Attack of the Demon Dinner Ladies wins Inaugural Islington Primary Schools Book Award  - Nosy Crow Skip to content
Posted by Fiona, February 23, 2017

Attack of the Demon Dinner Ladies wins Inaugural Islington Primary Schools Book Award 

We’re thrilled that Pamela Butchart has won the Islington Primary Schools Book Award for Attack of the Demon Dinner Ladies, illustrated by Thomas Flintham, and the fourth title in the Baby Aliens series. Susan Moore’s futuristic, action-packed novel Crimson Poison, the first book in the Nat Walker trilogy, was also shortlisted for the award.

The award is run by Islington Education Library Service and is voted for by primary school children from an initial selection of sixty titles across a variety of genres.

The Shortlisted Authors
The Shortlisted Authors L-R: Shane Hegarty, Pamela Butchart, Susan Moore, and Piers Torday

Over two hundred schoolchildren from thirty-eight local primary schools poured into the Emirates Stadium for the awards ceremony. Pamela and Susan were joined by fellow shortlisted authors Shane Hegarty and Piers Torday to speak about their books and to have a Q&A with the children.

The authors answered questions about where they got their ideas from – Pamela said she often gets ideas from the children she teaches, and Susan was inspired by her time at the Skywalker Ranch working on ‘Star Wars’; and what they wanted to be when they grew up – Susan wanted to be a writer and Pamela wanted to be a dinosaur. In turn, Susan asked the children what gadgets they would like to invent and Pamela taught them how to order a pie in Dundonian.Susan Moore and Pamela Butchart at Emirates Stadium for the Inaugural Islington Primary Schools Book Award

Organisers John Calcott and Will Lack read out some of the children’s responses to the project and highlighted their enthusiasm, and how so many had found a new love of reading and discussing books with their friends.

Islington Education Library Service created the Islington Reading Road Map for the award, which featured genres of books listed along various key roads in the borough, in association with Waterstones. Currently thirty-eight schools in Islington subscribe to the education library service, which equates to approximately 3,500 children. The service not only lends books to schools, but also items from a huge catalogue of artifacts and a costume department.

We were kindly invited back to Islington Central Library after the awards ceremony and had a tour of their amazing collection…

16830841_10102172474121610_8025648505799638824_nA huge thank you to Islington Education Library Service for organising the Reading Road Map and the event!

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