We’re really proud to say that Cowgirl, G R Gemin’s funny and touching debut novel, is shortlisted for the UKLA Book Award in the 7-11 age group. UKLA describes its award as “the teachers’ Carnegie”. and here are the shortlists in each category together with the UKLA press release.
Cowgirl is also currently shortlisted for the Waterstones Book Prize, is on the Brandford Boase longlist and had something of a landslide victory when it won the Bedfordshire Libraries Junior Fiction award.
Giancarlo (that’s what the G stands for) has just had this comment sent through by a teacher at a school in Somerset that he visited last week (he delivers a great school event, does Giancarlo):
“I’ve received great comments from the staff at both schools, but the best of all was yesterday when I was back in with David Almond. A young lad bounced up to me clutching his copy of Cowgirl, and saying, ‘Monday was brilliant and the book is one of the best ever! I can’t stop reading it.’ Then he showed me that he only had 20 or so pages to read and whispered, ‘Don’t tell anyone but I have just been reading it in my maths lesson.’”
I love this book, set in South Wales in run-down estate on the edge of a town with the splendor of the Welsh countryside behind it, and peopled with memorable and complex characters. It’s a rollicking good story too, with peril and baddies and the “hiding” of a herd of cows in backyards.
You can read the beginning below: