Red House Children's Book Award winners

The winners of the Red House Children's Book Award have been announced.
Books for Older Readers and Overall Winner:
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Books for Younger Readers:
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon
Books for Younger Children:
Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice by Chris Wormell

Visting authors

The Two Steves, writers Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore, entertained Year 7s on 9 February at the Joint Schools’ Author Visit, organised by the Librarians of OLA, Abingdon School, the School of SS Helen and Katharine. In front of a large audience which included pupils from other local schools, the children were, at first, unsure that were allowed to laugh since the duo were performing like a comedy act. But whilst telling anecdotes they revealed how experiences can feed creative writing. These authors of over 130 books entertained and inspired whist talking about three of their most popular series: the Challenger series which features daredevil teen hero Luke Challenger, and the iHorror and iHero series which are interactive stories where the reader is the Hero/Hunter and decides what is going to happen in the story. The Luke Challenger series take classic stories (The Lost World, King Solomon’s Mines and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea) and brings them into the 21st century. These would suit a reader with stamina, whilst the iHero series, with fantastic manga illustrations by artist Sonia Leong, will be ideal for reluctant readers. Many of their titles are also available as ebooks.

The Best Children's Book of the Last 10 Years

Blue Peter viewers can vote for the best children's book of the last decade. The shortlist is made up of the 10 bestselling children's fiction books of the last 10 years, with authors only appearing once:
Alex Rider Mission 3: Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz
Candyfloss by Jacqueline Wilson, illustrated by Nick Sharratt
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling
Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend by Francesca Simon, illustrated by Tony Ross
Mr Stink by David Walliams, illustrated by Quentin Blake
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
The Series of Unfortunate Events: Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket
Theodore Boone by John Grisham
Young Bond: SilverFin ─ A James Bond Adventure by Charlie Higson

More details on Blue Peter's website For the next three weeks, until 23 February, children under 16 can log on with their BBC iD and vote for their favourite.The winning book will be announced on Blue Peter on 1 March, on a special show tied in with World Book Day. The Blue Peter Book of the Year Award winner will also be revealed.

Author Visit 9 February

Each year the Librarians of the three independent schools in Abingdon organise an author visit, and take turns at hosting the event. This year we have two writers, Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore, better known as 'The Two Steves'. All of Year 7 will enjoy hearing this entertaining duo on Thursday 9 February.

Costa Book Awards

The Costa Category Winners have been announced ahead of the overall winner later this month.
The Children's category has been won by Blood Red Road by Moira Young, a story set in the future where the main character is searching for her kidnapped twin brother.
This year's Novel Award winner is Andrew Miller for his sixth book, Pure, about a young engineer charged with demolishing a Paris cemetery in 1785. Matthew Hollis has won the Biography Award with Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas. Carol Ann Duffy's has won the Poetry Award for The Bees, her first collection of new poems since becoming Poet Laureate. Christie Watson's Tiny Sunbirds Far Away won the First Novel category.
Each category winner receives, £5,000, with the Book of the Year taking the £30,000 prize.
More information
24 January - The Costa Book of the Year was won by Andrew Miller for Pure.

OLA House of Books

The OLA House of Books which was started on World Book Day earlier this year was completed during the OLA Reading Festival.
This exciting installation by the Art Department was developed from an initial idea by the Library and involved the whole school in creating a structure made of books. Inspired by the work of prize-winning Canadians Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, who exhibited at Modern Art Oxford in 2009, OLA's construction is made of old books many of them individually wrapped. Each contributor has labelled their parcel (an old book) with details of their favourite book and a one-word description.

Recent book news

The Guardian Children's Book Prize 2011 has been won by Andy Mulligan for Return to Ribblestrop

The Roald Dahl Funny Prize
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon is the winner of the seven to fourteen category, and the first in a series of books about Tom, an expert doodler and master of excuses.
Cats Ahoy! written by Peter Bently and illustrated by Jim Field, a rhyming picture book about pirate cats, won the funniest book for children aged six and under. Both category winners receive a prize of £2500.

The Costa Book Awards 2011
The shortlists for best novel, best first novel, best biography, best poetry collection and best children's book have been announced. Costa Children’s Book Award shortlist:
Flip by Martyn Bedford
The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Small Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans
Blood Red Road by Moira Young.
The Costa Book Awards recognises some of the most enjoyable books of the year by writers based in the UK and Ireland. Judges will name each category winner on 4 January. The winner in each category receives £5000, and then one of the five winning books is selected as the overall Costa Book of the Year, to be announced on 24 January. The winner will receive £30,000.