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Lollies Award Shortlist

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The shortlist for the 2018 Laugh Out Loud Awards (The Lollies) -a set of awards, now in its third year, created by Scholastic UK, to celebrate the funniest children’s books – was announced today.
 
The Lollies are awarded in three categories:
Best Laugh Out Loud Picture Book
Best Laugh Out Loud Book for 6-8 year olds
Best Laugh Out Loud Book for 9-13 year olds.
 
The shortlisted books in each category are as follows: 
 
Best Laugh Out Loud Picture Book
  • Mr Bunny’s Chocolate Factory by Elys Dolan (OUP)
  • The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field (Hachette)
  • Oi Cat! by Kes Gray and Jim Field (Hachette)
  • I Can Only Draw Worms by Will Mabbitt (PRH)
 
Best Laugh Out Loud Book for 6-8 year olds 
  • Barry Loser and the Birthday Billions by Jim Smith (Egmont)
  • The Big, Fat, Totally Bonkers Diary of Pig by Emer Stamp (Scholastic)
  • There’s a Werewolf in My Tent! by Pamela Butchart and Thomas Flintham (Nosy Crow)
  • Lyttle Lies: The Pudding Problem by Joe Berger (Simon and Schuster)
 
Best Laugh Out Loud Book for 9-13 year olds
  • Tom Gates: Epic Adventure (Kind Of) by Liz Pichon (Scholastic)
  • My Mum’s Growing Down by Laura Dockrill and David Tazzyman (Faber)
  • Uncle Shawn and Bill and the Almost Entirely Unplanned Adventure by A. L. Kennedy and Gemma Correll (Walker)
  • Football Season 2: Where Football Saves the World by Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton and Spike Gerrell (Walker)
 
The winning book in each category will be decided solely by children’s votes, cast via the Lollies website, www.scholastic.co.uk/lollies, or via the Lollies PopJam channel.
 
The winning books will be announced in January 2019. 

Lollies [Funny Book] Shortlist 2017

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Picture Book shortlist

The Prince of Pants
The Prince of Pants

 

Eat Your People!
Eat Your People!

 

Danny McGee Drinks the Sea
Danny McGee Drinks the Sea

 

Oi Dog!
Oi Dog!

 

6-8 years shortlist

Future Ratboy and the Invasion of the Nom Noms
Future Ratboy and the Invasion of the Nom Noms

 

Eddy Stone and the Epic Holiday Mash-Up
Eddy Stone and the Epic Holiday Mash-Up

 

Thimble Monkey Superstar
Thimble Monkey Superstar

 

Hamish and the Neverpeople
Hamish and the Neverpeople

 

9-13 years shortlist

AniMalcolm
AniMalcolm

I Don't Like Poetry
I Don’t Like Poetry

The Best Medicine
The Best Medicine

My Gym Teacher is an Alien Overlord
My Gym Teacher is an Alien O

The shortlist was judged by Michael Rosen, children’s novelist, poet and former Children’s Laureate, and a panel, consisting of CBBC presenter Katie Thistleton and The Sunday Times’ Children’s Books Editor, Nicolette Jones.

Voting on the shortlists is now open and closes on 8th December.

Winners will be announced in January 2018.

via Lollies home – Scholastic Shop.

‘I write about 350 jokes per book. I throw away about a third of them’: Jeff ‘Wimpy Kid’ Kinney

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Jeff Kinney, interviewed by Scroll

extract”

Tell us about the process of putting together each book. Do the illustrations come first or the diary entries? Do you bounce joke ideas off anyone to make sure they are working?
I spend about five months writing the jokes, because humour is the priority in the books. I keep the jokes to myself more and more while writing because I need people to be surprised by them. I write about 350 jokes per book. I throw away about a third of them. Then I write the manuscript for about a month and then the illustrations for about a month and a half.

Do your books require a disciplined writing routine? How do you juggle other work, like your bookstore and the gaming business, with writing?
When I’m writing, I work very hard, but I’m easily distracted. I have ADD (attention deficit disorder), so it’s hard for me to stay focussed. But when I’m illustrating, I can sit there for 13 to 17 hours at a time and just draw. I’m not very structured otherwise (with other projects), I just go where the work is.

Comic writing is tough –making it seem effortless for maximum impact, book after book. What’s your formula?
I hope that I make it look effortless, because there’s a lot of strain behind the writing. It’s very difficult for me to write and come up with good jokes. The way I keep it fresh is to remind myself that there is a lot to childhood, and as long as I am honest about things and kids can see themselves in the characters and situations, then I’m doing my job.

full piece via ‘I write about 350 jokes per book. I throw away about a third of them’: Jeff ‘Wimpy Kid’ Kinney.

Michael Rosen heads up new funny books award – Laugh Out Loud prize aka The Lollies :)

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Missed this welcome bit of news while I was away in North Norfolk for a few days – well done Michael Rosen and Scholastic…

guardiansmall

Following the closure of the Roald Dahl funny books prize last month, there’s now a new funny books award on the block – the Laugh Out Loud book prize. It’s a set of awards launched by the publisher Scholastic that recognises the funniest children’s books on the market. The best part? The ultimate winner will be chosen by you!

The prize, also known as the “Lollies”, will be made up of three categories: the Best Laugh Out Loud book for 6–8s, Best Laugh Out Loud book for 9–13s and Best Laugh Out Loud Picture Book. Publishers will submit their favourite funny books to a panel of judges, with poet and former children’s laureate Michael Rosen (who started the Roald Dahl prize) at the head of the panel. The shortlist will be announced in March and that’s when you can vote for your favourite laugh-out-loud read, through the “Lollies” website.

Liz Pichon’s top 10 funny books with pictures
Read more
Rosen says the new prize “will be like a great big signpost saying ‘this way laughs’”, so if you want a say in the silliest reads, this is the perfect chance to get involved.

You can follow the latest updates through the hashtag #lollies, and Scholastic will also organise a series of events in schools across the country, bringing the funniest books to a classroom near you.

via Michael Rosen heads up new funny books award | Children's books | The Guardian.

Roald Dahl Funny Prize killed off by Dahl Estate

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Was shocked to read all the tweeets about this yesterday, and in particular the veyr strange explanation given by the Dahl estate…

ACHUKA will give full support to any new event/prize organised by Michael Rosen (see below) :

guardiansmall

Rosen, who is also professor of children’s literature at Goldsmith’s University, where he gave his first lecture on humour in children’s books, said he was now planning to set up an event celebrating funny books, which would also look at how to get the award up and running again. “The issue with prizes is money – you need a sponsor, and a secretariat to run the thing,” said Rosen. “So the event is now my plan, and if by chance off the back of it some friendly sponsor comes along, I’ll be up for it.”

The bestselling writer stressed the importance of funny literature in getting children reading. “We keep talking about ‘reading for pleasure’ – it’s almost official government policy … A substantial part of that for young children is reading funny books … They’re a bridge to enable children to be confident with the written word,” he said.

Roald Dahl’s gruesome twosome The Twits return in new children’s app
Read more
According to Rosen, “we rarely talk about laughter. We’re northern Europeans – we shouldn’t laugh too much unless we fart. There is a reserve. And there are worries about children laughing hysterically, because they’re ‘out of control’.”

via Roald Dahl Funny prize for children's books is closed down | Books | The Guardian.