Two Scholastic titles shortlisted for 2010 CILIP children’s book awards
The shortlists for the 2010 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals were announced this morning, and there are Scholastic titles in the running for both awards.
Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve is shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, which is awarded annually for outstanding writing for children. Reeve has already won the Carnegie once, in 2008, for Here Lies Arthur, and has also been awarded the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Nestlé Book Prize – Gold Award and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award.
In Fever Crumb, Reeve returned to the terrifyingly imagined post-apocalyptic world of his bestselling Mortal Engines quartet. The riveting tale of Doctor Crumb’s adoptive daughter, Fever, is the sort of high-action – and often very moving – adventure that Reeve’s legions of fans have come to expect.
The Kate Greenaway Medal is awarded anually to the year’s most outstanding children’s book in terms of illustration. Previous winners include Lauren Child and Shirley Hughes.
Written by Margaret Wild and illustrated by Freya Blackwood, Harry & Hopper is a careful examination of the grieving process that a child goes through following the death of a much-loved pet. Harry gets home from school one day to learn that his beloved dog, Hopper, has died in accident. Unable to accept that his pet is gone, Harry revisits his memories of times spent with Hopper.
Freya Blackwood also illustrated Roddy Doyle’s first picture book, Her Mother’s Face. In their explanatory notes on this year’s shortlist, the CILIP judges commend her “excellent use of muted colour, perspective, and exterior and interior space” in portraying the story of Harry and Hopper.
The results will be announced on 24 June 2010. We wish both of our contenders the very best of luck!
You can find out more about the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals at www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/home.
Fever Crumb and Harry & Hopper are both available to buy from www.amazon.co.uk.