JK Rowling recognised - 'Best Book from the past 30 years' at the 'Nibbies'

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twitter.com/rowlinglibrary/status/1277720974335582208

Hurrah! Some great news for JK Rowling.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has won in The British Book Awards as the Best Book from the past 30 years.

Well deserved! Let's promote and congratulate her far and wide!

Although am disappointed to see publishers such as Penguin erasing the word 'Women' [sigh]

Are any of them not actually women?

I have my 9 year old the first Harry Potter book today. He's engrossed. Up till now we've had an awful time getting him to read anything that isn't Minecraft based or diary of a wimpy kid. He's now on chapter six, it's the most he's read in a day ever.
Is it the best piece of literature ever produced on the last 30 years? Who knows. However it's reached a whole load of kids and got them reading. My son included.

I've noticed 3 women MPs - at least one Labour - tweeting in support of JKR today smile

Oh wow - which ones? That is BRILLIANT NEWS!!

I AM SO HAPPY ... this is the best possible way of recognising JKR and comes at the best possible time

She is undoubtedly the right winner - best in terms of the most gripping novel written for children in the last 30 years and the most influential - its sales and appreciation and just pure power as a page-turner have demonstrated that.

So for bringing joy and the discovery that that joy could come from reading a book to the most enormous number of readers world wide she is the BEST possible winner - without caveat.

HURRAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do Penguin have awards for Mxn writers?

Asking for a frixnd.

What children's books from the past 30 years would you recommend BiggerBoat and Cariadlet?

I suppose it depends on what age range the books are intended for. The first one that comes to mind is Northern Lights. I think that the His Dark Materials trilogy is much better written than any of the Harry Potter books. There's also much more to think about.

I agree with the pp who have said that it's the most dominant book of the last 30 years. If it had been an award for the most influential or best loved book of recent decades then it would be a worthy winner. But calling it the best book implies that it's the best written and I don't think it is.

It's very entertaining and creates a whole world which is a great achievement, but I don't think it's intrinsically better than a lot of other books. And I don't think the quality of the writing particularly improves as the series progresses. If anything, JKR becomes a victim of her own success as her editors seem to have been reluctant to actually edit the books.

What children's books from the past 30 years would you recommend BiggerBoat and Cariadlet?

I've had a bit more time to think and check publishing dates. These are some of the children's and YA books that are published within the last few 30 years which I think were better written. None of them are anywhere near as influential as Harry Potter but it was a best book award and not a most influential book award:

Junk (Melvin Burgess)
Pig Heart Boy (Malorie Blackman)
Skellig (David Almond)
Kensuke's Kingdom (Michael Morpurgo)
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (Terry Pratchett)
The thieves of Ostia (Caroline Lawrence)
The curious incident of the dog in the night time (Mark Haddon)
Inkheart (Cornelia Funke)
The Graveyard book (Neil Gaiman)
The knife of never letting go (Patrick Ness)
Noughts and Crosses (Malorie Blackman)
Holes (Louis Sachar)

A lot of the above authors published more than one really good book in this time, so I chose chose one of them.

I'd also say that the Artemis Fowl series (Eoin Colfer), Alex Rider series (Anthony Horowitz) and Skulduggery Pleasant series (Derek Landy) are all as good as the Harry Potter series in terms of being page turners and are also more tightly written.

But, as I said in my first post, I do like JKR as a person (genuine love of children and desire to get them reading, pays her taxes, stands up for women) and I think that it's brilliant that the HP series has got so many children excited about reading.

I'm glad that she has got an award when she's getting such a kicking. But I still don't think that it's anywhere near the best children's book of the last 30 years.

I know some might think others deserved it more...

...but I sure don’t!!

Congrats to one of the greatest! (Someone send this to Stephen King.)

Fantastic!

Thanks cariad. I saw some excerpts from Noughts and Crosses earlier and think I might be getting very conservative on my old age. Not sure what age group it's aimed at.

DS can't get on with Eoin Colfer at all. Tried myself and couldn't get past the first chapter either. He raced through Harry Potter one after the other and got bored by the last one and didn't even finish it.

I would have read anything as a child and did, but he's not the same, so I'm always on the look out for books that he'll get engrossed in. He might like His Dark Materials. I did think of Curious Dog the other day as one he might like.

I'd say Noughts and Crosses is probably suitable for about 12 up but it depends on the child. The tv series aged the main characters by a few years. In the first book, Callum is the first Nought to attend a prestigious Cross secondary school. It made me think about how hard it must have been for the first black pupils to attend predominantly white schools in segregated parts of America back in the 60s, and the terrible abuse that they suffered.

I'm glad that she has got an award when she's getting such a kicking. But I still don't think that it's anywhere near the best children's book of the last 30 years.

I agree it’s not the best writing but it’s probably the best story. In one of Stephen King’s novels (yes, I know), the older mentor-type man gives a reading list to a boy who is subsequently transfixed by Lord of the Flies. The man tells the boy something along the lines of how, “sometimes you read for the writing, sometimes you read for the story”, with Lord of the Flies, of course, being an example of both. Presumably Stephen King was also alluding to the criticisms of his own work - he won’t ever win prizes for the quality of his writing but his ability to tell a scary story is unparalleled.

cariadlet my oldest DD, who is 13 and will read anything has read most of your list from the bits I’ve sampled I agree that they are well-written. But she reads quickly and voraciously and enjoys a challenge with a range of books and a range of genres. Adult literary prizes are given to books that only adults who read literary fiction will read and appreciate. For adults, I think this is correct.

In contrast, JKR has given children a story that both enthusiastic readers and erstwhile non-readers are fascinated by. Most children are reading for the story, not the writing and JKR has transfixed a generation of children with HP. I think that’s worthy of a prize.

Hurrah!! I'm so happy.

And I do think it's deserved. Not purely on literary merit, but in terms of importance to the literary landscape, absolutely.

Congratulations, Jo!

That’s lovely

w.r.t. the comments about it maybe not being the best written of all the possibilities yes but it’s fantastic world creation (has its own fairy tales & everything ) the most widely read by the widest age range of children. Most of the “best” written books are only for older children.

Jo 💪💪🥂

Really happy about this. Good timing.

Her voice is so soothing - I’ve never really listened to her speaking, and how gracious her thanks.

JKR

However, it isn't very well written so I'm not sure it sits well with me to have it named 'best book' of the last 30 years

Literature isn't my specialist subject although I never stop reading, but I think Rowling has unequalled ability to create a picture with just a few words. And I appreciate the way her language got gradually more complex as Harry grew.

My teenage daughter read me the stories out loud with all the voices and that is a memory that I treasure.