Shadowing Lands — Carnegie/ Kate Greenaway discussion from
Britain’s most Easterly(ish) point
Having spent some weeks in preparation, students from 2 High
and 2 Middle schools in north Suffolk came together for the finale
of their local 2001 shadowing process. The event was held in Lowestoft
3 days after the official announcements at the British Library
and, incredibly, the majority of pupils had managed to avoid exposure
to all forms of media coverage and had no idea of the winners.
Those who did were advised to chew on their lollipops (provided
by the hosting Librarian to aid thoughtful discussion) and say
nothing.
As ever at these meetings, the level of debate was excellent
— insightful, lively and often simply hugely entertaining.
I’ve selected just a few of my favourite comments from the
morning together with the final vote…
"Clever, detailed, original and funky" (Willy’s
pictures)
"Loved the evil pea" "The illustrations are not
at all old fashioned!" "Great use of colour" (I
will not ever, never eat a tomato)
"Cool snail, has real character … personality develops
as he goes through the book" (Snail trail)
"More macabre than all the other books" "Brilliant
writing" "I read it once and loved it immediately"
(Fox)
Greenaway
"This is a HUGE book but you can read it on it’s own"
"Absolutely brilliant even though the ending was iffy …"
(Amber spyglass)
"The cover is great" "There must be a follow
up" "I felt as if I was on the boat" "It’s
wonderful, even the minor characters are well developed"
(The Wanderer)
"Really great action" (Shadow of the Minotaur)
"Good established characters" "Very well written
— the book will never date" "There are two different
stories but you could tie them up — its almost as if there
was a rope between them that you could walk across" (Coram
Boy)
"So realistic" "You have such empathy with the
characters" "You can tell how they are feeling. You
could put yourself in their position" "I had such mixed
emotions when I read this" (The other side of truth)
Carnegie
And the winners were:
Carnegie
Coram Boy and The Wanderer 19 votes each, The other side of truth
14 votes, The Amber Spyglass 12 votes
Greenaway
Snail trail 19 votes, I will not ever, never eat a tomato 16
votes, Willy’s pictures 15 votes, Crispin the pig who had
it all 13 votes.
Jacky Offord Advisory Librarian, Suffolk SLS
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