The winners of the School Library Association Information Book Award 2015 have been announced. These awards are designed to promote the importance of using non-fiction books in schools and highlights the high standard of information books being published at the moment. This year’s list includes books about New York, historical arctic expeditions, the true story of a ten year old refugee, microbes, and teenage stress. The overall winner decided by the judges was Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill (Flying Eye) which is the latest in a string of nominations and awards that this title has received so far and no wonder as it is a visual feast of information! I particularly like the page showing each of the dogs that accompanied the expedition, and the illustrated list of supplies. Having individual drawings of the things they took on the journey really brings this historical event to life. This is a very well deserved award for William Grill and I can’t wait to see what he does next.
The winners in each category were:
Ages 0-7 – Tiny: The Invisible World of Microbes by Nicola Davies and Emily Sutton (ill.) (Walker)
Ages 7-12 – Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill (Flying Eye)
Ages 12-16 – The Teenage Guide to Stress by Nicola Morgan (Walker)
The awards also recognise the titles that children enjoyed the most and it’s interesting to see that the younger children picked a book covering a very current issue. Both the judges and children were united in their pick for the older category with Nicola Morgan’s empowering book for teenagers on stress the winner for both groups.
The children’s choice winners were:
Ages 0-7 – Ali’s Story: His Journey From Afghanistan by Salvador Maldonado and Andy Glynne (BBC Learning/Wayland)
Ages 7-12 – Pop-Up New York by Jennie Maizels (Walker)
Ages 12-16 – The Teenage Guide to Stress by Nicola Morgan (Walker)
The children’s choice overall winner was Pop-Up New York, an interactive 3D tour of the Big Apple filled with facts about this exciting city.
Special mention was also given to The Comedy, History and Tragedy of William Shakespeare by Anna Claybourne, Adria Meserve and Timothy Knapman (Franklin Watts)
It’s also National Non-fiction November at the moment, so a wonderful opportunity to promote information books such as the above titles in your school. The 2015 theme is ‘Maps’ which would tie-in well with Shackleton’s Journey, Pop-up New York and Ali’s Story. You could also get your class to take part in a competition to create and design a new country from scratch to be published in a new book by Lonely Planet!
Thanks Lucy.
On the same topic, the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize is awarded each year for the best science information book. A shortlist of six books is chosen by an expert adult panel, but the final prize winner is selected entirely by panels of judges made up entirely of young people between 8 and 14 years old. Judging panels around the country are reading and deciding which book should be this year’s winner. This will be announced on Monday 16 November. Not surprisingly, the Nicola Davies book is on this shortlist, too. More details here on the Royal Society’s website. We’ve got some of the shortlisted books in the Centre, and will be getting the rest in soon.
There is an interesting article by Alexander and Jarman in the current issue of Literacy (an UKLA journal, available in the Centre – p131,September 2015) about the value of children participating in the panels, with “the judging responsibility not only nurtured enhanced self-esteem but also the construction of a positive reading identity and a sense of self-efficacy as a reader.”