Campaign for the Book latest

The Campaign for the Book was set up by the children's author, Alan Gibbons in September 2008 to fight cuts in school libraries, and to defend the place of books in libraries. He has been campaigning tirelessly and has now raised the gauntlet for school libraries and has today sent an open letter to the government - have a look at the text It begins:
Question: what do prisoners have that school students don’t?
Answer: the statutory right to a library.
Alan has also set up a petition on the Number 10 website whose text is - We, the undersigned, call on Her Majesty's Government to accept in principle that it will make school libraries, run by properly qualified staff, statutory and to prepare the necessary legislation in consultation with the appropriate professional associations and trade unions.

Carnegie Medal Winner

The Winners of the Cilip Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards have been announced. Siobhan Dowd has won the Carnegie Award for Bog Child and Catherine Rayner has won the Kate Greenaway Award for Harris Finds His Feet. At the Abingdon Carnegie Forum on 23 June The Knife of Never Letting Go was voted the winner.

Abingdon Carnegie Forum

Tuesday 23 June sees the Abingdon Carnegie Forum. Pupils from the six local schools will come together, and in mixed groups, will discuss the shortlisted books, and prepare a visual presentation about their favourite book. The aim is to convince a panel of judges that their book is the one they want to read. Lots of prizes on offer! We'll also be voting for our Abingdon Carnegie winner and sharing a specially made celebration cake. OLA shadowers have been meeting on a weekly basis to discuss books, read and write reviews, and in between have been chatting about them on a private wiki.

Carnegie Quiz

Eighty pupils from the six local schools came together today for a quiz on the books shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. In mixed teams any shyness soon dissipated as they collaborated over the correct answers. A break for juice and delicious cookies in the middle refreshed spirits. A Librarian's Award for a keen and enthusiastic reader and reviewer from each school plus edible prizes for the winning team, and the pleasant afternoon was soon over. Our thanks to Abingdon School for hosting this enjoyable event.

Newly found Hercule Poirot stories

Two never-before-seen Hercule Poirot short stories by Agatha Christie are to be revealed in a new book published this autumn.

The stories, which will be published in Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making, were found inside 73 notebooks discovered at Greenway, Christie's family home in Devon, when the archive at the National Trust property was being established. Due out on 3 September the book will be published as a £20 hardback and promoted to tie into Agatha Christie Week.
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Anthony Browne named new Children's Laureate

Illustrator Anthony Browne has just been announced as the new Children's Laureate for 2009 to 2011. He follows the distinguished list of Quentin Blake (1999-2001), Anne Fine (2001-2003), Michael Morpurgo (2003-2005), Jacqueline Wilson (2005-2007) and Michael Rosen (2007-2009) in this key role in children's literature.

Gorillas feature in many of Anthony's books. He says, 'I am fascinated by them and the contrast they represent – their huge strength and gentleness. They're thought of as being very fierce creatures and they're not.'

'I hope to encourage more children to discover and love reading, but I want to focus particularly on the appreciation of picture books, and the reading of both pictures and words. Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older. The best ones leave a tantalising gap between the pictures and the words, a gap that is filled by the reader's imagination, adding so much to the excitement of reading a book.'
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Red House Children's Book Award winners

Hundreds of books have been read, shortlisted and voted for by children from around the country.
The overall winner for 2009 is Sophie McKenzie for her gripping thriller Blood Ties, which also wins the Older readers category. Sophie visited OLA last year.
The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman won the Younger Children Category.
Daisy and the Trouble with Zoos by Kes Gray won the Younger Readers Category.
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Essex Book Award

Essex secondary school children have voted the book The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd as their favourite read for the Essex Book Award 2008. The novel describes how, after their friend Salim mysteriously disappears from the London Eye, Ted and Kat follow a trail of clues across London in a desperate bid to find him before time runs out. Bog Child, also by Siobhan Dowd is shortlisted for this year's Carnegie Medal.