Islington's primary school pupils meet their favourite authors and choose their book of the year

Over 210 children from 41 primary schools in Islington gathered at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday 21 February for the first ever Islington Primary Schools’ ‘Book of the Year’ award ceremony.

The winning book, Attack of the Demon Dinner Ladies by Pamela Butchart, was chosen from a shortlist of seven, and voted for by pupils and their teachers.

Pamela said “Thank you so much to everyone who read and voted for my book – I am so grateful to win this award and am lost for words. When I was younger I never thought I would be a writer, but I think this goes to show that if you have a big imagination and people to help and support you, you can do anything.”

The event also included a Q&A session in which pupils asked about why the authors decided to become writers, how they thought of ideas for their stories, and what their favourite books were as children.

Islington Council’s executive member for economic development, Cllr Asima Shaikh, said: “The Book of the Year award is a great way to get young children interested in books and start a lifetime of reading pleasure. We’re delighted so many Islington schools voted this year and want to thank our authors, who travelled from as far as Scotland and Ireland, for making this such a special event.”

The Book of the Year Award is part of the ‘Islington Reading Road Map’, which runs between October to June each year. Children can read up to 60 titles of contemporary fiction. Each ‘road’ on the map covers a particular genre of books that encourages children to discover new stories and authors in their favourite genre. Children are rewarded for completing five, 20 or 40 books.

Islington Council’s Education Library Service delivers the Islington Reading Road Map to promote and support reading across local schools. One Year Six participant from Ambler Primary School said “The reading challenge has been the best! I love being able to read new books – I really loved the graphic novels.”

To find out more about the Islington Reading Road Map, please search for Islington Council’s Education Library Service on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @islingtonels.