Our Best Book 2011

Our Best Book

Winner of this year's Our Best Book was

Alan Gibbons' 'The Dying Photo'

Each year Leicester Libraries run the Our Best Book competition for children in years 5 and 6 in schools across the city.

This year a long list of 20 titles (see Great Books for 9+ Year Olds) were discussed, debated and voted on by pupils in 15 Leicester schools to produce a short list of 5 great books.

The top 5 books will now be read and voted on by the year 5/6 children involved and the winner announced as ‘Our Best Book’!

The winning book will be announced at the Our Best Book award ceremony in June and will become Leicester’s ‘Our Best Book’ winner 2011.

Children from the schools involved are invited to the award ceremony to celebrate ‘Our Best Book’ and meet some of the authors. The participating schools each receive the long list and multiple copies of the short list books – a total of 95 new books arriving in each school.

The award is funded by Leicester City Council through ‘Whatever It Takes’.

The 2011 Our Best Book top 5 titles are:
1. The Thornthwaite Inheritance by Gareth P Jones
2. The Dying Photo by Alan Gibbons
3. Mr Stink by David Walliams
4. Secret Santa: Agent of XMAS by Guy Bass
5. No Way Out by Gene Kemp

The 2010 Our Best Book top 5 titles were:
1. The Return of Johnny Kemp by Keith Gray
2. Treasure Fever by Andy Griffiths
3. 6 Feet Deep by Rose Impey
4. Ctrl-Z by Andrew Norriss
5. The Story of Matthew Buzzington by Andy Stanton

The 2010 winner was:
The Return of Johnny Kemp by Keith Gray

All the titles are available to borrow from libraries. Click on the book cover to be taken straight to the catalogue where you can see their availability, locations and reserve items.

The 2011 Our Best Book shortlist is:

Secret Santa - Agent of X.M.A.S. by Guy Bass

Secret Santa Agent of XMAS book cover

What does he do when it's not Christmas? One night a year, Santa J. Claus delivers presents to the children of the world... but for the rest of the time, he's protecting the world as the top secret agent of the Xtremely Mysterious Agency of Secrets (X.M.A.S.), dishing out his own brand of justice to the world's most dastardly criminals.

The Dying Photo by Alan Gibbons

The Dying Photo book cover

A mysterious stranger is seen photographing people who then disappear, leaving only a photograph. In the photograph they are SCREAMING!!

The Thornthwaite Inheritance by Gareth P Jones

The Thornthwaite Inheritance book cover

Rich orphans Ovid and Lorelli Thornthwaite are 13-year old twins and have been trying to kill each other for as long as they can remember. What they don’t realise is that someone else is trying to kill them. If you loved the Lemony Snickett series you’ll like this.

No Way Out by Gene Kemp

No Way Out book cover

Alex and Adam are telepathic twins. The story starts off with one off those horrible family holiday journeys, complete with arguments and getting lost. But this family get more lost than normal. They seem to be lost in time.

Mr Stink by David Walliams

Mr Stink book cover

Chloe sees Mr Stink every day, but she's never spoken to him. This isn't surprising, because he's homeless and he stinks. But there's more to Mr Stink than meets the eye (or nose) and before she knows it, Chloe has an unusual new friend hiding in her garden shed. As Chloe struggles to keep Mr Stink a secret, and her dad tries to hide a secret of his own, the stage is set for a huge family row. But there's one other person with an extraordinary secret -- Mr Stink himself!

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