The Bower Bird Named Children’s Book of the Year
January 3, 2008 by Kelly Phillips Erb
Filed under Parenting
The Costa Book Awards – formerly the Whitbread Book Awards – have named their favorites for 2007. The prizes were established in 1971 are are open to residents of Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
Ann Kelley took home the top prize in the children’s book category for her novel, The Bower Bird, about a 12-year-old girl awaiting a heart transplant. The book is partly based on Kelley’s own experience of losing her son Nathan, one week after a heart and lung transplant. “It was an emotional experience, but it was a bit like bringing him back to life, which was wonderful,” she said.
The judges remarked, “The world of life and death, beauty and truth seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl. A rare and beautiful book of lasting quality – we felt this is a voice that needs to be heard and read.”
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