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CILIP Carnegie 2018 Shortlist
Now in its 81st year, the CILIP Carnegie Medal is the oldest award of its type. Awarded by children's librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people, the shortlist is always a cause for discussion and many books become firm favourites and class texts.The winner will be announced on June 18th.
Throughout June we can offer a bundle of all eight books at 20% discount here.
Where the World Ends
Where the World Ends by former Carnegie Medal winner Geraldine McCaughrean, is a historical coming-of-age novel based around the stark coastline of St Kilda. During the summer of 1727 a group of men and boys are put ashore on a remote island to harvest birds for food. No one returns to collect them... it would seem that only the end of the world can explain why they have been abandoned. Imprisoned on every side by the ocean, how can they survive?
After the Fire
Will Hill's After the Fire similarly draws on real-life influences, in this instance the Waco Siege, and offers a powerful insight into the nature of belief and an unflinching glimpse at the effects of trauma. Father John controls everything inside The Fence and Father John makes the rules. Moonbeam is starting to see the lies behind Father John's words and wants to find a way out.
The Hate U Give
For an up-to-the-minute and uncompromising story crafted with rhythm and sincerity, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, subtly weaves family relations with the urgency of the Black Lives Matter campaign. This is a powerful, gripping and highly relevant YA novel about inequality, police violence, twenty-first century prejudice and one girl’s struggle for justice. Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed.
Wed Wabbit
Readers looking for humour will find a very different, darker and more satirical kind in Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans. Its creative language and focus on imaginative play make this an involving and highly unusual novel. Fidge is nearly eleven and has been hurled into a strange world with three weird companions. Fidge must figure out how to navigate this bizarre world, solve a series of nearly impossible clues and defeat a cruel tyrant in the land of Wimbley Woos. Wed Wabbit is a laugh out loud funny adventure story.
Beyond the Bright Sea
Personal history and its impact on the self and identity come to the fore in Crow's story in Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk. Crow has lived her whole life on a tiny, starkly beautiful island. Her only companions are Osh, the man who rescued her from a washed-up skiff as a baby and raised her, and Miss Maggie, their neighbour across the sandbar. When a mysterious fire appears across the water an unspoken question of her own history forms in Crow's heart, and an unstoppable chain of events is triggered. Crow sets out to find her lost identity - and, ultimately, to learn what it means to be family.
Release
Release, written by double Carnegie winner Patrick Ness, draws together physical and spiritual elements of the self to explore personal and sexual awakening. It's Saturday, it's summer and, although he doesn't know it yet, everything in Adam Thorn's life is about to fall apart. But maybe, just maybe, he'll find freedom. An uplifting coming-of-age novel.
Saint Death
Saint Death by Marcus Sedgwick is a timely story looking at migration along the border of Mexico and the United States of America. Anapra is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the Mexican city of Juarez - twenty metres outside town lies a fence, and beyond it, America - the dangerous goal of many migrants. Faustino is trying to escape from the gang he's been working for and has dipped into a pile of dollars he was supposed to be hiding. Now he's on the run and he and his friend, Arturo, have only 36 hours to replace the missing money.
Rook
Separation subtly underpins Anthony McGowan's Rook. This is a novel for less confident readers which carries a huge amount of emotion in its exploration of the relationship between two brothers. When Kenny and Nicky rescue a rook left for dead, Kenny is determined to keep it alive. Nicky doubts the scruffy bird will make it, but then Nicky has plenty else to worry about. A poignant, beautifully written novella about growing up and family.
Which book do you think would make the strongest winner? Which are you most keen to read? Let us know @CredBooks using #CKG18
