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Balla bookworms turn new page 2 July 2010 Avid readers at Ballakermeen High School have been casting a critical eye over books shortlisted for children's literature prize. Balla Bookworms celebrated the announcement of the winner of the prestigious Carnegie Book Award this week at their regular weekly meeting.  The Bookworms, Ballakermeen’s book club for students, have been reading all eight titles shortlisted for the annual award. The winning book, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, is an exciting, spooky tale of a child brought up by ghosts in an abandoned graveyard. ‘I really enjoyed this book,’ said School Librarian Ros Alcock. ‘It is an unusual story and very compelling, but it wasn’t our favourite of the shortlist.’ Meabh Kneen, a Year 9 student and a member of the Bookworms, explained: ‘Our favourite book was Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book, set in America during the war of independence, was amazing. Telling the story of a slave girl, it is so unputdownable.’ The Balla Bookworms were part of the nationwide ‘shadowing’ scheme with reading groups all over the UK reading the shortlisted books and writing reviews on the website. ‘We really enjoyed taking part,’ said Year 8 student Kellie de Vos. ‘I tried to read all eight of the books but didn’t quite finish all of them. But the ones I did read, I really enjoyed, and writing reviews for the website was fun.’ The Balla Bookworms are now planning their next few meetings till the end of term with a’ twilight’ meeting next on the agenda. To find out more about the Carnegie awards, or to read the Balla Bookworms' reviews go to www.ckg.org.uk. PHOTO: Balla Bookworms with librarian Ros Alcock More stories >>>
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