Angus Book Award 2013 Launch
The 18th Angus Book Award has been launched in all eight Angus secondary schools.
The annual event, which began in 1996, is aimed at promoting reading for enjoyment by teenagers in Angus. It gives both committed and less enthusiastic readers the chance to engage with new, rewarding and accessible books for teenagers.
The book award gives participating pupils opportunities to creatively respond to the books, compete in art and book blurb competitions and to use the national grid for learning, GLOW and to share their views on the books.
Pupils form their own opinions about which books they like and dislike through discussion and listening to the views of other pupils. During the coming months, pupils will read their way through the shortlist, before voting for their favourite in a secret ballot.
The four shortlisted titles are: Buried Thunder Tim Bowler (Oxford University Press), Hitler’s Angel William Osborne (Chicken House), Mister Creecher Chris Priestly (Bloomsbury), Slated Teri Terry (Orchard Books).
This year the shortlist features novels by three authors new to the Angus Book Award and the return of previous winner Tim Bowler. Tim’s latest novel Buried Thunder is a unsettling psychological thriller that poses uncomfortable questions around tolerance, and the outcome of breakdowns in family relationships. Hitler’s Angel by Hollywood scriptwriter William Osborne is a thrilling adventure story that gives a fascinating glimpse of life under Hitler’s Third Reich, addresses some difficult moral questions and bristles with excitement and danger. Join Billy and Mr Creecher as they travel from the misery of early industrial London to the wild freedom of the North Country in Chris Priestley’s dark and gripping counterpoint to Frankenstein, Mister Creecher. The final shortlisted title is Slated by Teri Terry; Kyla has had all her past memories erased and her entire personality wiped blank, follow her search for truth in this exhilarating and fast paced dystopian novel.
The 2013 winner will be announced at the award ceremony on 5th June 2013.