CILIP Carnegie 2013 longlist

 The CILIP Carnegie 2013 longlists were announced yesterday. It was a very long list indeed but, purely based on my own reading and a rushed glance of the judging criteria, I think there are quite a few books on it that will form an exciting and strong shortlist; one where judges will be splitting hairs for a winner.

The CILIP Carnegie medal recognises and awards outstanding books for children. They may not be the most popular books but so many of them are truly entertaining and absorbing reads; I've bought books from this list as gifts for both children and adults this year. 

From the 70 odd titles, we had/have copies of 13 books on this year's long list. We've completed reading 9 of them (Little M – 1; M – 8). Here's what we thought of them:

Titles 1-6: I'd be happy to see all of these on the shortlist and recommend them to adults as well as teen readers. All of these books were listed on our own Top 20 Books for Feb-Sept 2012 and each one is extraordinary in its own way. Titles 1-4 are probably more suited to older readers while 5 &6 are wonderful for readers of any age:

1. Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner (Hot Key Books)

2. After the Snow by S.D. Crockett (Macmillan Children's Books)

3. All Fall Down by Sally Nicholls (Marion Lloyd Books)

4.Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Electric Monkey)

5. Wonder by R.J. Palacio (Bodley Head)

6. The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne (Doubleday Children's Books)

Titles 7-9: we have read these, enjoyed them and would recommend them:

7. The Seeing by Diana Hendry (Bodley Head)

8. Hitler's Angel by William Osborne (Chicken House)

9. This is NotForgiveness by Celia Rees (Bloomsbury)

 

Titles 10 -13: we haven’t finished reading these for all sorts of reasons:

10.Dying To Know You by Aidan Chambers (Bodley Head)

- really enjoyed the first couple of chapters but think Little M might like to read this at some point before me. I think it'll be very good.

 

11.The Broken Road by B.R. Collins (Bloomsbury)

- still reading this, but quite slowly.

12.Jasmine Skies by Sita Brahmachari (Macmillan Children's Books)

- haven't finished Artichoke Hearts first which is this novel's prequel

13.Saving Daisy by Phil Earle (Puffin Books)

 - not my thing

 You can see the rest of the 2013 longlist on the Carnegie website.