The Warwickshire Junior Book Award is a summer term initiative delivered in primary schools between April to July each year, with an exciting reading list carefully selected by the experienced WSLS team. The shortlist of books chosen for pupils to read this year included:

• Twitch by M. G. Leonard
• The Chime Seekers by Ross Montgomery
• The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr
• Children of the Quicksands by Efua Traoré

To participate, year 5 and 6 students were encouraged to read all four books from the shortlist and to vote for their favourite book as the winner, using the criteria that the book must simply be ‘a good read’.

The initiative culminated in a final award ceremony on the 12 July at Warwick School in Warwick, where students from 21 of the 26 participating primary schools attended to find out which author was pronounced the winner as voted for by their cohort. This was the first face-to-face WSLS Junior Book Award since the pandemic began, with shortlisted author Lesley Parr attending in person, three more shortlisted authors joining via video, as well as having County Councillor John Holland and Warwickshire Libraries Service Manager Ayub Khan in attendance.

Warwickshire Schools Library Service organised and hosted the Junior Book Award 2022 and are grateful to have received support from Warwickshire Libraries Reading and Learning team, the shortlisted authors and publishers, and Warwick Books. They are also a friend of Child Friendly Warwickshire, which is bringing the county together in a collective effort to ensure all children and young people have a voice that is heard, that they are safe, happy and healthy and that they are equipped with the skills to have the best lives they can. To find out more, visit the Child Friendly Warwickshire website.

WSLS services are available to support schools and education settings through a wide range of reading and curriculum resources, awards, initiatives, training and more that will engage children and young people and help foster a love or reading. To find out more about the WSLS, visit https://sls.warwickshire.gov.uk  

If your school would like to take part in the Junior Book Award next year, please email WSLS at schoolslibraryservice@warwickshire.gov.uk or phone 01926 413461.

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