The best books of the year as voted by children

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Published on Thursday, 31 July 2014 19:00

Last Updated on 31 July 2014

Monica Costa

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Books are so wonderful. Personally I rarely find uninteresting books and stories for children are particularly original and colourful to please the young readers’ eyes. Reading charity BOOKTRUST has recently unveiled the WINNERS OF THE BEST BOOK AWARDS jointly with AMAZON KINDLE a party-style awards ceremony in central London attended by authors and 300 child judges and introduced by no less than Michael Morpurgo whose motivational speech came down really well with school children who attended the event. The winning titles were voted for by children themselves and this makes the list even more interesting for parents who want to know what makes kids click when it comes to storytelling.

12,000 schoolchildren nationwide voted for the winning titles to produce a host of superb winners crossing six categories. The winners are a genuinely eclectic mix of literary gold ranging from charming and humorous illustrated reads about the challenges and traumas of everyday life, to gritty coming-of-age stories.

The winners from each category are:

0-5 BEST PICTURE BOOK

In the youngest age group, the 0-5 Best Picture Book category, Peck Peck Peck by Lucy Cousins topped the children’s vote. Written by the multi-award winning creator of Maisy – which sold more than 28 million copies around the world and even has its own popular TV show – this colourful, interactive story tells the endearing tale of a woodpecker being taught to peck for the first time.

6-8 BEST STORY

Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis came out on top in the 6-8 Best Story group. Coming from the man behind the devoutly followed comic strip Pearls Before Swine, the book features a perfect combination of deadpan humour, visual gags and comic-strip style illustrations to tell the tale of a wannabe middle-school detective.

9-11 BEST STORY

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, the eighth book of the bestselling series, topped the fictional category. Written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney, the story focuses on protagonist Greg’s difficulty adapting to middle-school after being abandoned by his best friend.

9-11 BEST FACT

The 9-11 age group was split into two categories – fact and fiction. Winning the factual award was Operation Ouch!: Your Brilliant Body by twins, Doctor Chris and Xand van Tulleken. Based on the popular CBBC TV series, the book mixes mischief with medicine and engaged the children voters with their unique take on biology.

12-14 BEST STORY

The Fault In Our Stars by American author John Green is a tear-jerking but irreverent and humorous tale of teen love in challenging circumstances. The book’s critical acclaim is that, as well as seeing soaring sales in bookshops, it made a £3.4m debut at the UK box office on its opening weekend, making it this summer’s must-see film. Beautifully written and laced with humour and teen angst, the story follows the cancer ridden lives of teenagers who meet at a cancer support group. This book was a major hit with the judges and dominated the votes for this category.

0-14 BEST TECH

Celebrating the innovative use of technology in children’s books, Little Red Riding Hood illustrated by Ed Bryan conquered the Best Tech group. The interactive storybook app provides a completely new take on the classic fairytale, allowing children to create their own story by choosing from multiple paths. Published by Nosy Crow, Little Red Riding Hood beat David Walliams’ The Slightly Annoying Elephant, to top the poll.

There was a red carpet event which saw celebrities such as Helen Skelton, Tom Pellereau (former Apprentice winner), Mel Giedroyc (host of Great British Bake Off) in the above images.

THE JUDGES

A group of high-profile judges, featuring widely loved names from literature, showbiz and children’s TV, compiled a shortlist for each category of the awards – before the public vote decided the eventual winners.

Judges included teen-queen author Louise Rennison, renowned children’s author and illustrator Lauren Child, Made in Chelsea’s Andy Jordan and Great British Bake Off star Mel Giedroyc who hosted today’s Best Book awards ceremony.