Branford Boase Award

Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace, edited by Charlie Sheppard and published by Andersen Press, has won the 2011 Branford Boase Award. The Branford Boase Award was set up to encourage new writers and is given each year to the most promising work of fiction for children by a debut novelist. The award also honours the editor of the winning title and highlights the importance of the editor in nurturing new talent. Out of Shadows also won the Costa Children’s Book Award and was short-listed for the Carnegie Medal.

The book is set in Zimbabwe in the 1980s - independence has been won and Robert Mugabe has come to power offering hope, land and freedom to black Africans. For Robert Jacklin it's all new: new continent, new country, new school, but very quickly he learns that for some of his classmates the sound of guns is still loud, and their battles still rage on. Find it in our catalogue here.

For more information, go to:

Books for Keeps announcement
Books for Keeps interview with Jason Wallace
Achockablog post with video
Bookwitch post with photos

What's new? Crime blog for teens, Richard & Judy and other delights

Here's a round up of items that have caught my eye in the last few days:

Crime Central is a new blog for teens, set up by authors Keren David, Anne Cassidy, Gillian Philip and Linda Strachan. It's stated aims are "to celebrate crime fiction for teen readers. Find out about new books, leave your comments and reviews, read interviews with authors." There's not much there at the moment, it's one to watch, but there is a competition to win a signed copy of one of Anne Cassidy's books.

The Bookseller tells us that Richard and Judy will launch a new children's book club with W H Smith on the 27th January. The Children's Book Club will involve real families, with the books selected by a ­variety of children, and will have three categories: Reading Together (from pre-school to year 1), Developing Reader (7–9 years) and Fluent (any age from 8 years on).

Jill R Bennett has started a new review site, Red Reading Hub. Jill is an Early Years specialist and says "In these pages, I hope to be able to highlight books, both those recently published as well as ones that have been well and truly tried and tested, that ‘work’ with children either at home, playgroups, nurseries or schools. In some instances, there will be ideas for working with the books."

The latest winner of the Costa Children's Book prize is Jason Wallace for Out of the Shadows, a story set in Zimbabwe just after independence. Oops, I seem to have missed that one so I've ordered it for the Library now. You can read an interview with Jason Wallace on the Books for Keeps site and Booktrust has a reading guide to download.

Finally, it's time to elect a new Children's Laureate. Anthony Browne's tenure is coming to an end and suggestions for the next one are invited - previous Laureates have been Quentin Blake, Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Rosen so there are some hard acts to follow. There's also a competition for children to win tickets to the award ceremony in June. The closing date is 28th February.