Royal Society Young People's Science Book Prize

I'm delighted to announce that Literary Labyrinth is one of the groups chosen by the Royal Society to judge their Young People's Book Prize this year. This is a fantastic opportunity for our home-ed group!

The Royal Society
The Royal Society is a fellowship of the world's most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. It aims to expand the frontiers of knowledge by championing the development and use of science, mathematics, engineering and medicine for the benefit of humanity and the good of the planet. Founded in 1660 (in the reign of Charles II), the Royal Society has included as its fellows and members such notables as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford, Albert Einstein, Dorothy Hodgkin, Francis Crick, James Watson and Stephen Hawking.

The Royal Society Young People's Book Prize
The Royal Society Young People's Book Prize celebrates the best books that communicate science to young people. It has awarded a book prize since 1988 with the aim to encourage the writing, publishing and reading of good and accessible science books for children. An adult judging panel selects a shortlist of six books. The winner is selected by Judging Panels of young people from across the UK. We have been asked to put together a Judging Panel of young people.

Shortlisted Titles
The shortlisted books have been grouped into two age groups, 8-10 and 10-14. They are all colourful and lively, several with flaps and other interactive elements. The book titles are:

The Icky, Sticky Snot and Blood Book: A gorgeously gross pop-up guide to breathing, blood and bogeys, by Steve Alton, Nick Sharratt and Jo Moore
How the World Works: A hands-on guide to our amazing planet, by Christiane Dorion and Beverley Young
What Mr Darwin Saw, by Mick Manning and Brita Grandstrom
What's the Point of Being Green?, by Jacqui Bailey
The Story of Astronomy and Space, by Louise Stowell and Peter Allen
What Goes on in My Head?: How your brain works and why you do what you do, by Robert Winston

Putting Together the Judging Panel
It is a fantastic opportunity for a group of 6 children, aged 10-15, to be involved in this project. We will be reading and discussing the books and I shall appoint one of the children in the group to act as Chair of the group - and will support them in this role. At the end of the project the Judging Panel will advise the Royal Society on which book we think should win the prize.

How the Judging Panel will Work
The group of children will read and discuss each book and vote for the one they think should win; the vote needs to be registered by 31 October 2011.
We will meet in Guildford once a week on Mondays in September and October, for seven weeks. Meetings will last an hour.
Each child will take home one of the shortlisted books after each meeting, so that by the end of the project each child will have read every book.
During each week each child will read one of the shortlisted books and prepare a presentation on it (lasting up to 5 minutes) following the criteria that the Royal Society is interested in: layout, writing style, interest level, appeal of the book.

Dates and Activities
5 September: meet, establish the organisation of the group and individual roles; appoint the Chair; read and discuss the Royal Society brief; tutorial on presenting thoughts coherently to the rest of the group; each member takes home their first book
12 September: presentations by each person on the book they have read; consideration and discussion of all six books according to the Royal Society's criteria; analysis of contents pages and indexes
19 September: ditto; analysis of captions
26 September: ditto; analysis of text boxes, graphs, tables
3 October: ditto; analysis of illustrations and images
10 October: presentations on the latest book they've read; analysis of pop-ups, lift-the-flaps and other interactive devices; tutorial on preparing and presenting an argument in preparation for next week's debate on which book should win
17 October: presentations on the last book they've read; debate about which book we want to win; vote; compilation of everybody's thoughts, review documents, votes and voting papers.

Benefits to Your Child
Each child will:
* read, examine and consider six top-quality recent science books written especially for children of their age;
* develop analytical and critical thinking skills;
* appreciate and evaluate as a reader the elements of non-fiction books;
* receive a copy of the Royal Society's brief and learn to respond to it appropriately;
* learn to make mini-presentations, giving their opinions about each book in a coherent way;
* develop team-playing skills by learning to listen respectfully to the views of the others in the group;
* prepare for and conduct themselves in a debate;
* learn to accept the opinions of others;
* vote as part of a team for which shortlisted book they think should win this prize.

In addition, the child who is appointed Chair will be coached and supported by me to:
* develop leadership skills;
* run meetings;
* take charge of the group administration - who's borrowed which book when;
* develop inter-personal skills by managing the personalities in the group in order to make sure that everybody gets the chance to say what they think about the books;
* conduct a debate;
* arrange distribution of Royal Society materials including certificates for each member;
* broaden and enhance organisational skills by taking responsibility for the administration of the Judging Panel: writing down the winner and recording what people say about the different books and sending the name of the winning book in to the Royal Society.

Cost
Cost: £105 per head - that is £15 per session. This includes seven one-hour workshops, printed tutorials to take home, all Royal Society materials needed (including voting papers, certificates, guides for participants and a guide for the Chair), loan copies of each of the six books.

If you would like to be involved please book your place asap - there are only 6 places available. Please contact me on my email address: kateferryswainson@gmail.com.

Kate :)

Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals - Winners Announced!

The Carnegie Medal Winner 2011 and the Kate Greenaway Award Winner 2011 have been announced today, 23 June 2011. And they are...


CARNEGIE MEDAL
Patrick Ness, MONSTERS OF MEN - the final book in the Chaos Walking trilogy.
This is what the Carnegie Medal judges themselves say about the shortlist and the ultimate winner:

The shortlist for the 2011 Carnegie was incredibly strong, and each was a potential winner. However, the judges chose Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness because it really is outstanding. It is an extraordinary achievement. Not only does the author succeed in creating a richly imagined world that completely convinces the reader while challenging the imagination, he also poses profound questions about relationships, war, the horrors and heroism that can result and the nature of government. In the characters of Todd and Viola the reader meets real people facing real dilemmas. Above all Monsters of Men is an enthralling read that is well nigh impossible to put down and while a fitting conclusion to a remarkable trilogy, it is novel that both stands alone and stands out.


KATE GREENAWAY AWARD
Grahame Baker-Smith, FArTHER
Let's hear from the Kate Greenaway Award judges:

The judges had a real challenge in selecting a winner from the eight titles on the Greenaway shortlist. All were exceptional, yet each demonstrated a different approach, style and technique. In FArTHER by Grahame Baker-Smith, the judges found a beautifully conceived picture book, in which technique, style and vision combine to create a dream-like quality that captures the imagination of readers of all ages. The wealth of detail – a delight to the eye – allows the artist to convey not only darker emotions as he explores both loss and bereavement but also the hope symbolised by the birth of a new generation. This combined with consummate draughtsmanship, and an unerring sense of colour, makes FArTHER outstanding and a Greenaway winner.


Hear hear! Both deserving winners, I think: Patrick Ness for his sparkling achievement over the course of three books and Grahame Baker-Smith for the beauty and truth of his book.

Tell us what YOU think!

PROLOGUE has been shadowing the Carnegie Medal this year; reading Patrick Ness is a pleasure that awaits the children when they are about 13 or 14.

STICKY STORIES has been shadowing the Kate Greenaway Award and will be exploring FArTHER at our next meeting on 11 July.

Ta ta for now!
Kate x