My group were stunned when I told them Here Lies Arthur had won. Most of them had found Here Lies Arthur a tedious read ,some were not even able to finish it has they found it so slow. Of all the books we rated Here Lies Arthur near the bottom with Gatty's Tale. One of our group pointed out that most of the books seemed to be about conflict. I found it hard to believe that the book was said to be outstanding and that it had been a unanimous vote.

Our group did have strong fans of 'Here Lies Arthur' although it was not our winning choice.  My concern is that the judges comments/reasons given for choosing this book were most definitely from an adult perspective.  When I started to talk to the group about modern day comparisons with propaganda they understood that, but with spin-doctors their eyes glazed over.  And they are very bright children aged 12 to 15!