Sneak Peak Publicity

hey there guys n dolls,

thought you might appreciate a bit of a sneak peak at the publicity for this years’ BotY poster – soon to be seen in a school library near you – and hopefully everywhere else too !!!

boy-a4-poster-08.pdf

There will also be stickers, bookmarks and various other cool things with the logo etc on available to help us publicise the award, all for you!!! you lucky people!

Any questions or suggestions on the poster or for other things you might like as publicity freebies please leave a comment and let me know!

CRGW

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THE SHORTLIST!!!! – (at last)

Hey there folks, sorry about the very long wait – BUT we have the winners at last!

Those of you who were at the shortllist meeting will find no surprises here but here are the FINAL, CONFIRMED 5 SHORTLIST BOOKS!!!

Being – Kevin Brooks

The Black Tattoo – Sam Enthoven

The Angel Collector - Bali Rai

Just Listen – Sarah Dessen

Berserk – Ally Kennen

I hope your all happy with those, seeing as you voted for them!!! I think they are all excellent choices, its only a shame that we can’t have more books on the shortlist- I thought all 30 were brilliant. Now all you have to do is choose the best out of those five!!! The competition really opens up now too, as every person attending a Leicester City Secondary School gets a vote for the winner. Read them all and tell us what you think. Don’t forget about our text review competition either – the best review of 160 characers or less every month wins £10 phone credit! Awesome huh? send your entried to leicesterteenagefiction@yahoo.co.uk If they’re really good we’ll put them on the website too! Get writing! see y’all soon,

CRGW

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Text review entries – The January winner

and the winner of the January 160 character text message book review is . . . . .

(drum roll please) . .. . . .. . . Lauren Pearce from New College!!! Congratulations Lauren, the prize of £10 phone credit will be on its way to you soon   Laurens winning review is :  ‘The book is called Being.i like this book because it got all my fave genres horror,sci-fi & mystery.Iwould recommend this book to teenagers.This is my fave book.

Other great entries include this one of ’specials’ by scott westerfeld from Natalie Browne at Fullhurst: ‘A spectacular conclusion to the trilogy-an adventure story, gripping read & a coming of age atle. Westerfeld blends the futuristic, realism and strife. A compelling adrenaline ride of a novel’

And this one of ‘zoe and chloe on the prowl’ by Sue Limb – ‘Started to read it but after a while i got really bored, the plot is simple and nothing really happens – i prefer sue limbs other books, only got halfway through’ This was written by Nicola Eld of Beaumont leys School.

the last two are from Beaumont Leys as well, and both of the same book too! ‘Breathe’ by Cliff Mcnish. The first one is by Jodie Coffey - ’ The book i read was breathe it got me at how the author tells the story and would text to my friend its a ghost story and she would read it i was that happy i got it!’   The other is by Coral Marriot ’ I thought the book breathe was very good quite scary i would recommend this book to a friend by text telling them if they want a scary book but not too scary’

All great work guys!  very impressive! just keep ‘em coming as there’s £10 phone credit to be won every month for the best 160 character (the length of one standard text message) book review. send entries to leicesterteenagefiction@yahoo.co.uk or text them to 07947672652 – dont forget to include your name and school!!!

CRGW

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The Shortlist . . . . is on it’s way

hey guys,

just a note to those of you who are desperately awaiting the announcement of the 5 shortlisted books, i’m afriad we are still waiting on the votes from one schools, so you may have to wait just a little longer!! we’re hoping they get back to us before the end of the day, in which case i will post the result up here immediately. If not you may have to wait until tomorrow! sorry! i know you all want to know – and trust me, you’re not the only ones! i’m desperate to know!!!

my apologies again, and keep checking back often, the results will be here real soon, promise!

CRGW

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Book Review – Breathe by Cliff Mcnish

Review by Safina Adam, Beaumont Leys School

Lonely. Helpless. Dead. These are the words to describe the ghost children. The ghost children Ann, Oliver, Gwyneth and Charlie. These children are dead, living in one house just waiting for someone to come. Breathe is about the ghost children wanting a human friend to play with. Then Jack comes to live in the house of the ghost children. In the house many horrible things have happened, but the worst thing is the ghost mother sucking the ghost children’s souls without Jack knowing. Jack wants to know more about the house and sensing the dead is one of the helps he could get without his mum thinking he is grieving This is a book which had hooks at every chapter. If I had to choose to read a short book again or Breathe I would definitely say Breathe. This is a fabulous book with lots of adventures by Cliff McNish.

Article- Favourite author?

By Philip Harris

I’m writing this article to find out who people think is the best author. (Also because I’m running out of books from authors I know I like, and want to find out some good authors that I should look into.) Before I go into what authors I like, just take a minute to think about who your favourite author or authors is/are, maybe write them down, they might just come in useful at the meetings or out and about. If we really go into detail we could write down our favourite authors, and a list of our favourite books, so if you see a book from that author you’ll know it’s worth a look. 

One of my favourite authors is Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen), for a full list of his novels please go to www.eoincolfer.com, as well as Scott Westerfeld when I got hooked on his novel “Uglies” from last years shortlist and have subsequently read the rest of the series which is still going as his new novel “Extras” is out next month. This is starting to sound a bit like an advert so let’s get back to the main point.

Who would you say is the best author?? I know this may cause some disputes, so I’ll break it down. How about instead of THE best author how about the best author in that genre, i.e. Eoin Colfer for fantasy or Charlie Higson for action.  To start us off I’ll tell you all my favourite authors for each genre: (I must admit some may be blank as there are some genre’s I’ve not really paid attention to)

                                

                                 Action: Charlie Higson

                                 Fantasy: Eoin Colfer

                                 Romance: Not sure

                                 Futuristic: Scott Westerfeld

                                 Sci-fi: Rob Grant/Doug Naylor (Red Dwarf authors)

                                 Historic: I’ve not read many but I’d say Beverley Naidoo

                                 Horror: I don’t know the authors but the Goosebumps series

                                 Comedy: Again Rob Grant/Doug Naylor

                                 Drama/Real life: Nick Hornby

So comment on this with your favourite authors, and if you can’t manage one for each genre just tell me your overall favourite. We could create a comment board for people to come and go finding new authors to them that they’ve never tried before or heard of. Especially try and comment if there is a new author that you know. Even if you don’t like them tell us, and maybe then this author will become better known and someone out there is going to like them. So comment on any authors you know which you think people might like.

P.S Don’t be afraid to brag about your own work! Comment on this and tell us where we can read your work (whether it’s a myspace or bebo or even a normal blog), and get yourself known!! I think the best way to do this is to post your work onto the myspace, so that established authors can read it and give you tips and advice. 

Book review – A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd

Review by Philip Harris

Set in the eighties, A Swift Pure Cry, is a fantastic novel that portrays the problems that Shell Talent has had since her Mam died. Shell, Michelle, is a sixteen year old girl from a small village in the south of Ireland called Coolbar; she lives with her father (who is often out “collecting for the church”) and her brother Jimmy as well as her sister Trix. They are a poor family with little worldly goods. They probably would have more worldly goods if Shells father hadn’t burnt her Mams’ belongings when she died. He’d even stole the wedding ring of her Mams’ corpse. Her father is in Cork for the whole week, only returning at the weekends, and during the time her father is away, Shell slowly realises the she is pregnant. Unfortunately the baby is a still born but Shell doesn’t realise until a day later. When she finds out the baby isn’t sleeping and is actually dead, she buries it upon the copse behind her house. People in Coolbar eventually find out about the baby and speculate about who the father is, Shells father believes it was himself, when he was drunk. Many locals believe that it was the new vicar, after she had an unaccompanied lift with him in his car Jezebel. I shall not tell you anymore, as it would ruin the final surprise.

A swift pure cry is a brilliant novel that would be better for older readers. If you’re looking for a nice happy story then this is not the one for you. It shows you the harsh realities of teenage pregnancies, and how family problems can be well hidden behind closed doors. It is not my favourite of our selection but it definitely comes into the top three. Even tough it is meant to be set in the eighties, the whole idea of Coolbar and the characteristics seem as if it is set just after the war. The novel is well spaced which gives you time to think about what is happening to Shell, and leaves your mind searching for an answer to her problems. Overall the book is very well written, but could do with a few tweaks on the plot. A great novel 9/10.

Book review – Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

Review by Philip Harris

“I’m Annabel. I’m the girl who has it all. Model looks, confidence, a great social life. I’m one of the lucky ones. Aren’t I?”

What can I say about just listen? It’s a gateway into the life of Annabel Greene, a teenage model in America that loses her best friend (but don’t worry it’s not a soppy story) for reasons I don’t want to give away. So now she has no-one to hang out with a high school, until she finally makes contact with Owen after spending weeks sitting near him at lunch every day. He has a really weird taste in music and after befriending him Annabel slowly becomes like him. Over the course of the whole novel you slowly gain an understanding of how hard Annabel’s’ life is, and what she’s got to do to be finally free from her own mind, “enlightened”.

Sarah Dessen has produced a great novel suitable for most people (some boys may be discouraged by the cover) which can really make you think about how some seemingly humongous problem in your life is nothing compared to others. At first it’s hard to keep track of it due to the flitting back and forth from the past to present. But without these small clips of information this novel wouldn’t be the same. If you enjoy slightly traumatic books or books with a deep meaning then this is the one for you. Just so you don’t think this book is going to freak you out, the most traumatic part is when the family realise that Annabels’ sister (Whitney) has an eating disorder, don’t worry about it being too traumatic.

Unlike in my other reviews I would like to mention the art work on the cover, it reminds me of “Lets get lost” by Sarra Manning which was in last year long list and was also a slightly traumatic, (when I say traumatic I really mean a book which addresses issues that can hit some people very hard i.e. Racism, anorexia, death that kind of stuff), novel that talks about a teenage girl in England with problems. So if you’ve read Just Listen I suggest you read Lets Get Lost.

But overall Just Listen is a superb novel that deserves to be on the long list.

P.S I have one more book to read: A Swift Pure Cry, so look out for my review on that later on.

Article – What’s the best genre???

By Philip Harris

There are many different genres all over the world, but which is the best? Is it all down to personal opinion or is there a genre that is definitively the winner? Or does your environment affect your favourite style? If you come from a city which is known for crimes or murderer are you naturally drawn towards thrillers and murder mysteries? Take Rome for example it is known a one of the most romantic places in the world, but does that mean your prefer a romance to a fantasy? I find it a bit weird when you compare your favourite book genre to your favourite music or film genre, they tend to be totally different. My favourite book genre is action but my favourite type of film is comedies. Does this mean that our favourite genre’s can change depending on what we are referring it to? This can also happen within just books as well. If I have a short book I don’t mind if it’s historical or romance, but if I have a long book with those genres I wouldn’t be able to finish them. So is it really possible to say which your definite favourite genre is?

Below is a list of common genre’s, which would you say is your favourite?:

Comedy

Romance

Thriller

Fantasy

Horror

Murder Mystery

Historical

Futuristic

Drama

Sci-Fi

Action

I personally would rather have an action than a comedy, but I’d rather have a comedy than a romance so I can’t say I have a definite favourite. Most books which are advertised tend to be action one so does this mean that publishers believe that action is the best genre or that they just happen to be the most common style? Above I have only mentioned a few but these genre’s can all be mixed up, like a Futuristic Sci-Fi Thriller or a Romance Horror set in the past. Being able to mix them up creates the possibility to have millions of different genres, but we still haven’t decided which is the best. And I don’t think that we’ll be able to decide as everybody will have a completely different opinion, which I’d like to find out. If you have a spare minute please comment on this article telling me what your favourite genre is, if you can’t decide on a single 1 please tell us your top 3, and then maybe we’ll be able to find out which is the best genre after all.

Book Review – Burn my Heart by Beverly Naidoo

Burn My Heart By Beverley Naidoo
Review by Philip Harris

Burn My Heart is a deep and meaningful novel that plays with the readers emotions to portray the effects of the British empire spreading into Kenya and taking away the Kikuyu peoples land. Beverley Naidoo has drawn off her own experiences of Kenya as a young girl, showing us that many problems were caused when the British decided that coloured people were worthless. As it describes on the back of the book, “White and Black means Rich and Poor”. It is set just after the Africans helped the British fight in the second world war, and the people of Africa decided that they should get some freedom back, but the British insisted that “the Africans were like children, not ready for independence.”
The tribes that were most affected were the Kikuyu, people in central Africa, most of them had their land taken from them and they were taken to concentration camps. But some stayed on their lands as Wazungu (white persons) slaves. Mugo is one of these slaves who did work on the fields but got a job in his Bwana`s (master`s) kitchen after he saved the Bwana Kidogo (young master) from a snake bite. Mugo is friends with Mathew (the Bwana Kidogo) and they spent a lot of time together when Mathew came back on the holidays from boarding school. That was until Lance came along. Lance is the inspectors son who goes to school with Mathew and they start spending a lot more time together.They decide to make an oath, like the Mau Mau which i`ll explain later, so when Lance shoots a go-away bird they decide to cook it and eat it. This in turn results in a fire which is blamed on the labourers when the Bwana accuses them of being Mau Mau.
Now is a good time to explain the Mau Mau, they are a growing group of Kikuyu who fight against the Wazungu to get their land back. But they are unfair, they take Kikuyu in the night and make them swear an oath against the Wazungu, so that they can get their land back. So when the Bwana accuses his labourers of being Mau Mau they are all taken for questioning and beatings by the inspector. And now Mugo gets taken away from Mathew to a concentration camp never to see his friend again. But now Mathew is feeling really sad, because he`s caused all this trouble by starting the fire, and he confesses to his father (the Bwana).
Burn my heart is one of the best books I`ve ever read, i do not usually like historical books but this has totally changed my opinion of them. It really opens the readers eyes to what damage we caused when invading other countries. I seriously can not wait until i can read the sequel: The Other Side Of The Truth.