Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Lessons from history dominate children's book prize

By Arifa Akbar, Arts Correspondent writing in The Independent

Some have claimed that the test of all great children's literature is its ability to resonate with adults as well as its younger readers.
What better proof of the theory than the titles vying for this year's CILIP Carnegie Medal, announced yesterday, which have all been hailed as examples of "topical storytelling" that draw on the lessons of the past as a way of describing the grim realities of the present.
The seven works shortlisted for the prize, whose past winners include CS Lewis and Philip Pullman, are set in different periods of history but feature obvious, politicised references to modern-day society.

The nominees


* Kevin Crossley-Holland, shortlisted for Gatty's Tale, has won before for Storm in 1985.
* Linzi Glass is shortlisted for Ruby Red, her second novel. She was brought up in South Africa and now lives in California.
* Tanya Landman is shortlisted for Apache. This is the first time she has been shortlisted for the Carnegie. She lives in Devon with her family.
* Elizabeth Laird's Crusade is her fifth book to be shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie.
* Philip Reeve, shortlisted for Here Lies Arthur, worked in a bookshop before writing his first book, Mortal Engines.
* Meg Rosoff is shortlisted for What I Was, her third novel. She won the Carnegie award last year for Just in Case.
* Finding Violet Park is Jenny Valentine's debut novel which has already won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.
The CILIP KATE GREENAWAY Medal Shortlist 2008

ANTHONY BROWNE Silly Billy Walker Books (Age range: 5+)ISBN: 9780744570175
POLLY DUNBAR Penguin Walker Books (Age range: 3+) ISBN: 9781844280650
EMILY GRAVETT Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears Macmillan (Age range: 6+)ISBN: 9781405089487
EMILY GRAVETT Monkey and Me Macmillan (Age range: 0+)ISBN: 9781405089494
JANE RAY (Text by Carol Ann Duffy) The Lost Happy Endings Bloomsbury (Age range: 9+)ISBN: 9780747579229
CHRIS RIDDELL Ottoline and the Yellow Cat Macmillan (Age range: 7+)ISBN: 9781405050579
ED VERE Banana! Puffin (Age range: 0+)ISBN: 9780141500591

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