Three young judges joined the judging panel for the 2008 Costa Children's Book Award.
They were Sylvie Pope (aged 10) from Abingdon, Kambole Campbell (aged 13) from Farnham and 12-year-old Gwen Baines from West Kirby who beat 1800 other entries to take a seat on the judging panel.
Left to right: Gwen, Kambole and Sylvie
Sylvie, Kambole and Gwen joined the three adult judges (author Victoria Hislop, John Newman, children's buyer at the Newham Bookshop in East London and Northamptonshire Schools Library Service Adviser, Sue Polchow) to judge the 2008 Costa Children's Book Award.
The standard of the entries this year was so high that ten reviews were also selected as Highly Commended. Very well done to the following ten children who were each chosen as Highly Commended:
* Joshua Campbell-Barr
* Sofia Rock
* Mary Lavis
* Sarah Smith
* Lydia Bass
* George Carter
* Georgina Eaton
* Nina Newhouse
* Ifeoma Kuchler
* Jamie Jackson
Here are Sylvie, Kambole and Gwen's winning entries:
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis reviewed by Sylvie Pope aged 10
The Breadwinner is an exciting and fascinating story about a young girl aged eleven named Parvana. She lives in Afghanistan in a city called Kabul, ruled by the Taliban. Women and girls are regarded as third-class citizens, and are so badly treated that they are forced to cover themselves completely. Her father is imprisoned, so Parvana supports her family by dressing as a boy and earning money at the marketplace... alone!
I love this book as Parvana is a similar age to me and I can empathise with her situation. Despite our similarities there are many differences between us. I find it exciting to learn about a new culture and another world that I have never visited or explored before. I can imagine the fiery deserts and the completely different landscapes. The city is ruled more aggressively than anything I am used to (when Parvana attempted to visit her father in prison she was beaten savagely), so it is thrilling to discover how Parvana survives in her world.
The story ends with Parvana searching for her family who are still in danger from the Taliban. As the book ends on a cliffhanger, I am keenly looking forward to the sequel.
Animal Farm by George Orwell reviewed by Kambole Campbell aged 13
I am reviewing Animal Farm by George Orwell.
This clever parody of Communism made Orwell famous in his time. But it's a shame that these sorts of books go unnoticed by children today. I have read several other classics, and they are brilliant. The language may be different to today, but the stories are fantastic.
The book begins as an innocent fairy tale, where an old pig, Old Major, dies and inspires the animals to stage a revolution. They overthrow the evil alcoholic owner of the farm they live on, and start a system and set of rules almost, if not exactly, like Communism (this is written by an Anti-Stalinist).
These rules change throughout the book until they end up with the corrupted rule: 'All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.' The book takes more twists and turns, until it loses its innocence and becomes a reflection of the corruption of ideals. The pigs that lead the revolution become all too familiar greedy and selfish tyrants they originally fought so hard to get rid of.
Animal Farm is a clever, and chilling 'fairy tale story', just as good now as when it was first published.
The Witch's Boy by Michael Gruber reviewed by Gwen Baines aged 12
This book is the literary equivalent of a blackberry; both sharp and sweet at the same time. It combines touching passages with unexpected humour, and the resulting concoction is irresistible.
Gruber's inventive, original and daring tale encompasses many of the traditional fairy tales while putting a spin on them that renders them not immediately recognisable. The Witch's Boy tells the story of Lump, 'the ugliest boy in the world', and his highly unusual upbringing in the household of a witch.
Far from being a saccharine fable of growing up, it is a brilliantly captured tale set in an extremely convincing fantasy world. Lump himself is an unlovable character, but the author manages to convey with subtlety the other characters' perceptions of him without once changing the narrative voice - by the end of the book, the reader understands Lump (as he, indeed, finally understands himself) and is able to sympathise with his actions earlier in the story. However, although the denouement appears complete on the surface, underneath that happy ending there is still darkness. Throughout, the book is uncompromising, full of heartbreaking twists that surprise without being implausible and leave the reader thinking long after the last page has been read.