Oh, that cunning ham | Children’s Fiction Competition
I managed to miss the piece in the Times UK about their Children’s Fiction Competition but Emerging Writer spotted it. Tying in with yesterday’s blather about editors - I thought it was pretty interesting to read Barry Cunningham’s comments about the shortlist:
Threads by Sophia Bennett
Funny, serious and absorbing. The lives of a group of friends who love fashion and style become entwined with a young, brilliantly talented African refugee with a painful background.
Marshes of Magdalen by Victoria Suzuki
A colony on another planet runs into trouble from the survivors of the previous failed expedition and the intelligent life forms already there. Physically gripping and exciting, with very real teenagers at its heart.
The Psychic Squad by Shar Ros-Elman
Children with psychic abilities are singled out for special training. The question of whether they are to be used for good or evil is mixed in with their relationships to each other.
Charlie Squires Goes Elsewhere by Justine Windsor
Amusing fantasy romp for younger readers. A young boy follows his mother through a painting to an alternative world of mild peril, but strong adventures.
Chasing the River by Anne Giraud
A beautifully written African odyssey. A young refugee from a massacre travels through a devastatingly beautiful landscape and battles with danger, betrayal and impoverishment. Hope, resourcefulness and courage beat in his breast.
Head over to the Times site to find out more about the competition - and to read extracts of all the shortlist.
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“Physically gripping”? I don’t know if that’s a characteristic I like in my books.
I don’t know why I don’t have an avatar. It’s distressing me.
It’s the “very real teenagers at its heart” I’d be worried about. Made of, like?
Cynics the lot of ye.