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Saving the world with help of a stone dragon: Children pick DarkIsle as top book in Scotland
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An author’s first book that promises to become part one of a trilogy has Scottish children staying up late with flashlights under their quilts.
It’s DarkIsle and it has won the Royal Mail award for Scottish Children’s books for ages 8 to 11. The fascinating thing about the Royal Mail awards is that they are chosen by vote of the young readers themselves.
Not surprising, then, this must-save-the-world novel has been called fast-paced. DarkIsle, says the UK’s Guardian newspaper, is the story of a 10-year-old boy named Morag, a talking rat and a resourceful dodo who, aided by a dragon who has been turned to stone, match wits with an evil warlock.
The story, written by D.A. Nelson, was inspired by a huge dragon sculpture that overlooks Scotland’s Irvine beach.
9,541 one kids took part in the voting. Candidates were exclusively Scottish authors’ works published in 2007.
In the 0-7 age group, the kids annointed preferred by Billy Monster's Daymare by Alan Durant and Ross Collins. It’s a twist on the monster-under-the-bed theme: the horribles are afraid of the kids here. Billy Monster can't sleep because he is suffering from daymares about boys and girls.
The super-smart teens in Bunker 10 must have appealed to the young voters in the 12-16-age category. The story, by J.A. Henderson, is an action-adventure set on a secret and remote military base people by the erudite, clever youngsters.
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