The busy lives our pupils lead here at Cranleigh Prep School means that over the weeks my book club attendance has wavered due to swimming galas, school productions, illness, music exams etc. but I always seem to have a stalwart group of 12 pupils attending at any one time. This is actually more manageable than […]
Book Review Competition
It has been a busy month for The Awesome Book Awards. We had a huge response from teachers, librarians and pupils themselves to the short list – all overwhelmingly positive. Over 60 schools have already registered to take part in the awards, with most hoping to attend the Awards Ceremony in May 2019. Schools are […]
November’s Author of the Month: Vashti Hardy
Where did you write Brightstorm? Mostly at home on my laptop in any available space I could find (my house is busy with three teenagers!), also in the library on my lunch breaks from my other job in marketing. What inspired you to write your book? I’ve always loved stories of real life adventurers and […]
Book Club Blog
As the Librarian at Cranleigh Prep School I run an Awesome Book Awards Book Club once a week in my library and at present I have 17 members. This by no means excludes any other pupils who wish to shadow the awards and in fact I have 26 other pupils and 4 members of staff […]
October’s Author of the Month: Tamsin Winter
Where did you write Being Miss Nobody? I wrote it in various random places! Most of it was written after work at home in Leicestershire, usually staying up very late. I then moved to Dubai and continued working on it there. I edited most of it while I was staying in Italy. It probably sounds […]
Welcome to 2019’s Awards
After months of reading, planning and preparing, the moment has come – the Awesome Book Awards 2019 Shortlist has been announced. And, what a tremendous shortlist it is this year. We have really enjoyed reading the shortlisted 5 books and hope you do too. From navigating the perils of social media to taking flight on […]
5 Questions for Lucy Strange
Where did you write The Secret of Nightingale Wood? I was living in Dubai when I started writing The Secret of Nightingale Wood, and I was very homesick. I think my love of the English countryside and a feeling of nostalgia are both very evident in the content of the story and the style in […]
5 Questions for Christian O’Connell
Where did you write Radio Boy? At home and in my shed. No I really did go to my shed and write. It’s a very nice shed. I would also suddenly get ideas during my radio show and write them into my phone. Who is your favourite character in Radio Boy and why? That’s a […]
5 Questions for Lisa Thompson
Where did you write The Goldfish Boy? In lots of different places! Sometimes I wrote at a little desk in my bedroom, but mostly I sat at our kitchen table within reach of the biscuits. I also used to take my laptop to my son’s football training and write in the car. Occasionally I’d get […]
5 Questions for Sylvia Bishop
This month, we caught up with Sylvia Bishop, author of Erica’s Elephant to find out a little more about her writing process and the advice she gives to young writers. Where did you write Erica’s Elephant? When I wrote Erica’s Elephant, I was still a full time student, and I was meant to be writing a […]