Summer Reading Carnegie Medal 2019
Carnegie Winner 2019!
The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo Xiomara, a fierce teenage girl of Dominican heritage, is starting to notice boys, but her strict Catholic parents have decided that there will be absolutely no contact with them until marriage. Her twin brother is also struggling with his own attraction to another boy. A verse novel that sings with the rhythms of slam poetry, Xiomara’s powerful story expresses what it’s like to be a teen girl suddenly in possession of a FIC ACE
woman’s body, noticed and commented on by men.
Rebound, Kwame Alexander It’s 1988 and Charlie Bell is 12 years old and going through the hardest time in his life after his dad dies from a stroke. It seems like nothing can make him feel any joy in life now and that nothing ever will. After he gets into a spot of trouble, his mum decides to send him to spend the summer with his grandparents. Here, his cousin Roxie introduces him to basketball, his grandad FIC ALE
introduces him to hard work and jazz, and things begin to change.
Carnegie Shortlist 2019
The House With Chicken Legs Sophie Andersen Every night is party night at Marinka’s house. There’s food, drink, music and lively conversation… But all the guests are dead. Marinka’s grandmother is a Yaga, someone who guides the recently dead through The Gate so they can make their way back to the stars. Marinka is expected to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps but she is desperate for a normal life. Can she really FIC AND
change her destiny or is her fate predetermined and unalterable? Bone Talk Candy Gourlay Samkad is a boy from a remote Filipino tribe in the highlands of the Philippines, back in around 1899. When the story starts, Samkad is most worried about receiving the Cut (something similar to circumcision that happens to boys at about 10 years old) and his slightly complicated friendship with a girl called Luki. He has never met anyone
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from the world outside of his tribe, but then the American invaders provide a much greater threat to everything he knows and loves.
Carnegie Shortlist 2019
A Skinful of Shadows, Frances Hardinge
When a creature dies, its spirit can go looking for somewhere to hide. Makepeace, a courageous girl with a mysterious past, defends herself nightly from the ghosts which try to possess her. Then a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard for a moment and now there’s a ghost inside her. The spirit is wild, brutish and strong, but it may be her only defence in a time of dark FIC HAR
suspicion and fear.
Things a Bright Girl Can Do, Sally Nicholls Imagine this: having to fight to go to university. Not being given a job just because you’re a girl. Not being allowed to vote for the things you believe in. This is the world where Nell, May and Evelyn live. This is England, 1914. Offering a historical snapshot of a society in turmoil, this is a thought-provoking story of love, life and hope, with themes of feminism and FIC NIC
equality, social class and divisions, and the massive impacts of the First World War.
Carnegie Shortlist 2019
Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds When Shawn, the beloved big brother of 15-year-old Will, is shot dead, Will is ready to get revenge. After finding his brother’s gun, he gets in the lift from his home on the seventh floor–and so begins a surreal journey of discovery, guided by the ghosts of other dead people in Will’s life. The entire action of the book takes place on that journey down to the ground floor... Written in verse, Long Way Down is FIC REY
breathtakingly gripping and spectacular.
The Land of Neverendings Kate Saunders What if there was a world powered by imagination? A world of silliness, where humans and their toys live on long after they’ve left the Hard World… and what if the door between their world and this one was broken? Emily’s sister Holly has died, and nothing will ever be the same. Emily also really misses Bluey, Emily’s toy bear. FIC SAU
But one day, Emily starts having dreams about Bluey and she realises that there is a place, powered by imagination, where the spirits of toys live!
Carnegie Shortlist 2019
The Colour of the Sun, David Almond A boy has been killed, and Davie thinks he might know who is responsible. He turns away from the gossip and excitement and sets off roaming towards the sunlit summit at the top of the little Tyneside town, in search of the killer. But as the day passes, it becomes ever more dramatic and strange. Davie sees things on the hillside that show him that amongst immorality, there can be FIC ALM
kindness, and in darkness, there is a chance of hope.
The Weight of a Thousand Feathers, Brian Conaghan Bobby has questions. How can I tell Bel I want her as my girl friend, not my girlfriend? How much pain is Mum in today? Has she taken her pills? And sometimes, secretly, why us? But it's Mum's question for Bobby that could turn everything on its head. It's the Big One. The Unthinkable One. If Bobby agrees, he won't FIC CON
just be soothing her pain. He'll be helping to end it. Would he? Could he?
Carnegie Longlist 2019
Moonrise, Sarah Crossan Teenager Joe hasn’t seen his big brother for ten years, since Ed’s on death row in a Texan prison for a murder for which he’s always claimed innocence. Now the date for Ed’s execution is set, Joe is determined to spend his last few weeks close by, ever hopeful that they will overturn the execution. Written in verse, this is the firstperson story of Joe in those last weeks, when the brothers are able to get to know FIC CRO
each other properly for the first time in a series of prison visits. Norse Myths: Tales of Odin, Thor and Loki Kevin Crossley-Holland The gods of the Vikings come to life as never before in this illustrated anthology. These dramatic, enthralling tales are based on the Scandinavian myth cycle and tell of Odin with his one eye, Thor with his mighty hammer and Loki, the red-haired, shape-
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shifting trickster. In this stunning book, the strange world of ancient magic, giants, dwarfs and monsters is unforgettably imagined.
Carnegie Longlist 2019
My Side of the Diamond, Sally Gardner Jazmin has been shunned ever since her best friend Becky disappeared. But she didn't just disappear - she jumped off a tall building and never reached the ground. It was as if she simply vanished. Did Jazmin have something to do with her disappearance? Or was it more to do with Icarus, so beguiling and strangely ever youthful, with whom Becky became suddenly besotted . . . Includes intriguing FIC GAR
black and white illustrations throughout.
A Different Boy, Paul Jennings 'If you've got a bad deal, ' his father used to say, 'get out of it and move on.' When he finds himself in a cruel orphanage Anton does just that, and hides on an ocean liner. Fear and desperation are his only companions. And this time there is no escape. Or is there? Two other passengers have secrets of their own. When nothing is what it seems, can they help each other? Or will they sink into a sea of troubles? You'll FIC JEN
never know‌ until the last page.
Carnegie Longlist 2019
The Lost Words Robert Macfarlane All over the country, there are words disappearing from children's lives. These are the words of the natural world Dandelion, Otter, Bramble and Acorn, all gone. The rich landscape of wild imagination and wild play is rapidly fading from our minds. With its stunning illustration, poetry and riddles, The Lost FIC MAC
Words stands against the disappearance of wild childhood.
Straw into Gold: Fairy Tales Re-Spun Hilary McKay What happened to Rapunzel after she was freed from the tower? How did Rumpelstiltskin end up striking that notorious deal? And what's the truth about the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood? This book aims to answer all of those questions and more. Well researched and beautifully told in a traditional style, this collection FIC MCK
doesn't completely reinvent the stories we know and love – but it might make you see them a little bit differently.
Carnegie Longlist 2019
The Astonishing Colour of After Emily X. R. Pan Leigh is sixteen when her mother dies by suicide, leaving a scribbled note: 'I want you to remember'. Leigh doesn't understand, but when a red bird appears with a message, she finds herself travelling to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. Overwhelmed by grief, Leigh retreats into her art and into her memories, where colours collide and the FIC PAN
rules of reality are broken. The only thing Leigh is certain about is that she must find out the truth. She must remember. The Boy at the Back of the Class Onjali Q. Rauf There used to be an empty chair at the back of my class, but now a new boy called Ahmet is sitting in it. He's nine years old (just like me), but he's very strange. He never talks and never smiles and doesn't like sweets! But then I learned the truth: Ahmet isn't strange at all. He's a refugee who's run away from a War. With bombs and fires and bullies. The more I find out
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about him, the more I want to help, and my friends and I have come up with a plan‌.
Carnegie Longlist 2019
Station Zero: Railhead Book 3, Philip Reeve The stunning conclusion to the acclaimed Railhead trilogy. What happens after the adventure of a lifetime? For Zen, it's a safe, comfortable life of luxury. But it's not what Zen wants. He misses the thrill of riding the rails, of dodging danger, and of breathing the air of different planets. Most of all he misses Nova - lost to him forever in a distant world. But then one day a mysterious message arrives - and that's all FIC REE
Zen needs to head off, ready for anything. Except that no one could be ready for what he finds . . .
Mud, Emily Thomas It's 1979, and thirteen-year-old Lydia has no idea how she'll cope when her dad announces that the family has to sell up and move onto a Thames sailing barge in Essex. With his girlfriend. And her three kids. Between trying to keep her clothes dry in a leaky cabin, disastrous hair-dye attempts, awkward encounters with local boys, and coping with her suddenly enormous and FIC THO
troublesome family, Lydia fears she'll sink rather than swim . . .
Carnegie Longlist 2019
My Summer Reading Journey I read: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Circle one:
I liked it
Not sure
I disliked it
Because: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Use this space to write a short book review: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Submit your review to the Library and we will display it! Book descriptions taken from Love Reading 4 Kids, Common Sense Media, Book Trust, Amazon and reviews in Cilip Magazine. .