Stockport Schools’ Book Award Winners: Mad About Books

The Stockport Schools’ Book Award was launched in 1995 and is one of  15 or 20 local Children's Book Awards that Tragic follows in the UK on Literary Awards UK. The winning books are chosen by participating children and as such are a result of the ultimate local peer review process! 

Julie Donaldson seems to be particularly popular in the area with two books in thew winners circle for hte most recently announced prize. Little wonder, she was the writer of The Gruffalo,  illustrated by the very talented Alex Scheffler if memory serves correctly? 

The beauty of having young children is that we get to see so many finely illustrated books -such a shame that the publishers don't use a bit more imagination and illustrate a greater range of adult literature.

Stockport, by the way is a large town in the Greater Manchester area with a population 130,000 or so.

The Stockport Schools’ Book Award was launched in 1995. The aims of the project are as follows:

• To raise the profile of reading for pleasure within schools
• To offer children in all schools access to some of the best new fiction
• To increase teachers’ and school librarians’ awareness of new fiction
• To create a community of readers in Stockport schools by:
• providing opportunities for children to meet authors
• providing a forum for reading and an opportunity to share books
• developing links between publishers, booksellers and schools

The Award covers five categories:
Early Years - Key Stage 1 - Key Stage 2 - Key Stage 3 - Key Stage 4 -

Winners
2010

        Early  What the Ladybird Heard       Julia Donaldson Illustrated by Lydia Monks

KS1 - The Troll by Julia Donaldson Illustrated by David Roberts

KS2 - Ctrl -Z by Andrew Norriss

K3  - Grass by Cathy McPhail

K4 - Numbers by Rachael Ward                              

2009 Winners

Early Years - The Foggy, Foggy Forest by Nick Sharratt

KS1 - Beware of the Frog by William Bee

KS2- Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

KS3 - Ways to Live Forvever by Sally Nicholls

KS4 - Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper

             

                      

2008
Ey     Neil Goddard & Nick Sharratt:
          Never use a knife and fork
KS1   Julia Jarman & Lynne Chapman:
          Class two at the zoo
KS2   Siobhan Dowd: The London eye mystery
KS3   Derek Landy: Skulduggery pleasant         
KS4   Tabitha Suzuma: From where I stand
2007
EY       Paul Bright & Ben Cort:
I'm not going out there
KS1     Alan Durant & Kate Leake:
Football Fever!
KS2     Lauren St. John: The White Giraffe
KS3     Lee Weatherly: Kat got your Tongue
KS4     Tim Bowler: Icefire
2006
EY    Mara Bergman & Nick Maland: Snip Snap!
KS1   Mark Oliver: Robot Dog
KS2   Andrew Cope: Spy Dog
KS3   Gabrielle Zevin: Elsewhere
KS4   Kevin Brooks: Candy
2005
EY       Julia Jarman & Adrian Reynolds:
The Big Red Bath
KS1     Simon James: Baby Brains
KS2     Sandra Glover: My Spooky Sister
KS3     Alan Gibbons: Defender
KS4     Alison Allen-Gray: Unique
2004
EY    Kes Gray & Garry Parsons: Billy's Bucket
KS1   Frieda Wishinsky & Neal Layton:
Jennifer Jones won't leave me alone
KS2   Alex Shearer: Sea Legs
KS3   Elizabeth Laird: The Garbage King
KS4   Michael Morpurgo: Private Peaceful
2003
EY       Giles Andreae & Nick Sharratt: Pants
KS1     Richard Waring & Holly Swain:
Wanted! Have You Seen this Alligator
KS2     Julia Jarman: Ghost Writer
KS3     Catherine McPhail: Dark Waters
KS4     Rosie Rushton:
Last Seen Wearing Trainers
2002
EY    Nick Ward: A Wolf at the Door!
KS1   Julia Donaldson: Room on the Broom
KS2   Eoin Colfer: Artemis Fowl
KS3   Tim Bowler: Storm Catchers
KS4   Bali Rai: (Un)arranged Marriage
2001
EY       Christyan & Diane Fox: Piggy Wiggy
KS1     Kes Gray and Nick Sharratt:
Eat Your Peas
KS2     Anne Fine: Bad Dreams
KS3     Anthony Horowitz: Stormbreaker
KS4     Celia Rees: Truth or Dare
2000
KS1   Jan Fearnley: Mr Wolf's Pancakes
KS2   Paul Rogers: The Toy Breaker
KS3   Malorie Blackman: Tell me no Lies
KS4Aidan Chambers: Postcards from No Man's Land
1999 
KS1     Paul & Emma Rogers:
The Book that Jack Made
KS2     J.K.Rowling:
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets
KS3     Robert Swindells: Abomination
KS4     Nigel Hinton: Out of the Darkness
1998
KS1   Nick Butterworth: Thud!
KS2   Jacqueline Wilson: The Lottie Project
KS3   Robert Swindells: Nightmare Stairs
KS4   Susan Gates: Iron Heads
1997  
KS1     Francesca Simon: Spider School
KS2     Malorie Blackman: A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E.
KS3     Anthony Horowitz: The Switch
KS4     Michael Smith: After the Darkness

1996
KS1   Colin McNaughton: Boo!
KS2   Jacqueline Wilson: Double Act
KS3/4  Nigel Hinton: Buddy's

Selection Process and Criteria

Titles for the Book Award are longlisted throughout the year (January - December) by librarians at the School Library Service during weekly selection meetings. Books selected must meet the criteria of the School Library Service Selection Policy and must have been first published in the U.K within the given year. Over and above the criteria laid down in the Policy guidelines, books longlisted for Book Award generally have additional qualities such as being outstanding works of fiction, innovative in style and exceptionally good reads.
The longlisted books are distributed and read by a working party of teachers and school librarians who meet to discuss the titles and produce the final shortlist.
Pupils in schools across Stockport from all phases (nursery through to secondary) read, discuss and vote on the shortlisted books. It is the votes of the pupils that determine the winning titles.
Approximately 60 schools take part in the project.