Rundell takes Waterstones Children’s Book Prize

Katherine Rundell’s novel Rooftoppers (Faber and Faber) has been crowned the overall winner of the 2014 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, after first winning in the 5-12 category.
 
Rooftoppers, about a girl looking for her mother while racing over Paris rooftops, was a hugely deserving winner, said Melissa Cox, children’s new titles buyer for Waterstones. “It already feels like a classic,” Cox said. “Her lyrical writing style is immediately charming, effortlessly taking the reader on magical flights of fancy.”
 
2014 is gearing up to be a stellar year for Rundell, as Rooftoppers, the author's second book, was the winner of the Blue Peter Book Award for best story last month.

It was also nominated for the 2013 Guardian Children's Fiction Award.
 
The winner of the Waterstones best book for teens was Geek Girl by Holly Smale (HarperCollins Childrens Books). In the best picture book category, the award went to Open Very Carefully by Nicola O’Byrne (Nosy Crow).
 
As category winners, Rundell, Smale and O’Byrne each received a cheque for £2,000. Rundell also won an additional £3,000 for being the overall prize winner.
 
This year’s shortlists in full:
 
Best Picture Book:
 
Open Very Carefully by Nick Bromley and Nicola O’Byrne (Nosy Crow)
Harold Finds a Voice by Courtney Dicmas (Child’s Play International)
Weasels by Elys Dolan (Nosy Crow)
Penguin in Peril by Helen Hancocks (Templar)
Time for Bed, Fred! by Yasmeen Ismail (Bloomsbury)
The Crocodile Who Didn’t Like Water by Gemma Merino (Macmillan Children’s Books)
 
Best Fiction for 5-12s:
 
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Darcy Burdock by Laura Dockrill (Random House Children’s Books)
Shiverton Hall by Emerald Fennell (Bloomsbury)
The Skull in the Wood by Sandra Greaves (Chicken House)
Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell (Faber and Faber)
The Last Wild by Piers Torday(Quercus)
 
Best Book for Teens:
 
The Bone Dragon by Alexia Casale (Faber and Faber)
Butter by Erin Lange (Faber and Faber)
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch (Orion)
Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O’Porter (Hot Key Books)
Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys (Penguin)
Geek Girl by Holly Smale (HarperCollins Children’s Books)