OWLCOTES BOOK AWARDS 2023

February saw the launch of our exciting Owlcotes Book Awards with our Year 6 children. Our pupils  were challenged to read five different books over a half term. Each book was carefully selected to celebrate diversity in terms of character, genre  and authorship. 

Murder in Midwinter by Fleur Hitchcock  A classic nail biter story of murder and malice set in London.

Gorilla Dawn  by Gill Lewis This deals with the themes of animals ,friendship and  conservation . The book presents the real issues like the  exploitation of land and people in the developing nation of Congo.

Dragon Daughter  by Liz Flanagan  This book is set on the imaginary island of Arcosi, where servant girl Milla witnesses a murder and finds herself caring for the last four dragon eggs. 

Brightstorm  by Vashti Hardy 

This modern fantasy genre does not have a traditional sole protagonist. It is a vivid adventure story with vibrant landscapes and unforgettable characters.

Tamarind and the star of Ishta by Jasbinder Bilan 

This is a tale of hidden identities and gripping adventure set in the Himalayas.  This book deals with the themes of home, identity and loss.

Additional books added to the list this year included : Louis Sachar's There's A Boy In The Girl's Bathroom and the sequel to Dragon Daughter  which is titled Rise Of The Shadow Dragons by our visiting author Liz Flanagan.
 

Pupils met weekly to discuss the plot, characters and share their preferences. They met with other pupils across the Owlcotes MAT to discuss the books and the project culminated in a workshop with one of the authors.

Liz Flanagan, author of Dragon’s Daughter and Rise of The Shadow Dragons visited our school in June to deliver a writers workshop. Children from across all four Owlcotes schools spent time learning about how a book is written from start to finish.  They were amazed at how long a book takes to write and publish and the amount of jobs that were involved in this process. Liz shared with them details of her latest series of books called Wildsmith.  She talked through her inspiration for the series and she read some key extracts.They learned how to harness good ideas and they took part in a creative writing session where they thought about character, settings and how to add magical elements to a story.  They started their stories with Liz and will finish their stories back in school.

The children found out about the work of the editor, copy editor, marketing manager, booksellers, illustrator and the design editor.  They lined up to represent all the different people involved in making just one book from start to finish!

They tried to start their stories with something surprising, they dropped clues in for the reader, they alluded to a dangerous or exciting event and they thought about what their character was doing on the morning their life turned upside down.