretti, Sara Shepard, Simon Lelic, Natasha Carthew, Janina Ramirez, Joey Graceffa and Lucy van Smit.
Recommended as always…
For subscription enquiries contact learning.publications@ea.edin.sch.uk
CILIP Carnegie Medal shortlist (alphabetical by author surname):
CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal shortlist (alphabetical by illustrator surname):
The Carnegie shortlist contains three verse novels for the first time in the Medal’s 81-year history. Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X, Kwame Alexander’s Rebound and Jason Reynold’s Long Way Down each use free verse to create coming-of-age stories, blending influences from slam poetry and hip-hop to explore identity, first love, loss and gang crime. The Carnegie Medal was first won by verse nove in 2016, by Sarah Crossan for One.
Jon Klassen is the only previous winner to appear on this year’s Medal shortlists, having won the 2014 Kate Greenaway Medal with This Is Not My Hat. Former shortlistees to make it onto this year’s lists are Frances Hardinge and Kate Saunders for the Carnegie Medal, and Rebecca Cobb, David Roberts and Jackie Morris for the Kate Greenaway Medal.
There is a strong showing for independent publishers on the lists, with seven of the 16 titles coming from Andersen Press, Child’s Play Library, David Fickling Books, Faber & Faber and Lantana Publishing. The two smallest presses – Child’s Play Library and Lantana Publishing – have books on the Kate Greenaway shortlist for the first time.