Just a few more days to catch Judge Jake and Angela (CKG working party) and Fine, Almond and Burges plus a host of other stars on this excellent programme! There's been lots of media coverage of the awards this year - check out iplayer again for Neil Gaiman on Breakfast Telly and Front Row as well as nice pieces in Telegraph and Guardian.Hope you were happy with the final result! Neil and Freya were noticeabley and touchingly chuffed to be the chosen winners, making epic journeys to attend the award ceremony and meeting the lucky shadowing groups which was all very gratifying.
This is my last hurrah as judge and CKG blogger (wipes tears from mouse pad) and the two years have truly been an amazing and awesome experience. The best bit is still meeting your shadowing groups - the passionate students and gorgeous librarians who corall them into the library when they could be running round in the sunshine (this goes for both students and librarians) are inspiring and life affirming to anyone who loves chidlren's books. Highlights from my school visits throughout the most beautiful and bucolic of regions have included cream teas, podcasts and chasing an escaped cow back to the milking parlour (well this is the West Country..) See ya dreckly! Julia
With only one day till the winners are announced, my Y3-6 Greenaway Shadowers have been voting for their favourites. We have three front-runners: The Dunderheads, There are Cats in this Book, and The Great Paper Caper. Votes for the other titles are evenly spread and every title is somebody's favourite! There is no particular difference between what boys and girls are voting for. I think this shows what an excellent range of books the judges have chosen; there really is something for everyone. I asked the pupils to comment on why they had chosen that particular book and although most of the comments were of the 'it's awesome' variety, one or two really stood out - although I was a little concerned by the 9 year old boy who liked The Great Paper Caper because "the bear has an axe and he is chopping things"!
One girl commented on the colours, textures and patterns in Millie's Marvellous Hat, while another said that the dull colours in Harry and Hopper made her feel sad. By contrast, the bright colours and freedom of line in There are Cats in this Book were described as 'bouncy and joyful'. Many of the children found the pictures in Crazy Hair 'weird' but one or two said how much they liked the way they flowed and were linked together by the hair and the text. But the best comment has to be from a 7 year old girl who said of Harry and Hopper "it tells you that the more you love someone the more you remember them". I thought that was so perceptive and showed such an understanding of this emotional book.
I have loved my first year as a judge, and the experience has really informed the way I run the Shadowing. I am now expecting much more from my shadowers, and on the evidence of the comments above I think they are really delivering. It is wonderful to be able to introduce children to these outstanding books and to see them respond to them with affection, enthusiasm and real involvement.
My friend of years actually told me the other day that it was nice to see me so enthusiastic about my job again - having been so bogged down with the issues of a School Library Services facing severe cuts. But what was so different about that day? The answer to that is easy - I had just attended a session at the Hay Book Festival sponsored by CILIP, featuring two of this years short listed Greenaway illustrators, Viviane Schwarz (There are cats in this book), and Grahame Baker-Smith (Leon and the Place Between).
The session, chaired by Anthony Browne, was amusing yet informative. The contrasting styles of the illustrators were demonstrated and explained, (Viviane Schwarz paper craft and Grahame Baker-Smith's use of drawings and Photoshop). As someone who has no artistic skill I was impressed by both and look forward to discussing them with Shadowing groups. Viviane Schwarz demonstrated her enthusiasm for her work and that engaging the reader was crucial - which she does so successfully in “There are cats in this book”. She certainly made drawing look really easy. When asked about the Greenaway prize both seemed pleased but surprised they're titles had made it to this year’s shortlist. Most exciting was both illustrators had copies of forthcoming titles for us to look out for - Viviane Scharz: “There are no cats in this book “and Grahame Baker-Smith: “Farther”.
This session was early in the day and despite tiredness my daughter and I had a full and fun day at the festival culminating with a session with Patrick Ness short listed for this years Carnegie with Ask and the Answer.
Sioned Jacques
CKG Judge 2010 - Wales representative
Note from CILIP: Thanks to everyone who entered The Great Hay Greenaway Animal Park drawing competition whilst visiting the Hay Festival - we are looking at entries right now and will be in touch with the winners soon! thanks, Kasey, CILIP
Reading Barometer Favourites – Your group vote
It’s time to take the temperature! The reading barometer on the shadowing homepage changes according to YOUR group’s favourite three books on each shortlist.
The book you choose to go at the top of your reading barometer will count as your group’s favourite and will go towards the shadowers’ vote.
To vote with your reading barometer:
- Log in to your group homepage (using your group leader login – remember kids may have access to this area too!)
- Once you are in edit mode, scroll down to the TWO reading barometers. The top one is for the CARNEGIE shortlist and the bottom one is for the GREENAWAY shortlist.
- Click on edit and a new window will open – this will ask you to select your top three books.
- Whichever book you pick as BOOK 1 will count as your group vote.
- On Wednesday 23 June at 5pm we’ll take the final temperature check to see what the shadowing favourites are.
- The results will be displayed on the shadowing homepage and the charts page after the official winners announcement.
The Greenaway Gallery is now open for uploading images.
Log in as a group leader, scroll down the page and you will see a heading entitled Greenaway Gallery with a link, click on the link and you can then upload an image (in the same way you can upload a group photo). The image must be a JPEG file.
View Greenaway Gallery images here OR direct your shadowers to the link from the shadowing homepage.
Reminder: with just over two weeks until the winners are announced has your group picked their favourites on the reading barometer?
Happy Reading!
Kasey Butler, CILIP
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