The Blue Book of Nebo WINNER OF THE YOTO CARNEGIE 2023 MEDAL FOR WRITING

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Lauren Child is an award-winning artist and writer. She is the creator of many much-loved characters, including Clarice Bean, Charlie and Lola, and Ruby Redfort, along with several stand-alone picture books. I Must Betray You tells the story of Cristian, a 17-year-old who has lived his entire life in a country governed by fear. Ruled by a despotic dictator, Cristian and his fellow citizens live every day with ever-present suspicion, hardship and repression. One day he is faced with the toughest choice of all; will he betray his family or will he risk everything – even the lives of people he loves – to resist? Gripping, intoxicating and uniquely involving, Cristian’s story will have readers asking themselves just what they would have done under the constant watchful eyes of the secret police, what they would have sacrificed to be free. Set in a knife-edge moment of modern history, the courage, hope, and violence of the Romanian Revolution powerfully frame this evocative thriller. It’s easy to slip into negativity about this, but children and young people do read a lot, just that it tends to be online. Adults should learn to respect that, I think, and not demonise the written word just because it’s on a screen. We can’t afford to pitch books against ipads! Also, not to think too much about the categorisation of books – many young people would enjoy books marketed at adults, and many children who are expected to enjoy chapter books would still enjoy picture books. Manon Steffan Ros was born in Snowdonia and worked as an actress and musician before becoming a full-time writer. Manon has written over 23 books for adults and children in the Welsh language and has won the Wales Book of the Year for her adult fiction as well as being four-times winner of the Tir na n’Og Wales Children’s Book Awards. She has also won Eisteddfod and National Theatre Wales awards for her script writing. She lives in Tywyn in north Wales with her children. They frequently find books and Dylan has been sort of home-schooled by his mother but now is developing his own reading. He is particularly interested in the New Testament which he found in an abandoned house but also gets into Welsh legends. Rowenna speaks Welsh but Dylan does not though he learns some.

Winner of three categories at the 2019 Wales Book of the Year Awards: the Aberystwyth University Fiction Award, the Golwg360 Barn y Bobl (People’s Choice Award), and the Welsh-language Overall Winner Manon Steffan Ros was born in Snowdonia and worked as an actress and musician before becoming a full-time writer. Manon has written over 23 books for adults and children in the Welsh language and has won the Wales Book of the Year for her adult fiction as well as being four-times winner of the Tir na n’Og Wales Children’s Book Awards. She has also won Eisteddfod and National Theatre Wales awards for her script writing. She lives in Tywyn in north Wales with her sons. The Blue Book of Nebo’s thorough appreciation for the Welsh language and Welsh literature is one of its prevalent themes, and most commendable features. It examines the common (though often difficult) relationship English-speaking Welsh parents have with their Welsh-speaking children; Dylan finds solace and escape in his Welsh books, and while Rowenna doesn’t speak Welsh fluently, she makes an effort to grant Dylan access to Welsh literature by stealing books from the abandoned houses of locals. Ultimately it is this thread which is used by Ros to demonstrate how pivotal literature is when it comes to connection; connecting with others, connecting with yourself, and connecting with personal culture and heritage. Still, it is a stark environment depicted by Ros. The bleakness of Dylan’s world is endless – there’s no one but his mother and baby sister in his life – and so literature and religion offer him a way to relate to things bigger than himself. This frequently renders him an endearing character – Dylan often comforts his mother by quoting Welsh writers to her, hoping this will console her in the same way it does him. A tender – though adolescent in nature – offer of hope. In the essentiality and urgency of Dylan’s need for connection, we see the importance of holding onto language as a personal as well as political matter. The intricate depiction of the mother-son relationship deftly wrapped up in the issue of Welsh language preservation. LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. This short, searing tale has arrived in English at an eerily relevant time." — Mary Wahlmeier Bracciano, Assistant Inventory Manager, The Raven Book Store, Lawrence, KansasRos’s novel charts the relationship between a mother and son who struggle to survive in their isolated hilltop home after a nearby nuclear disaster leaves them without electricity or running water. “As this is the first book in translation to win the Carnegie, my hopes are that readers, and particularly publishers, are more open to books in translation,” Ros said.

I can’t remember what we said after that, but I do remember that before Siôn and I left, she said, “You’ve been very good to me.” And I didn’t understand, because she’d always been the one who’d looked after me, just by being in the same place and being the same way every single day I’d known her. And we agreed, Mam and me, to share The Blue Book of Nebo. She’ll write about the olden days and The End, and I’ll write about now, about how we live. And we’ve agreed not to read what the other has written, just in case. In case of what, I’m not sure. I can only speak for myself, but I have to spend a lot of time with my characters before I write. Sometimes I write characters who behave despicably, and I have to find things to love about them. I also rely a great deal on instinct, so if something is boring to write, it will be boring to read! It’s taken many years to trust that instinct in myself though. And overthinking kills creativity. It’s a story, it’s words. I have to trust it to find its way. Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and Calibre Audio are producing the Yoto Carnegie shortlisted books in accessible formats (compatibility permitting), including braille, giant print and audio books. Ruta Sepetys was born and raised in Michigan, USA to parents of Lithuanian origin. Her passion for global connectivity has led to her presenting to NATO, the European Parliament, the US Capitol and embassies worldwide. She is the author of 2016 Carnegie Medal and Waterstones Prize-winner Salt to the Sea. She specialises in stories with the power of the most gripping thrillers, which also expose lesser-known stories in 20th-century history. Her novel The Fountains of Silence was on the 2021 Carnegie shortlist. She is published in 60 countries and is a tireless traveller and speaker in support of her books. Ruta lives in Tennessee, USA with her husband.

She used to sit with me for an hour each morning, the hour when Dwynwen sleeps. Stuff like adding and reading. Not like we used to do at school, no graphs or times tables or anything like that. She got me to read books and then I had to write about them. She marked them with a red biro, telling me where I’d spelled something wrong or said something stupid. Then after doing adding up and taking away, there was no more math. She started to worry. About the biros too, because we don’t want them running out. The blue book of Nebo is set in post-apocalyptic Wales and is told through a blue diary, written in by a mother-son duo as they survive day by day following a nuclear disaster. They grow their own food and learn to survive without electricity; they spend their days reading and scratching out their living. Each year thousands of reading groups in schools and libraries in the UK and overseas get involved in the Awards, with children and young people ‘shadowing’ the judging process. They read, discuss and review the books on the shortlists, get involved in reading related activities in groups, and vote for their favourite books to win The Yoto Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medals for Writing and Illustration. It is a multi-award-winning publication, trusted by parents, endorsed by teachers, and loved by children. Set in North Wales following a nuclear explosion, The Blue Book of Nebo is surprisingly different from most post-apocalytpic novels. It’s entrancing and beguiling and full of life. Together Dylan and his mother Rowenna tell a wonderful and gripping story.” —Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy

She was awarded a CBE for Services to Literature in 2020; and was the 10 th Waterstones’ Children’s Laureate from 2017-2019.

Format

When Nyla has to leave her home in the countryside to start life again in the city, all she can think about is everything she misses from before. So when a comet comes crashing through the city streets and starts to glow and grow, Nyla can’t resist a chance to head somewhere that feels closer to what she had before … but what starts as an escape could be just the thing to make her finally feel at home. The Comet is a celebration of imagination, make believe play, and the relationship between parent and child all combined with the near universal theme of moving house, and dealing with a new environment and experience.