Carnegie Medal

Groups of eager young readers from all over Knowsley came together on Wednesday 11th July in Huyton Library to discuss the eight shortlisted titles for the Carnegie Medal, a prestigious children's book award which has been running since 1935.

Over the years, many of Britain’s best loved children’s books have received the award, including ‘The Borrowers’ by Mary Norton and ‘Watership Down’ by Richard Adams.

Children from different reading groups have spent the last two months reading and discussing the titles on the shortlist. These range from ‘The Amber Spyglass’, the third book in Philip Pullman’s trilogy ‘His Dark Materials’, to the latest from local author Alan Gibbons, ‘Shadow of the Minotaur’.

The winning title is awarded by The Library Association according to strict criteria: however, children from all over the country have been debating who they think should be the winner. This is the third year that Knowsley schools have been involved in the shadowing project and for the first time five secondary schools from the borough have been included.

Gerry Williams of the Knowsley Library Service is delighted with the interest from local schoolchildren. “Anything which encourages children to read authors they wouldn't normally is fantastic! We are trying to promote contemporary children’s literature and shadowing the Carnegie Medal is a perfect opportunity for young people to discover new authors.”

Joseph Massie has been involved with the project through his school, Knowsley Hey. “I really enjoyed reading the titles, in particular The Amber Spyglass. I've now read the rest of the trilogy which I really enjoyed. If it hadn’t been for the shadowing project I would not have known about this author.”

Above: Gerry Williams from Knowsley Library Services (left) and Maureen Jennings, Librarian at Knowsley Hey School, discuss the Carnegie Medal books with Joseph Massie and Jonathan Goulding