Tuesday morning the winner of the 2009 (or 2010? Announced in 2010 but relating to 2009) Costa Book Awards was announced. The winner is Patrick Ness for his absolutely awesome book, The Ask and the Answer.

We found the first in this series, The Knife of Never Letting Go, through a recommendation from a member of staff in our local bookshop. I bought it, read it, passed it to James who read it in almost no time at all. We were both completely awed by it, the sheer originality, the wonderfully written characters, the genuine emotion you feel (although that emotion is sometimes terror!) and the way Ness writes. For a short time the real world falls away and nothing is more important than going on that journey with Todd and Viola. A really wonderful book.

I was both excited and worried when the second book was released. How often are we disappointed in a hastily written sequel that didn't live up to the wonder of the debut? In this case my worries were unnecessary. The Ask and the Answer is not the same book, certainly. Todd isn't as much of a child as he was, a little more cynical, a little more wordly. However, it has all the elements that made the first book so wonderful and then some. The book has a steel core in its main characters and we're both waiting the final book with eager anticipation.

On a similar note, the second book the in the Michael Grant series has been published this month. Gone was a mindblowing start to this series and I'm waiting by the door for the postman every morning! Definitely one to watch and we'll have it reviewed and posted just as soon as we can.

Speaking of which, the rate of updates has slowed a little for Christmas and the New Year period. We're working away and will have some new reviews, some new features and articles and also some news on what will be released this year!
 


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    About us

    We are Jo and James, two people who love kid's fiction who live in Sussex. We started this site after working in a children's library. We found that there were lots of children who adored reading but were limited by the choice in libraries and schools. Many parents wanted to encourage this passion but didn't know which way to direct their kids in their reading - obviously Harry Potter and Twilight are the big hitters, but what next? We hope that here we can help you to help the younger readers in your life to discover the wonderful world that exists only in books.

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