Today I am delighted to be part of the blog tour that celebrates the 2018 Children’s Book Award shortlist. The Children’s Book Award is owned and administered by the Federation of Children’s Books Groups, and is the only national award solely voted for by children. You can find more information here, and to find out how to vote here. Any child under the age of 18 can get involved, so get reading and voting!
My stop of the blog tour focuses on the shortlisted titles for the Category 1 (picture books) shortlist, Mrs Mole, I’m Home! by Jarvis (Walker)
Mrs Mole, I’m home! tells the story of Morris Mole who after a long hard day at work is desperate to see his family but who cannot find his way home because he cannot see, after losing his glasses ( the glasses are perched on his head the whole time, which will delight to little readers as there is something so joyous about knowing something the character does not!). Digging his way around, he keeps popping into other people’s homes, from rabbits to penguins, and readers are thus introduced to different habitats, conveyed by the gorgeous colours in the artwork. In the end, Morris realises he does not need his glasses to find his way home. There is plenty to pore over at and plenty to giggle at in this lovely tale.
You can read a bit more about Mrs Mole, I’m Home! on the Walker Books Picture Book Party blog.
Here is a message from Jarvis regarding his shortlisting:
To have ‘Mrs Mole, I’m Home’, included on the FCBG’s Children’s Book Award Top 4 picture books is such a great surprise. When you make a picture book and send it out into the world you have no idea how it will be perceived… or how much it will even be read! Will it get lost and end up at the back of a library shelf? But to hear that it has found its way onto a list voted for by children is more than I could have hoped for. I have really enjoyed reading ‘Mrs Mole, I’m Home’ to classrooms of children over the last year – seeing them burrow holes, draw wriggly worms and chuckle when Morris kisses a tree and I’m thrilled to hear that others have enjoyed it too!
Thank you, Jarvis.
Find the rest of the schedule for the blog tour here.
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The Children’s Book Award is the only national award voted for solely by children from start to finish. It is highly regarded by parents, teachers, librarians, publishers and children’s authors and illustrators as it truly represents the children’s choice. Thanks to the support of the publishers, over 1,000 new books are donated to be read and reviewed by our Testing Groups across the country every year, with over 150,000 total votes being cast in the process. At the end of each testing year, nearly 12,000 books are donated to hospitals, women’s refuges, nurseries and disadvantaged schools by our groups.
The overall winner of last year’s CBA Book Award is An Eagle in the Snow by Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman.
They join our first ever winner Quentin Blake’s Mr Magnolia, as well as other winners, JK Rowling, Jacqueline Wilson and Rick Riordan
