Scottish Children's Book Awards

The Scottish Children's Book Awards allows young people across Scotland to vote for their favourite book in a number of categories. The winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony in Edinburgh in February. Within our school, Mrs Gibson's second year class will be taking part, in the older reader category.

The three books that are in the running are as follows;

-Prisoner of the Inquisition, by Theresa Breslin

Zarita, only daughter of the town magistrate, lives a life of wealth and privilege. Indulged by her parent, she is free to spend her days as she pleases, enjoying herself in the company of an eligible young nobleman, horse riding, or leisurely studying the arts. Saulo, son of a family reduced by circumstances to begging, witnesses his father wrongfully arrested and dealt with in the most horrifying way. Hauled off to be a slave at sea and pursued by pirates he encounters the ambitious mariner explorer, Christopher Columbus. Throughout his hardships Saulo is determined to survive - for he has sworn vengeance on the magistrate and his family. As Zarita's life also undergoes harsh changes, the formidable and frightening Inquisition arrives in the area, bringing menacing shadows of suspicion with acts of the court of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in the splendid Moorish city of Grenada, betrayal and revenge...

-Wasted, by Nicola Morgan

Jack worships luck and decides his actions by the flip of a coin. No risk is too great if the coin demands it. Luck brings him Jess, a beautiful singer who will change his life. But Jack's luck is running out, and soon the stakes are high. As chance and choice unravel, the risks of Jack's game become terrifyingly clear. An evening of heady recklessness, and suddenly a life hangs in the balance, decided by the toss of a coin. In the end, it is the reader who must choose whether to spin that coin and determine: Life or Death?

-The Blackhope Enigma, by Teresa Flavin

When Sunni Forrest's stepbrother accidentally transports himself into a Renaissance painting, she and her friend Blaise set out to bring him back. They find themselves in a strange world of labyrinths, monsters and pirates. Can the evade their greedy pursuers? And will they ever find their way home?