The biennial Children's Laureate will be awarded to an eminent living British writer or illustrator of children's books both to celebrate a lifetime's achievement and to spotlight the role of children's book creators in making the readers of the future. This honour will provide a platform for the title holder to stimulate public discussion about the importance of children's literature and reading to a forward-looking society.
What's the Children's Laureate? Answer
How did your school come to be involved in the Children's Laureate? Answer
What kind of books do you like to read? Answer
Why did you get involved with the Children's Laureate group? Answer
Who are the shortlisted authors? Answer
What books have you read as part of the Children's Laureate Group and how did you read them? Answer
What happens next? Answer
Have you enjoyed reading the books for the Children's Laureate? Answer
What's the Children's Laureate?
The award is awarded to the best living author or illustrator. Manor High along with only 21 other schools are reading books and making notes of them to see what author or illustrator have made the most contribution to children’s reading. Manor High School are looking at books by Anne Fine and Quentin Blake. (Ricky, 12)
Hello, I am writing this because I am in the Children’s Laureate judging for the best living author or illustrator. (Jessica, nearly 12)
How did your school come to be involved in the Children's Laureate?
Our school Librarian found out about the Children’s Laureate and she put Manor High School’s name down to be judges. The school was chosen and now we are one of the twenty two schools taking part in the Children’s Laureate. (Lana, 12)
What kind of books do you like to read?
I love reading, and dive for any chance to have a relaxing time with a good book. I like all authors especially Roald Dahl and R.L. Stine. (Elyse, nearly 12)
I enjoy reading and I read quite a lot. The books that I like reading are mostly written by Roald Dahl, R.L.Stine and Jacqueline Wilson. (Nadene, 12)
I have not got one kind of book that I like. I prefer a whole range of books. (Lana, 12)
I like to read Roald Dahl and Anne Fine books. When I first decided I wanted to take part in judging the books it was because I love to read. I have never done any book judging before so I am glad I put my name down to say I would do it. (Alisha, 11)
The type of books we read are Goosebumps by R.L. Stine and books by Roald Dahl and "Discworld" by Terry Pratchett. (Christopher P., 13, and David, 13)
We like reading Terry Pratchett, science fiction, and horror books. (Gary, 12 and Christopher E., 13)
I enjoy reading and I read quite a lot. The books that I like reading are mostly written by Roald Dahl, R.L.Stine and Jacqueline Wilson. (Nadene, 12)
Why did you get involved with the Children's Laureate group?
Hi! I love to read and I prefer books such as Sweet Valley, and Point Horror. When I heard about the chance to judge the Children's Laureate through my English teacher, Mrs K Oliver, I put my name down straight away! I thought it would be great fun and give me the chance to read some things I wouldn't normally choose. (Alison, 12)
Christopher took part in the Young Telegraph Paperback of the year and has done this for two years running and this is David's first time in judging books. Christopher has had his picture took and put in the paper for the paperback award. Although Christopher enjoys reading he does not have a brilliant reading age and David has a reading age of 15.0/15.3. (Christopher P., 13, and David, 13)
We found out about the award when the school Librarian asked us to be involved because we helped judge the YT Paperback last year. (Gary, 12 and Christopher E., 13)
I got connected in with the Children’s Laureate when I was in our school Library. (Charlotte, 12)
We both spend a lot of our time reading books of an adventurous or mystery type storyline. We do like some classic stories but only the ones with an exciting storyline which keeps us involved and are written in a more up to date type of language. It is this enjoyment of reading that has involved us in judging panels over the past two years ( the Young Telegraph paperback awards). This is our third year of judging and this time it is a lot more serious. (Robert, 13, and Ian, 14)
I was told about the Children’s Laureate by my (excellent) English teacher Mrs. K. Oliver, so I immediately put my name down. (Elyse, nearly 12)
I usually like to read Goosebumps or Point Horror, I like to read books that are meant to scare. I heard about the school being selected as judges by my English teacher Mrs Oliver, she sent a piece of paper round and said "If you would like to be part of this put your name down," so I did. I wanted to be part of the panel because it was a chance of doing something for the school and expressing my thoughts about authors and illustrators. I also did it because I love reading. (Stacey, 12 )
I chose to judge the Children’s Laureate because I like reading books and I am very pleased that our school was chosen. (Nadene, 12)
Who are the shortlisted authors?
First of all the book judging started off with seventy authors/Illustrators that were nominated then it went down to twenty and now there are only three who have been shortlisted. These are Quentin Blake, Anne Fine and Peter Dickinson. I have seen their names before when I have been to book shops. The person who told me about the book judging was my ( Fast Reading Shakespeare English teacher!) Mrs K Oliver. We have not chosen yet who is the best author/illustrator in our opinion, but we are going to very soon.(Alisha, 11)
The three shortlisted authors/ illustrators are Quentin Blake, Anne Fine and Peter
Dickinson. I have never heard of Peter Dickinson, but I have read one Anne Fine book and I
have seen lots of Quentin Blake drawings.
I have been given information on all three authors/ illustrators such as when they were
born and how they got involved in writing. (Lana, 12)
The authors shortlisted for the Laureate are Anne Fine, Peter Dickinson and the author and illustrator, Quentin Blake. Previously, I had read some of Anne Fine's books and seen some of Quentin Blake's illustrations. I had got two books by Peter Dickinson but hadn't actually read them. (Alison, 12)
There were seventy original authors that were included, then it went down to twenty and then it got shortlisted down to three, the three are Quentin Blake an illustrator and authors Anne Fine and Peter Dickinson. I've never heard of Peter Dickinson until now, I've heard of Anne Fine but I've never read anything of hers but I've seen a lot of Quentin Blake’s work, I like his drawings a lot. (Stacey, 12 )
The short listed authors and illustrators are Anne Fine, Peter Dickinson and Quentin Blake. It was a good opportunity to read one of Peter Dickinson’s books because I had never heard of him! (Nadene, 12)
The shortlisted authors/illustrators are Anne Fine, Peter Dickinson, and Quentin Blake. We've heard of Anne Fine and Quentin Blake and have read some of their books but this will be the first time we will read books by Peter Dickinson. (Gary, 12 and Christopher E., 13 )
What books have you read as part of the Children's Laureate Group, and how did you read them?
For this project we have to read some Anne Fine books, Peter Dickinson and Quentin
Blake books. Then we have to write up book reviews on them. This might sound boring but
once you get stuck in it's actually fun.
I like reading Anne Fine books because they can be fun to read. I am quite keen on Anne
Fine books and also think Quentin Blake's quite good for his drawings because they're
funny! I've never really heard of Peter Dickinson it might be because I like modern
stories better.(Charlotte, 12)
We have been given profiles of the authors/illustrators which are very useful because it gives us a background to what they write/draw about. (Gary, 12 and Christopher E., 13 )
The 3 that have been shortlisted are Anne Fine, Quentin Blake and Peter Dickinson. So
far I have read 2 books and am on my 3rd, my favourite book is the “The Country
Pancake” the book is about a cow called Flossy and a boy called Lance . Flossy and
Lance are best friends and Lance tells her everything.
Another book that I have read is “The Magic Finger”. This was a very well
illustrated Quentin Blake. It is a very good book about a girl who casts spells on people
and turns them into cats and birds to teach them a lesson. She turned Mr McGregor and his
family into birds because they were poaching by the lake. (Jessica, nearly 12)
To help us choose one author, we have been given some author profiles. These tell us all we need to know about the background of the author - how they became a writer, other books they have written, etc. We have also been given shadowing sheets to help us write our notes on each book that we read. These contain boxes for information such as the plot/storyline, major characters, key events, and recommendation. (Alison, 12)
The three short listed authors in the children’s laureate are Peter Dickinson; Anne Fine; and Quentin Blake. Robert has read all of the Changes Trilogy which are: The weather monger; the Devils children; and Heartsease. Ian hasn’t really read Peter Dickinson’s stories before but since reading for the Laureate he has discovered Peter’s work and has a new craze for it. In primary school we have both read lots of Roald Dahl books. These titles are the more familiar types such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, B.F.G and many others. All of these famous books include some of Quentin’s illustrations. None of us have really touched any of Anne Fine's work. Robert says he prefers adventurous books which make these books a bit dull. Ian has read one or two of her books (like Bill's New Frock) but again prefers the more exciting type of book. (Robert, 13, and Ian, 14)
After reading our books by these three authors/ illustrators, we have to record information on them in sections of our special folder. From this we should be able to come up with a final conclusion to who we should want to choose as the Children’s Laureate Author for this year. We have also been given some sheets of information on the authors themselves to help us get a feel of the person. This information looks very daunting at first, but now seems to help us with the reading as it tells us about the author and maybe gives us a clue to why the author may of wrote the story. (Robert, 13, and Ian, 14)
We had both heard of Quentin Blake before, he did the illustrations in such Roald Dahl
books as "B.F.G" , "Charlie and the Chocolate factory" and "The
Twits" and we have also read some of Anne fine's Books like: "Madam
Doubtfire" and David has heard of the "Flour babies" and Christopher has
read “The devils Children" by Peter Dickinson.
This is a shortlist of some of the books that Anne Fine, Quentin Blake and Peter Dickinson
has either written or illustrated:
- The BFG
- The Twits
- George's Marvellous Medicine
- James and the Giant Peach
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Matilda
- Charlie and the Glass Elevator
- Boy
- Going Solo
- Revolting Rhymes
- Esio Trot
- The Witches
- Danny, Champion of the World
- Henry Sugar
- Fantastic Mr Fox
- The Magic Finger
- The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
- The Enormous Crocodile
- Madame Doubtfire (Christopher P., 13, and David, 13)
We have not yet decided who is going to the awards with Mrs. K. Procter, but I’m hoping it is me! I am really enjoying reading the books and writing reports on them. I cannot wait to see who wins the awards Anne Fine ? Peter Dickinson ? Quentin Blake ? ? (Elyse, nearly 12)
Our choice for the Children's Laureate 1999 is sent to be taken into account when the panel of judges meet. The award will be presented to the winning author or author/illustrator on Monday 10th May at the National Theatre in London. The award is to be presented by HRH Princess Anne - the Princess Royal. Only one pupil and one teacher from each of the twenty-two judging schools are invited to go to the ceremony. (Alison, 12)
On the 10th May one pupil and one member of staff from each of the 22 schools taking
part in the judging will go to the presentation of the award which will be judged by a
group of judges who will take our views into consideration. The final award will be
presented by HRH Princess Royal.
We are going to choose which pupil will go to the presentation by looking at how many
books they have reviewed. (Robert, 13, and Ian, 14)
The presentation of the awards take place on the 10th May at the National Theatre in London. One member of staff and one pupil get to go to the awards. (Lana, 12)
I think Quentin Blake should win because he is the only illustrator and author that is in the shortlisted three and he is an excellent illustrator. The ceremony to award the winning author or illustrator is at the National Theatre in London (Stacey, 12 )
We have not decided whether we will pick Quentin Blake or Anne Fine to win the award.
When we have decided who should win the award our views are sent to the Administrator, and
taken into account when the panel of judges meet. The award will be given out on the 10th
May at the National Theatre in London by HRH the Princess Royal.
Only one pupil and one teacher are allowed to be invited to the event from each of the
twenty two schools. ( Gary, 12 and Christopher E., 13 )
Have you enjoyed reading the books for the Children's Laureate?
We are enjoying judging this award because it is introducing us to new authors. (Gary, 12 and Christopher E., 13)
I am finding the reading quite easy. The best part of reading the books is doing the report at the end. (Lana, 12)
I am really enjoying reading the books and reviewing them. My favourite books so far are Flour Babies by Anne Fine and AK by Peter Dickinson. I think it is a real honour for Manor High School to have been chosen as one of only twenty-two schools for the very first Children's Laureate. (Alison, 12)
A book which I enjoyed reading was a book by Roald Dahl, called The Witches and it was brilliant. I definitely recommend it! (Nadene, 12)