Meg Rossoff won the Carnegie Medal last year for her teenage novel Just in case (Puffin, 2006). In her acceptance speech, Rosoff expressed surprise that she had won - because she thought her book was too black and strange. Just in case is about a boy whose obsession with fate nearly kills him, and she never thought this would appeal to a majority of readers, let alone judges. Some people have even questioned whether it's an appropriate book for teens at all. However, she rebuts this with the argument that subjects like sex, death, war and madness interest teenagers, probably more than they interest the rest of us. Adults have mortgages to pay and families to feed and this doesn't leave much time for considering the bigger questions of life.You can see what you think by reading the full text of the speech in the following journal, held in Jordanhill Library:
Rosoff, M. (2008). Meg Rosoff’s speech from the CILIP Carnegie / Kate Greenaway Dinner 2007. Youth Library Review, 38, pp. 19-20.
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