North East Book Award

Wishful Thinking – Ali Sparkes

northeastbookaward — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 13:17:08 +0000

It’s just a regular trip for Kevin, and he comes back with just the regular sorts of things. Some local fudge, a scented candle for his mum . . . and his own personal god. It’s Abandinus, a little-known Celtic deity, who has suddenly found a new purpose in his eternal life-sorting out Kevin’s. With a god on your side, everything’s going to get a lot easier, isn’t it? After all, a god can get stuff done. The trouble is, it’s not always the kind of stuff Kevin has in mind . . .

Watch a trailer for the book here

Flood and Fang – Marcus Sedgwick

northeastbookaward — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 13:12:06 +0000

Meet the wonderfully weird Otherhand family and their faithful guardian, Edgar the raven, and discover the dark secrets of Castle Otherhand. Edgar is alarmed when he sees a nasty looking black tail slinking under the castle walls. But his warnings to the inhabitants of the castle go unheeded: Lord Valevine Otherhand is too busy trying to invent the unthinkable and discover the unknowable; his wife, Minty, is too absorbed in her latest obsession – baking; and ten-year-old Cudweed is running riot with his infernal pet monkey. Only Solstice, the black-haired, poetry-writing Otherhand daughter, seems to pay any attention. As the lower storeys of the castle begin mysteriously to flood, and kitchen maids continue to go missing, the family come ever closer to the owner of the black tail…

Find out more about the fantastic froth-goth series here

Watch Marcus reading from Flood and Fang

Castle of Shadows – Ellen Renner

northeastbookaward — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 13:08:53 +0000

The day Charlie discovers a scrap of paper that could solve the dark mystery of her mother’s disappearance, her world changes. Forever. Charlie and her friend, Toby, must race against time on a dangerous mission to uncover the sinister truth. But in this shadowy world of secrets and lies, there is more to fear than they can possibly imagine…

Young Sherlock: Death Cloud – Andrew Lane

northeastbookaward — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 13:02:55 +0000

Andrew Lane The year is 1868, and Sherlock Holmes is fourteen. His life is that of a perfectly ordinary army officer’s son: boarding school, good manners, a classical education – the backbone of the British Empire. But all that is about to change. With his father suddenly posted to India, and his mother mysteriously ‘unwell’, Sherlock is sent to stay with his eccentric uncle and aunt in their vast house in Hampshire. So begins a summer that leads Sherlock to uncover his first murder, a kidnap, corruption and a brilliantly sinister villain of exquisitely malign intent . . .

Find out more about this gripping series here

Watch a book trailer here

Flyaway – Lucy Christopher

northeastbookaward — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 12:59:43 +0000

While visiting her father in hospital, thirteen-year-old Isla meets Harry, the first boy to understand her and her love of the outdoors. But Harry is ill, and as his health fails, Isla is determined to help him in the only way she knows how. Together they watch a lone swan struggling to fly on the lake outside Harry’s window. Isla believes that if she can help the damaged swan, somehow she can help Harry. And in doing so, she embarks upon a breathtakingly magical journey of her own.

Watch Lucy talking about Flyaway here