2008 BookBoy award winners announced

by bookboy on December 30, 2008

A few days ago I announced the shortlist for the inaugural Gold and Silver BookBoy Awards. After much deliberation, the judge (me) has decided on the four winners.

As a reminder, the shortlists were selected from all the books I read this year and awards are given across four categories. Below are the winners with some judges comments.

hugo-cabret

Silver BookBoy Junior (for a junior book published before 2008)
The invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick
This book is simply an amazing work of art. Enough said. Just go read it.

rhyming_boy

Golden BookBoy Junior (for a junior book published in 2008)
Rhyming boy: a novel, Steven Herrick
I have read a couple of Steven Herrick books this year and he is a seriously talented writer. Rhyming boy is no exception. It’s a fun story too.

before_i_die

Silver BookBoy Teen (for a teen book published before 2008)
Before I die, Jenny Downham
This was by far the toughest category to decide. To be honest, I probably could have given it to any of the five shortlisted books. I ended up sort of narrowing it down to Before I die, Town, or Black water. In the end, Before I die just snuck home because it made me cry.

skin-hunger.jpg

Golden BookBoy Teen (for a teen book published in 2008)
Skin Hunger (a resurrection of magic, book 1), Kathleen Duey
I really loved this book. I love the world she has created. I love the connection between the two parallel stories being told. I love the developing characters and wondering what will happen next. I hate that I have to wait for her to write the next book in the series. Honourable mention to D.M. Cornish for Lamplighter, also a fantastic book that has me hanging out for the next in the series.

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{ 2 trackbacks }

Read a preview of Kathleen Duey’s Sacred scars.
June 16, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Sacred scars getting close — bookboy.net
July 19, 2009 at 9:29 pm

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Quadelle December 30, 2008 at 11:33 pm

Before I die made me cry, too. Then again, I sort of presumed that was going to happen, given the title.

Rhyming boy was a good, fun read.

Must read the others, now, I suppose.

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