Andrew Weale scoops top prize at the Red House Children’s Book Award

Andrew Weale has scooped the top prize at this year’s Red House Children’s Book Award for his interactive kid’s book The Spooky Spooky House.

The award ceremony was part of the Imagine Children’s Festival that took place at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on Saturday (February 23rd) and celebrated the cream of the crop in the world of books for youngsters. They are the only awards of their kind to be voted for entirely by children, meaning it is kids who decide on the winners.

This year, The Spooky Spooky House by Andrew Weale won the Younger Children category and was also voted the overall winner. The book is a hands-on title with lots of pop-ups and flaps to really get children involved in the story about the creepy haunted house.

Speaking about his win, Weale said: “Thank you so much Red House, it's been an amazing day. Thank you to everyone who voted for us. I just find it hard to believe that a book I started three years ago in my pyjamas with a half drunk cup of coffee, has ended up here."

There was also an Older Readers category, which was won by Sophie McKenzie’s book The Medusa Project: Hit Squad, while David Walliams’ book Gangsta Granny won the Younger Readers category.

Walliams said: “I love writing these books and I'm really glad they've caught on. I'm absolutely thrilled to be sharing the stage with these fantastic, talented people. I'm really thrilled to be a part of this, thank you.”

The Red House Children’s Book Award was established in 1980 by Pat Thompson, a member of the Federation of Children’s Book Groups. The idea was to celebrate publications that youngsters have enjoyed reading, rather than judging titles based on adults’ perception of them. The awards are the perfect guide for anyone who is buying books for children and is unsure what to purchase.

Parents looking to treat their youngsters to a new book can get The Spooky Spooky House from The Book People, a book store online offering a fabulous range of titles at purse-friendly discount prices.

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