In+the+News

**Philip Reeve Wins The CILIP Carnegie Medal 2008**


Philip Reeve, award-winning children's author, has been described as having a “startling imagination” and is clearly a man of many talents. While living in Brighton, he made amateur films, turning to illustration of children’s books to help fund this enthusiasm. Philip Reeve's first novel **"Mortal Engines"** won the **Gold Smarties Award** and **The Blue Peter Book of The Year award**, his second novel, **"Predator's Gold**, was long-listed for the prestigious **Carnegie Medal 2003**. The third novel is **Infernal Devices**, and the final book in the series, **"A Darkling Plain"** won the **Guardian Children's Fiction Prize**. The award winning series has also achieved some success in the United States, where is is known as the "Hungry City Chronicles".
 * April 2006:** Warner Brothers has pre-emptively bought film rights on **"Larklight"**. The book is described in Bloomsbury's editorial review as "utterly unique and devilishly witty, this is Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets The Barchester Chronicles. The film is already in development with Shekhar Kapur as Director.
 * October 2007**: Signed copies of **"Starcross"**, the second novel in the Larklight series, are now in stock.
 * "Here Lies Arthur"**, published by Scholastic, is shortlisted for the **Smarties Prize**.
 * April 2008 on filming of Larklight:**"It's a $200 million project, probably the most expensive film I've made and will ever make" Kapur is quoted as announcing. Eastern Promises screenwriter Steve Knight is adapting the novel.

=**June 27th 2008: "Here Lies Arthur"**, published last year, based on the Arthurian legend, has been awarded **The Carnegie Medal**. Michael Portillo presented the award to Philip Reeve at a lunchtime ceremony at The British Library on 26th June.=

Australian author, **Sonya Hartnett**  has won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. This is the major award for a major writer, and an award that Sonya thoroughly deserves. Previous winners include Philip Pullman, Maurice Sendak and Katherine Paterson. Sonya's books include Sleeping Dogs, Thursday’s Child and Of a Boy.

The jury praised Hartnett as “one of the major forces for renewal in modern young adult fiction. With psychological depth and a concealed yet palpable anger, she depicts the circumstances of young people without avoiding the darker sides of life.”

Hartnett will receive the award from Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria on May 28 in Stockholm.

This is due recognition to a great writer. Sonya Hartnett’s latest book is **The Ghost's Child**. == ==

Children's Laureate 2008 **//Michael Rosen//** is the new Children's Laureate
The role of Children's Laureate, which has a bursary of £10,000, is awarded once every two years to an eminent writer or illustrator of children's books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their field. The appointment of a Children's Laureate acknowledges the importance of exceptional children's authors in creating the readers of tomorrow. The idea for the Children's Laureate originated from a conversation between (the then) Poet Laureate Ted Hughes and children's writer Michael Morpurgo. The illustrator Quentin Blake was the first Children's Laureate (1999-2001), followed by the author Anne Fine (2001-2003), Michael Morpurgo (2003-2005), Jacqueline Wilson (2005-7) and most recently Michael Rosen (2007-2009)
 * What is the Children's Laureate?**
 * Where did the idea come from?**

[|The Astrid Lindgren Award] - the world's largest children's and youth literature award, and the second largest literature prize in the world.

=Jacqueline Wilson= Jacqueline Wilson, who is both one of the most popular authors of children's books in the UK and the former Children's Laureate, was recently recognized as **Dame Jacqueline Wilson**. The designation of Knight/Dame is awarded for a pre-eminent contribution in any field of activity, through achievement or service to the community, usually, but not exclusively at national level, or in a capacity which will be recognised by peer groups as inspirational and significant nationally, and which demonstrates sustained commitment.

=Kids' Lit Quiz Meeting Time and Place=
 * Every Wednesday at 12:35 pm**
 * MS/HS library**

=**__How the quiz works__**= The coach will prepare a set of questions for each session. These questions might center on a theme (e.g horses, rainbows, books into films, books in translation, etc.) or might come from a random selection of books. There are no sets of books to read. This quiz is about __all__ children’s books, including nursery rhymes, poetry, myths and legends, and fairy tales. At first, you will work in small groups to get acquainted with the quiz, but later you will compete against the other KLQ participants to participate in the China National Competition. Only 8 students (two teams of four) travel to Shanghai.

=Wiki= Become a member of Kids’ Lit Quiz wiki! Go to http://kidslitquiz-china.wikispaces.com/ Kids’ Lit Is a lot of fun. Find out how much you know about the books you have read and what books you should read next.
 * The wiki will tell you about the theme for the next session and how to prepare for it.** There will be an archive of all the questions that will be asked in the course of the year, so it is a good source of information and preparation. On the wiki you can propose questions and make suggestions for reading. We are always looking for new ideas and would love to have you on board as active members.


 * Mrs. Rosevear**
 * September 19, 2008**