Voting begins for Peters Book of the Year 2015 – more kudos for Phoenix creators

By John Freeman on December 5, 2014

Hot on the heels of the good news for Adam Murphy and his Blue Peter Book Award nomination for Corpse Talk comes more good news for the creators whose work has also featured in The Phoenix.

Von Doogan and the Curse of the Golden Monkey by Lorenzo Etherington and Cakes in Space by Philip Reeve, illustrated by Sarah McIntyre are among the books shortelisyed in the Peters Book of the Year 2015, chosen at the behest of Peters Books and Furniture, by a team of librarians.

The librarians read and review every book the the UK’s largest specialist supplier of children’s books take into stock. and across the three categories, Picture Books, Junior Fiction and Teen Fiction, you will find their favourite children’s and YA publishing of the last twelve months.

Plucked from the pages of The Phoenix, The Curse of the Golden Monkey is both a brilliant puzzle book and a thrilling adventure story! It’s jam-packed with challenges for you to solve, and every step of the way our hero’s fate is in your hands. Can Doogan uncover the mysterious and terrifying secrets at the heart of Javasu Island? It’s up to you!

“It’s hard to imagine any other book that could offer such pure entertainment value,” says nominating librarian Lucy Forrester. “It’s not hard to find a good, challenging puzzle book, or a fun, fast-paced adventure story. But to find both in the same book, with larger-than-life artwork into the bargain, is a unique
experience.”

Published by Oxford Children’s Books, Cakes in Space is the story of Astra, who is travelling to her new home on a far-off planet. Everyone on her spaceship has been put into cryogenic sleep for the 199 years it will take to get there, but half way through the journey Astra wakes up to discover that all sorts of things are going wrong, and that she’s the only one awake to put them right.

Librarian Laura Mulrennan who nominated it describes it as “an unusual adventure with memorable characters, wacky illustrations and plenty of humour.”

“Philip was reading my blog and spotted a little painting I’d made on a postcard, of an astronaut and an alien and he thought, ‘Hey, we should try a story with aliens!'” says Sarah of the book’s origins. “He’d already seen me draw organic matter – seaweed, fish, beach scenes – for Oliver and the Seawigs, and he thought it would be fun to see how I’d draw machinery and robots. He had the idea of a child wandering around in a spaceship, and then I came up with the idea of a malfunctioning food machine and mutant killer cakes.

“We sat in cafes and ate quite a lot of cakes together, in the name of research,” she adds.

A winner will be announced from each category in March 2015, but now, it’s time to vote. Participating Children, teachers and librarians can vote for their favourites, either online, or by downloading voting forms from this resources link. Voting closes on the 20th March, with the winners announced on the 23rd March.

“We are encouraging nurseries, schools and libraries to get involved by shadowing the awards over spring term 2015,” say Peters Books “with the help of teaching resources, posters, bookmarks and certificates available here.

The company is also offering the shortlisted books to schools and nurseries at 25% discount – place your orders from the Offers page at www.peters-educational-books.co.uk. Contracted public libraries and school library services should place their orders in the usual manner.

• Vote for your favourite books on the Peter Books shortlist here

• Peters Books is at www.peters-books.co.uk or follow the company on Twitter @PetersBooks

<br /> • Lorenzo has posted the process in creating the cover image of The Curse of the Golden Monkey here and You can play three of the challenges from the book for free here. The Etherington Brothers web site is at http://theetheringtonbrothers.blogspot.co.uk

• Philip Reeves web site is at www.philip-reeve.com and Sarah McIntyre has posted some background to the creation of Cakes in Space on her own web site at www.jabberworks.co.uk/cakes-in-space

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.