University of Chester teams up with schools for national book award

May 23 2011 Chester Chronicle

EDUCATION experts at the University of Chester are working with young readers to judge their favourite children’s books for a national award.

Readers from Upton Hall School and Wirral Grammar School for Boys met with university and retail staff at Linghams Bookshop in Heswall to discuss their experiences of reading 12 of the best books for children published during the last year.

The group then made their recommendations about which they enjoyed the most to go forward to the UKLA (The UK Literacy Association) Children’s Book Awards.

The UKLA award is a national award conferred by education professionals and held in high esteem by teachers who regard the shortlist as a reliable indicator of the best books of the year for inclusion in class and school collections. The winner will be announced in July.

The university’s Faculty of Education and Children’s Services is co-ordinating the judging of the book award in the Chester area.

Teachers from 20 schools have, for the last few months, been reading the 50 long-listed books before they chose a shortlist of 20 which were then passed through to primary and secondary age groups.

Linghams Bookshop has sponsored the Chester part of the event.

Senior lecturer Jackie Brien said: “The university has been delighted to work with various teachers, schools, Linghams and the UKLA to help choose the books that young people will hopefully enjoy and further develop a love of reading from. We are all very keen to find out which book will eventually win the award.”