Award goes to 'powerful, moving and surprising' Liar & Spy – the first time an American has won
'Incredibly sensitive' … Rebecca Stead.
Liar & Spy by US writer Rebecca Stead, about a 12-year-old boy with a passionate interest in language and wordplay who hides from painful reality by pretending to be a detective, has won this year's Guardian children's fiction prize.
Stead saw off competition from shortlisted books The Fault In Our Stars by John Green – a young adult novel with challenging subject matter which sparked accusations that it was unsuitable for teens – as well as David Almond's The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers; and Katherine Rundell's Rooftoppers.
"Liar & Spy is an incredibly sensitive book. Its central characters are all children who have complexities in their lives which they are dealing with," said Julia Eccleshare, Guardian children's books editor and chair of the judges. "It's a novel about how children have to navigate the world, and it has an open-handedness which means that readers may be surprised as to where it finishes."
US author Stead, whose second novel When You Reach Me won the American Newbery Medal in 2010, is the first US writer to win the Guardian children's fiction prize since the rules opened it up to US writers in 2012.
"It's always interesting in children's fiction to see what's coming from the US, and it's appropriate that this Newbery-winning author be highly regarded in the UK too," Eccleshare said. "It is a quiet book, but although the drama is finely-tuned, the overall impact is powerful, moving and surprising."
Eccleshare was joined in the judging by Andy Mulligan, winner of the 2011 Guardian children's fiction prize, Jason Wallace, author of Out of the Shadows, which won the Costa award in 2010, and Hilary McKay, who won the Guardian prize in 1992 and whose most recent book is Binny for Short.
"It was a long and well-argued debate on the essence of what a good children's book is," Eccleshare said. "Individual judges had different views but collectively we thought this novel told the story in the most interesting and original way."
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Stead saw off competition from shortlisted books The Fault In Our Stars by John Green – a young adult novel with challenging subject matter which sparked accusations that it was unsuitable for teens – as well as David Almond's The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers; and Katherine Rundell's Rooftoppers.
"Liar & Spy is an incredibly sensitive book. Its central characters are all children who have complexities in their lives which they are dealing with," said Julia Eccleshare, Guardian children's books editor and chair of the judges. "It's a novel about how children have to navigate the world, and it has an open-handedness which means that readers may be surprised as to where it finishes."
US author Stead, whose second novel When You Reach Me won the American Newbery Medal in 2010, is the first US writer to win the Guardian children's fiction prize since the rules opened it up to US writers in 2012.
"It's always interesting in children's fiction to see what's coming from the US, and it's appropriate that this Newbery-winning author be highly regarded in the UK too," Eccleshare said. "It is a quiet book, but although the drama is finely-tuned, the overall impact is powerful, moving and surprising."
Eccleshare was joined in the judging by Andy Mulligan, winner of the 2011 Guardian children's fiction prize, Jason Wallace, author of Out of the Shadows, which won the Costa award in 2010, and Hilary McKay, who won the Guardian prize in 1992 and whose most recent book is Binny for Short.
"It was a long and well-argued debate on the essence of what a good children's book is," Eccleshare said. "Individual judges had different views but collectively we thought this novel told the story in the most interesting and original way."
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