| By Benedicte Page
Schoolchildren from across the country have chosen Tom Gates: Genius Ideas, Mostly by Liz Pichon as the winner of the Blue Peter Book Award for Best Story.
Meanwhile Horrible Science: House of Horrors by Nick Arnold and Tony De Saulles was the winner of the Best Book with Facts.
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Jamie Thomson upstages David Walliams and Frank Cottrell Boyce to win the Roald Dahl Funny Prize for 2012.By Martin Chilton
Jamie Thomson has seen off competition from David Walliams to become the fifth winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize.
Thomson, an Iranian-born writer and computer games developer, won in the seven to fourteen category for his book Dark Lord: Teenage Years, which is illustrated by undergraduate student Freya Hartas.
My Big Shouting Day, a picture book about toddler tantrums by writer and illustrator Rebecca Patterson, grabbed the prize for the six and under age category. Bolton-born Patterson is a former classroom assistant in a primary school.
Thomson, who will be 54 next week, was up against Gangsta Granny by the comedian Walliams, the excellent Goblins by Philip Reeve and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: Flies Again by Olympics Ceremony scriptwriter and award-winning author Frank Cottrell Boyce. Chair of Judges Michael Rosen’s advice to judges is always to choose something they find really funny.
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From classic writers such as Spike Milligan and Dr Seuss to newer names Lauren Child and Andy Stanton, the winner of this year’s Roald Dahl funny prize picks her favourite laugh-out-loud illustrated stories.
“Some of the books my children would ask me to read at bedtime were so dreary I’d be the one falling asleep! I’d often make up my own story to go with the pictures, but that only worked when they were little (and couldn’t read). It was soon… “You missed a bit” or “you turned over four pages” … “did I? Are you sure?”
This might seem a bit sneaky on my part, but it’s not easy making fairy fluff stories sound interesting after the 15th time of reading them. So the trick was to try and find books that we all enjoyed reading. Funny books worked a treat for that. I could even get my son (who’s older) to come and listen too.
The below list isn’t in any particular order. They’re just all very funny…”
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| By Caroline Horn
Return to Ribblestrop by Andy Mulligan (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books) has been awarded the Guardian Children’s Book Award, beating off shortlisted titles including David Almond’s My Name is Mina and Simon Mason’s Moon Pie yesterday.
The book is about a boarding school called Ribblestrop where the children call the shots. The first title in the series, Ribblestrop, was also shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize but despite its literary successes, sales have been modest.
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A rhyming picture book about pirate cats has won the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, which honours humorous books for children.
Cats Ahoy!, written by Peter Bently and illustrated by Jim Field, was named funniest book for children aged six and under.
Liz Pichon’s The Brilliant World of Tom Gates also won the prize in the seven to 14 age category.
Both winners were presented with a £2,500 cash prize at a London ceremony.
“These two books are master classes in how to write and how to draw funny,” said chair of the judges, author Michael Rosen.
Katie Allen
“Queen of Teen” author Louise Rennison has picked up the Funniest Book for Children in the seven-14 category at this year’s Roald Dahl Funny Prize.
Rennison won for Withering Tights (HarperCollins Children’s Books), beating titles including David Walliams’ Mr Stink, illustrated by Quentin Blake.
Blake also missed out on the Funniest Book for Children Aged Six and Under, which went to Dog Loves Books by 26-year-old Louise Yates
