Hooray! Julia Eccleshare introduces the shortlist for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in Saturday's Guardian.
On the list:
The Merrybegot by Julie Hearn
The Boy in the Burning House by Tim Wynne-Jones
The Hunted by Alex Shearer
The New Policeman by Kate Thomspon
Included with brief reviews of each novel are children's comments, which I think is great. That's what is difficult about children's literature. Sometimes what adults like isn't exactly what children like and vice-versa.
Prizes will be announced Oct. 1.
(The Merrybegot and The New Policeman have not been released yet in the U.S., unfortunately.)
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Julia Eccleshare also reviews Terry Pratchett's picture book Where's My Cow in the same issue of Guardian. She ends her review with a warning: "like Sam's little boy, your toddler may replace their winsome baa-lamb noises with impersonations of Coffin' Henry and Foul Ole Ron."
