The Book Case JUNIOR READERS CLUB

Blue Peter Awards 2002

The Book I Couldn't Put Down (£4.99 each)

WINNER: Feather Boy by Nicky Singer: Robert's victimised at school but a mad old lady in a nursing home encourages him to find his inner strength and outface the school bully (10+).

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Journey To The River Sea by Eva Ibbotson

Mighty Fizz Chilla by Philip Ridley Point Blanc by Anthony Horowitz

Best Book to Read Aloud (£4.99 each except the Ahlberg)

WINNER: Crispin, The Pig Who Had It All by Ted Dewan : Rich little pig Crispin finds less is more one Christmas

Eat Your Peas by Kes Gray and Nick Sharratt

Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees

Grandma Chickenlegs by Geraldine McCaughrean and Moira Kemp

The Man Who Wore All His Clothes by Allan Ahlberg and Katharine McEwen (£6.99)

The Best New Information Books

WINNER: Ada Lovelace by Lucy Lethbridge (£3.99): about the "computer wizard of Victorian England" - the collaboration between Byron's daughter and Charles Babbage.

The Cartoon History Of The Earth by Jacqui Bailey and Matthew Lilly (series, £5.99 each)

True Stories of Heroes by Paul Dowswell (£3.99)

Twenty Stories From British History by Geraldine McCaughrean, illus Richard Brassey (series, £4.99 each)

The Usborne Internet-Linked Library Of Science Human Body by Kirsteen Rogers and Corinne Henderson (£6.99)

Blue Peter Awards 2001:

FICTION: section winners + shortlist

The Book I Couldn't Put Down

These are books that are so gripping that once you've started to read them you just do not want to stop - for dinner, for school or when it's time to put the light out at night.

The Wind Singer by William Nicholson Egmont, £5.99 : SECTION WINNER & BLUE PETER BOOK OF THE YEAR
Behave, pass your exams, don't let others down. We're all familiar with instructions like that, but what if they ruled your life, so that your whole family suffered if you didn't do as the Government told you? That's what this brilliant thriller is all about. What are your options if you simply can't bear to go on being part of a system you despise? Apart from being edge-of-your-seat reading, this novel really makes you think about your own life. Would you be as brave as the Hath family has to be?

Playing on the Edge by Neil Arksey Puffin, £4.99
We've all heard the horror stories about athletes taking drugs to enhance their performance. Not only do they gain unfair advantages, they also endanger their health, sometimes with fatal consequences. In this gripping novel, set in the future, fantastically wealthy football clubs are beyond the law, but Easy Linker decides that enough is enough. Can he survive long enough to blow the whistle on their illegal activities?

Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin Egmont, £5.99
If you like long, involving novels you will love this one. It has everything in it - love and hate, life and death. And although it tells a story set in the middle of the eighteenth century, it has lots of links with the present. Captain Thomas Coram was a philanthropist, somebody who wanted to make peoples' lives better. His particular passion was to improve the lives of children, who at that time were often treated heartlessly and cruelly. But that meant trying to change the way in which people think, and sometimes that's the hardest thing of all.

Monster Mission by Eva Ibbotson Macmillan Children's Books, £4.99
'Kidnapping children is not a good idea. All the same, sometimes it has to be done.' How's that for a brilliant beginning? Eva has written many excellent comedy fantasies - Which Witch? and The Secret of Platform 13 - and this is as excellent as ever. What can three aunts possibly want with the two boys and a girl on their mysterious island?

The Dare Game by Jacqueline Wilson, illustrated by Nick Sharratt Corgi, £4.99
Apparently so many people asked Jacqueline Wilson to write a sequel to The Story of Tracey Beaker that eventually she did just that. We all know that real life doesn't end happily ever after, and for Tracey, even though she is delighted to get out of the Children's Home, life is far from easy. She's at a new school, with a grumpy teacher, and her foster-mum, Cam isn't the perfect Mum of whom Tracey has dreamt. Being Tracey, she doesn't always do the right thing, but her heart is always in the right place.

The Best Book to Read Aloud

We all love listening to other people reading stories, and these books are ideal for that purpose. Mums and Dads can read them to their children, teachers can read them to their classes, and children can read them to their brothers and sisters.

The Bravest Ever Bear by Allan Ahlberg, Illustrated by Paul Howard Walker Books, £4.99 : SECTION WINNER
Although Allan Ahlberg, an extremely experienced author, has written this book, he doesn't seem to be in control of its inhabitants. They seem determined to decide exactly how the story is to work out - and they never agree long enough to make very much sense at all. Although this picture book is ideal for younger readers, older children will love it too. You'll recognise all kinds of favourite fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters who are staging a very determined take-over bid. Finally Allan and Paul manage to draw things to a close.

Eco-Wolf and the Three Pigs by Laurence Anholt Illustrated by Arthur Robins Orchard, £3.99
The fact that this book is part of a series of books called Seriously Silly Stories gives you a large clue about what to expect - serious silliness! But it has hidden depths too. Eco-Wolf is most put out when his peaceful valley is invaded by business-pigs, determined to make lots of money building houses and then selling them. He may be peace-loving, but he's no walk-over.

Wish You Were Here (And I Wasn't) - a book of poems and pictures for globe trotters Written and illustrated by Colin McNaughton Walker Books, £7.99
If you don't enjoy this book, you need to give your sense of humour a good talking to. Colin McNaughton isn't just a poet and an artist, he's a word-inventor and a designer too. He plays around with the way pages look, just as he plays around with our imaginations. Sometimes he teases us - It's a Small World - and sometimes he amazes us - The Squidgeree - but he always entertains us, and you can't help coming back for more.

Monster in the Mirror by Jean Ure Illustrated by Doffy Weir Collins, £3.99
Woffle and Stretch are as happy as can be, living with their People. Then Muffy comes along, and suddenly their peace is shattered - all by a tiny, black ball of fur with extremely sharp claws! This is a splendid book to read aloud, and perfect for new readers ready for chapter books.

Whiff or How the Beautiful Big Fat Smelly Baby Found a Friend by Ian Whybrow Illustrated by Russell Ayto Corgi, £4.99
Most parents love their children, and Whiff is very definitely loved by his parents. It is when he tries to make friends with other youngsters that the trouble starts. This is a very funny book, and, without giving too much away, Whiff does eventually find friends who don't mind his personal hygiene in the least.

The Best Book to Keep Forever

Have you ever read a book that you know you'll want to keep for the rest of your life? A book that you'd never give away to jumble sales, and that you'd only lend to your very best friend? There are all kinds of reasons why books have that effect on us and different books appeal to different people, but the Adult Judging Panel thought that the following books fall into that category. Read them and see if you agree!

The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean Oxford University Press, £6.99 : SECTION WINNER
Gou Haoyou desperately want to take care of his mother and sister after the terrible death of his father. But the adults around him all have their own reasons for making that impossible and he is forced to leave his family and join the Jade Circus. Life there is thrilling, dangerous and exotic, but he can't forget those he's left behind. This is an amazing book, transporting us to China in the days of the warrior king Kublai Khan. Gou Haoyou is, as the title of this books suggests, a rider of kites, a human kite. For him it's both terrifying and a means of escape.

My Brother's Ghost by Allan Ahlberg Puffin, £3.99
Do you believe in ghosts? Frances Fogarty does, because her brother, Tom is a ghost. Killed in a tragic road accident, he is still the older brother who looks out for her and who loves his dog. But as the years go on Frances realises that while she is growing older and more independent, Tom remains the same age and her reliance on him lessens. Not that she loves him any the less. This is one of those easy-to-read stories which haunt you, but in a good way, a bit like Tom does.

Bartlett and the Ice Voyage by Odo Hirsch Bloomsbury, £4.99
A melidrop - the most fabulous tropical fruit in the world. It seems that despite her great wealth and the vast area over which she reigns, there is nothing the Queen can do to find a way of tasting a melidrop, of which she's heard such wonderful descriptions. By the time it has been transported from the hot southern countries in which it is grown, to the Queen, it is inedible. Over to Bartlett, an explorer with imagination.

Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess, Page Transcribed by Richard Platt, Illuminated by Chris Riddell Walker Books, £9.99
This is the diary of Tobias, a page in his uncle's castle in 1285. There are no televisions, cars or game-boys, but who needs those when you can hunt wild boar, there is archery to get the hang of or vast banquets to enjoy? Tobias is quite a character, and life doesn't always run smoothly, but life as a boy in a medieval castle is certainly never dull.

I Was A Rat! or The Scarlet Slippers by Philip Pullman, Illustrated by Peter Bailey Corgi, £4.99
Roger is absolutely sure - he has definitely been a rat. But what is he now? The papers say he's a monster, Mr Tapscrew wants to put him on public view and Billy needs him to aid and abet his thieving. Bob and Joan just believe that he's a boy in need of love and affection, and they're prepared to go to some lengths to provide them. But it takes the intervention of somebody with power over the press and public opinion to put Roger's life back on track.

Best Book of Knowledge

The top five books in the 'Book of Knowledge' category were:

Rotten Romans by Terry Deary Scholastic Hippo, £3.99
Julius Caesar the Roman Geezer: history with the smelly bits left in. Looks at rotten recipes, gory games and loads of horrific facts.

2nd. Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia Dorling Kindersley, £29.99
Articles and pictures to browse through or to find out about everything under the sun.

3rd. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, ed. Otto H. Frank & Mirjam Pressler trans. Susan Massotty Viking, £5.99
True story of Anne's life growing up in hiding from the Nazis, written in her own words.

4th. Blood Bones and Body Bits by Nick Arnold Scholastic Hippo, £3.99
The nasty side of biology, from disgusting digestion to dreadful diseases.

5th. Children Just Like Me by Barnabas and Anabel Ill. Julek Heller Dorling Kindersley, £10.99
This special book records the amazing diversity and yet surprising similarity of children from around the world.

Blue Peter Book Awards 2000
This is a new award, for paperback children’s titles. Young reviewers competed for places on the panel to choose the winners from a shortlist selected by adults. 20,000 book reviews were submitted! The awards were announced on 26th November in a glitzy TV programme

The Shadow of the Minotaur by Alan Gibbons
for The Book I Couldn’t Put Down

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Sheffler
for The Best Book to Read Aloud

Pilgrim’s Progress retold by Gerald McCaughrean, illus. Jason Cockcroft
for A Special Book to Keep Forever AND Blue Peter Book of the Year

There were 3 other categories: Roald Dahl’s Matilda was voted The Book That Made Them Laugh Out Loud; J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was The Best Book for Sharing; and The Guinness World of Records was voted The Best Book with Facts.

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