The Children's Book Award 2018

Happy new year! Introducing the working group for the 2018 Surrey Libraries Children's Book Award - drum roll please...!

From left to right: Neil Richards, Katherine Hyland, June Hughes, Lorna Dicken, Owen Dixon, Jayne Mairs, and Carol Hales!

Let's find out what they have to say about this year's shortlist:

The New Adventures of Mr Toad by Tom Mooorehouse

This Wind in the Willows re-boot launches Mr Toad and Ratty into the 21st Century, with a crash, a bang and lots of laughs, on an epic adventure to save Toad Hall.
- Neil

Bookshop Girl by Sylvia Bishop

I love the notion of the Montgomery Book Emporium - you can imagine a different room for each sort of book, like the very stark, efficient room that houses the dictionaries and the twinkling, starry room full of space books.
- June

A Jar of Pickles and a Pinch of Justice by Chitra Soundar

These four stories are full of wit and wonder – I loved the glimpse into Indian culture and folklore that they provided. Prince Veera and his best friend, Suku, bring wisdom and humour that runs through each and every tale.
- Lorna

Me and Mister P by Maria Farrer

'Me and Mister P' is a sensitive and funny book with a great feel good factor! Mister P is a polar bear with a big heart, who arrives on Arthur's doorstep and changes their lives forever. I love the way he brings everyone together and finally enables them to achieve their dreams.
- Jayne

 The No. 1 Car Spotter fights the factory by Atinuke

What I love about 'The No. 1 Car Spotter Fights the Factory' is that it deals with issues of development, pollution, and employment in a lively, warm-hearted story for young children, while still highlighting the seriousness of the issues. Oluwalese Babatunde Benson (The No. 1 car spotter in his village) is a brilliant character - resourceful, quick-witted, and fun.
- Carol

The Children's Book Award 2015

Introducing the Children's Book Award 2015 working group (from left to right) Tom Batten,

Carol Hales, Jenny Gordon and Gary Green.

Here's what they had to say about their favourite books on the shortlist.

"My favourite book is The Dragonsitter's Island. I love the clever way that the story is told through the emails and that the illustrations are photo attachments. And I think it would be quite fun to look after a couple of friendly dragons!" - Carol

"I loved reading Hairy Horror despite the fact that, like the Anna in the story, I'm very scared of spiders! I think it would be great to have a big brother like Hal, and I'm sure he could invent some wonderful things to liven up my life." - Anna

"My favourite book is Queen Sardine. I love cats and have a ginger and white one of my own, who like fish (and hates dogs) as much as Queen Sardine, but unfortunately he can't talk! I wonder what he'd say about her? I'm sure he'd be very happy living with kind-hearted Ivy, as long as he could sleep on her bed all day!" - Jenny

"The 13th Fairy is my favourite book from the shortlist, because of Grimbleshanks' pet crow Bill, and his laid-back attitude to life. I'd love to join the Old Bill Beaky Band and write some songs for them! Perhaps we could perform at Princess Beauty's wedding?" - Gary

"Chicken Mission was my favourite book. An imaginative adventure that put me in mind of Aardman Animations, I'd love to know what exploits Amy, Ruth and Boo embark on next! Best of all the book doesn't shy away from a good pun!" - Tom

 

St Matthew's School art workshop

St Matthew's School ran a workshop as a finale to the Children's Book Award.

As you can see the Year 3 and Year 4 pupils created some very individual and imaginative book jackets based on the 'My Funny Family' books and were truly inspired by meeting children's author Chris Higgins.

The children had fun at the Book Award Ceremony

We mentioned that the children from our Champion schools came up on stage and gave presentations during the Children's Book award Ceremony.

This included:

• St John's school performing a Magical Peppers role play.
• South Camberley writing their own adventure for Claude and Sir Bobblysocks and producing book adverts.
• Kingfield  school talking about and showing the art work they had created.
• Loseley field school shared their thoughts about the shortlisted books.
• Weyfield Primary school made a tap dance video.
• St Bartholomew's school read out their reviews and shared their artwork.

These were all fantastic. Well done to all of the children.

Loseley Fields Primary School have allowed us to share their artwork here. It looks like they had a lot of fun being a Champion School.

My Funny Family Series by St Bartholomew's Year 3 pupils

These reviews were sent in by Year 3 pupils at St Bartholomew's school. Author Chris Higgins also visited their school and they have shared some interesting facts about her writing too.

The first book we read of the “My Funny Family” series was “My Funny Family Gets Bigger”. The main character in the book is a nine year old girl called Mattie. Mattie worries a lot because she has a big family and they are all very different.

Chris Higgins, the author, came to our school to tell us about her books. She gets her inspiration from her own family. Her grandson gave her the title “My Funny Family”. She was going to call it the Butterfields. I like the title because it is much more catchy than the Butterfields.

(by George, Year 3)

The first book I heard and read was “My Funny Family Gets Bigger”. The main character is a nine year old girl called Mattie. Unfortunately, Mattie worries all the time about anything. Whenever she worries her brain gets tangled up “like spaghetti” she says. She also says she has a “funny family” because it’s so big as there are lots of people all in one house.

Chris Higgins, the author, came to pay a visit! We learnt that all the characters are based on members of her family, that she’s written other books  and … how to publish a book! What you do is to get someone called an agent and the agent’s job is to say whether or not they think the book should be published. If they say yes then they take it round to different possible publishers and, if one of them says yes, it’s published.

(by Lizzie, Year 3)

The first book we read was “My Funny Family Gets Bigger”. The main character is called Mattie, a nine year old girl who always worries a lot as she has a big family who are all very different, as well as having a big gap in ages.

Chris Higgins came to our school to tell us about being an author. She has her own room so she has peace and quiet and nothing gets moved. Most of her character’s names are based on artists.

She is going to write three more books, including “My Funny Family Gets funnier” (from inspiration of her grandson).

(by Hugh, Year 3)

Matty, who is the main character, is a big worrier. She worries so much because there is always a lot going on in her house. Her mum says her brain is like spaghetti and it gets all tangled up.

Chris Higgins, the author, came to our school to tell us about her books. She gets her inspiration from her own family. She is going to write “My Funny Family Saves the Day”, “Moves House” and “Gets Funnier” because her family gives her brilliant ideas that she just has to get down on paper.

(by Lucy, Year 3)

The first book I read in this series was “My Funny Family Gets Bigger”. The main character is Mattie. Mattie is a nine and a half year old girl who has a big family. She worries a lot, probably because of this.

Mattie is the main character because the story is told from her point of view. Chris Higgins chose Mattie because she is the same as Mattie.

Chris Higgins, the author, came to visit our school. She told us that she got her inspiration from her own family. She gets ideas for the names from famous artists. Chris is going to write two more books, three if she includes the one her grandson suggested she might write which is “My Funny Family Gets Funnier”. The series was going to be called the Butterfields but her grandson was keener on “My Funny Family”.

(by Poppy, Year 3)

St Bartholomew's Book Reviews

As well as enjoying a visit from Chris Higgins, the children at St Bartholomew's school have also reviewed the books. Here are a few of their reviews. They have also been creating story board cartoon strips of the characters in the books in their own adventures and look forward to displaying them in Woking and at their local library.

The Magical Peppers

                                       By Sian Pattenden

Illustrated by Jess Mikhail

It was ever so tricky to choose my favourite book, but the Magical Peppers I really loved. I loved it because Uncle Potty had an amazing idea that he could perform an act of making the museum disappear and he performed it in front of the Queen of England!

 I think Sian Pattenden is an incredible author and I should get more of her books. She has really made me love that book and I hope it is part of a series of them. Her imagination is outstanding and I can see she loves writing.

(Olivia, Namibia Class yr 4)

My Funny Family

My Funny Family Gets Bigger is a great book because it is a hilarious book, full of illustrations which make me laugh!!! It was fantastic to have the author, Chris Higgins, come into our school because she told us more about the My Funny Family series. She also told us about her home life being an author and how things in her own life relate to her books. I recommend this book for all ages of children.

(Daisy, Year 4)

Oliver Fibbs

I really enjoyed reading Oliver Fibbs   because it is full of action and it is really hilarious .I like the illustrations as well because they’re quite simple and cartoony.  I recommend it to both children and adults. My favourite character is Oliver Fibbs because he is really mischievous, and despite getting into trouble he gets out of trouble easily.

It has been great taking part in the Library Challenge and getting to read all of the amazing books . I would like to take part in next years because I would like to read some more different books by authors I haven’t read.

(Kai, Year 4 Namibia class)

Here is a book review of a great book from the Surrey libraries children’s book award. It has been  a great honour to have been chosen to take part in this challenge.

CLAUDE

Claude was my favourite book because the illustrations showed the story really well. My favourite illustration is Miss Henrietta High-kick Spin. I thought that Sir Bobblysock was very neat and tidy but incredibly cute and funny! I loved the way that Claude was acting like a detective when he realized that the ghost was fake. I definitely recommend this book. Children of all ages will love it and maybe adults too.

(Rhianna, Year 4 Ghana class)

The No.1 Car Spotter and the Car Thieves

I really enjoyed the No.1 Car Spotter because I really liked  No.1s crazy plans and the way it gets you to think about real life problems. My favourite character is Grandpa because he really gets you to think about his sayings. I would recommend it to Yrs 4 and 5 and adults too.

I really enjoyed taking part in the Surrey Libraries Children’s Book Awards. It’s been a honour to take part this year. I really want to take part next year because I think it would be great fun.

(Ben, Yr 4 Ghana class)

My Funny Family Gets Bigger

                                        By Chris Higgins

                              Illustrated By Lee Wildish

It was a bit tricky to choose my favourite book for the Surrey Libraries’ Children’s Book Award but in the end I chose My Funny Family gets bigger. I like this book because, when Chris puts:

WORRY LIST!!!

it tells me that Mattie is worrying. I like the Illustrations by Lee Wildish too.

It was fun when Chris came into our school and she told us how her home life gets into her books.

This book is a humorous book and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series!!

(By Molly)

St John`s CofE Community School Years 3 and 4 Blog

YEAR 3`S WORK ON THE SURREY LIBRARIES CHILDRENS  BOOK AWARDS 2014

My name is Brijo and I am reading The Magical Peppers.
I am in Year 3. I like reading about all the magic tricks and our class even tried the` make the paper chain bigger` one.
I like Uncle Potty he thinks he is really good at magic but sometimes they don't always work out well. I have also tried some at home but they all went wrong.


I am  Kyla I am also in Year 3 Seal`s class. I love the Magical Peppers and The Great Vanishing Act because I love the characters acting out their magic tricks. Uncle Potty is my favourite character  as he seems really silly.


My Book Review of The Magical Peppers and The Great Vanishing Act by Ashley.

This book was so funny I almost fell out of bed laughing. If I was in the kitchen I would have smashed at least 2 glasses but lucky I wasn`t in the kitchen I was tucked up in bed. I almost knocked over my drink that was beside my bed. OOPS!! I give this book a  5 out of 5.


By Charlie aged 8 in Year 3.

I`m reading the book The magical Peppers and the Island of invention. This is my most favourite book yet. I love this book because it is written by Sian Pattenden and it contains so many tricks. I give this book 10 out of 10 stars.




In year 3 we designed new book covers and vote for me posters.

 

 

 
 

The day Sian Pattenden visited Year 4 at St John`s.





Year 4 reading some of the books in the competition.











Sian Pattenden doing a magic trick with Year 4 pupils.
 

Sian Pattenden helped us create our own special superhero.

Year 4 have drawn the book covers of their favourite stories and have written the following book reviews.

BOOK REVIEWS BY YEAR 4

The Magical Peppers.

This book is about two kids and an uncle named Potty. All of them are magicians. One day they get asked to show the Queen some magic. They had to make the crystal skull disappear. The kids names are Esme and Monty. I like this book because you never know what`s going to happen next.

By Daniel aged 9.

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The Magical Peppers.

The Magical peppers is a very good book. The characters are Potty, Monty and Esme. Uncle Potty gets asked to perform a magic trick in front of the Queen and Potty is very scared. he started practising for the show and he loses the crystal skull. Potty gets arrested and Monty and Esme finds a tunnel.

My favourite character is potty because he is funny.

By Jessie aged 8.

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My Funny Family Gets Bigger.

 

This book is about a 9 and half year old girl called Mattie who has a little brother called Stan. Stan loves reading because he is very good at it but his sister V is not, so she was very jealous of him and got so annoyed with Stan because of all his boasting. So the next day their Nan goes out with V and buys her some new glasses and a new book for her to read with her new glasses and she was very good. At the end of the story their Mum had a baby boy and they wanted to call him Jesus as he was born on Christmas day but in the end the they called him William.

My favourite character was V because she was funny.

I really liked this book because it explained how they looked and what they felt like.

By Rebecca aged 9

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Claude In The Spotlight.

 

This book is about when Claude and Sir Bobbly Sock wake up early one morning and start an adventure by going one morning and start an adventure by going to the theatre and performing with a group he met that day.

 

I like this book because Claude has a friend and its a sock, also he was really funny when he said "I need my beauty spot and I feel my hands coming on".

 

I don`t dislike anything about it because it`s fun when Claude does tap dancing.

 

The characters are Claude(the dog), Sir Bobbly sock( the socks), Mr and Mrs Shiny Shoes(the dogs owners), the children(that Claude met that day) and Miss Highkick Spin(the dance teacher).

 

By Lily aged 8

 

 

 

 

 

 



What Addlestone Chatterbookers thought of Oliver Fibbs and the Attack of the Alien Brain

Oliver Fibbs: The Attack of the Alien Brain

Review by Matthew Presland age 10

Oliver Tibbs is an ordinary boy with extraordinary ideas. He likes reading comics and they how he thinks. Now he thinks “What if…?”

Oliver tells his fantastic stories to the class in ‘show and tell’ and I like the way the author shows these stories in the form of comic strips. I found the book really fun to read and I found it hard to put down.

I think Oliver is a likeable character with a unique personality. In his stories the person he dislikes the most becomes the bad guy. Algy (Oliver’s little brother) is another great character. He is very intelligent but a little bit cheeky.

The only thinking that I dislike about this book is that there isn’t much happening outside Oliver’s stories.

In conclusion, I think this is an enjoyable book with funny stories and characters. I recommend the story for 7-9 year olds. I would give it 4 and a half stars out of 5.

 

Review by Billy Nuttall age 9

Oliver Tibbs, or nicknamed Oliver Fibbs, is an ordinary boy with an active imagination. Every week, Oliver’s class has show and tell. The problem is that Oliver never does anything exciting on the weekend. So prepare for the adventures of Dabman! My favourite character is Oliver Tibbs because his stories are always quite interesting. I like that the stories are in comic book form. I dislike that it only tells you about his school life and not the rest of his life. I would recommend this book for children aged between 7 and 10.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

 

Well done to Matthew Presland who won February's book review of the month for his excellent Oliver Fibbs: Attack of the Alien Brain review.

Once we had read Oliver Fibbs we created our own comic strips just like Oliver does, take a look at them!