![]() ![]() The judges called the book an “evocative exploration of what it means to be truly alive and wholly human”. “It feels like it’s validated the risks that I took, and that my family took in order to support me doing something pretty risky.” “It feels like I can keep writing,” she said. ![]() The author said it was “every children’s writer’s dream” to win the Carnegie, and that the award was a sign that the risk of being a writer was worth it. October, October, illustrated by Angela Harding, is Balen’s second novel and is about an 11-year-old called October who must learn to spread her wings after a childhood spent living wild in the woods. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and Danica Novgorodoff. Novgorodoff described graphic novels as an “extraordinary, complex, versatile medium in themselves, not dumbed down versions of ‘real’ books”, and a “fascinating way to express emotions and ideas that can’t be put into words alone”. “The book doesn’t preach, but it asks readers, what do you feel, and what would you do?” “Through the illustrations, I wanted to show this emotional torment, to make his internal feelings come alive on the page,” she added. Novgorodoff said Long Way Down was a book that asked readers “to empathise with a character who is planning to harm another person, and endanger his own life, out of grief and revenge”. They thought it was “an incredible book that will stay with the reader long after the final page”. The judges said they were “blown away” by the “powerful and immersive illustrations” and said that the “union of brutal reality with the delicacy of watercolours as an artistic device is surprising and breathtaking in its execution”. The graphic novel version features hundreds of watercolour illustrations by Novgorodoff. As the lift descends, Will is joined by friends he has lost to shootings, prompting him to ask if he really knows what he’s doing. Reynolds’ original book, published in 2017, is about Will, who gets in a lift with a gun to exact revenge after his brother is shot in a gang crime. “I think it’s important to open up the conversation around gun violence and the fact that it’s people of colour who are most impacted by it, and that the US really fails to address a lot of the root causes of the violence that victimises Black and brown people”, she said.Īfter 20 years of making graphic novels, Novgorodoff added that it was “validating to win this award, and to understand that readers have connected with this book in particular and graphic novels in general”. The illustrator said that while it deals with the “heavy” subject of gun violence, she hopes her win will mean that more people are able to connect with the book. ‘Will attract teenagers who don’t consider themselves ‘readers’.Novgorodoff, a writer, graphic designer and horse wrangler from Kentucky, has created a number of graphic novels, but Long Way Down was her first children’s book published in the UK. ‘A heartrending and convincing blank verse narrative.’ Sunday Times, BOOKS OF THE YEAR This haunting, lyrical, powerful verse novel will blow you away. As more people from his past arrive, Will has to ask himself if he really knows what he’s doing. And Dani, who was shot years before that. ![]() Only when the lift door opens, Buck walks in, Will’s friend who died years ago. So he gets in the lift with Shawn’s gun, determined to follow The Rules. ‘A masterpiece from beginning to end.’ Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U GiveĪfter Will’s brother is shot in a gang crime, he knows the next steps. WINNER of the Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal and UKLA The award-winning, bestselling verse novel is now a stunning graphic novel with illustrations by Danica Novgorodoff. ![]()
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