Students from all six secondary schools in Abingdon spent the day at The Guildhall on Thursday 18th June 2015, discussing their favourite book from this year’s Carnegie Medal Shortlist and preparing a 4 minute performance to encourage the judges to read it!
The Joint Schools’ Abingdon Carnegie Forum is organised by the Librarians of the six secondary schools in Abingdon, a state-independent schools partnership which began in 2000. It takes place annually, and has been in the Guildhall since 2009. 100 keen readers aged 11-13 take part each year, having read and reviewed most of the books on the shortlist. On the day mixed groups debate the shortlisted books and produce a 4-minute drama about each book. Facilitators, English teachers completing their PGCE qualification from Oxford Brookes and Oxford University, provided excellent support and guidance to each group, themselves getting caught up in the excitement of the event!
Book groups of 11-13 year olds from the six secondary schools come together to debate the shortlist, and vote for the Abingdon winner, of the Carnegie Medal, the highest accolade in the UK for children’s literature. Previous winners include legendary talents such as Arthur Ransome, C.S Lewis and Frank Cottrell Boyce. The book ‘shadowing’ is part of a national scheme, now its 21st year, involving over 90,000 young people across the world. The value of this joint schools’ event is recognised by Abingdon Town Council who have awarded the Joint School’s Forum a grant, which covers the hire of the venue.
As well the book reviews they had written earlier the mixed school groups produced a short drama about each of the shortlisted titles performed in front of a group of judges from the world of publishing, bookselling and education, including Kirsten Armstrong of Penguin Random House, who arranged delivery of 500 books to Abingdon, five new best sellers for each of the participants (it’s Christmas come early!). This was kept as a surprise for the end of the afternoon, after prizes had been awarded for Best Book Review, Best Presentation and Best Contributor in group.
Awards were given for the best book reviews and highly commended book reviews for each book, along with the best contributor in each group. Larkmead scooped up the following awards:
- Cameron Bullock (Y7), Best Book Review for More Than This, Patrick Ness
- Kalina (Y8), Best Book Review for Tinder
- Freya Lovstrom (Y8), A special Award for her humorous and entertaining book reviews
- Fayth Hill (Y7), Best Contributor in the Buffalo Soldier Group
- Marion Hendy (Y8), Best Contributor in the More Than This Group 2
And Best Performance went to the More Than This (Group 1) which included Larkmead Students Sam Clark (Y7) and Cameron Bullock (Y7) – Well Done Boys!
More Than This… by Patrick Ness (Walker, 14+ ) was crowned the Abingdon School’s Joint Carnegie winner for 2015.
A beautifully written novel with a meticulous control of plot and language to ensure that, from the harrowing opening to the deliberately ambiguous ending, this has the reader gripped and intrigued.
A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies. Then he wakes, naked, bruised and thirsty, but alive. How can this be? And what is this strange, deserted place? As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife? Perhaps another world?
Other titles in this year’s shortlist included:
Apple and Rain, Sarah Crossan Bloomsbury (11+)
Buffalo Soldier, Tanya Landman Walker (14+)
Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge Macmillan (11+)
The Fastest Boy In The World, Elizabeth Laird Macmillan (9+)
The Middle of Nowhere,Geraldine McCaughrean Usborne (11+)
Tinder, Sally Gardner Orion (11+)
When Mr. Dog Bites, Brian Conaghan Bloomsbury (14+)
I think it fair to say that this is one of my favourite days of the year, where we see keen readers coming together, demonstrating their passion for the written word. Miss Stone, LRC Manager.
This year’s winner of the UK’s oldest and most prestigious children’s book awards was announced on Monday 22nd June, at a ceremony in London’s British Library.
Tanya Landman’s, Buffalo Soldier was this year’s winner. Her book was inspired by the true story of former slave Cathy Williams, who was the only known African-American woman to enlist in the US army, under the guise of a man, serving for three years before her true identity was discovered.
Landman used her winner’s speech to call for schools and libraries to be given the support they need to help children unleash their imaginations.
Student review of the day: Kalina (Y8)
The 2015 Carnegie Shadowing was my first taste of the atmosphere when many avid readers all get together to share their passion for books.
It was my pleasure to spend an entire day devoted to the beauty of stories and the feeling that accompanies finishing a good one.
The six schools involved; John Mason School, Fitzharrys School, Our Ladys Abingdon, St Helens & St Katharines, Abingdon School and Larkmead school, all offered up a small selection of students to participate. A selection of students that all had brilliant ideas to contribute to group discussions.
The day consisted of us being divided up into groups according to which book was our favourite. We talked about what technique the authors used and how the book is better than films.
After that, we had to decide how our group was going to present the book to the audience in order to try and persuade them to read it.
Lunch was a lovely sunlit picnic affair in the Abbey Gardens, admiring the colourful flowers and laughing at those odd kids rolling down the hill (there’s always at least one!).
In the afternoon we sat and watched all of the performances for nearly an hour but the time went by so fast! There was such a diverse collection of pieces – some funny, some heart breaking, some a mixture of the two! Then it was time for CAKE (Yeeeessss!!) and refreshments, along with a free Carnegie Pen (sparkly, for your information!) while our votes for the best book were counted.
An awards ceremony ensued; book tokens for the best review for each shortlisted book and a book of your choice for highly commended reviews.
I won best review for Tinder, which is ironic because funnily enough I sort of, um, absolutely hated the book!
There were also awards for the best contributors per group.
All in all it was a great day and a real shame I won’t be able to attend next year. It was a really fantastic experience and we all had great fun. Many Thanks to everyone who gave me (us!) the chance to do this.