Carnegie Awards Trip

The Yoto Carnegie Medal is awarded by children’s librarians across the country to an incredible book written for children and young adults. This year, Wymondham High’s book club decided to read the shortlist and decide which book we thought should win! We met with three other schools (Long Stratton High School, Dereham Neatherd and North Walsham High School) last month and discussed our favourites!

The books shortlisted this year were:

· Cane Warriors by Alex Wheatle

· Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

· October, October by Katya Balen

· Guard Your Heart by Sue Divin

· When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle

· The Crossing by Manjeet Mann

· Tsunami Girl by Julian Sedgwick · Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

After meeting the other groups from the different schools, we discussed our favourite to win - it was a difficult choice as many of these books had powerful messages, covering key issues within our society that we found enthralling. Overall, the book club’s favourite to win was Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town as the cleverly structured plot was gripping and was written beautifully. Everyone at the event voted for their favourite as well and these were the results:

1. Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town

2. October, October

3. The Crossing

4. Punching the Air

5. Guard Your Heart

6. When the Sky Falls

7. Tsunami Girl

8. Cane Warriors

On the way home, our amazing new librarian Miss Smith was listening to the live stream when the winners were announced – October, October won the Shadower’s Award and the Carnegie Award which was unexpected! The book group are passionate about reading and we would love to encourage more young people to enjoy books. For the Carnegie medals this year, we were so grateful to have the opportunity to meet up with like minded students and make new friends. We had an incredible day and are looking forward to taking part in many more events in the future!

Written by A. Crosby, Year 10.