Book of the Week

The Witching Hour is an adventure set in 17th century Scotland where a young girl called Maggie becomes a reluctant heroine when she finds herself involved with the Covenanting cause and tries to save her uncle from being hanged. This comes after she herself escapes being executed as a witch!

I really enjoyed this one - Maggie is an inspiring character and you come to care about her very much! Elizabeth Laird really brings the history of the time to life and reading this book certainly made me aware of parts of Scotland's past I wasn't very familiar with. An exciting read!

My Carnegie Favourite

Although I haven't read all of the shortlisted Carnegie books yet my favourite so far has to be The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing the entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard? Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him - after all, he is the last remaining member of the family. Will Bod survive to be a man?

Winner of the US Newbery Medal The Graveyard Book is highly original, entertaining, sometimes creepy and sometimes funny. I thought it was one of the best books I had read in a long time!

Carnegie Shortlist Announced

The books shortlisted for this year's Carnegie Medal have just been announced as:

ANDERSON, LAURIE HALSE CHAINS (Available from Library)
Bloomsbury (Age range 11+)
ISBN: 9780747598077

GAIMAN, NEIL THE GRAVEYARD BOOK (Available from Library)
Bloomsbury (Age range 9+)
ISBN: 9780747569015

GRANT, HELEN THE VANISHING OF KATHARINA LINDEN (Available from Library)
Penguin (Age range 14+)
ISBN: 9780141325736

HEARN, JULIE ROWAN THE STRANGE
Oxford University Press (Age range 12+)
ISBN: 9780192792150

NESS, PATRICK THE ASK AND THE ANSWER (Available from Library)
Walker (Age range 14+)
ISBN: 9781406310269

PRATCHETT, TERRY NATION (Available from Library)
Doubleday (Age range 11+)
ISBN: 9780385613705

REEVE, PHILIP FEVER CRUMB
Scholastic (Age range 9+)
ISBN: 9781407102429

SEDGWICK, MARCUS REVOLVER
Orion (Age range 12+)
ISBN: 9781842551868

The Carnegie Medal is awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book for children.
It was established by in 1936, in memory of the great Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). Carnegie was a self-made industrialist who made his fortune in steel in the USA. His experience of using a library as a child led him to resolve that "if ever wealth came to me that it should be used to establish free libraries."

Carnegie set up more than 2800 libraries across the English speaking world and, by the time of his death, over half the library authorities in Great Britain had Carnegie libraries.

The medal is awarded by CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and the winner will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on 24 June 2010.

For more details go to http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/2010awards/carnegie_shortlist.php

Orange Prize Shortlist Announced

The shortlist for this year's Orange Prize for Fiction has been announced:

Rosie Alison - The Very Thought of You
Barbara Kingsolver - The Lacuna
Attica Locke - Black Water Rising
Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall
Lorrie Moore - A Gate at the Stairs
Monique Roffey - The White Woman on the Green Bicycle

The winner will be announced on 9th June. Find out more at http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/show/feature/home/orange-2010-opf-shortlist

New Book Club Leaflet

The new book club leaflet has just arrived with lots of fantastic offers. Books available this time include the new Skulduggery Pleasant title Dark Days, Lord Sunday by Garth Nix and Spells by Aprilynne Pike. You can look at the leaflet online at http://www.uniflip.com/online-magazines/3/18784/33144/pub/index.html and if you would like to order any books just return your form to the Library by Friday 30th April. Orders usually arrive within 3 to 4 days.