2016 Carnegie Book Award

Shadowing event at Wymondham High Academy

Members of our school Carnegie shadowing group, who have been frantically reading the shortlisted titles selected by CILIP librarians to be outstanding pieces of children’s literature, visited Wymondham High Academy on Monday, to attend a Carnegie event organised by the School Library Service. Accompanied by Long Stratton High School and Caister Academy, the students took part in games, activities and discussions based around the books, prior to the official announcement of the 2016 Carnegie Award Winner at 12.00pm

A great time was had by all and it was really nice to meet up with students from other schools to share our opinions on what we thought about the shortlisted titles. Our overall favourite book was ‘One’ by Sarah Crossan, which was also the official winner!

“We were invited to take part in the Carnegie shadowing event, at Wymondham High. It was a great event, where we all discussed and shared views on the shortlisted books in mixed groups. Everyone had something new to add to the discussion, and the conversation was lively. We explored each of the eight books in detail and gave our reasons for liking or disliking a certain novel. Then, after a quick break, we flicked through the Kate Greenaway shortlisted titles, an award given for the best illustration of a children’s book. We marveled at the different styles of drawing, and had a rough guess at who the winner would be. It was a great day, and we all had great fun.” Eleanor Hebden 9W

 “The Carnegie event was amazing. It was really interesting to hear everyone’s views on the books. There were so many different opinions on who should win, but I think that we all expected that the book that won, would win. We met so many great people from the different schools, and I made a good friend from Long Stratton High. I’m really glad that I was able to do this and can’t wait for next year’s books” Kyra Pugh 8B

 “I really enjoyed going to Wymondham High to talk about the shortlisted Carnegie books. Everyone was welcoming and kind and our Carnegie group in particular made good friends with a girl from Long Statton High School called Kate, who was really nice. We voted for our favourite books – mine was “Five Children on the Western Front” by Kate Saunders and my favourite picture book was the “Sleeper and the Spindle” illustrated by Chris Riddell. This year’s shortlist was interesting because it sort of had a theme of “lies”. I really enjoyed the trip.” Charlotte Bales-Howard 8B