Bestselling shortlist of 10 for Blue Peter’s Vote for the ‘Best Children’s Book of the Last 10 Years’

Blue Peter will today (programme starts 5.45pm, CBBC), commence its search to find the best children’s book of the last decade, with the launch of an online vote in which its young viewers will be able to choose from a shortlist of 10 iconic titles.

From a young James Bond to a reluctant teenage superspy, an infamous boy wizard and an underage First World War soldier, miniature action heroes abound in the list which features the bestselling children’s fiction books published in the last 10 years, with only one book per author included.

The 10 books competing for the accolade (in title order) are:

·        Alex Rider Mission 3: Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz (Walker Books, 2002)

·        Candyfloss by Jacqueline Wilson, illustrated by Nick Sharratt (Random House Children’s Books, 2006)

·        Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (Puffin, 2008)

·        Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling (Bloomsbury, 2003)

·        Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend by Francesca Simon, illustrated by Tony Ross (Orion Children’s Books, 2006)

·        Mr Stink by David Walliams, illustrated by Quentin Blake (HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2009)

·        Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo (HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2003)

·        The Series of Unfortunate Events: Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket (Egmont Books, 2002)

·        Theodore Boone by John Grisham (Hodder & Stoughton, 2010)

·        Young Bond: SilverFin ─ A James Bond Adventure by Charlie Higson (Puffin, 2005)

 Five of the books included have inspired feature films (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, Horrid Henry, The Series of Unfortunate Events and due this year Private Peaceful); seven are part of a series (Alex Rider, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, Horrid Henry, The Series of Unfortunate Events, Theodore Boone and Young Bond); and two deal with social issues such as homelessness, debt and divorce with sensitivity and humour (Candyfloss and Mr Stink).

The list also boasts a litany of high-profile authors with three former Children’s Laureates (Jacqueline Wilson, Michael Morpurgo and Quentin Blake who illustrates Mr Stink), bestselling adult US crime author John Grisham, comedian David Walliams, and Britain’s richest author J K Rowling all up for the Award.

The shortlist for the vote is made up of the 10 bestselling (by volume) fiction books of the last 10 years for 5─11 year olds with a first publication date between January 2002 and December 2011. Only the top-selling book per individual, named author is included. (Source: Nielsen BookScan TCM Top 5000 Children’s Fiction (Y2) from 200101 to 201152 filtered by CMBC Interest Level 5─11 years.)

Tim Levell, Editor of Blue Peter and Chair of Judges for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2012 comments:

 ‘Children care as much about books as adults do ─ if not more so. We wanted to capture that by creating a vote to find out which book from the last ten years they love the most. This is a fantastic list: every single book on the shortlist is a corker. Normally I'm all for playground harmony, but if on this occasion there is the odd playground argument about which book is better, then bring it on!’

After the announcement of the list on Blue Peter, the shortlist will be featured on Blue Peter’s website bbc.co.uk/bluepeter for three weeks, during which time children under the age of 16 can log on with their BBC iD and vote for their favourite. The vote will close at 4pm on Thursday 23 February.

The winning book will be announced on Blue Peter on 1 March (5.45pm, CBBC), alongside the winner of the annual Blue Peter Book of the Year Award on a special show dedicated to books to tie-in with World Book Day. Blue Peter will invite the winning author to collect a ‘Best Children’s Book of the Last 10 Years’ trophy on the show.