Clone thriller wins children's book award
Sophie McKenzie takes the Red House children's award with teen thriller, Blood Ties
Alison Flood writing in the guardian.co.uk, Monday 8 June 2009

Sophie McKenzie's Blood Ties, a teen thriller that explores genetic engineering, has won the Red House children's book award, the only prize voted for entirely by children.
McKenzie, whose debut novel Girl, Missing won the older readers category two years ago, said she was delighted by the award, particularly because it reflected the views of "the people who are actually reading the books, not adults saying what children should read".
"It's a real validation of what I'm doing," she said. "Writing is a very isolating profession, [so] it's really lovely knowing the people for whom the book is written have enjoyed it."

Blood Ties follows the story of Theo, who is searching for the father he had thought was dead when he comes across Rachel, a shy girl, bullied at school, living in the shadow of her dead sister. Attacked by RAGE - the Righteous Army against Genetic Engineering - at a school disco, they are rescued by mysterious strangers. "My books are all thrillers, but with quite a lot of relationship stuff in them," said McKenzie. "There's not an awful lot out there that does that – action-packed, but with relationships."

Over 143,000 children voted in the awards through the Federation of Children's Book Groups, with readers saying they enjoyed McKenzie's "tightly plotted" novel, and that they empathised with her teenage characters and their "struggle with their sense of identity".

The Red House awards, now in their 29th year, are renowned for spotting the big names in children's writing before they became truly famous, with Jacqueline Wilson winning in 1996 and JK Rowling in 1998.

Last year's top prize was won by Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant.
This year also saw Allan Ahlberg's picture book The Pencil, illustrated by Bruce Ingham, take the younger children category, while Kes Gray's Daisy and the Trouble with Zoos won the younger readers' category.

Link here for a review of Blood Ties.