On Wednesday, six boys from our Junior School attended The Oxfordshire Book Awards. Over 50 schools from across the county take part, with books shortlisted by local librarians in 3 categories.

The Oxfordshire Book Awards have been running since 2008, and are voted for entirely by children, who read and nominate their favourite books.

Our avid readers worked their way through the entire shortlist and met regularly to discuss the merits of each book before voting for a favourite.

Richard and Arthur (J4) gave the following write up:

“On Wednesday we went to Oxford High School to watch the OBA. It started off with the best picture book award. It was The King with Dirty Feet by Sally Pomme Clayton and illustrated by Rhiannon Sanderson. The runner up to that category was Gaspard the Fox by Zeb Soanes and James Mayhew. It was based on real animals the authors had met.

The primary award went to Boy Underwater by Adam Baron. This book was about a boy who has never been swimming in his life. He has to figure out why his mother has never taken him swimming.

The runner up for this category went to the 1,000 Year Old Boy by Ross Welford. Finally, the secondary book award went to White Rabbit Red Wolf by Tom Pollock. The runners up were Satellite by Nick lake, Things a Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls and Monster Orphan Spy by  Matt Kileen.

Just before we left, we bought and had books signed. It was an amazing experience and we hope to go again next year!”