The winners of the 2009 Carnegie Medal (for an outstanding book for children) and the Kate Greenaway Medal (for distinguished illustration in a book for children) have been announced.
The winner of the Carnegie Medal was awarded posthumously to Siobhan Dowd for her book Bog Child. It is described on the Readings site:
Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds the body of a child, and it looks like she’s been murdered. As Fergus tries to make sense of the mad world around him – his brother on hunger-strike in prison, his growing feelings for Cora, his parents arguing over the Troubles, and him in it up to the neck, blackmailed into acting as courier to God knows what, a little voice comes to him in his dreams, and the mystery of the bog child unfurls. Bog Child is an astonishing novel exploring the sacrifices made in the name of peace, and the unflinching strength of the human spirit.
The winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal is Harris Finds His Feet by Catherine Rayner. Again, described on the Readings site:
Harris was a very small hare with very big feet. “Why do I have such enormous feet, Grand dad?” Harris sighed . . . Grand dad shows Harris how to hop high into the sky, to climb to the tops of the mountains, and to run very fast. Harris not only learns about the world around him, but also the importance of finding his own feet.
