Carnegie Award

In today's post, Mrs Wilkinson reports back on this year's Carnegie Prize 'shadowers' and reveals which book is their selection for the 2026 prize.  

A group of 4th formers has been meeting all term to read and judge books from the shortlist for the Carnegie Medal for Writing 2026. 

Last week, groups from all over the country submitted their vote for the book they think should win the highly acclaimed prize of best book. Out of a shortlist of eight, our winning vote went to Twenty-Four Seconds from Now by Jason Reynolds. 

Book of the Week

The Song Walker by Zillah Bethel

Mrs Wilkinson writes: We read the last book in the Carnegie Book Club this week. It was The Song Walker by Zillah Bethel set in Australia. Without knowing it we left the best until last!

The Song Walker is an extraordinary new story of friendship, discovery and courage.

"There are three questions that I need to find the answers to:
    Where am I?    

    What am I doing here?

    And... Who am I?"
When a young girl wakes up in the middle of the desert, she has no idea who she is. She's wearing one shoe, a silky black dress, and she's carrying a strange, heavy case."

We all thoroughly enjoyed this book which had a definite air of mystery to it. Why was this girl (a girl who can’t remember her name) in the desert and what was in her silver case? She meets a First Nations girl who saves her life from a deadly snake and they begin a journey together. The girls meet many interesting people along the way and learn difficult truths about themselves and about how to survive in the desert. Throughout the story we learn about the traditions and beliefs of the First Nations people and their respect for the land. The climax is a sudden and unexpected twist that none of us were expecting at the end.

We gave this book a resounding 8 which made it our stand out winner of all the books. We will meet together for the final time on 20th June to eat pizza and watch the awards ceremonyawards ceremony together.  Will the judges agree with us?

Some interesting facts about Australian First Nations people can be found here .

Book of the Week

Today's book of the week is Crossing the Line by Tia Fisher, the latest book under consideration by the Carnegie Medal Reading Group. Mrs Wilkinson reports: 

'The Carnegie reading group read Crossing the Line this week, a powerful verse novel exploring how teenagers can be swept into drug running across county lines.

Erik's life has been falling apart ever since his dad died. Homework and being good at school stop feeling important when you're the new man of the house. When Erik's bad behaviour attracts the wrong crowd, he's sucked into a terrifying new world of drug dealing, trap houses and violence. Making money feels good but Erik soon learns that a small favour can become a huge debt. And when his sisters' lives are threatened, Erik will have to cross one more line to save them.

While we felt this book was fully engaging, it wasn’t a pleasant read. Seeing the terrifying world that Erik has found himself embroiled in made it uncomfortable and disturbing. The group didn’t know much about County lines. We talked about the fact that often young people such as Erik who are vulnerable for various reasons can be targeted by drug gangs. They are tasked to move drugs or money from one part of the UK to another as they tend to stay under the radar of the law. People exploited in this way are often exposed to physical, mental and sexual abuse. We didn’t know how prevalent this problem actually is in the UK, so we found that the Parliament website shows that 'As of July 2023, the Children’s Commissioner for England believes that at least 27,000 children are County Lines gang members, with 4,000 in London alone.'

Crossing the Line scored 7/10.  A gripping read if you want to learn a little more about this world. We felt this would be suitable for 13 + age range. Kayton Library have copies of this book if you would like to borrow it.'

Carnegie Book Club

Mrs Wilkinson writes about the latest Carnegie Book Club meeting.

Away with Words by Sophie Cameron

This week Carnegie Book Club discussed Away with Words by Sophie Cameron. The book has an unusual concept - it is set in a world where words appear physically when people speak. 

Gala and her dad, Jordi, have just moved from home in Cataluña to a town in Scotland, to live with Jordi’s boyfriend Ryan. Gala doesn’t speak much English, and feels lost, lonely and unable to be her usual funny self until she befriends Natalie, a girl with selective mutism. The two girls find their own ways to communicate, which includes collecting other people's discarded words. They use the words to write anonymous supportive poems for their classmates, but then someone begins leaving nasty messages using the same method – and the girls are blamed.

We liked the idea of words being visible and enjoyed the description of the variety of colours, fonts and sizes depending on the emotion and intensity. The print of the book also displayed this with words falling to the bottom of the page, slipping and twirling.

The group were not particularly convinced by the idea of sending and receiving encouraging poems and felt it was “a bit weird”. Nevertheless we enjoyed the book and enjoyed the fact that it didn’t come with a moral agenda that many of the other Carnegie Shortlisters do. A good book for ages 10 – 14.

It scored a safe 7/10

Carnegie Book Club and Death of a Salesman

In today's post, Mrs Wilkinson brings us an update on the latest meeting of the Carnegie Book Club, and Adrian Sevanot Davis reviews last term's production of Death of a Salesman.

Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander

Eleven-year-old Kofi Offin has dreams of water, of its urgent whisper that beckons with promises and secrets. He has heard the call on the banks of Upper Kwanta, West Africa, where he lives. He loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father’s father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. But when the unthinkable – a sudden death – occurs during a festival between rival villages, Kofi ends up in a fight for his life. What happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves. Yet Kofi’s dreams may be the key to his freedom…

Carnegie Book Club and Books of the Week

In today's post, we have Mrs Wilkinson's update on the latest meeting of the Carnegie Book Club, plus some more book recommendations from 5B.

'This week, the Shadowers were discussing Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan. In World War II, as war comes to the streets of Paris, Safiyyah’s life changes for ever. Her best friend’s family have fled, and the bombing makes her afraid to leave the mosque where she lives. But when her father is arrested by the Nazis for his secret Resistance work, it falls to Safiyyah to run the dangerous errands around the city.

Carnegie Medal and Book of the Week

Our first post of the term looks at the Yoto Carnegie shadowing scheme, and features some book recommendations from 5B.

The Yoto Carnegie Medal is an annual prize awarded for writing aimed at children and young people. Yoto Carnegie invite schools to set up their own group of Carnegie 'Shadowers', who shadow the judging process, reading, discussing and reviewing the books on the list, and voting for their favourite to win the Shadower's Prize.  

The 2024 Yoto Carnegie shortlist was published in March and last week, the SPS group of Shadowers, made up of SPS 4th and 5th formers and SPJ U3rds, held their first meeting. Mrs Wilkinson reports on how it went.

'The Carnegie Shadowing group met for our first session over a Hot Chocolate and a Kitkat. We were discussing Nathanael Lessor’s funny yet poignant debut novel Steady for This.

 

Wannabe rapper Shaun (aka MC Growls) is ready to drop his best bars and smash the competition at Raptology, but he has many obstacles to overcome before he gets there. Facing humiliation, missing his best friend and even eviction, we see how Growls gets help and just keeps going.

Carnegie Prize - the winners ...!

Mrs Cummings

Finally! St Paul’s choice for best book has actually won a prize! BookSoc met over lunch on Wednesday to watch the livestream of the awards. To our absolute delight our choice for the Shadower’s Award was won by 

Ruta Sepety’s I must betray you. We all enjoyed this book and think it’s a worthy winner. We would have liked to see it win the main prize, but a prize voted by children from all around the country is definitely something an author values.

The Yoto Carnegie Medal itself was won by Manon Steffan Ros’ The Blue Book of Nebo.

This is the first time in the Carnegie Medal’s nearly 90-year history that the prize has been awarded to a book in translation. Told through the dual narrative of a mother and son in post-apocalyptic Nebo, this 'compelling, conceivable' story explores Welsh identity and culture, and offers a beautiful appreciation of language. The original Welsh publication, Llyfr Glas Nebo, won multiple awards, including the 2019 Wales Book of the Year.

Manon Steffan Ros said, 'I used to see the word Carnegie on the covers of my favourite books as a child, and the fact that The Blue Book of Nebo now has that honour bestowed upon it means more than I can say – and to be the first book in translation to win the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing is a source of great delight. One of the greatest privileges of my life has been the fact that I was raised through the medium of the Welsh language, and having access to two languages has brought me so much joy and opportunity. There’s a huge, lively, thriving Welsh language cultural scene that I’m honoured to be a part of. Each language offers a unique and enriching perspective on the world, and so literature in translation has the potential to enhance our lives greatly. Your favourite book might not yet be translated into a language that you understand.'

There’s an interview with her here.

Although we thought I Must Betray You should have won, The Blue Book of Nebo took equal second place in our voting, alongside the unrewarded The Eternal life of Clara Hart. These books generated a lot (really, a lot!) of discussion and aroused strong feelings for and against. We have plenty of copies in the school libraries so do read them and see what you think.

Thanks to Armaan, Bolang, Louis, Luke, Soren, Theodore, Tiger, Viggo for some great conversations

BookSoc Carnegie Shadower's Medal voting

Mrs Cummings

This week BookSoc met and voted for the Shadower’s Award. This involved a lot of impassioned discussion, a fair amount of agreeing to disagree, but we got there in the end. In time-honoured St Paul’s style, we voted for the book we think should win (the Shadower’s Award) and for the book we think will win. The last had us looking up the judges’ biographies and trying to second-guess their interests and biases.

The Shadower’s Award – St Paul’s vote goes to… 

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys.  This moving novel tells the story of the Christian who is forced to choose between betraying his family and risking everything during the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Aimed at an older reader this book really highlights the hardships of the dictatorship. You can read our review of it here.

 
The scores were…

• I Must Betray You  49
• The Eternal Return of Klara Hart 38
• The Blue Book of Nebo 38
• The Light in Everything 23
• When Shadows Fall 15

The book we think will win was much closer with The Light in Everything and I Must Betray You getting the same score. 

After a run-off between the two books, The Light in Everything just nudged ahead (by 2 votes).  

The Light in Everything is a book about blended families and about learning to trust again. Aimed at a younger reader it is nonetheless a good read for all ages.

 
The announcement of both the Shadower’s Award and the Carnegie Medal for Writing is on the 21st June. We’ll be hoping the right book wins!

When Shadows Fall by Sita Brahmachari, illustrated by Natalie Sirett

Mrs Cummings

Thanks to SPJ exam week only seven of us were available to meet today. The shifty expressions and unwillingness to start a conversation said it all. We really did not like this book!

When shadows fall tells the story of Kai and his friends who spend happy days playing in a patch of wilderness near their homes. Kai's family is hit by a devastating tragedy. As he tries to cope with his own and his family's grief he makes some bad choices and is drawn into a dangerous crowd. He watches his dreams fade until it seems like there is no hope. Can his friends help him back?

Told through a mix of prose and poetry, and with beautiful illustrations, we were all hoping for so much from this book. Sadly, most of us failed to finish it, finding it relentlessly depressing. The author told us the ending at the start of the book so there were no surprises to draw us on. At the same time there is a lot of repetition and we felt the book should have been a lot shorter. Most of the characters felt two-dimensional with the exception being Kai's refugee-survivor friend Om whose story we wanted to see much more of. There is a raven theme which we found clunky and confusing, particularly when they take over the narration. There is a very worthy message about the value of talking about emotions but it felt laboured – 'like an assembly' in one rather pointed comment.

The Carnegie Medal's mission is 'recognizing outstanding reading experiences created through writing and illustration in books for children and young people'. We had four who Did Not Finish and three who forced themselves through, so we have to say no, not this time.

Average score : 4.85

Recommended reading age 13+

If we haven't put you off, it is available on the catalogue here.

The author talk is here.

You can download a chapter free here. 

After half term, we will be voting for the book we think should win the Shadower’s Choice award, and for which book we think will win the Yoto Carnegie medal.

Book of the Week: Carnegie Shortlist (4)

The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros

Mrs Cummings

Translated from the Welsh by the author this is a slim, eerie novel. It tells the story of Dylan who was six in 2018 when the nuclear bombs fell and the electricity went off for good. Now 14 he lives with his mam in remote North Wales where they have to learn to be self-sufficient and live off the land in order to survive. They find a notebook and use it in turn to record their thoughts and experiences. The reader watches their relationship change as they try to cope with the pressure of their life and realise that each is keeping secrets. 

This book generated so much discussion! Was it too short, or a perfect length? Was it too bleak, or realistic? And what about the ending? We all loved the Welsh setting and the references to Welsh culture which are woven through the story. The librarians were thrilled to see that the correct first response to sudden apocalypse is to get all the self-help books out of the library. The descriptions of The End feel believable and the characters are fully rounded. We were all caught up in their lives and the relationship between Dylan and his mother which forms the core of the story. The isolation and the moral questions they face – is it acceptable to steal if everyone’s dead – drew us in and the descriptions of the landscape are beautiful. 

Some of us loved this spare, thought-provoking story while others would have liked a longer book that explored the background further. Read it yourself and see what you think of the ending.

Score 7.9 out of 10 

Publisher's recommended age range: 13+
Can be reserved on the catalogue here
Author interview is available here. 

Book of the Week - Carnegie Shortlist (3)

The Light in Everything by Katya Balen

Mrs Wilkinson

Last year's winner of the Carnegie Book Awards, Katya Balen, has once again been nominated for the award for her book The Light in Everything. This book is geared at 9 + reading age and is the youngest book in the shortlist. Even though it is geared at a young reader it deals with some tricky issues very sensitively.

Each chapter is told from alternating perspectives: the first is Zofia, a loud and wild girl whose family life consists of her and her dad, while the other is Tom, a quiet fragile boy whose life (and that of his mother) has been turned upside down by his destructive father. Their lives are thrown together as their families join and a new addition to this family helps unite them.

This book challenged our readers' first impressions of Zofia and Tom and we grew in sympathy as we got to know and understand their back story. Some readers liked the back and forth nature of the chapters, some found it frustrating. A difficult book to compare to the other books as it is geared at a much younger audience. Some also liked the origami crane instructions on the end covers although the they were not easy to follow (try our link below!). 

Here are some thoughts from one of this year's Carnegie Shortlist Shadowers, Armaan Motiani (U3), who writes: 'I liked how the author was able to effectively recreate childlike characters in the first person and capture the tone and style of writing of children, and I liked the contrast between the two perspectives, each one giving a different insight and relaying part of the story in their own unique perspectives. Katya Balen has written a relatable and moving book that is definitely suitable for younger audiences, and is still enjoyable for adults in turn. 

The hardships experienced by the characters proves to be a big theme throughout the story, and the importance of family also plays a central role. This book will certainly resonate with anyone who has experienced loss or struggled to find their place in the world, and I give it a solid 8/10. The reason why I personally would knock off a few marks is due to my own individual enjoyment of the book. Overall I find it to be well written and authentic, but I found the childlike perspectives to be a little bit boring, and there was not much action going on besides the personal conflicts of the characters.'

So - you've heard our reviewers' thoughts, and our combined score is 7.35 out of 10. Is Katya Balen successful in conveying children’s emotions and drawing you into their story? If you'd like to make up your own mind, The Light in Everything can be reserved from the library here .

Publisher’s recommended age range: 9=. An interview with the author is available here.

How to fold a paper crane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC_Szxdqh2Y

Book of the Week: Carnegie Shortlist (2)

The Eternal Return of Clara Hart by Louise Finch
Mrs Cummings

Spence and Anthony have been friends for years. When there is what looks like a tragic accident at Anthony's house party Spence finds himself caught in a time loop. He wakes to the same day and it's clear he has been given a second chance. As he relives the same 24 hours again and again he has to re-evaluate everything he took for granted to break the spell and save Clara.

A hard-hitting coming-of-age novel about toxic masculinity and the value of friendship, this really divided our readers. A couple of people did not finish it and others gave really low scores. At the same time, some of us really enjoyed it and gave it high marks.

The publishers call it 'unflinching' and it is written from the perspective of a disenchanted 18 year old and the language reflects that. Some of our readers found this off-putting and thought it was overdone, others thought it felt realistic and drew them into Spence’s dilemma. There are moments of dark humour and some great characterisation, especially of the young women.

'Boring Groundhog Day' or required reading? You’ll have to read it and decide for yourself.

Our score : 6.7 out of 10.  

The Eternal Return of Clara Hart can be reserved on the catalogue here. Publisher's recommended age range: 13+. Our recommendation: 14+.  There's an interview with the author available here.  

Next week we are discussing Katya Balen's The Light in Everything.  

 

Book of the Week: Carnegie shortlist 2023 (1)

Booksoc Carnegie: shadowing the Carnegie Medal 2023
Mrs Cummings

The Carnegie Medal was established in 1936: it's the UK's longest-running and best-loved children's book award, and recognises 'outstanding reading experiences creates through writing in books for children and young people.' Previous Medal Holders include CS Lewis, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett and Philip Pullman.

Every year thousands of young people around the country 'shadow' the Carnegie Medals, reading, discussing, and voting on which books from the shortlist should win the award. The Medal itself is awarded by children's librarians but there is also a Shadower's Choice Award which authors vie to win. BookSoc Carnegie is a joint U3/4th Form society and we'll be reading, arguing, and voting for the book we think should win. Our first read is I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys who was also nominated in 2021 for the excellent The Fountains of Silence.

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

Publishers recommended age range : 12+

Cristian has lived his whole life under a repressive dictatorship. The people are governed by fear and silence, and the personality cult of Nicolai Ceausescu, Romania's 'Beloved Leader'. When Cristian is approached by the secret police he faces an impossible choice - try to save his sick grandfather's life by informing on his family, or resist and risk all of their lives.

This historical thriller is set during the revolution of December 1989. It is a claustrophobic story and the reader is drawn into the webs of secrecy and suspicion between the characters. The Romanian revolution was a brutal affair and this is reflected in the story - some readers thought this was justified and helped us understand the cruelty of the state, while others felt it was too grim. It certainly would be too graphic for a younger or more sensitive reader. 

The author uses short, punchy chapters and different viewpoints to move the story along quickly. Many of the readers were completely gripped by the plot and one said he read it in a single sitting. The characters are satisfyingly complex and we really felt their dilemmas. The suspense builds throughout and after a number of shocking twists it has a really satisfying conclusion.

Ruta Sepetys specialises in historical fiction and emphasises the quality of her research. I Must Betray You contains an appendix of photographs from the period plus research notes and a bibliography. A number of readers commented that this was a period of history they had known nothing about had gone on to further research. They were shocked by how brutal the regime was, and also how recent it was.

 
Overall, a great read.
Voting : 8.8 out of 10 (Range from 8 to 10)
 I Must Betray You can be reserved on the catalogue here, and you can read an interview with the author interview here.  

Our next read is The Eternal Return of Clara Hart by Louise Finch. If any 4th Formers want to join us at our Tuesday meeting please see one of the library team in the Kayton Library.