More World Book Day celebrations

OLA is delighted to welcome back Marcus Sedgwick, award-winning author, this coming Friday, for writing workshops with Year 10 pupils in the morning, and to talk to Year 7 & 8 about books and writing in the afternoon.

Watch him on TV the day before as he'll be presenting the Blue Peter Book Awards. We're rooting for Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell to win the Best Story category. The book was launched here at OLA on World Book Day 2013, and we almost blew the roof away with our countdown! Katherine Rundell is an OLA favourite, who's visited us several times.

Marcus Sedgwick will be judging the Decorate a Door as a Book Competition and will be available in the Library between 1.15 and 1.45 pm to chat to any budding writers.

There is still time for pupils to email a ‘shelfie’ for our World Book Day competition. Do take a look at the shelfies of some of our past visiting authors, including Marcus Sedgwick’s, on our Twitter page, @OLAabingdon.

Marcus Sedgwick sent us his 'shelfie' of his rather special signed editions.

'Shelfies' for World Book Day

OLA Library is launching a competition for pupils to take photographs, or ‘shelfies’, of their bookcases at home to celebrate World Book Day.

There aren't many things that say more about you than your bookshelf. 2013 was officially the year of the selfie - so let's celebrate reading and make 2014 the year of the shelfie!

We have already collected shelfies from almost 20 celebrated children’s authors, including Carnegie Medal winner Theresa Breslin, Booktrust Teenage Prize winner Marcus Sedgwick, and Oxford-based Korky Paul, the illustrator of the well-known Winnie the Witch series.

Using the hashtag #olashelfie, we will tweet the best pupil photographs from our Twitter account @OLAabingdon every day in the run-up to World Book Day on 6th March. All pupil entries will also be judged by a panel of teachers, with the winner receiving a set of book tokens to spend on the next addition to their collection.

This is an exciting way for us to celebrate reading in a way that will really engage young people. Having your own collection of books at home, however large or small, is a real joy. I am delighted that so many authors have shown their support for this project.

Pupils, or their parents, should email their shelfies to me by Thursday 6th March (aka World Book Day).

Happy snapping!

Read more on the school website.

Here's a shelfie from Korky Paul to get us started.

Jo Cotterill's new book Looking at the Stars

Many congratulations to Jo Cotterill, an old girl of OLA, whose latest book, Looking at the Stars, was published yesterday. I was delighted to be invited to the launch party at Blackwells in Oxford.

Jo's first work was published in 2004, and she has continued writing for teenagers and young people. She has been a regular at OLA literary events in recent years, including the 2012 Festival of Reading.

Looking at the Stars tells the story of Amina, a thirteen-year-old girl, and her family, who live in a country dominated by a tyrannical ruler. To keep her own spirits up, as well as those of the people around her, Amina starts to tell stories: stories of imagination, hope, and the stars. It is published by Bodley Head, an imprint of Random House, and is suitable for readers aged 11 up. Copies (autographed, of course) are available for loan from the Ratcliffe Library.

Read more on Jo's blog.

500 WORDS Competition

Chris Evans Breakfast Show's 500 WORDS competition is running again this year.

You have until 7 pm on Wednesday 26 February 2014 to enter!

More information

Costa Book Awards

The Costa Book Awards category winners have been announced.

The Children's winner is Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell
The Fiction winner is Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
The First Novel winner is The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
The Biography winner is The Pike: Gabriele D'Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
The Poetry winner is Drysalter by Michael Symmons Roberts.

Originally launched as the Whitbread Book Awards in 1971, the awards celebrate books published in the last year. Category winners each receive £5,000,and the overall winner is decided from these five winners, who will receive the £30,000 Costa Book of the Year 2013 Award on 28th January.

Winner: The Shock of the Fall by debut author and mental health nurse Nathan Filer won win the title of 2013 Costa Book of the Year.

Katherine Rundell, OLA visitor, shortlisted for Blue Peter Award

Rooftoppers, launched at OLA on World Book Day 2013, has been shortlisted for the Blue Peter 2014 Best Story Award. We wish Oxford-based author, Katherine Rundell the very best of luck.

Rooftoppers is one of three books on the shortlist and the winner will be announced live on Blue Peter’s World Book Day edition on 6 March 2014, during which judge Marcus Sedgwick, who will be visiting OLA the very next day, will present the winners with their Awards.

More Book News
BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS 2014 – shortlists
Best Story
Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve, illustrated by Sarah McIntyre
Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell
Whale Boy by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Joe McLaren
Best Book with Facts
Marvellous Maths by Jonathan Litton, illustrated by Thomas Flintham
Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders: World War II by Tony Robinson, illustrated by Del Thorpe
The World in Infographics: Animal Kingdom by Jon Richards, illustrated by Ed Simkins

More than 200 children from 10 schools across the UK will now read the six shortlisted books and vote for their favourites in each category. The two winning books will be announced live on the Blue Peter programme scheduled for World Book Day on 6 March 2014, during which judge Marcus Sedgwick will present the winners with their Awards.

THE COSTA BOOK AWARDS
The Costa Book Awards (originally launched as the Whitbread Book Awards in 1971) celebrate books published in the last year over five categories; First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book by UK and Ireland resident authors.
Category winners each receive £5,000, and will be announced on 6th January. An overall winner is decided from these five winners, who will receive the £30,000 Costa Book of the Year 2013 Award on 28th January 2014.
The 2013 Costa Children’s Book Award shortlist:
Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door by Ross Montgomery
The Hanged Man Rises by Sarah Naughton
Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
More information about the full shortlist.

STAN LEE EXCELSIOR AWARD
This book award is for graphic novels and manga - where kids aged 11-16 choose the winner by rating each book as they read it
The 2014 shortlist:
Indestructible Hulk: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. by Mark Waid and Leinil Francis Yu (Marvel)
Quantum and Woody: The World’s Worst Superhero Team by James Asmus and Tom Fowler (Valiant)
The Judas Coin by Walter Simonson (DC)
Aliens: Inhuman Condition by John Layman and Sam Kieth (Dark Horse)
Earth 2: The Gathering by James Robinson and Nicola Scott (DC)
Sherlock Bones (Volume 1) by Yuma Ando and Yuki Sato (Kodansha)
Captain America: Castaway in Dimension Z by Rick Remender and John Romita Jr. (Marvel)
The Halloween Legion by Martin Powell and Thomas Boatwright (Dark Horse)
The Awards Ceremony will be in July 2014.
More information

Kids' Lit Quiz – the sport of reading!

OLA teams from Years 6 and 7 took part in the Oxfordshire and Berkshire heat of the international Kids’ Lit Quiz (KLQ) in Oxford.

The teams worked hard to answer 10 rounds of 10 questions on subjects as diverse as Foxes and Characters from Legend. None of the themes or questions was known in advance, and there was serious concentration and quiet conferring when the questions were being read out.

The event was opened by the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, with the Chairman of Oxfordshire County Council and the Mayor of Wallingford also present for the whole quiz. 10 children’s authors also played the quiz (though their scores didn’t count of course!). Although OLA didn’t win, they played with zeal; over 40 school teams took part. The winning team plays against the other regional winners in the KLQ National Final in London this week.

Well done to our team members for their enthusiasm – when it comes to reading , everyone’s a winner!