AVID bookworms have celebrated the announcement of the country's leading children's literature award.
Literary critics from The Allertonshire School, Northallerton, staged a reading party as the winner of the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals Carnegie Medal 2013 was revealed.
The Carnegie Medal is awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book for children as voted for by children's librarians across the UK, with past winners including the authors Arthur Ransome, C.S. Lewis, and Terry Pratchett.
Sixteen pupils, aged 12 to 13, from The Allertonshire School, took part in the awards shadowing scheme which engages thousands of young people across Britain to read the eight shortlisted books and debate the work they believe should win.
Learning resource centre manager at the school Christine Brayshaw said: “In just ten weeks we challenged our pupils to read as many of the eight books on the Carnegie Award shortlist as they could.
“Being part of the shadowing scheme is a great way for our students to read fiction that they may not necessarily choose themselves.
“It really helps them to broaden their views on new type of books and encourages them to persevere to the end.”
The students, who met every week to discuss each book and post their views on the Carnegie Award website, chose from the following shortlisted titles: The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan, A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle, Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner, In Darkness by Nick Lake, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick, A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton and Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.
With half the group predicting a win for The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan and the rest hoping for A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle, the young readers were surprised when the national winner was announced as Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner.
“Being involved in the award’s shadowing group each year is part of a wider initiative at The Allertonshire to develop literacy and reading for pleasure,” added Christine.
“In the last year we have signed up to the accelerated reading scheme with students reading everyday before taking online quizzes to test their learning and inform them of how many words they have read. We have already created five word millionaires since the scheme began.”
Pupils who took part in the Carnegie shadowing scheme were awarded medals by the school’s co-head teacher Mike Holmes and town librarian Laura Denning.
Amy Gouldthorpe, 13, of Northallerton, who chose Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick as her favourite book, said: “I was part of the Carnegie reading group last year and it was a lot of fun. I’ve read seven of the books this year whereas I only managed five last time.
“It was quite a hard challenge but reading is great, it takes you into your own world and really helps you use your imagination and express yourself in other subjects.
