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This is a discussion day based on the books for older readers shortlist of the Red House Children's Book Award. Each school sent six pupils to the discussion day who then discussed the titles with children from other schools. The session included a talk by our guest speaker, Sally Prue.
This year, for the second year running, our summer term reading event shadowed the Red House Children's Book Award. This is the only national book prize that is decided entirely by the young readers themselves and we encouraged the participants to get involved early by nominating the books that they would like to see on the shortlist.
When the short-list was announced, we were really excited about the varied books that had been selected. The Older Readers' shortlist consisted of Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior by Chris Bradford, Blood Ties by Sophie McKenzie and Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine. We knew that the books would help to create some really interesting discussion amongst the pupils when they visited us.
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Before the discussion groups started, we all listened to a fascinating talk from the Hertfordshire author Sally Prue, during which she helped the audience to plan an outline of a novel. The whole process was very interesting, and the setting of the "International Grocer's Convention" with central characters of Stuart the shopkeeper and Linda the wicked enchantress would certainly be unusual!
After Sally's talk the small discussion groups got underway. The diverse list inspired discussion amongst the pupils that was fascinating, passionate and articulate, and everyone seemed to have very strong views on which book should win. Before the discussions finished we had a vote amongst ourselves to see which was the most popular book. Our winner was Blood Ties by Sophie McKenzie, but the national winner won't be announced until 6th June.
After the group discussions Sally signed copies of her books that were on sale from a representative of David's Book Shop in Letchworth.
We asked you to vote on your favourites from the shortlists, the result was, 1st 2nd and 3rd
It will be fascinating to find out who will win the national prize because there was a huge amount of debate amongst our groups. This national award is the only major book award in the UK that is judged entirely by children, and we really enjoyed helping Hertfordshire schools to be included in this process.

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